Suggested References, Practice Problems, and Study Strategy

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Just completed the PE Oct 25, 2013, Water Resources and Enviro. I've read some great suggestions on here, and I didn't want to simply take from this Board without providing something in return.

I've yet to find a comprehensive post like this one, where it simply answers many questions future-PE takers have. I'll try to be as succinct as I can, while providing enough detail.

Suggested References

AM

  • 100% CERM (best civil engineering reference out there)

PM

  • 75% CERM
  • 15% Wasterwater Engineering (Metcalf and Eddy)
  • 10% Environmental Engineering (Davis Cornwell)
Do Nots

  • Bought Hydrology and Hydraulics by Gupta, big waste of money. Horrible index, and very similar to CERM. Could may have used it for one question, but was also answered in CERM
  • I also bought the Water Resources and Environmental Depth Reference manual (CEWE) by Brant and Kauffman, another huge waste of money. Very very similar to CERM, no value add. Left at home
  • I can only comment on these two since I own them. I do not think it is imperative to own any other reference material


Practice Problems

Though 3 of the 4 suggested practice problem books are more in depth than the actual PE, I highly suggest still practicing with each one. There are many mutually exclusive practice problems that may not be covered by the other 3 and is covered in one of them. Its all about exposure to as wide a variety of practice problems as possible.

  • Six Minute Solutions - Great study material, but is much more in depth than the actual PE. Though these questions may not show up in whole on the exam, parts of a problem may. Important to have a pretty good understanding of the problems overall. Few of the problems in here are ridiculous, but good to at least be aware of different questions
  • Practice Problems, CERM Companion - Another great study material. Stick to the subjects that are covered on the PE. CERM has many additional topics that will not be tested on in PE. These practice problems are more in depth than the actual PE, but again could show up in part on the Exam
  • Civil PE Sample Examination (CESX4) - For some reason really enjoyed this study material. More in depth than the Exam
  • NCEES PE Civil (NCPECW) - This is the one that is an absolute must have. Identical depth to PE! I strongly believe that these are previous Exam questions. I wish I could've found the older version as well to study with

Study Strategy

Having gone through some very intense studying (read CERM cover to cover, skipping very little. Read Wasterwater cover to cover. Read 80% Environmental. Read 70% of Hydrology book. Completed about 350 hours of study in 2.25 months) this is what I would suggest:

Don't be an expert at every problem and every subject. I would highly suggest focusing intensly on 100% of AM and only 75% of PM, with mild focus on the remaining 25% of PM. This way when you're taking the exam, you'll immediately know how to approach majority of the problems, and sometimes not even need to open a book for reference. You'll get those problems out of the way very quickly, and have plenty of time to reference materials for the remaining 25% that you'll put a mild focus on.

Tab your references, but don't over tab. Perhaps get a larger tab with a good amount of space on it, and write down the top 3 - 5 important things from that section. Referencing is absolutely key! I can't emphasize this enough.

When doing the practice problems, struggle as much as your patience can handle with each problem before looking at the solution in the back! This is very important.

I laughed when I saw some of the Hydraulic PE civils coming in with suitcases of books. I came in with only the 3 above and they were plenty. You don't have time to look and look through references. Its stressful enough taking the PE, why stress yourself even more by struggling through piles of books. I completed the AM in 2 hours, and the PM in 2.5 hours. The last half hour of the PM was spent solving 4 problems (my mild focus) which gave me plenty of time to review.

Other

If there is anything I left out that someone would like to know more about, respond and I'll do my best to give a good response. I found this forum very helpful to my studies, and it is important we help guide each other on this journey...without violating ethics of course.

 
Can't edit a post?

Modifying my PM reference usage to:

  • 90% CERM
  • 7% Wasterwater (Metcalf and Eddy)
  • 3% Enviro (Davis and Cornwell)
After thinking about it a bit more, really CERM is the man!

 
Great post! I remember using the CERM the most as well.

Question: About what percentage of problems did you not need any reference at all? because you automatically knew how to solve it (without having to look for an equation)?

 
After practicing as many problems as I had:

  • I did inadvertently memorized certain equations. Equations relevant to geometric design for Transportation, open channel for Hydro (of course Bernoulli is imperative to have memorized), and key wastewater equations (one of which: Loading (#/day) = Concentration of whatever stuff (mg/L) x Flow of the stuff (MGD) x 8.34 is also imperative to have memorized), are some examples
  • Flexed such a wide variety of practice problems on similar equations that the general concept of that equation and that subject was rather well understood (this helped with concept problems on the Exam, not necessitating reference)
With that in mind, I was able to complete about 60% - 70% of the AM and maybe 25% of PM with no reference, but I did put a high density of study time in. Since I had some available time to review my selections on the Exam, I did double check a handful just to make certain of the choice.

