WRE vs Cheme PE exam

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ima777

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Hey I just want to get some other views before I sign up to take the PE. Which one is better to take the ChemE PE or the Civil WRE PE. Most of my experience and projects are in the environmental area, however, I studied Chemical Engineering. 

If there are any other people that took PE exams outside there major that may want to contribute, please do. I guess at the heart of it I want to know: (1) which liscense is the most versatile and (2) which one do you think will continue to be in demand?

 
I was in your shoes Chem by education work was all environmental.  It really is more state specific issue.  are the states you live or looking to get licensed in have licenses specific or are they general and you can stamp within the area of your knowledge.  if it is a knowledge based state then there really isn't one test more versatile, whichever topics you feel more comfortable with.  unless you want to go to a state that is licensed chemical prof. Eng, vs licensed prof. eng.  

I went the chem route because they were going to be WAYYYYYYY too many more subjects I would have to self teach.  

 
I was also just 4yrs out of school, if you have been working for YEARS the environmental or other may not be as bad.  I think being chem the civil WRE might be harder studying than the environmental though...that whole civil eng part would mean more topics with no education to aid.  At least environmental and chemical have many overlapping similarities

 
I passed both the environmental exam (which i realize isn't quite the same as the civil WRE exam) and the chemical exam and have some insights/comments for what its worth:  

My background is in applied physical chemistry (MS) and my work experience is in environmental engineering.  I took and passed the environmental exam and few years later took and passed the chemical exam.  I think the environmental is more versatile,however I draw on both disciplines in environmental engineering work. 

With respect to the exams, I thought the environmental exam was significantly harder than the chemical exam, primarily because of the breadth of environmental topics (scenarios in water, air, remediation, health/safety, etc); I thought the chemical was relatively straightforward (know and be able to apply the concepts to the exam question scenarios).  With respect to study time, I probably studied about 100 hours more for the environmental than the chemical, however I agree that there is some overlap in the knowledge areas between the two disciplines (fluid dynamics, VLE, etc.), and that may have accounted for the decreased study time for the chemical exam prep.  If I had to do it over, I probably would have done the chemical exam first.  I hope this helps and good luck!

 
snickerd3 said:
I was also just 4yrs out of school, if you have been working for YEARS the environmental or other may not be as bad.  I think being chem the civil WRE might be harder studying than the environmental though...that whole civil eng part would mean more topics with no education to aid.  At least environmental and chemical have many overlapping similarities
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My choice really comes down to practice material. There's simply more practice material available for WRE.

Thanks for your response.

 
joeenv said:
I passed both the environmental exam (which i realize isn't quite the same as the civil WRE exam) and the chemical exam and have some insights/comments for what its worth:  

My background is in applied physical chemistry (MS) and my work experience is in environmental engineering.  I took and passed the environmental exam and few years later took and passed the chemical exam.  I think the environmental is more versatile,however I draw on both disciplines in environmental engineering work. 

With respect to the exams, I thought the environmental exam was significantly harder than the chemical exam, primarily because of the breadth of environmental topics (scenarios in water, air, remediation, health/safety, etc); I thought the chemical was relatively straightforward (know and be able to apply the concepts to the exam question scenarios).  With respect to study time, I probably studied about 100 hours more for the environmental than the chemical, however I agree that there is some overlap in the knowledge areas between the two disciplines (fluid dynamics, VLE, etc.), and that may have accounted for the decreased study time for the chemical exam prep.  If I had to do it over, I probably would have done the chemical exam first.  I hope this helps and good luck!
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Here's the thing you still need to know WRE for the environmental. The big difference is the number of questions and that you need to learn some CivE topics. CivE is kind of fun because it has less theory. 

You have given me some strategies to think about. Congrats on passing both though.

 

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