PE Exam Prep

[DWHA]

I am preparing to take the PE this coming spring. If I could get some advice from a few people that have recently taken the exam I would appreciate it. I am taking the breadth exam in the morning, and the structural in the afternoon. I have just purchased the Civil Engineering Reference Manual. A couple questions I have are:

1.The NCEES has the design standards that are used for the exam on their website. Do I need a copy of the Transportation & Construction design standards for the morning exam? Or will the reference manual be sufficient?
2.I plan on taking a foundations text book and a structural analysis text book into the exam. Are there any other books or references that are of great help that I should purchase?

Thanks in advance.

 

[geezee66]

I took the Mechanical exam (not the civil) but I can say to get very familiar with the engineering reference manual. Also see if there are any 6 minute solution books available for the civil, they were very helpful for the mechanical.

 

[ShaggyPE]

When I was preparing for the mechanical exam, the below site was extremely useful.

http://www.engineerboards.com

-Dustin
Professional Engineer
Certified SolidWorks Professional
Certified COSMOSWorks Designer Specialist
Certified SolidWorks Advanced Sheet Metal Specialist

 

[neffers]

I am taking the Civil PE (structural Depth) in a couple of weeks. From everything I have heard you don't need anything but the reference manual for the morning session. That is all I am going to bring for the morning.

neffers

 

[jberg]

I took and passed the April '09 Civil PE Exam (Structural Emphasis) and to answer your questions:

1. I did not buy copies of the Transportation and Construction references. There was a problem in the morning that I could have solved with a Transportation reference, but the other problems were not that bad and could be solved with the Civil Reference Manual (CERM).

2. For the morning session, I know I used the CERM most of time, and I would recommend you print out the CERM index and place it in a 3-ring binder. Also, there were very specific afternoon questions that required the IBC 2006 or ASCE 7-05, for what it is worth.

Someone that took the exam in April at the site I was at only brought two books, the CERM and an enviro book. Granted, he was taking the Civil test with a different afternoon session, but half way through the afternoon, he slammed his book down and turned in his exam. He appeared to be very frustrated and I am thinking he should have brought more references.

Good luck to everyone taking the Exam!!

JWB

 

[LowLax]

I took and passed the Civil PE Exam last spring.
I brought everything on the NCEES reference list beside the AASHTO stuff. I think there was only one question where it was probably just a lookup from a chart in AASHTO. I don't think it's worth the $200 or whatever they want for that manual, since I don't do transportation at work.

Here's the list:

http://www.ncees.org/exams/professional/pe_design_standards/structural_design_standards.pdf

I'd say the PCI manual isn't that critical either.

 

[DWHA]

Has any invested in the Structural Engineering Reference Manual? Was it worth purchasing for the exam? Or would I be better off using text books?

 

[ShaggyPE]

Not sure about the structural exam, so take this advice for what it is worth. I took the Mechanical exam and used the MERM almost exclusively. I only used two other references and used them roughly 10-15% of the time.

The nice thing about the PPI review manuals is that they are intended to be used in the exam. Your textbooks are intended to teach you the material.

-Dustin
Professional Engineer
Certified SolidWorks Professional
Certified COSMOSWorks Designer Specialist
Certified SolidWorks Advanced Sheet Metal Specialist

 

[DWHA]

Also, What practice problems and practice exams are the most usefull for the structural depth? I have heard mixed reviews for the 6 minute solution books for the structural. Has anyone found a set of practice problems that were very usefull in preparing for the exam?

 

[rday]

DWHA

You should not need any specific code to complete the morning session. You will need the bulk of the references to pass the afternoon structural depth module.

I was sucessful without the AASHTO book, that book with all the addenda is about 9" thick anyway. Not worth it in my opinion, unless you use it and are familiar with it.

For review, I would recomended getting the NCEES sample exam for both the civil and the current structural exams. The problems are representative of the exam format.

 

[jberg]

I did not invest in the Structural Reference Manual, however, I found the 6-minute solutions books very helpful for the problems found on the exam.

JWB