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3
- #1
csceng
Civil/Environmental
- Oct 31, 2014
- 1
I used this forum for useful tips on how to pass the PE exam. Below is my two cents on how I passed the PE exam in April of 2014 on the first try including the CA surveying and seismic portions. I started studying about 4 months before the exam spending about 20 hours a week studying.
#1 - Concentrate your studying on the topics that count the most. I took the water resources afternoon portion so I concentrated ~70% of my time on depth topics which also covered ~15% of the morning topics.
#2 - Choose your calculator and books you're going to use from day 1. Know how to use them and where the material is.
For the NCEES morning/afternoon I studied using the CERM, CERM practice problems, PPI's sample exam, NCEES sample exam and PPI's 6 min solutions. My background and degree is in computer science so the majority of the material was new to me.
-CERM & CERM practice problems - These books are invaluable. If you know the material in the CERM the exam is easy. Some courses say to tab everything but I found that to be overkill. Tab the main chapters and then add tabs to sections you find yourself using a lot (or have trouble finding) as you study and take the practice exams. I would read a chapter related to the exam topics and attempt all of the sample problems associated with that topic. For example, I would ready the chapters on soils and then attempt every problem in the practice problems. This is time consuming and is why you need to prioritize the topics you're studying. I spent most of my time on hydraulics/hydrology/water treatment and was able to complete every problem by the end of studying and repeating the problems multiple times.
-PPI's 6 Minute Solutions - After completing a section in the CERM I would attempt every problem in the 6 minute solutions for the breadth area for that topic. A word of caution on the PPI material - I found many of the breadth problems to be much harder than the material found on the actual exam. They are good for preparing for the exam but not very representative of the actual test. Some of the solutions took multiple pages and even if you knew exactly how to do them, they would take you well over 6 minutes. I found in the actual exam, if you knew how to do the problems they would take you 1-2 mins. (At this point I was about 2 months into studying) I also completed all the depth topics for my depth section but they were much harder than the actual test. (It took about 2 months to go thru the CERM, CERM practice problems and PPI 6 minute)
-PPI's sample exam - After going thru all the CERM sections and PPI's 6 minute solutions I felt confident and tried the PPI sample exam. I treated this like the actual exam and spent 4 hours on the breadth section and 4 hours on the depth section but on two separate days. I did not do well on this exam. It was much harder than the material on the exam. Some of the solutions for the depth section took multiple pages. After taking this I graded it and repeated problems that I missed until I got them correct. In hindsight this was probably overkill as these problems were much more difficult that anything encountered on the test. After this I revisited the sections from the CERM & CERM practice problems where I had the most problems. (This took about a month)
-NCEES sample test- I took the NCEES sample exam in two 4 hour segments on the same day to mimic the actual exam fatigue. Compared to the PPI sample exam, I found this exam very easy. I felt very good after taking this exam and reviewed all the problems I missed but this was MUCH easier. The solutions for many of the problems were a couple of lines (depth included). I felt this exam was a good representation of the actual exam. (2 full days)
-Calculator- I happened to have access to all the calculators on the exam so I decided to look into the features on all of them. The biggest feature I liked of all the calculators was the HP35s (and HP 33s) ability to have pre-entered equations. While it was very time consuming to enter the equations into the calculator, they were very helpful when it came to the exam day. I could solve a mannings equation in 5 seconds. There is a book called useful equations for HP 35s for the Civil PE Exam and it has a lot of equations already done for you. While this isn't required, it saved me a ton of time getting the equations right. The book had a lot of structural equations which I didn't find useful but the hydrology, soils and traffic related equations saved me a lot of time. While this is not required, it saved me a lot of time when doing practice problems and preparing for the exam. The equations would be a complete waste of time unless you study and do practice problems with them. My second favorite calcultor was the TI36X Pro. I liked this calculator the most for surveying problems (adding degrees, minutes, seconds). Whatever you choose is a personal preference but use it while studying. Don't use the calculator from school with all the bells and whistles. I missed my unit conversions from my old calculator. The HP had some unit conversions but I found them lacking.
