CIVIL PE EXAM
CIVIL PE EXAM
(OP)
I will be taking the PE Exam in April and I am not familiar with Timber Design as it was never taught in school. Any helpful hints on how to approach timber design problems in the PE exam? Also, I will be taking the CA Seismic and Surveying exam for the civil PE exam. I heard that the seismic exam is very hard and I am not very familiar with it. Can anybody help me?






RE: CIVIL PE EXAM
A good book I have is "Design of Wood Structures", by Donald E. Breyer (McGraw-Hill). Look here:
http://www.knovel.com/knovel2/publishers.jsp?PublisherID=10#589
For the California PE - there are some good study books published by Professional Publications, Inc.
"Seismic Principles Practice Exams for the California Special Civil Engineer Examination", by Majid Baradar, PE
"Surveying Principles for Civil Engineers", by Paul A. Cuomo, PLS
"Civil Surveying Practice Exam for the California Special Civil Engineer Examination", by James R. Monroe, Jr. PE.
Look here for these:
www.ppi2pass.com
RE: CIVIL PE EXAM
RE: CIVIL PE EXAM
I know there's some California engineers on this site out there that can speak further on this for Calfornia. Anyone?
RE: CIVIL PE EXAM
RE: CIVIL PE EXAM
RE: CIVIL PE EXAM
RE: CIVIL PE EXAM
The SE-2 seemed to test for your depth of knowledge - how deep do you understand a particular topic.
You can apparently pass either the morning or afternoon sessions and if either are failed, then you only re-take the half test that was failed.
RE: CIVIL PE EXAM
For wood design preparation for the PE in California, the text book of choice is the "Design of Wood Structures ASD" by Breyer. 4th Edition, I think is the latest.
Seismic is the hurdle many non-building engineers face. If you know of a peer who is practicing structural engineering also taking the exam, you may schedule a study session with him so he can tell you everything he knows. A friend of mine who just couldnt pass the seismic portion did just that with me, had a weekend and a day worth of intense study session, he passed. Your friend will probably benefit also when he explains the concepts to you and reinforce his own knoeledge base.
Once you obtain a PE Civil in California, you need a minimum of 36 months of experience under an SE (or have 3 SE's to validate your work in structural field). SE exam is two 8 hour sessions. You either pass or fail. You cant pass one portion and not take it again like the PE Exam.
For more info, try http://www.dca.ca.gov/pels/e_exam.htm
Just out of curiosity, are you working in California?
RE: CIVIL PE EXAM
is another one. Get the required NDS standards also http://www.awc.org/Standards/nds.html.
The best advice I can give you is to make a step by step guide to solve each kind of problem. This was particularly helpful for me with wood. Wood is not that hard, it's just easy to forget to include all the factors. And the SE-1 exam will definitely try to trip you up on that.
RE: CIVIL PE EXAM
RE: CIVIL PE EXAM
I never had the luxury of attending the Long Beach exam prep sessions in the past. I have heard mixed reactions to the review courses. It is costly. I think you get 10 or so volumes of thick design aids when you pay for the course. Author is Chelapati. Look into this or try to find someone who owns these books.
Another good overview (despite many errors) is from Alan Williams. He has a series of books published for Structural Engineering, Seismic Design, etc.
If wood is what you're after, buy Breyer's. Then add supplemental boks afterwards. Also, NDS97 is a must.
Good luck!