Anyone as Frustrated as Me???

[Warrengarber]

Last night I really thought I would be posting a picture of a "PASS" on my Facebook page along with an apology to my friends and family for completely neglecting them for the past month. Instead it was a picture of a bottle of Absolute, a fresh lime and a Netflix movie. That feeling when you hit that last review button and all you see in all caps is FAIL is the indescribable to anyone who has not put this much effort into something and had that happen. I just failed the level 3 test for the third time!!! I am studying everything I can get my hands on. My score has gone up every time. This time it was a 390 but you need a 410 to pass. I don't even under stand the scoring? 410 what kind of goal is that to strive for? I started doing electrical testing in 1992 performing maintenance testing on breakers, panelboards, MCC buckets and performing infrared inspections. Needless to say I have seen some changes in the equipment to be tested and the test equipment used to do it over the years. Who would have thought you could ever take an infrared rig from a dolly and be able to carry it in your pocket or use test equipment that you do not have to null before a test. So I am not new electrical testing but still mainly low voltage equipment, relays and MV interior equipment. Each time I have taken the level 3 test I have come down to the wire on time, minutes even seconds to spare one time. This time I had to fly through the last 5 questions, still better then the 10 I had to Christmas tree the last time. At least one of which I know was a calculation problem I know I would have gotten correct but did not have anytime to work it through. Every time I take the test there are new questions about equipment that I may have only heard of but never tested in person. There has to be a better way to study for this exam! There has to be other people out there that know that feeling when you click that last button. Any input would help before I go to Walmart and apply to be a greater. Maybe I can pass that exam.

Thanks for listening to my rant.

[SecondGen]

That feeling when you hit that last review button and all you see in all caps is FAIL is the indescribable to anyone who has not put this much effort into something and had that happen.

I know the feels. I failed the 3 my first time and had to wait anxiously for 6 months before getting another shot. Keep at it, with enough persistence and desire it's only a matter of time.

[whiskers]

I know the feels. I failed the 3 my first time and had to wait anxiously for 6 months before getting another shot. Keep at it, with enough persistence and desire it's only a matter of time.

Been there done that, 2 times failure and the last time I thought I aced it. Nope FAIL with a 390, better than the first time, 367.

I am going for my 3rd try and am not too enthusiastic about it. I have been a switch gear specialist and engineer, first with GE and then with another small engineering firm for 42 years and I thought I knew everything about switch gear testing or so I thought.

My beef with the test, there are so many questions IMHO that are irrelevant to actual switch gear servicing tasks. Why do I need to know the what type of connector goes on the end of a fiber optic cable or the makeup of a fiber optic cable, "Core", "Cladding" and "Buffer". Now I know.

I believe the the so-called bar chart indicating your strengths and weaknesses is very unhelpful since the question pool is so large. My biggest beef, is not knowing if the answers you selected were correct or not.

[Warrengarber]

I took all of the NETA magazine quizes from 2006 until the most recent and have been using them as a study guide this time. The only issue with that is you have to refer to the current tables for the correct answers on some of the questions. I have found a couple of questions that I know I have been missing that I thought were correct. I agree with you the frustration is not knowing if the answers you even feel you know are correct. I think after you submit the test and get a fail you should be able to go back and see what you missed and the correct answers. That way you would be able to review and actually see what you missed. Keep your head up, good luck and happy studying.

Been there done that, 2 times failure and the last time I thought I aced it. Nope FAIL with a 390, better than the first time, 367.

I am going for my 3rd try and am not too enthusiastic about it. I have been a switch gear specialist and engineer, first with GE and then with another small engineering firm for 42 years and I thought I knew everything about switch gear testing or so I thought.

My beef with the test, there are so many questions IMHO that are irrelevant to actual switch gear servicing tasks. Why do I need to know the what type of connector goes on the end of a fiber optic cable or the makeup of a fiber optic cable, "Core", "Cladding" and "Buffer". Now I know.

I believe the the so-called bar chart indicating your strengths and weaknesses is very unhelpful since the question pool is so large. My biggest beef, is not knowing if the answers you selected were correct or not.