In the end I felt overly prepared for the breadth and depth sections of the test. If I didn't immediately know how to solve a problem (or exactly where to get the equation) I would skip the problem. I did not use the index on my first time thru the exam. After completing all the problems I knew how to complete I would revisit the ones I didn't know how to do and use the index/look for the solution. With the remaining time I double checked my work until the time was up.
-CA specific Surveying exam- I purchased the surveying principles by Cuomo and brushed thru the book and problems. The individual problems for the computer exam were easy but the time constraint made them hard. A majority of the problems were basic geometry and common sense. I probably spent a day studying for this and but I do deal with a lot of topographical maps and cut/fill quantities in my day job so take this advice with a grain of salt.
-CA specific seismic exam- I got the seismic design review by lindeberg and practice problems by Majid Baradar. Get the latest versions because they are code dependent. This was my weakest topic with no prior knowledge of the material and the material does not really build on any other material that I was familar with. I actually took two weeks off of work and spent days doing nothing but this material. I read chapters 1-8 multiple times and completed all the practice problems 5 times each. In the end I knew how to approach all the problems. When I took the exam it was the first exam after a code change so all of the problems where you had to look up code requirements were useless and there was no practice exams for the current code. I was surprised how many problems required the current code, like the nail spacing for a particular situation. I did not feel prepared for the test or confident after taking the test, but I passed. I think if I had the sample test which prepared me for the code look-up material I would have been more confident for the test. (I spent a full two weeks on this and it was probably the hardest part of studying because the material is so foreign to me. I did not want to take this exam twice so I literally spent two weeks studying for this non-stop. I took time off work and spent little to no time with my wife and child. In hind sight it was worth it because I never have to take that exam again.)
I had a friend who took the ppi2pass course and he had access to the online practice problems for the exam. They were a great concept but the material was lacking (there weren't many problems available for some topics) and we found several problems with errors. When we reported the problems they were removed. In a few years this will probably be a great spot for study material. If you have a hard time keeping a schedule for studying I would recommend a study coarse in order to start early and keep on track studying.
I also purchased the civil engineering PE flash cards for the iphone but they were absolutely useless for the exam.
Best of luck!
#1 - Concentrate your studying on the topics that count the most. I took the water resources afternoon portion so I concentrated ~70% of my time on depth topics which also covered ~15% of the morning topics.
#2 - Choose your calculator and books you're going to use from day 1. Know how to use them and where the material is.
For the NCEES morning/afternoon I studied using the CERM, CERM practice problems, PPI's sample exam, NCEES sample exam and PPI's 6 min solutions. My background and degree is in computer science so the majority of the material was new to me.
-CERM & CERM practice problems - These books are invaluable. If you know the material in the CERM the exam is easy. Some courses say to tab everything but I found that to be overkill. Tab the main chapters and then add tabs to sections you find yourself using a lot (or have trouble finding) as you study and take the practice exams. I would read a chapter related to the exam topics and attempt all of the sample problems associated with that topic. For example, I would ready the chapters on soils and then attempt every problem in the practice problems. This is time consuming and is why you need to prioritize the topics you're studying. I spent most of my time on hydraulics/hydrology/water treatment and was able to complete every problem by the end of studying and repeating the problems multiple times.
