WHAT: Fire Protection PE Exam question-writing
WHO: Any licensed engineer practicing in fire protection - your license does NOT have to be in Fire Protection
WHEN: Tuesday, September 25th from 8am to 1pm
(Light breakfast food and lunch provided)
WHERE: Henderson Engineers
8345 Lenexa Drive, Suite 300
Lenexa, Kansas 66214
This activity is one of the most important things we can do to support the discipline and licensing of fire protection engineers. NCEES requires us to maintain a question bank for the PE Exam in order for it to continually be offered and our question bank is required to have a minimum number of questions for each of the subject areas in the current test. The new test specification adopted for 2018 has introduced several new topics that we are in need of questions for and the upcoming transition to computer-based testing in 2020 has increased the need for new questions and an expanded test bank. It is vital that we step up and take responsibility for helping to preserve our exam – without these efforts, we risk degradation of our test question pool which could affect our ability to administer the fire protection engineering exam.
We will spend time teaching you how to write a good exam question and you will have the support of SFPE representatives and other PEs that have participated in years past in the room for guidance. You don’t have to write questions about topics that make you uncomfortable. You don’t have to be an expert on anything because the PE exam is an exam on the fundamentals and does not require subject matter expertise. If you’ve taken and passed the PE exam, you’re more than adequately qualified to join us and give it a go.
HOW DO I SIGN UP? Please RSVP today to Jeremy Radick at [email protected]
WHAT DO I NEED TO BRING? Plan to bring your NFPA Fire Protection Handbook and the SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering, if you have a copy of one or both. The latest editions are preferred. If you don’t have either publication, please come anyway. Bring a pen or pencil, a calculator, your engineering license number from any state, and a laptop if you have one so you can type your question.
HOW MANY PDHs DO I EARN? You’ll earn a PDH for every hour you are there (typically 4). You do not have to stay the full 4 hours and there’s no minimum question requirement to earn the hours. Just give us as much time as you can because we are depending on your support.
DO I NEED TO BE THERE THE WHOLE TIME? Please plan to attend and pay attention to the opening portion of the session where we go over the important elements of writing a question, submitting it, and confidentiality requirements but after that if you need to step out of the room to take a call or handle something, you can. It’s sort of like a study-hall environment and you aren’t tied to your seat or required to submit any minimum number of questions.
WHAT IF MY QUESTION IS A DUD? It won’t be! But even if it isn’t selected to be on the test, you’ll never know. Plus even questions that are flawed can usually be salvaged and turned into a usable question with a little tweaking and so the effort still pays off for the discipline. We just ask that you come try. There’s no penalty for turning in questions we don’t use and once you try it, you’ll see how easy it really is to write a question.
Sign up today and join your FPE peers for this important event!