PE Exam
PE Exam
(OP)
I'm going to be taking my PE exam for the first time in April 2016. I've been out of school for a while now and have concerns about studying for the exam. Can anyone recommend a review course?
Thanks
Thanks
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RE: PE Exam
Decide what afternoon exam you are going to take early on.
Develop a study schedule and stick to it. I divided my study time up by topics on the exam and set hard dates for starting and finishing each topic.
Spend less time on the topics you don't know. THis sounds counterintuitive, but you aren't learning how to be structural engineer in 3-4 months if you don't already know it. I took the water resources afternoon test, so I spent most of my time on that stuff. I spent a fair amount of time on geotech and transportation because I knew some about those topics. Better to get the stuff you know down pat and get those questions right, than waste time trying to learn something you don't know and probably won't get right anyway.
Take a few days off from studying before the exam. Cramming won't do you any good. Take the week of the exam of and relax. At this point stress and not being rested are your enemies.
Have a few good references and tab key tables, sections, etc. If you go in with 20 books you won't have time to thumb through them all. Know where things are in your reference materials.
If you get stuck on a question, move on to the next one. There are no questions where you need the answer from the previous question and sometimes the next question will give you keys to answer the previous.
RE: PE Exam
Classes probably start this weekend. Hop on it now, you can do live webinars of on-demand.
eet-california.com
Good luck!
RE: PE Exam
Set aside at a minimum 2 1/2 months...try to study at least 2 hours on weekdays, and 5 on the weekends. Tab key chapters, sections etc (very important). If you are not feeling good about your preparation, then take the week off before the test day.
You may be thinking thats a lot of hours of study time but if you are in California and want to pass 8 hour, seismic and survey, you need to IMHO. Other states may be 1 1/2 month is okay.
Good Luck.
RE: PE Exam
RE: PE Exam
RE: PE Exam
RE: PE Exam
RE: PE Exam
RE: PE Exam
I would have preferred to take the EET but the courses are offered at CA times and doesn't work as well for me on the east coast.
RE: PE Exam
You can do it. You're never going to feel ready, even when you're over prepared.
RE: PE Exam
I talked to one of the PADEP regulators who recently passed the exam and she said she studied for 3 three years and failed 2-3 times until she went to SofPE and passed after taking the class. So we'll see.
Appreciate your input Twinkie
RE: PE Exam
RE: PE Exam
Most of what you will need to know is in the Civil Engineering Reference Manual (CERM). You want to be familiar with that book. And you want to make it your #1 tool for the test. Odds are, you will be able to find most of the answers in there. If you know how to find them and how to apply the information in the book.
I (my girl friend actually) tabbed that thing out like you couldn't imagine. Maybe I'll post a picture of it. I had a tab for each chapter with number and name, color coded by section. Each appendix was tabbed as well.
I also got my hands on a PDF of the index and printed it out separately in a binder as a quick reference (also tabbed by first letter), and included in the binder some of the more commonly accessed appendices (tabbed). That way I could rip through the index to look for something while not having to manage the unwieldy CERM on a crowded desk, or having to lose my place in the CERM.
I'm not exaggerating, but I feel these actions doubled if not tripled or better my throughput on accessing information from the CERM during the test which to me was huge on a test of this nature.