How to study for the PE Exam?
How to study for the PE Exam?
(OP)
What are some general tips/advice to pass this exam? I graduated college less than a year ago and want to take the PE Exam before too long. I will be taking the Civil exam, probably transportation discipline.





RE: How to study for the PE Exam?
RE: How to study for the PE Exam?
RE: How to study for the PE Exam?
Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto: KISS
Motivation: Don't ask
RE: How to study for the PE Exam?
http://www.ncees.org/Exams/PE_exam.php
RE: How to study for the PE Exam?
Most folks typically take a PE review course, which can run a month or two tops on Saturdays at your local technical college, then spend about a month or two studying an hour a night. Take 2 days off work going into the exam to study, but don't cram the night before. Spend the last evening organizing your notes and creating an index of where to find stuff. Get the big Blue Book that everybody gets.
Hydrology, Drainage Analysis, Flood Studies, and Complex Stormwater Litigation for Atlanta and the South East - http://www.campbellcivil.com
RE: How to study for the PE Exam?
I don't know if it's true, but I've heard that unless you really spend a lot of time in one of the other disciplines, you should take the hydrology afternoon session. It supposedly has the most straight forward questions. That's what I did.
RE: How to study for the PE Exam?
Fortunately, my mother-in-law lived nearby, so I could study for a few hours after work, and I passed the exam.
RE: How to study for the PE Exam?
If you're 3 years away, one thing you do need to start looking at now is making sure you'll have enough PE recommendations to apply. I know some people who get out and either don't work under a PE, or work under one for the entire time, and don't have enough recommendations. The process sort of forces you to job hop in some instances, if you're not at a big firm.
Hydrology, Drainage Analysis, Flood Studies, and Complex Stormwater Litigation for Atlanta and the South East - http://www.campbellcivil.com
RE: How to study for the PE Exam?
There were other people from our design office taking the exam at the same time, and they also were not taking the structural option even though they were working as structural designers. They'd been warned by structural PhDs to avoid it! It is very weird that one option out of five (or now six?) is significantly harder than the rest, with no different certification to show for it. I should have known structural best and yet I had trouble with it, then got a 96 on geotech after two undergrad courses and a day and a half of specialized preparation. Something not right there. But I digress.
For transpo, get the MUTCD and whatever other manuals you need (isn't there something with runoff tables? It's been a while), work through the Lindeberg text and the PPI2PASS CD--ROM, and you should be okay. I think NCEES also publishes workbooks with sample questions for the various afternoon sessions. The questions in the books and the CD-ROM will give you a good idea of which manuals you'll need. If you get time to take a real-life prep class on top of that, you should be golden.
It doesn't hurt to prep for more than one of the different afternoon options and then leaf through them day of the exam and pick the one that looks most agreeable with your current state of mind.
Hg
Eng-Tips policies: FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
RE: How to study for the PE Exam?
Both have message boards geared towards the PE exams. PPI is the publisher of the Lindburg reference manuals. I prefer the message boards on engineerboards for exam prep questions.
-Dustin
Professional Engineer
Pretty good with SolidWorks
RE: How to study for the PE Exam?
What helped me pass the exam was the same thing that I found effective in college and in my professional career. Teamwork. Hook up with a couple of other people from a review course. Outside of the class, set up a time for everyone to get together and work problems. It helps keep you accountable for studying and putting in the work. It also helps by getting others advice and help in reviewing some material that you haven't seen in a couple of years. I studied with three other guys who were going for our mechanical PE. My specialty was Machine Design, another guy was strong with Thermodynamics and Cycles, another was good at the Engineering Economics portion. Out of the four of us all four now carry our PE licenses. Good luck and work the problems.....
Regards,
Rich.....
Richard Nornhold, PE
http://www.personna.com