Structural Depth Reference Manual

Has anyone used the Structural Depth Reference Manual for studying for the Civil PE Exam Structural Depth?

It seems a tad bit overkill for the PE structural. It covers the same material but questions in mind you wouldn't necessarily encounter

It's better geared to the SE examinees.

I intend to carry a SERM with me during the PM portion this Friday, doubt it will be useful

Ha "overkill" was the first word that came to my mind as well. But I took the PE like 6 years ago so I don't know if things have changed.

SEHQ said:

Ha "overkill" was the first word that came to my mind as well. But I took the PE like 6 years ago so I don't know if things have changed.

Click to expand...

What would you recommend to review?

I bought the Structural Depth Reference along with the 6-minute structural solutions. I never used either.  I studied from the CERM, used the accompanying practice problems book, and felt like that was enough. I supplemented that with my codes and texts for each one and felt like that was enough. (and the ncees practice exam).  I had never taken any of the hydraulics, watershed, or transportation courses but felt time in the CERM with problems was enough.  Didn't do an online review. I found a couple free online online review PDFs but found it was more confusing trying to look at several resources at once instead of just using the CERM. 

Note, you won't use all the chapters if you focus on the structural depth afternoon.   Some of the chapters are more geared towards other areas of afternoon depth so the size looks a little intimidating at first.

I had both the CERM and SERM for both my PE Civil/Structural and both days of the SE since I took them in successive test sessions (and knew or at least intended to do it this way).   The CERM was incredibly useful for the PE (seriously it might as well be a necessity), whereas I didn't use the SERM on the PE exam.  When I took the SE... I still didn't use the SERM.  I think I used the CERM on one of the SE problems, but the rest of the SE questions you're really relying on your codes AISC, ACI, NDS, ASCE, AASHTO, etc.  I guess I wouldn't tell people not to get the SERM, but if I did it again, I wouldn't get the SERM personally.  

The CERM is lacking timber design and adequate masonry design. I like the SERM for those two materials.  And I think the CERM  does a better job preparing for the conceptual questions in the PE Str depth.  I feel like the CERM  bounces around a bit when it comes to soil and Geotech topics.   So you have to be familiar with the three separate areas in the CERM that a soil question might come up in. 

 I would use both to study and bring both fully tabbed to the exam. 

Just to clarify, there is a SDRM (about 80-100 pages) that covers some masonry, concrete, timber(?) topics that aren't really addressed in the CERM.

There's also the massive SERM, meant for the SE exam, which would be overkill (though potentially still useful if you know where things are quickly enough).

For what its worth, I did have the Code Master ASD Masonry design pamphlet from PPI2Pass.  I still use the Code master thingy all the time (basically whenever I'm doing URM or Reinforced CMU design).  I haven't touched the CERM or SERM since I passed the PE and SE exams nor do I ever anticipate using them, although again I still contend the CERM was incredibly valuable for the PE exam.  But the code master ASD CMU design rarely seems to leave my desk, even as basic and simple as that little pamphlet is.

Anyone tried the "All in one Civil Engineering PE breadth and depth exam guide" by Goswami for reference?

I was told that this book is better than the CERM.

I admittedly haven't, but I'd be curious in what you mean by better.  I think I answered probably 34 of the 40 AM questions on the PE Civil/Structural by pretending to be a machine, turning off my thinking hat, and just blindly finding the necessary sections and then equation in the CERM, plugging in the values and moving onto the next question.  Not that the CERM is some flawless document... but it really felt like a cheat code for the AM portion of the PE Civil. I could definitely see other documents being better for real life engineering (as mentioned above, never have used the CERM outside of PE study or test) and maybe something else is better for the exam... but I thought the CERM was pretty handy for the AM portion of the exam at least.