You'd be surprised at the number of plug-n-chugs on the Exam, but some of the problems make you work a little for the answer (whether it be converting units first, or understanding how much of the provided information is truly relevant to getting the solution). I'm assuming the 6 minutes alloted per question is the average time needed for an engineer to solve, from 2 minutes for experts in that particular field, to 10 min for the inexperienced individual that will need to reference. It didn't seem that the PE exam writers were demanding too much thought crunching into the problems that would cause someone to exceed the 4-hour limit.

There are certainly shortcuts at times, and the clock rewards the engineers that can spot those shortcuts and get a match to a nearest solution option. One of these shortcuts are recognizing when to eliminate relatively insignificant factors (for instance an extremely small dynamic head could be eliminated from Bernoulli and reduce the complexity in solving, rather than using a quadratic equation approach or the solver function on certain approved calculators) as such.

I know this was a protracted response, but this could prove helpful to someone.

 
Thank you for all that information, I'm ordered your same references and some of the practice problems you used. Thanks for the write up!

 
Just passed WR & Env. on my third attempt!

The five things that I would recommend to test takers are:

1. Register with Testmasters or School of PE

I didn't on my first 2 attempts, but took TM on my third

2. Really focus on your PM Depth subject

This represents 60% of your exam. It's common sense

to study this the most!

3. DO AS MANY SAMPLE PROBLEMS AS YOU CAN POSSIBLY DO!

4. CERM - really know this book, make tabs so you'll know where everything is

5. Self-Confidence is the key to success. Know that you will pass.

If you put in the work (and I mean really put in the work*), your

confidence will take over, and you'll walk out of that exam room

with no doubts.

* min 25 hrs of study per week for three months

Best of Luck to All !!!

 
Congrats and thanks so much for sharing your lessons learned! I'm just starting to put together my study program for the April 2015 test (my first time). It seems far away, but also feels like there's not enough time! I've been out of school for 7 years, and feel like I've forgotten so much!

Since I'm just starting to plan, it would be great to get some feedback on this approach: Does it make sense to take your total study time (say 300 hours for the 8 hr) and then divide your time 60% to the depth topic and 10% each to the other 4 breadth topics or should I plan to do a 50/50 split? Any advice is more than welcome. (I'm in CA so I have to factor in the seismic and surveying too).

 
Spending 60% of your time on the WRE topics is probably the better way to go since about 60% of the exam will be on that material. The morning session problems should be very straightforward and easy enough to solve with a decent level of familiarity.

The afternoon problems are much tougher than anything in the morning, so getting used to the more focused material and level of difficulty of the questions is key. This is where the NCEES WRE Problem Set (or sets if you can find some older versions) will really come in handy.

One piece of advice from my experience: for the WRE afternoon problems, really try to focus on your problem solving thought process and unit conversion understanding. A lot of the different kinds of problems in the wastewater, drinking water, mass balance/loading, and water quality sections aren't just about looking up an equation and filling in the blanks. They aren't really difficult problems, but if you're not familiar with how to solve them you may have a hard time.

 
I was told to concentrate more on the morning portion since that is the easiest part and that is where you can pick up most of your points. So I studied 60% on the morning portion and 40% for the afternoon. My friend concentrated more on the afternooon, 40% morning/60% afternoon. We both passed WRE. The key is to have a study plan and to work problems.

Here is my process of studying, everyone is different so find out what works for you.

http://engineerboards.com/index.php?showtopic=24286&hl=

 
Reading the CERM cover to cover ? ehhhhhh....

I disagree. I pretty much did the opposite and passed first try OCT 2014 Construction.

I took School of PE which helped me the most, second was Construction Practice Exams by Beth Lynn Hartman and third was having every reference recommended by NCEES and being familiar with all of them.

 
My study method was to buy 2008, 2010, and 2014 NCEES sample exams, and over-solve all of those problems. I made a solutions manual, tabbed, with a table of contents, that I brought with me to the exam.

I did not use any PPI sample exam material, only reference material (meaning, CERM, and that's it).

I used CERM for 80% AM, and my reference book 20%.

PM, CERM 60%, Gupta 5%, Fluid Mech book 5%, and W/WW Engineering (Davis) 10%, and my reference book 20% or so.

These books are really only useful if you have studied them beforehand and have some familiarity!!

I took a review course, in person, by ASCE, the cycle before my exam, and found it not worth the money. So many topics were covered poorly, and the new exam specs marginalized the value of the transportation sessions. It did have a good seismic component, though.

 
@yellowdoyle where did you find/purchase the NCEES sample exams? From there website I could only order the 2014 one which I've already taken. I've been looking for previous exams, especially of the general morning section. 

 
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