I'm looking for an advice, I took the geotechnical depth for 3rd time and they got me in the shallow foundations and Ret. Walls. I felt that I was well prepared for these topics but the diagnostic report says something different. I hope somebody from this Forum can give me an advice of how to nail these two areas.
thanks in advance!
Hi,
The CERM doesn't seem to have enough retaining wall questions, although the 3 its has are good ones, you might try the 3 in chapter 54 also. I would work all the 6 min solns if you can. I would definitely do retaining wall problems where the water table is above the bottom of the wall, horizontal backfill, sloping backfill, cohesive backfill, fixed wall, and ones with surcharges. I would also do some sheet pile, and reinforced fill problems. I would be prepared to fdetermine factors of safety for bearing, overturning, and sliding. You probably should look at a retaining wall problem that designs the steel, you probably won't have to do this, but you should be familar with it to answer general questions about it.
You might read about Coulomb theory. And also determining Ka using Coulomb instead of Rankine, if you have tables try using one.
I would definitely look at Das' Principles of Foundation Engineering, read the examples and do some problems, for both retaining walls and shallow foundations.
I would do some involing eccentricity, how water tables and different soil types affect shallow foundations. i would definitely do the four CERM Chapter 36 practice questions. Defintiely do all the NCEES sample exam geo questions/
I would also bone up on the breath questions and shoot for 35/40 or better. On the last test I felt I did well in the morning. I thought afternoon geotechnical in the last exam was more difficult then the previous one,but I was better prepared for the afternoon and did okay. I walked out of the test feeling like I passed.
One thing I would remember to do, is read all the questions first, and do the easy questions first. They all count the same. I run out of time in both sessions last time.
Good luck
