Seismic Exam

[ajeebmjeeb]

I am a civil/transportation engineers with over 25 years of experience. I have PE License for about six states but I just moved to California and have already passed the surveying and law exams. I am having terrible time passing my the Seismic Exam. I failed the October Exam by only 9 points. I think if given more time I can probably pass it but combination of time limitation including lack of practice area makes it harder for me. I have just discovered this forum and hoping for a tip. I realy want to pass my April Exam. Thanks

 

[Qshake]

You can find numerous publications available for study to pass the Seismic portion of the exam. Some that come to mind are:

Professional Publications Inc - look them up on the web,
Michael Lindberg - Several PE reference books
Alan Williams - Structural Engineers Exam Handbook
242 Solved Structural Exam Problems

Also, see if your neighborhood ASCE or SEA has review classes.



Regards,
Qshake

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[crossframe]

Look for PE review courses. Ones that cover only the seismic exam would be shorter/cheaper. Cal State Long Beach and Sacramento State used to offer PE review courses. I would imagine other universities would as well, if you're not near those. Check out the SEAOC website as well.

 

[cvg]

Cal-Poly Pomona used to offer a review class and I think it was also sponsored by Caltrans. The Uniform Building Code has extensive coverage of seismic requirements. When I took the exam, knowledge of the building code was essential.

General principles to study include:

* knowledge of proper detailing for anchor connections to foundations and roof

* shear wall design / analysis

* lateral force and base shear transferred from ground motion into a structure

* overturning moment calculation

* analysis of flexible and rigid diaphrams

 

[Hoagie]

There is a guy named Steve Hiner charters a seminar: Check this link:

http://www.seismicreview.com/index.html

It's a 4 part seminar for (only) the Cal Seismic exam....I have taken the review course twice...and the test 3 times... I am not proud; you are not alone LOL.

 

[Focht3]

Took the seismic twice; the first was developed by the Board, second by the test service. The first one was terribly obscure - not sure why a geotechnical engineer needs to know how to detail a roof to wall connection. A really poorly considered problem.

The second test covered seismic design concepts, not details. In particular I recall one about how to distribute shear forces in a building where the wall stiffnesses were provided.

I borrowed a book from one of the review courses (Don Coduto's) after I failed the first exam. For me, the book was enough. But many others benefited from the course itself -



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