EET Breadth and Structural Depth

[leggo PE]

@ps96, I am not familiar with Mansour's materials personally. I highly, highly recommend Hiner's book, if you have it. I do not recommend the 120 Solved Surveying Problems by PPI. I did not feel those exams matched the test.

 

[leggo PE]

By the way, is anyone who is enrolled in the EET Structural Depth (@OIIIIIIIO or @ps96 or anyone else) and following along in the live webinar calendar clear on what videos we are supposed to have watched before tonight's class? I got an email on Sunday from the instructor telling me to watch these other videos before tonight's presentation... I mainly want to make sure that I am understanding the email correctly in the first place. It seems to me that they are recommending that we watch the approximately 4 hours of video (comprised of the following recordings: (Tension Members, Compression Members, Flexural Members Part 1, and Flexural Members Part 2) located in the Steel Design - Part I folder before getting going on tonight's class?

I'm pretty confident that that is what they are saying... It is just 4+ more hours of recordings I didn't realize I had to watch until this week.

 

[gpoli111]

@leggo Really behind in everything as well - caught up with work 

Trying to study for Surveying -- I've heard from a few people that Mansour's notes are not enough. I have a copy of the 120 questions. Anyone recommend any other questions/study material? 

I wouldn't really waste your time studying surveying. There are going to be 2-3 questions in the morning regarding horizontal and vertical curves which you can just follow the CERM for. Spend your time really hitting the structural depth problems hard. They're the ones that aren't plug&chug and really test you on your understanding of the principles of structural engineering.  

 

[leggo PE]

I wouldn't really waste your time studying surveying. There are going to be 2-3 questions in the morning regarding horizontal and vertical curves which you can just follow the CERM for. Spend your time really hitting the structural depth problems hard. They're the ones that aren't plug&chug and really test you on your understanding of the principles of structural engineering.  

I think @ps96 is probably studying surveying for the CA state surveying exam... In which case, studying is crucial to passing that exam, if only to get speedy at answering problems. Correct me if I'm wrong!

 

[akvudaiyar]

I am planning to take Civil structural depth Oct 2017. All my education (including Master's) and most of my experience is all mechanical (structural mechanics, not thermal/fluids) except my current job is mostly structural design. So want to give a shot at it. What are my chances ? Here is my proposal to make it work.

1) Register for EET breadth and depth (web live classes)

2) Learn new stuffs about soil mechanics, water resources etc that I never learnt since my background is all mechanical.

3) Willing to spend atleast 20 hours a week for 4 months starting may or june (my second son is due on may first week so possibly June)

4) Have a consulting structural engineer who stamps all our company projects. He is in business for last 30 years. Might seek his expertise occasionally and of course tap on you guys then and there

5) Look for a study partner in houston area. I am doubly effective with group study

I would appreciate if you (civil guys) could provide some thoughts. My only drawback or that one thing that holds me back is subjects like geotechnical, water resources, transportation which I have never had in my undergrad.. However I am very interested in learning structural fairly quickly and I am already little familiar with design aspects, asce 7-10, IBC through work.

Thanks.

 

[ps96]

Yikes super late response but yes, @leggo, you're right on the $. I was referring to the CA specific surveying exam.

 

[leggo PE]

Oof, those are rough statistics for the structural depth simulation exam. I was above the average, but not by a ton. I definitely have more review I need to do!

 

[ksml114]

Oof, those are rough statistics for the structural depth simulation exam. I was above the average, but not by a ton. I definitely have more review I need to do!

I was about the average. I messed up a few other questions with very obvious mistakes, which I'm glad to have made so I know I won't make on the actual exam. I'm struggling really badly with the approximate analysis questions... like FEM and stiffness method or whatever. Mostly problems 11, 15 and 16. This simulated exam felt way more stilted towards these analysis methods then when I took the PE (and failed) in October. Anyone else agree? In general I found this simulated exam way harder than the October PE... I think I even scored better on the PM session on the actual PE!

 

[leggo PE]

I was about the average. I messed up a few other questions with very obvious mistakes, which I'm glad to have made so I know I won't make on the actual exam. I'm struggling really badly with the approximate analysis questions... like FEM and stiffness method or whatever. Mostly problems 11, 15 and 16. This simulated exam felt way more stilted towards these analysis methods then when I took the PE (and failed) in October. Anyone else agree? In general I found this simulated exam way harder than the October PE... I think I even scored better on the PM session on the actual PE!

I agree. I took the exam in October also, and felt the same thing about the same problems you mentioned! The ones in that part of the test were the ones I was referring to when I mentioned how I struggled with the load application questions.

In fact, I was chatting with my coworker who is about to take the S.E. yesterday, and he was mentioning how he needed to review approximate methods of analysis, and I was like, hey, I was just reviewing those (and the other indeterminate analysis methods) this weekend! Take that for what you will.

 

[ksml114]

I agree. I took the exam in October also, and felt the same thing about the same problems you mentioned! The ones in that part of the test were the ones I was referring to when I mentioned how I struggled with the load application questions.

