1、Control Systems Engineering (CSE)Study Guide, Fifth Editionfor the Professional Engineering (PE) Licensing ExaminationStandardsCertifi cationEducation an effect on the public health, safety and welfare, and a need on the part of the profession; sufficient numbers to justify preparation of an exam; a
2、nd availability of a professional society willing to support an exam program. An exam committee was required to submit a two-year supply of acceptable exam problems.The supporting professional society is ISA The International Society of Automation, originally the Instrument Society of America (ISA).
3、CSE was first recognized in California in the 1970s. A limited period of licensing without examination (grandfathering) occurred in 1975-76, and an exam was administered starting in 1978. The California exam did not meet NCEES standards and was not accepted by other states for registration by recipr
4、ocity. These difficulties were removed with availability of an NCEES-approved exam, administered for the first time in October, 1992.By April 2010, forty-six state boards had agreed to offer the CSE exam. The other boards (Alaska, Hawaii, New York and Rhode Island) have asked for a showing of need a
5、nd interest in their states before they will recognize CSE.PREFACE3INTRODUCTIONThis study guide is published by ISA The International Society of Automation, to assist candidates who are preparing for the Principles-and-Practice of Engineering examination in Control Systems Engineering (CSE), one of
6、the requirements for licensure as a professional engineer.The CSE exam is developed by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES). The membership of NCEES is comprised of the boards of registration in 55 US jurisdictions (50 states, 4 territories and the District of Colu
7、mbia). As one of its functions, NCEES provides these boards with uniform exams which are valid measures of competency for the practice of engineering.To develop reliable and valid exams, NCEES employs procedures using the guidelines established in the Standards for Educational and Psychological Test
8、ing (1985), published by the American Psychological Association. These procedures are intended to maximize the fairness and quality of the exams. The procedures require the involvement of experienced testing specialists having the necessary expertise to develop examinations using current testing tec
9、hniques.The exams are the result of careful preparation by committees comprised of professional engineers from throughout the United States. These engineers supply the content expertise which is essential in developing exams. By utilizing the expertise of engineers with different backgrounds, such a
10、s private consulting, government, industry and education, NCEES prepares exams which are valid measures of competency.STATE LICENSING REQUIREMENTS EligibilityLicensing of Control Systems Engineers (CSEs) is intended to protect the public by ensuring that practitioners in this field possess a necessa
11、ry level of minimum competence. While exams offer one means of measuring the competency levels of candidates, most jurisdictions also screen candidates based upon education and experience requirements.Licensing requirements vary from state to state, so it is necessary to contact the appropriate boar
12、d. Up-to-date phone numbers and addresses can be obtained by calling the information operator in your state capitol, or by checking the Internet at www.ncees.org or nspe.org.GENERAL INFORMATION4Prior to 1998, most states did not have citizenship or residence requirements. Now, as a result of the Wel
13、fare Reform Act passed by the US Congress in 1996, states cannot confer a “benefit” (including a professional or commercial license) on a person who is not a US citizen or legal resident. However, licenses can be issued to holders of certain types of visas for entry into the US. Because the rules ar
14、e complex, candidates affected by this regulation should discuss their situation with one of the state boards.Examination ScheduleThe CSE exam is offered once per year, on the last weekend in October. Appli-cation deadlines vary from state to state, but typically are about three or four months ahead
15、 of the exam date.Applicants for the CSE exam must have taken and passed the Fundamentals-of-Engineering (FE) exam, also called the Engineer-in-Training (EIT) exam, or have received a waiver of this exam. Many state boards will waive the FE/EIT exam for persons with sufficient approved engineering e
16、xperience, usually at least eight years. This exam is given in April and October.Note: Recipients of waivers may encounter difficulty in becoming licensed by “reciprocity” or “comity” in another state where waivers are not available. Therefore, applicants are advised that it may be advantageous to t
17、ake and pass the FE/EIT exam.Application Procedures and DeadlinesApplications and information are available from the individual boards. Requirements and fees vary among the jurisdictions, and applicants are responsible for contacting their board office.Sufficient time must be allotted to complete th
