NCEES Specification on

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I am pretty pissed about this. I have been preparing for WR for next April for a couple months now. And suddenly they change the format. They should have announced it now for April 2009, not this next exam. There are no problem books for this stuff and the CERM doesn't have anything really either.

 
just do what other people in design do, just add a note to "fix on construction"

 
My favorite is the note on my current set of drawings (from the civil engineer) - "Retaining Wall - provide design by a licensed NJ PE"... Ummm, I thought you were the f'ing design engineer, not me... I am just the lowly GC.

 
The best note I was intructed to put on plans "Grade to Drain"

So after a couple weeks of designing the storm sewer to specifc grades and inverts all the water coming to the system is handled by "Grade to Drain," drain to where?

 
The best note I was intructed to put on plans "Grade to Drain"So after a couple weeks of designing the storm sewer to specifc grades and inverts all the water coming to the system is handled by "Grade to Drain," drain to where?
Hey! I use that one!

 
The one I'm guilty of is when designing a storm drain or sewer or something that has to connect into an existing system. I just say "connect to existing" instead of actually putting the thought into telling them what elevation to come in at or how to core into an existing manhole.

 
My coworker gave me a book that she said should cover everything they might ask. It had everything but asphalt testing on it- of course I left it at home but I'll post tonight or tomorrow the name of it. It was basic but thorough.

Also, the new NCEES practice exam should be a good review. It's my birthday present, so as soon as they release it (fyi, release date delayed til 11-12 as of this morning) I *might* copy it and have a pdf version. Of course sharing it would be breaking copyright laws and such so I would never do such a thing, but a girl's gotta have a backup, right?

As long as you have a reference for everything they ask on that test, you should be fine. And if they ask something else, no one else will know it either ;-)

 
A good portion of what is listed in the new spec looks like it comes from other disciplines of tests past - quantity take-off, economics, etc. Some of the stuff looks rather new (OSHA, safety, temp. erosion controls, crane selection). I think over the next few months people will start collecting and posting resources for here to help with the newer items that show up in this section. I know I would be interested in having some of the material or references people may post and if I can find anything to help with some of the odd and end sections, I will post it here as well.

-Ray

 
My favorite is the note on my current set of drawings (from the civil engineer) - "Retaining Wall - provide design by a licensed NJ PE"... Ummm, I thought you were the f'ing design engineer, not me... I am just the lowly GC.
I am reviewing a preliminary estimate of probable cost for extending a bulkhead into a navigable waterway. You'll love the breakdown provided in a table that fits 1/2 page of 1 sheet of paper:

Predesign/Permitting $50K/LS

Mobilization $75K/LS

Equipment for new bulkhead $468K/ mon x 3 mon = 1,404K

Materials for new bulkhead $11/sf x 60,000 sf = $660K

Detwatering $6K/LS

Residual (water) treatment $0.05/gal x 1.3 MG = $65K

Excavation for 1-ft sediment $20/cy x 4,000 cy = $80K

Portland Cement Additive $20/cy x 4,000 cy = $80K

Material for backfill placement $10/ton x 167,000 tons = 1,670K

Truck suface $42/sy x 3,333 sy = $140K

Aggregate surface $5/sy x 10,000 sy = $50K

Total Project Costs = $4,510,000

Add 20% Design, 20% Contingency Fee

Total Opinion for Preliminary Costs = $6,494,400

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

I was asked to verify these costs ...

I was like ... um .. yeah. :blink:

JR

 
I would imagine that with the number of people likely to be listening that there would be minimal (if any) interaction. As with some tele-seminars I have been at, you can call in and you are put on hold until your call is taken (if even at all).

 
^^^ Good point Ray. I have found myself in the same boat with the web-based seminars as well.

JR

 
Well I'll try and get the list of good references started for the construction depth module. A really good reference text for equipment selection, production and cost is "Construction Planning, Equipment and Methods" by R.L. Peurifoy; ISBN-13: 9780072964202. I got the 2nd edition of this book for my heavy construction class iwhen I was in college and have used it during my 18 years in heavy civil construction.

 
They did not specify clearly how could we participate thru the web... any idea?
The seminar was yesterday and I wasn't able to catch it so I'm not sure how it worked or what was said.

My guess is that everyone at NCESS dropped EVERYTHING important they were working on beginning October 26th in order to work out all of the kinks in the webinar. If you saw the evaluation forms NCEES fills out and reports on for their functions in the last newsletter, they'll ALL be evaluating the seminar for the next week, and then probably hold a 2 day meeting to discuss the evaluations and make recomendations. I'm saying we lost a good 3 weeks on exam results due to the preparation for this thing.

 
Is anyone else from here going to listen in on this?

I am going to try to do some work while it is on, but plan on taking a couple of notes and/or posting some thoughts about it on here later.

-Ray

 
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