Well, now that I have sobbed and kicked myself over my FAILING PE results , it's time to start studying again and hopefully pass in the fall. Looking at my scores, it was easy to see where I fell short - I was definitely underprepared for the Structural questions, which I thought I'd do well in since I do it every day. I figured I wouldn't have to really work on those at all. But the questions were a little different than what I use in practice, so I will need to work harder on PE-type problems.

What is the best Structural reference/practice problems book out there? The reference materials I used included the CERM and the NCEES sample problems book, and these both helped me a lot on the breadth portion but I didn't really have any good practice for the structural portion other than the few problems in those two, and my old college textbooks (overwhelming). Any suggestions? I have been eyeing the Structural I prep stuff (even though i am not taking Structural I) - Six Minute Solutions, and 246 Structural Engineering Problems Solved by Dale. I wonder if working through Structural I stuff would be totally out there for just the Structural Depth. Or should I go through the problems in my old college textbooks? Thanks for the help!

Did you take the structural afternoon portion on the P.E. or the Structural I? I thought the SE1 was a lot harder than the structural afternoon.

For the structural depth (I did take this portion) "the other board"'s 6 minute solutions and ncees civil exam worked well for me as well as the CERM.

For the SE1 (I just recently taken thsi test) This year I thought was a crapshoot, since I was surprised at the amount of bridge question (I am more buildings) on the test and was caught off guard. For this test, I purchased a lot of books, the kaplan books, SERM, 246 problems and the 6 minute solutions for the SE1. My opinion of the 246 problems was that I was very disappointed in them. They were not updated for the IBC2003 (typically shouldn't matter alot, but concrete had a change in '02 and I really don't like studying outdated codes sinec some clause buried somewhere may change in an update). The kaplane stuff was good, but their sample problems seem insane and not similar to the tests, which I felt NCEES was fairly representative off. I would recommend the SERM as a quick reference, the 6 minutes solutions, PCA notes for ACI 318, and there are some wind and seismic books issued by the ICC by alan williams that are really good, which allow you to learn the code to a degree. The keys to the SE1 is to know your codes (ASCE7, IBC2003, ACI318-02, AISC LRFD or ASD, AASTHO and NDS) back and forth. Sleep with them under your pillow if you must. I didn't have time to search for answers in text books and used my codes 95% of the time. If you are not familiar with wood, there is a really good wood book "design of wood structures" by breyer that is a good engineering reference.

If you hav any more questions, keep asking and Good luck

Hey CE0502, hang in there! I took the CE/Structual depth this past April. I felt it go either way, but I passed, thank God Like you, I used the CERM and NCEES sample problems book. I also got all of the 6 minute solution books. I worked the breadth problems in all 5 books. For the Structural 6 minutes, I worked as many of the depth problems that I had time for... for the rest, I copied the solutions by hand (I think it helps to write the solutions out in your own hand, even if you're just copying them). I also highly recommend the Structural Engineering Review Manual (by Williams). I've been thinking about what I would do differently if I had to take the test again - first of all I would work as many basic structural problems as possible. I would also try to spend more time familiarizing myself with the various codes - if you get a code question, you want to know right away where to go to look up the answer. If you're not familiar with the codes, you can waste a lot of time looking answers on easy look-up type questions.

Thanks for the suggestions and tips! irisheng, I will be taking just the structural depth portion. I did well on the Geo/Transp questions in the structural depth, but it seemed a lot of the rest of it was building related, which I am not really familiar with. (Maybe that's just me making excuses. ) I just work in bridge design. gipper - yep, I think the codes thing definitely got me a little too. That's definitely one more thing I'll work on this time around!

Thanks again for the help!

I have another question... would buying books geared towards SE I be overkill for the CE/Structural Depth exam? I would really love good review materials for structural questions, I'm just not sure if, say, 246 Structural Problems or something like it would be too in depth or too specific for the CE/Structural exam.