18、e application process and assemble required data, including a professional work history, references, and academic transcripts or other verifications of the applicants engineering education.DESCRIPTION OF EXAMINATIONExam FormatThe NCEES Principles-and-Practice of Engineering exam (commonly called the
19、 PE exam) in Control Systems Engineering (CSE) is an eight-hour exam, administered in two four-hour sessions.Each session contains forty (40) questions in a multiple-choice form.Questions are stated in a standardized form. Questions start with a “stem” which describes a situation an engineer might e
20、ncounter in practice. Any information or data that the examinee needs appears in the stem. Each 5question has a correct answer and three incorrect answers. More than one question may be based on a common stem.All of the questions are compulsory; applicants are expected to answer all of the questions
21、. Each correct answer receives one point. If a question is omitted or answered incorrectly, it will receive a score of zero. There is no penalty for guessing.Sample questions appear in Appendix B of this book.Exam ContentThe subject areas of the CSE exam are described by the exam specification given
22、 in Appendix A.EXAMINATION DEVELOPMENTExam ValidityTesting standards require that questions on a licensing exam be representative of important tasks needed for competent practice in the profession. The relation between the exam questions and these tasks is established by a vocational or task analysi
23、s of the profession which identifies the duties performed by practicing engineers. This information is used to develop an exam content specification which guides development of job-related questions.In 1991, ISA retained a contractor to conduct a comprehensive professional activities and requirement
24、s study of the CSE discipline. Questionnaires were sent to 3200 professional engineers practicing as CSEs; approximately 800 replies were received. Based on their responses, a specification was developed for an exam to measure critical aspects of the CSE profession. The first exam was administered i
25、n October, 1992. The exam specification was modified slightly when the all-multiple-choice format initiated in 1998.Similar studies are performed for all of the disciplines in which NCEES provides exams. The studies are repeated periodically to reflect changes in technology. In 2002-3 and in 2009-11
26、, following NCEEs policy, the CSE exam specification was revised.Exam SpecificationsThe examination specification presented in Appendix A shows six major knowledge areas for CSEs. For each area, possible sub-areas and topics for exam questions are listed.6Exam PreparationExams are developed by a sta
27、nding ISA committee. Members of the committee are CSEs, already registered as PEs, who volunteer to write or review questions. ISA membership is not required.A group of committee members meets at least twice annually, to determine the passing score for the most recent exam or to select questions for
28、 future exams. Between these meetings, committee members write new questions. The content and format of the questions are reviewed by committee members for compliance with the exam specifications and to assure the quality and fairness of the exam. These engineers are representative of the profession
29、 in terms of geographic location, area of practice, ethnic background, and gender.MINIMUM COMPETENCEOne of the most critical considerations in developing and administering exams for professional engineering registration or licensing is establishment of passing scores which reflect a standard of mini
30、mum competence. Minimum competence, as measured by the exam component of the licensing process, is defined by NCEES as follows:The lowest level of knowledge at which a person can practice professional engineering in such a manner that will safeguard life, health and property and promote the public w
31、elfare.The concept of minimum competence is a primary concern of committee members as they prepare questions for the exam.SCORING PROCEDURESEach question is worth 0 or 1 point, so the entire 8-hour exam has a maximum score of 80 points.Because it is impossible to write multiple-choice questions to a
32、 precise degree of difficulty, a passing score cannot be set in advance but must be determined individually for each exam administration.However, candidates should understand that NCEES exams are NOT graded “by the curve” so that pre-specified percentages of examinees will pass and fail. Instead, th
33、ey are graded by an “item-specific, criterion-referenced” method, i.e., answers are evaluated in terms of what a minimally-competent candidate is expected to know. With this procedure, each candidate is judged separately and without regard to the performance of other examinees.To achieve this result