In fact, I was chatting with my coworker who is about to take the S.E. yesterday, and he was mentioning how he needed to review approximate methods of analysis, and I was like, hey, I was just reviewing those (and the other indeterminate analysis methods) this weekend! Take that for what you will.

Ah, good to know we're on the same page! I honestly can't even follow the solutions they give for some of those problems. 

It's also SUPER frustrating that the whole depth exam is just riddled with errors.

 

[leggo PE]

Ah, good to know we're on the same page! I honestly can't even follow the solutions they give for some of those problems. 

It's also SUPER frustrating that the whole depth exam is just riddled with errors.

Yeah, I was a bit put off to see that there were, what, 5 problems with errors in the solutions, even if not all of the errors necessarily corresponded to changes in the answers. I wonder if the problems got changed, but the answers did not? Who knows.

I haven't made it all the way through my exam solutions, but in some cases have wished there was a little more explanation. The biggest thing for me is that the solutions don't seem to ever carry units, which isn't necessarily a fault, but does make them harder for me to follow from the get-go, especially if I was guessing and don't have numbers of my own to compare.

Lastly, I think I need to remind myself better of where things are in the binders! There is SO much information in those binders, but no index... It's difficult to keep track! I have already gone back and tabbed a lot more in the first few chapters of the depth binder, but think I have more work to do.

 

[bflem]

Good Morning. I am a repeat exam taker  (3 times) Civil/Structural. I am enrolled in EET on-demand and will take exam Oct 17. Looking to plug in with anyone here that may be in a similar boat.

 

[Sybil PE]

Hello,  is there anybody online to discuss how to study the civil structural depth PE exam? could anybody suggest the preparation books and courses?

By the way, I am new here and don't if the civil PE exam is the same for all states.

 

[leggo PE]

Hi @Sybil PE! Welcome to EB!

I'd firstly suggest that you do some research here on the boards to see what others have done as far as study plans for the structural depth civil PE exam. Some people choose to study on their own, others sign up for courses.

Common books you'll find referenced on this site (from the top of my head) are the CERM (Civil Engineering Reference Manual), the accompanying PPI Practice Problems, the NCEES Practice Exam, and the Goswami books. I'm sure there are others as well, but those are the ones that come mind first for me.

Then you also have the study materials provided as a part of a course you might choose to take. The common courses are EET USA, PPI, School of PE (SoPE), and one or two others. It's a good idea to check out the reviews of the different courses here on EB, and then compare yourself between the courses (generally you'll want to look at course content, cost, and timelines at the minimum, when comparing courses).

As for more generally how to study? Definitely look at the NCEES specifications for the exam. That will give you a very good idea on what topics questions on the exam will generally be focused on (though there can and likely will always be some curveballs thrown in). Some people have been able to craft their own study plan with the proper study materials and the topics listed on the exam specifications. It's a very good idea to come up with your own timeline if you choose to self-study, and to keep yourself accountable to it.

Personally, I highly recommend the EET class if you are looking to go the study course route. I took both the breadth and structural depth classes they offer, and found them to be invaluable to me in my studying for and ultimate pass of the PE exam.

Whichever means of studying you choose, know that how much studying you will need to do is not the same for everyone. Some people barely study at all and pass, and others will study for hundreds of hours to get that pass. I, personally, think I fell more in the 200-250 hour range, which was as much as I could throw at it on my passing test attempt. That was using the EET classes and doing their practice problems and simulated exams, as well as supplementing with additional NCEES practice problems.

Overall, it's good to consider your options and make the choice from there.

Good luck!

 

[Sybil PE]

Hi @leggo PE, thank you very much for the suggestion.  I definitely will take EET breadth and depth course as I do not really understand the contents if just looking at the NCEES's guideline. Do you know if they offer an online course as I am not living in California.

I have CERM (Lindeburg) but found the topics are not aligned with NCEES spec. I will go try the other materials you just mentioned.

thanks very much

 

[leggo PE]

Hi @leggo PE, thank you very much for the suggestion.  I definitely will take EET breadth and depth course as I do not really understand the contents if just looking at the NCEES's guideline. Do you know if they offer an online course as I am not living in California.

I have CERM (Lindeburg) but found the topics are not aligned with NCEES spec. I will go try the other materials you just mentioned.

thanks very much

Yes, EET offers an on-demand webinar class that you can take. Basically, what that means is that you can watch the instructional videos whenever you can fit them into your schedule, and then do the practice problems around the videos at your own pace. That's actually what I did when I took their classes, though I tried to follow the live class (which is also a webinar, I believe) schedule as closely as I could.

With EET, you will get one binder each for the breadth class and the depth class, which will be excellent references for you during the exam. I actually found that I used them much more than I used the CERM, but I did have the CERM with me on the day of the test and did use it a few times to look up one thing or another.

 

[youngmotivatedengineer]

If you go with EET, you can take on-demand or live webinar. Live webinar follows a set schedule.  Usually the same night or the following day the recordings are available online for you to watch again if needed. The on-demand option gives you immediate access to all topics. The recordings used for on-demand class are the recordings from the previous test period live webinars.