From what I remember of the structural afternoon it was fairly basic (I am a building guy, which the test seemed geared towards.) I think the SE1 books are a little too in-depth for the afternoon civil. Use the 6 minutes solutions for the pe structural depth (not the SE1) and know IBC and ASCE7 back and forth and you should be good. The SERM might not be a bad investment if structural & buildings are you weakness , but I thought the CERM was enough for me.

Good luck

Yeah, I'm definitely not very familiar with IBC or ASCE 7 or any building design so I definitely need to look at those a little more. Thanks again!

CE0582,

The best general building design textbook is "The design of Wood Structures: ASD."

It may be a wood book, but it goes over shearwalls, diaphrams, and simple seismic very well.

Thanks kevo - I would have never really considered that textbook at all for anything other than just wood design. Luckily a coworker here has it so I can just borrow it from him. Thanks so much!

No problem.

If you have any other questions, please post them. Many people have taken the PE Civil:Structural exam on the EB.

Ha! I'll be taking this one in October myself!

Didn't you already pass the SE, kevo?

Yeah. I actually already have both the SE1 and SE2 under my belt.

I just figure to get the PE Civil done with so I can get a Nevada SE license as well as start taking a look into CA stuff.

That's cool, after passing the SE1 and SE2, the PE structural depth should be a cakewalk for you. I did it the other way around, so I started on the easy path and passed the PE, but am now waiting for the SE results.

Hey, that's cool.

I wish that I did it the other way around though! Still, I really don't know how I will do in the Civil topics. I'm afraid that I'll suck!

Am taking the PE Civil:Structural this April 2008.
Am confused what to use. The new design standards released by NCEE specifies to use ALLOWABLE STRESS DESIGN which is no longer incorporated in ACI 318 2005. What do they mean? am reviewing the CERM by they only use Ultimate Strength Design.
Need some assurance of this... thanks.

Don't waste your time with Structural I exam. Civil PE exam is much simpler. Passed my first time after failing structural exam 4 times. Did nothing fancy studying for civil. In fact, I studied harder for the structural exams.

Don't waste your time with Structural I exam. Civil PE exam is much simpler. Passed my first time after failing structural exam 4 times. Did nothing fancy studying for civil. In fact, I studied harder for the structural exams.

And I'm not the only one that has taken this path.

I used the structural depth reference manual. It's put out by "the other board" and it's a thin book but covers a lot of additional information that could show up in the afternoon. It was very helpful this past exam.

Chalk me up in this category too. I didn't like that book -- thought it was worthless. That being said -- want to buy one?

Do you have civil background? I've thought about taking the Civil but my undergrad is Arch. Engineering so I skipped out on waste water, the higher level soils and all that other stuff. I'm wondering how much of those subjects I could learn on my own. Can you take a structural am and pm portion for the Civil PE?

Which is better for the Structural depth for the civil depth? The Structural depth reference manual or the Structural Engineer reference manual (SERM)

I took the Civil/Structural this past April and (thankfully) passed. To be honest, I didn't look at either the SERM or the Structural Depth, although I did have an older copy of the SERM available for the test. I studied from the CERM structural sections, which were pretty good for concrete, but awful for steel. This is, of course, before the CERM11 came out, but after the codes changed on the exam.

The NCEES example problems and solutions were by far the closest you'll get to an actual exam question, so I went through this book multiple times before the test. I never did wood design before, so I studied the NDS code and the example problem book that comes with the code set. I did do a large number of the six-minute solutions, but of an older edition.

On a side note, the online "the other board" exam cafe was awful... a great waste of the 30+/- bucks it cost.

I'm getting my SERM (4th ed) very soon (to start preparing for the SE1); I'll flip through it and post comments.

Thanks. It seems both have similar topics by the table of contents, but I would assume the SERM is more in depth.

Is the structural depth manual you mentioned is by Alan Williams? I am looking for one, because am preparing for April 2008 PE test with structural depth. Thanks