I am definetly interested in a study group. I have read those past posts and either had the books for the April 2010 exam or have gotten the books for the April 2011 exam. I agree that the solutions manual for PE Architectural Exam is not detailed enough, especially if one area is not your main work experience background. I too spent much time trying to figure out the intermediate steps.
My weakest area is Structural so I will be concentrating a lot on that in my studying.
I was surprised on the pass rate results, one thing it doesn't tell you is how many people took the exam.
I have approached the structural engineers in my company for help in solving the problems and better understanding everything behind the question. I found that a lot of my coworkers are more than willing to help in exchange for a lunch/drink
I'd be more than happy to email you pdf's of some of the problem work-throughs as we go through them and I'd definitely appreciate any advice you come up with as you study and recall things that worked or didn't work in the past. I'm 5 years out of school but I spent 2 of those years in non-design, project management roles. About 6 months ago I went back to design and decided to start looking into the PE.
Currently I've been taking at least 1 day a week where I block off half a day to study and work problems, I try to do a few problems each day at a minimum and I have been reading/scanning through some of the books and codes when I have time. I plan to kick it up a notch next month when things at work aren't as hectic, but I am always looking for more suggestions. It seems that most people say "just keep working the problems from the books and practice exams" but I worry that isn't enough... I also hear so many things about IL (the state I plan to test in) and the rules for the exam room and books that are allowed. A lot of my books are digital printed copies and I've heard they may only allow hard, original bound books.