-PPI's 6 Minute Solutions - After completing a section in the CERM I would attempt every problem in the 6 minute solutions for the breadth area for that topic. A word of caution on the PPI material - I found many of the breadth problems to be much harder than the material found on the actual exam. They are good for preparing for the exam but not very representative of the actual test. Some of the solutions took multiple pages and even if you knew exactly how to do them, they would take you well over 6 minutes. I found in the actual exam, if you knew how to do the problems they would take you 1-2 mins. (At this point I was about 2 months into studying) I also completed all the depth topics for my depth section but they were much harder than the actual test. (It took about 2 months to go thru the CERM, CERM practice problems and PPI 6 minute)
-PPI's sample exam - After going thru all the CERM sections and PPI's 6 minute solutions I felt confident and tried the PPI sample exam. I treated this like the actual exam and spent 4 hours on the breadth section and 4 hours on the depth section but on two separate days. I did not do well on this exam. It was much harder than the material on the exam. Some of the solutions for the depth section took multiple pages. After taking this I graded it and repeated problems that I missed until I got them correct. In hindsight this was probably overkill as these problems were much more difficult that anything encountered on the test. After this I revisited the sections from the CERM & CERM practice problems where I had the most problems. (This took about a month)
-NCEES sample test- I took the NCEES sample exam in two 4 hour segments on the same day to mimic the actual exam fatigue. Compared to the PPI sample exam, I found this exam very easy. I felt very good after taking this exam and reviewed all the problems I missed but this was MUCH easier. The solutions for many of the problems were a couple of lines (depth included). I felt this exam was a good representation of the actual exam. (2 full days)
-Calculator- I happened to have access to all the calculators on the exam so I decided to look into the features on all of them. The biggest feature I liked of all the calculators was the HP35s (and HP 33s) ability to have pre-entered equations. While it was very time consuming to enter the equations into the calculator, they were very helpful when it came to the exam day. I could solve a mannings equation in 5 seconds. There is a book called useful equations for HP 35s for the Civil PE Exam and it has a lot of equations already done for you. While this isn't required, it saved me a ton of time getting the equations right. The book had a lot of structural equations which I didn't find useful but the hydrology, soils and traffic related equations saved me a lot of time. While this is not required, it saved me a lot of time when doing practice problems and preparing for the exam. The equations would be a complete waste of time unless you study and do practice problems with them. My second favorite calcultor was the TI36X Pro. I liked this calculator the most for surveying problems (adding degrees, minutes, seconds). Whatever you choose is a personal preference but use it while studying. Don't use the calculator from school with all the bells and whistles. I missed my unit conversions from my old calculator. The HP had some unit conversions but I found them lacking.
In the end I felt overly prepared for the breadth and depth sections of the test. If I didn't immediately know how to solve a problem (or exactly where to get the equation) I would skip the problem. I did not use the index on my first time thru the exam. After completing all the problems I knew how to complete I would revisit the ones I didn't know how to do and use the index/look for the solution. With the remaining time I double checked my work until the time was up.
-CA specific Surveying exam- I purchased the surveying principles by Cuomo and brushed thru the book and problems. The individual problems for the computer exam were easy but the time constraint made them hard. A majority of the problems were basic geometry and common sense. I probably spent a day studying for this and but I do deal with a lot of topographical maps and cut/fill quantities in my day job so take this advice with a grain of salt.
-CA specific seismic exam- I got the seismic design review by lindeberg and practice problems by Majid Baradar. Get the latest versions because they are code dependent. This was my weakest topic with no prior knowledge of the material and the material does not really build on any other material that I was familar with. I actually took two weeks off of work and spent days doing nothing but this material. I read chapters 1-8 multiple times and completed all the practice problems 5 times each. In the end I knew how to approach all the problems. When I took the exam it was the first exam after a code change so all of the problems where you had to look up code requirements were useless and there was no practice exams for the current code. I was surprised how many problems required the current code, like the nail spacing for a particular situation. I did not feel prepared for the test or confident after taking the test, but I passed. I think if I had the sample test which prepared me for the code look-up material I would have been more confident for the test. (I spent a full two weeks on this and it was probably the hardest part of studying because the material is so foreign to me. I did not want to take this exam twice so I literally spent two weeks studying for this non-stop. I took time off work and spent little to no time with my wife and child. In hind sight it was worth it because I never have to take that exam again.)
I had a friend who took the ppi2pass course and he had access to the online practice problems for the exam. They were a great concept but the material was lacking (there weren't many problems available for some topics) and we found several problems with errors. When we reported the problems they were removed. In a few years this will probably be a great spot for study material. If you have a hard time keeping a schedule for studying I would recommend a study coarse in order to start early and keep on track studying.
I also purchased the civil engineering PE flash cards for the iphone but they were absolutely useless for the exam.
Best of luck!