34、, a passing score workshop or equivalent procedure is conducted for each exam.7At a passing-score workshop, a panel of engineers who have not been involved with preparation of the exams is asked to study the questions and independently estimate the fraction of minimally-competent candidates who woul
35、d answer each question correctly. These estimates are averaged for the panel and then summed to obtain a passing score.After each exam administration, examinees answers are analyzed to determine if any questions might have contained typographical or other errors and thus have no correct answer, or m
36、ight have more than one correct answer under some circumstances. Examinees receive a form during the test administration for use in calling attention to possible bad questions. Poor questions are discarded or revised before further use.Exam scoring and analysis is supervised by consulting psychometr
37、icians (testing specialists) provided by NCEES.Legal authority for licensing decisions rests with the individual registration boards and not with NCEES or ISA. Consequently, each board has the authority to fix its own passing score for the exam. NCEES provides each board with a recommended passing s
38、core developed by the methods described above; the recommended score is generally adopted by the boards. Candidates may appeal a board decision, subject to rules established by the board.Note: In some states, licensing exams must by law have a passing score of 70. For these states, NCEES scales the
39、raw scores so the maximum score becomes 100 and the passing score becomes 70. Where this occurs, scores are not directly comparable from state to state, but the same group of applicants will pass on either basis.EXAMINATION PROCEDURES AND INSTRUCTIONSReference MaterialsThe PE exam in CSE is open-boo
40、k. Your board determines the reference materials and calculators that will be allowed. In general, you may use textbooks, handbooks and bound reference materials; battery-operated, silent, non-printing calculators are usually permitted. Bring spare batteries; do not expect to be seated next to an el
41、ectrical outlet.Writing tablets, unbound notes or tables, and devices that could compromise the security of the exam are NOT permitted. In the exam booklets, questions are printed on the right-hand pages; the left-hand pages are blank and can be used for calculations or scratch work. Examinees are p
42、rohibited from copying questions for future use.State boards differ in their rules regarding references and calculators, so you should contact your board for its specific instructions.8Exam MaterialsBefore each session, proctors will distribute exam booklets and answer sheets to be used in respondin
43、g to the questions.The exam booklet should not be opened until you are instructed to do so by the proctor. Read the instructions and information given on the front and back covers. Enter your name in the upper right corner of the front cover. Listen carefully to all instructions read by the proctor.
44、 ALL answers must be recorded on the answer sheets in the spaces corresponding to the question numbers. NO credit is given for anything written in the exam booklet.The answer sheets for the multiple-choice questions are machine scored. For proper scoring, the answer spaces should be blackened comple
45、tely. Use only #2 pencils or mechanical pencils with HB lead. Marks in ink or felt-tip pens may not be scanned accurately. If you decide to change an answer, the first answer must be erased completely. Incomplete erasures and stray marks may be read as intended answers.One side of the answer sheet i
46、s used to collect identification and biographical data. Proctors will guide you through this part of the answer sheet prior to your taking the test. The process will take about 15 minutes.Copies of the answer sheets described above are given in the following pages. It will be wise to become familiar
47、 with them before the exam.Starting and Completing the ExamYou are not to open the exam booklet until instructed to do so by the proctor. Inside the front cover is additional important information. If you should complete the exam with more than 30 minutes remaining, you are free to leave. Within 30
48、minutes of the end of the exam, you are required to remain until the end to avoid disrupting those still working and to permit orderly collection of all exam materials.Regardless of when you complete the exam, you are responsible for returning the numbered exam booklet assigned to you. Cooperate wit
49、h the proctors collecting the exam materials. Nobody will be allowed to leave until the proctor has verified that all materials have been collected.Special AccommodationsIf you need special accommodations in the test-taking procedure, due to a disabling condition, you should communicate your need to your board office well in advance of the examination day so that appropriate arrangements can be made. 9 Advance study, either individual or in an organized review course, is generally helpful in preparing for a PE exam. Surveys show that the principle of diminishing returns sets in afte
