PE Civil Structural Exam

[VSS Engineering]

I recently took the SE Lateral exams this spring, and will be taking the vertical portions this fall; I will be taking the PE Civil Structural exam in a month, as I figured studying and taking this exam will only benefit me in taking the SE later this year.

It's a bit unclear to me what topics are actually on the PE Civil Structural exam. On the practice exam provided by NCEES, nearly all questions are structural related with a handful relating to civil/geotech. I have a couple 3rd party review books that have a much broader spectrum of topics (Hydraulics, environmental, transportation, surveying, etc.). Will there be this wide range of topics on the actual exam or is the NCEES practice exam more representative of what to expect on the exam?

Thanks

 

[canwesteng]

They recently changed these to be structural only. If you felt moderately confident with the lateral exams and are already studying for the vertical, you don't need to study for the PE. Having gone in quick succession PE>SE vertical (B+D) (holding off on vert D until next spring with the longer test), I will say that the jump in difficulty is massive. I finished the PE about 3 hours early and knew I passed walking out of the exam, and on vertical depth I was down to the second to finish and am very unsure of my results.

 

[VSS Engineering]

They recently changed these to be structural only. If you felt moderately confident with the lateral exams and are already studying for the vertical, you don't need to study for the PE. Having gone in quick succession PE>SE vertical (B+D) (holding off on vert D until next spring with the longer test), I will say that the jump in difficulty is massive. I finished the PE about 3 hours early and knew I passed walking out of the exam, and on vertical depth I was down to the second to finish and am very unsure of my results.

Thanks. I managed to pass the breadth lateral this spring, still waiting on results for the depth. I was down to the last second on both of those exams. I have began studying for the vertical portions and have found the PE Civil Structural practice exam to be very rudimentary compared to the SE exam prep.

 

[RenHen]

I just passed the newer version of the PE Civil Structural exam last August, and found the NCEES practice exam to be very respresentative. If I recall correctly, there is also a summary of the subjects covered along with approximate quantities of questions for each subject in the first few pages of the NCEES reference book that you get access to after registering (or somewhere else in there...).

 

[Luceid]

Agreed with above ^ the NCEES practice exam is by far the closest to reality. Other books I did practice questions with were significantly more difficult and had me really struggling to manage time