PLSO The Oregon Surveyor Sept/Oct 2020

8 Vol. 43, No. 5 The Oregon Surveyor  | OrYSN Corner B eing a Young Surveyor means that you have recently tested or will soon test. For those of you yet to test, I extend my deepest sympathy over COVID’s inconvenience. I took my two NCEES exams at Pearson testing centers in Medford and Salem. I checked the website for the Salem site, and it is open, but masks are required. My first thought about testing in a mask is a movie reference for all the Not Young Surveyors reading this column: “Spies Like Us” with Chevy Chase and Dan Ak- royd from 1985. It was a critical flop, but there is a memorable scene where Chevy is wearing an eyepatch with test answers on the inside. Obviously, doing that is unethical, so I won’t be selling any SOH CAH TOA masks out of my car trunk to people on their way in. Oregon’s state-specific test is normally held every April and October. I exchanged emails with Eric Engelson, the Commu- nications Director for the Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying (OSBEELS) for updates re- garding our post-COVID world. He wrote that this April’s test was postponed when the Governor’s office “prohibited all state agencies from…activities that resulted in public gatherings greater than 10 peo- ple.” They initially tried to reschedule in July, but OSBEELS “decided the best approach would be to postpone exams until the fall.” OSBEELS also administers state-specific Forest Engineering and Pho - togrammetry exams, but “no individuals were registered to take those exams” and they will be offered again in April 2021. This October, about 50 test takers will have “ample room” at theNational Guard’s Anderson Readiness Center, where “so- cial distancing, cleaning, and sanitization guidelines” have been considered. I don’t know about the rest of you who shared a table with another person on test day, but I feel like this latest batch is missing out on the person next to you shaking the whole table when erasing a large part of their workbook. They’re also missing out on all the forlorn sighs when time is called periodically. Regarding other changes that COVID has brought to OSBEELS, “several staff members have been able to transition to telework” and “the Board has been able to continue to hold monthly meetings during the pandemic, utilizing teleconfer- encing services and meeting spaces that meet social distancing guidelines.” New applications have been “consistent,” and complaints have been “steady.” Finally, by coincidence, OSBEELS is “developing an entirely new registrant database sys- tem, expected to be completed in early 2021, that will help [the] agency transi- tion services from primarily paper-based to electronic.” To all of you testing in October, I wish you the best of luck. Under normal circum- stances, I would take you out for lunch after you’re done, but that practice is in doubt because of COVID. Stay tuned.  x Editor’s Note: In the last issue, we corrected our mistake in listing Leo Litowich as a PLS in Oregon. At that time, he was a PLS in Arizona but not Oregon. We are happy to correct our- selves again because Daren Cone, a state forests engineer with the Oregon Department of Forestry, signed Leo’s PLS certificate in early August. I don’t know about the rest of you who shared a table with another person on test day, but I feel like this latest batch is missing out on the person next to you shaking the whole table when erasing a large part of their workbook. Leo Litowich, PLS (Oregon & Arizona) OrYSN Corner I Was Told There Would Be No Math: Testing in a Time of COVID