How to prepare for SE afternoon portion? What resources should I buy or print?

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Engineerbabu

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I recommend preparing from the practice examples published by AISC, ACI, AWA, Masonry Design Guide, FEMA (for lateral), SEAOC Vol I, II, and III (for lateral). However, you should be able to filter the unnecessary (I meant less important) topics out, like for example, you don't want to spend 2 weeks preparing "KAISER bolted bracket moment frame". I feel like buying books from any individual author is a waste of money and especially time (if you don't have much) but it's just my perspective. Of course the more resources and the more you practice, the better. See below for the links or names.

Steel - For both Gravity and Lateral: https://www.aisc.org/globalassets/aisc/manual/v15.1-companion/v15.1_vol-1_design-examples.pdf
Lateral only: Seismic Design Manual, 3rd Edition (Print) | American Institute of Steel Construction

Concrete- For both Gravity and Lateral: ACI SP-17 (14) Volume 1,2 and 3

Masonry- For both Gravity and Lateral: Masonry Designers' Guide - 2016

Timber- For both Gravity and Lateral: https://www.awc.org/pdf/codes-stand...ucturalWoodDesignExamples-ViewOnly-190821.pdf

FEMA- For Lateral (make sure of recent codes): https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/...seismic-provisions-examples_p-1051_7-2016.pdf

SEAOC Manual- For Lateral: Wind Design Manual 2018, Seismic Design Manual Volume I, II, and III

The content I have mentioned above should help you prepare at least 90% for the test but it will take forever to go through all those books and the information in some books are not enough or missing, for example, SEAOC is a great book but it's not as good as AISC Seismic manual or ACI SP-17 because it misses a few steps and new engineers like myself will feel lost or end up interpreting things incorrectly. And importantly, stick to just one book for the exam because it's difficult to flip 3 books to solve one question.

P.S. I passed my SE exams in my first attempt (2020 October and 2021 April).
 
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