PE Exam Study Materials 1

[civilbjp]

I am taking the PE Exam in Civil Engineering in October of this year. I have received everything under the sun from companies saying their PE exam study guides are preferred for preparation of the exam.

I am looking for some advice from other colleagues. I would like to know what other engineers recommend or have used to prepare for the exam. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[BobPE]

pinnowb:

I hear a lot of prospective PE's talking about getting ready for the exam. I took it cold and did ok. I think the biggest difference is that I knew my text books. Where to find things, formulas, variables, and similar problems. A lot of people say they study and cram, but I really believe that you already know the stuff that will be on the exam just from your training. Having a non pressured attitude when you walk in is the most important and I remeber taking it that there were all sorts of people still studying in the parking lot. It is a grueling exam and you will pretty much feel a bit worse that you did after the EIT exam.

I think the most improtant thing you can do is bring bottled water, I went through a gallon and the pee breaks were a very welcome break in the action since you were forced to take a break and could regroup!!!!

As I remember the easiest part of the exam was the ethics parts followed by the engineering economics parts of the problems. I do recall a first order diff eq in one problem. I took the Environmental Exam by the way....

Good luck and don't sweat it....remember, the state will take your money again to reseat you at the next exam!!! LOL

BobPE

 

[cvg]

BobPE hit most of the high points. I took a class which was valuable as we were given sample tests and a refresher on all subjects. I also found that studying the subjects that I did not specialize in helped my overall confidence. You may be faced with doing a test problem that isn't in your specialty. I was able to do a sewage treatment plant design, even though I specialize in water and drainage. Work a lot of sample problems, you may get lucky and get the same problem on your test. As Bob said, know where to find it in the books. You don't want to be flipping through books to find the right equation. Ethics was a take home exam in California.

I took the Civil plus the special seismic and survey sections in California. Seismic was the toughest...

 

[catsailor]

I took civil/structural and found that the best thing that I did was to do as many problems that I could get my hands on. I found the Lindberg series to be an excellent reference - great index. I also had the practice exam problems. Problems, problems, problems, after that do some more.

 

[gibfrog]

I passed my PE on the first try (Civil) with a high grade, 18 years out of a foreign school (the Technion, Isreal Institute of Technology, BSChE ). Here is what I did.
1) Get a good calculator that you know how to use. Use it to study with. I have two TI-89's. The equation solver and the equation history helped alot. They really were more help on the EIT, but I pre-programmed linear interpolation and it helped also.
2) Go to the

http://WWW.NCEES.ORG

website and buy the sample exam. About 20% of the questions or some very simmilar ones will be on the exam.
3) Go to

http://www.ppi2pass.com

3a) Buy CERM and the solution manual (civil engineer's reference manual), it is the only book you need to pass the Civil, water. I reviewed the whole book and solved every problem except for structural. I bought many other books, but I found everything I needed in CERM except for some structural data.
3b.) Sign up for the PASSING ZONE ~100$. This is an internet review course for the exam. An unbeatable deal.
3c.) Use the other resources at ppi2pass website, including the exam forum, website links, what past examiniees have to say etc..
4) Buy a pillow for your butt. Some one offered my 31$ for mine just before the exam.
5) Study, study and study.

Best of Luck.....

Clifford H Laubstein
FL PE 58662

 

[civilbjp]

Thanks for all your help. I already feel alot more at ease about the exam.

 

[chicopee]

THE WAY I PREPARED FOR PARTS I & II WAS BY REDOING PRACTICALLY ALL OF THE EXCERCISES IN MY TEXTBOOKS, PERRY AND KENT SERIES HANDBOOKS, AND BY TAKING A REFRESHER COURSE AS I BEEN OUT OF SCHOOL FOR 10 YEARS. I ALSO HAD DECIDED ON A SIX MONTH TIME FRAME TO COMPLETE THE ABOVE OBJECTIVE AS I HAD A FAMILY TO CARE FOR. THE TIME SPENT WAS WORSE IT.

 

[gtrainor]

I'm with CATSAILOR and most of the rest. I studied my brains out for 4 months prior to the date by doing problems over and over... BobPE, got to hand it to you for taking it cold. I'ld still be taking it today if I had done that. Borrow an extra calculator (same as yours) and put in fresh batteries. Can anyone recall someone saying that their calculator went south in the test (happens a lot)? Take practice timed exams. Take time off from studying a few days prior and get some rest. When you open the exam DON'T START WITH THE FIRST PROBLEM! Go to the easiest first. There would be a heck of a lot more registered engineers around had they didn't start with the most difficult first and had no time left for the easy ones. Some of the reference material will have excellent pointers in preparing. Just practicing the strategy will get you 10 points.

 

[jugglerbri]

Get the Civil Engineering Reference Manual!!!!! I can't stress that one enough. There's a study guide in the front. Follow it and you should do well. Do all the practice problems. I can't stess enough how helpful the CERM is (

http://www.ppi2pass.com).

I only used one other book during the test.

Brian

 

[BobPE]

gtrainor had a good point, I read the exam first, planning out the problems by putting tick markes next to them in some kind of way that made sense to me at the time. I answered the easy ones as I read, marked the ones I knew I could look up and do, and left the others to further research in my books. I also ticked problems where I founed an answer and wasnt sure, I came back to those at the end while waiting for time to run out.

Good luck...

BobPE

 

[dpa]

First of all I would like to point out that all the people who told me that the PE was a lot easier than the EIT were absolutely correct!

My advice is forget your textbooks. They are too full of derivations and esoteric information. It's all stuff you need to know for developing background and thinking skills but few practical applications.

When I took the PE my background was almost entirely in steel and aluminum structures, ship stability, and drydocking with some hydraulic machinery design (not a subject for the Civil PE) and some minor septic system design. There was only one structural problem the whole day. Talk about panic. But I passed in one try thanks to the advice of a friend.

My friend told me to get the Civil Engineering Reference Manual by Michael R. Lindeburg PE. It is essentially the official reference for the PE exam. Without it I would have gotten NO POINTS WHATSOEVER on the exam except for the structural problem which, for me at least, was a gimme.

Most university book stores that are not strictly liberal arts colleges (shouldn't those be called BS degrees?) will have this book. Two identical calculators with spare batteries and maybe an engineering handbook with lots of tables is all you need. I had a total of maybe four books. The proverbial guy with a hand truck loaded with about 300 lbs of books (I am not kidding) did show up (late) and got a laugh. Maybe it was just a practical joke staged by the exam people but he did look worried.

Good luck, it is not as hard as you think.
DPA

 

[cr1973]

Get the Lindeburg Civil Engineering Reference Manual, that baby has everything you need more or less.

I studied 10 days before the exam and passed with a 79 (i think) with a 70 being passing.

It's not THAT bad, just relax and don't get psyched out. I took it last october and didn't get my passing letter and cert. until February sometime...

 

[Focht3]

I'm with [blue]BobPE[/blue] and [blue]cvg[/blue] on this one. Took my FE exam 10 years after I received my BSCE. I was running a new office for a firm in California, been married about a year, had an 8 year old stepson - no study time at all. Spent about 2 or 3 hours looking through my old textbooks the evening before, got a good night's sleep - passed it the first time. But I test well...

The California special exams were a twist. The survey exam took 7 minutes - literally. It was a vertical curve problem. Seismic was a different story; had to take it a second time. That was the only test that I needed study materials in order to pass.



Please see FAQ731-376 by [blue]VPL[/blue] for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

 

[chicopee]

Let us know how you did in the exam- pass or fail-