How to carry in the reference materials?

What's the best method? A roll cart...? Any tips?

Thanks.

You might try one of these "Mobile Folding File Carts" I have seen them at Office Depot / Staples / Office Max. Besides what you can put inside, you can stack books on top. And it only cost about $20.



Just don't try to bring too much (i.e. more than you will need). You need to figure out how far you will have to drag your stuff - it may be a good distance from the parking lot to the exam room.

Just some thoughts ...

Best wishes,

MRDPE

http://TheProfessionalEngineer.com

MRDPE said:

You might try one of these "Mobile Folding File Carts" I have seen them at Office Depot / Staples / Office Max. Besides what you can put inside, you can stack books on top. And it only cost about $20.

Just don't try to bring too much (i.e. more than you will need). You need to figure out how far you will have to drag your stuff - it may be a good distance from the parking lot to the exam room.

Just some thoughts ...

Best wishes,

MRDPE

http://TheProfessionalEngineer.com

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Thanks. I was thinking of getting on of these.

Don't forget the huge plastic trash bag to cover everything in case it's raining.

Why buy anything? Just use a suitcase with wheels - no lifting and can carry lot of books!

Something else to consider is where you will put your carrier during the exam. A very big suitcase could be difficult to store.

I used two milk crates. I had the spine of all my books pointed up in the crates so that I could easily identify and access any reference I wanted. The downside to this was it was pretty heavy, and I opted to just go ahead and carry them rather then fool around with a hand truck. I only ended up using one crate's worth of books, so I could have cut back on the number of references I brought and lightened the load, but I felt better knowing I had all my references at my disposal during the exam.

I thought about using a suitcase, but I found that my references really didn't fit well in one and if I need to access one at the bottom I'd have to do some digging to get to it.

I used a large cardboard box with a portable hand truck. I made sure I could see the spines of all the books in the one box so I didn't have to swap back and forth between boxes. I probably brought 20 books. And like Mary said, make sure you bring a plastic bag in case of rain.

I had a handtruck with three milk crates (two large - same size; one smaller unit). I was able to lay the hand truck down with the two large crates on top with the books facing up and use it like a file drawer... the smaller crate was on the table top and had my CERM, discipline specific books, engineering unit conversion book, and a few other references in it.

There were a number of hand trucks there on exam day... some people preferred to park them off to the side, I liked being able to use mine as a file drawer.

Oh yeah... plastic bags like everyone else has said... thankfully my exam day was 65 and sunny.

bigray76 said:

There were a number of hand trucks there on exam day... some people preferred to park them off to the side, I liked being able to use mine as a file drawer.

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We were required to keep all reference materials and personal items out of the isles. They had to be on our desks or under our desks during the exam.

Have the office intern hand carry everything in for you!

I just threw everything in a giant soft-sided duffle bag and toted it in. I put my coat, water bottle, personal stuff in there during the test. I sat in the back of the room and just propped it against the back wall.

Anytime I reached into it during the exam, I made sure I was totally obvious about it so no one thought I was up to any funny business.

mAry :) said:

Something else to consider is where you will put your carrier during the exam. A very big suitcase could be difficult to store.

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I might take my first PE exam in CA (I lived in NY). Therefore I might bring suitcase with wheel to bring all my clothing, books, and some documentations. The question is can I bring that to the test center since I will stright go to airport after the exam (check out from hotel in the morning before the exam). Thanks!

roadwreck said:

We were required to keep all reference materials and personal items out of the isles. They had to be on our desks or under our desks during the exam.

Click to expand...

We had large folding tables, so I was able to keep my handtruck on the ground underneath the table without it being in the aisle... some people had massive hand trucks (they'd be street legal if they had license plates)... my hand truck wasn't that large.

I used luggage for my exams. It seemed to work for me.

If I could do it all over I would take a look at using milk crates & a dolly though.

MRDPE said:

You might try one of these "Mobile Folding File Carts" I have seen them at Office Depot / Staples / Office Max. Besides what you can put inside, you can stack books on top. And it only cost about $20.

Just don't try to bring too much (i.e. more than you will need). You need to figure out how far you will have to drag your stuff - it may be a good distance from the parking lot to the exam room.

Just some thoughts ...

Best wishes,

MRDPE

http://TheProfessionalEngineer.com

Click to expand...

Haha, I used one of those!...

I also got another little plastic box that would fit on top of it (also at office depot).

I didn't use a suitcase because I wanted to see all of my references and didn't want to have to dig for them. I've also heard a lot of people using milk crates. Honestly, after studying I only used the books that I'd thought I would. There were a lot that I brought, just in case, and never opened. So I think if i really got down to it I probably could have fit everything in one box.

My vote is for the milk crates...that's what I ended up using. I ended up with two of them, books facing out like others have suggested. I used a folding luggage cart to haul them in and once I was there I just stacked one on top of the other so it was like having a little bookshelf right next to my seat. The books I used the most when I was studying went on the top "shelf" and the ones that were just-in-case went on the bottom. This ended up being a very good idea because our tables weren't very wide so you didn't have room for much on the table making quick access to and stowage of books very helpful. Another bonus is that after the exam your books are basically packed for easy storage since you (hopefully) won't be needing them again.

mAry :) said:

Something else to consider is where you will put your carrier during the exam. A very big suitcase could be difficult to store.

Click to expand...

Don't forget to put a spare set of keys around you neck...in case you lock your keys in your car. And a wire hanger in case you also lock your spare set in there too. And a 6' piece of rope for who knows what.

But seriously...I used a suitcase and it worked great.

What I did was use meduim size suitcase that had wheels. It was a bit heavy but it cuold take the hassle up and down. In the exam I placed it beside the table I was using and it bothered no one. You must also remember if you are in doubt about any topic its best to have the book inside the exam searching rather than the normal if I only knew syndrome. Remember your references should be wide as the exams questions can come from anywhere and normally its those areas which you think dont matter too much.

BPCW said:

...And a 6' piece of rope for who knows what. ...

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The 6' piece of rope serves a very important purpose. It is to be used after the exam if you feel like you punted the exam.

:hang:

If you plan on bicycling to the site, then I recommend one of these... http://www.bobgear.com/trailers/ (that was my original plan but it was raining). So I opted for the milk crate and tow dolly approach. They would not let you keep the crates or the dolly next to or on the table so all books went on the table and the crates and dolly went to the back of the room. Unless you plan on using the milk crate with the built in wheels and handle a bunch of times, I would recommend just borrowing some milk crates from the back of the grocery store (make sure you put them back because this is only partially legal) and getting yourself a nice hand truck that you can use next time you are moving something heavy. Why spend your money on something you will only use once (hopefully).