Taking the PE Exam April 13, Have Questions 1

[EPCI-Steel]

I am going to take the April 13 PE Exam.
Civil breadth and construction depth.
I am an engineer with 14 years experience, 4 in structural design and 10 in design, fabrication, transport and installation of offshore structures.
Now I find myself working as consultant (3rd party review and onsite verification) for critical lifting operations, transports and construction (Also a CWI).
I have aspirations of starting my own engineering / fab / construction company hence the need for a PE.

For those of you who have taken the PE Exam recently, especially those who used a prep course, I have some questions:

The NCEES recommended construction design standards for this exam include ASCE 37, ACI MNL-15, ACI 347R, and ACI SP-4.
ACI is pretty proud of their codes, and buying these codes just for the exam is a bitter pill to swallow. I know 2 others who took this same exam solely with their review course notes as reference material and passed with no problem. I like being prepared but I'm on the fence here.

So for those of you who took this exam did you find it necessary to have these codes for the afternoon portion? Or do you think I'll be OK without them? If it helps any I'm doing the school of PE review course.

 

[WARose]

I haven't taken the civil exam.....but I know this: if you show up without a design standard NCEES calls out for the exam.....you are running a risk. Even showing up with a older code is running a risk. We talk about that in the thread below.

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=433555

 

[Guastavino]

EPCI,

To answer your question, if you know the codes well, likely not critical to have them.

Other musings you didn't ask for but hopefully will be helpful:

1. You say you are an engineer. Technically, if you are in the US, most states (if not all) won't let you legally call yourself that until you are a PE. Kind of like you can't call yourself a doctor. This isn't enforced much at all, at least not in my state, but be careful where you use that language. You could get yourself into trouble with an engineering board. Not likely to happen, but you will appreciate this distinction once you are licensed and a "Facility engineer" tries to overrule you.

2. If you think those codes are expensive, owning your own company is something you'll need to do a lot more research on. No offense here, but insurance costs, software, office equipment, etc. are much, much higher. Codes are a drop in the bucket.

3. I took the PE and the SE. I passed the SE vertical on the first try. Then I took the PE the next time it was offered on a Friday, and took the SE lateral the next day on Saturday. So literally, I took them back to back. The PE was a joke compared to the SE exam...and I don't remember using my references much, if at all. For the SE, I used them a lot more. I would guess that most of the review stuff you have will have what you need to pass a PE exam.

4. Honestly, I thought going into the SE exam that I would be able to look up things I didn't know if I just had the reference. Wasn't true for me. I had to know things or I ran out of time. For the PE, I finished early though. So it's possible you could "learn and apply" something on the fly for the PE. What I'm getting at is that it is more key to know what's in the codes, than to have them nearby you. Hopefully your class will do that.

 

[CCox]

I took the civil PE exam and the SE exams. I took the structural depth component on the PE exam. I don't remember using the codes much on the PE exam. Same as Guastavino said. They really tested my ability to know what was in the codes.

However, it just might make a difference if you have the code books ready and it will help you answer that one or two questions correctly. I remember on the SE exam they asked questions on bridge design. The bridge design manual is over 1000 pages. I took this into the exam and it actually helped me answer some questions on the multiple choice portion of the exam. I was thankful to have that book. I used for that one exam and have never used it since.

 

[CCox]

Also, this is really funny. I had 10 minutes to go on the SE exam and one long answer problem to answer still. It was a concrete corbel. I had never designed one in my life. I turned to an example in the structural reference manual I brought and amazingly there it was. The exact problem, with only the reaction different. I mass copied the solution changing the reaction. I couldn't believe it. That book was a saving grace

 

[EPCI-Steel]

Thanks for the feedback. Although I use structural as a label because there is no construction option here, I have no delusions of being able to sit for an SE exam. Also I didn't want to be associated with those environmental types what with their giant beards and their kale..........