I passed the Construction PE in April 2015. I would like to pass on a huge thanks to learncivilengineering.com and engineerboards.com
Learncivilengineering.com was invaluable during my prep time and during the exam and EngineerBoards.com was great while waiting for the results.
I have all my references as listed by NCEES (minus the masonry/bracing reference) and a number of sample exams.I will be selling them on ebay/amazon in the near future if anyone is looking for some study material feel free to pm me.
A little background on my exam preparation.....
I did take the Geo Exam in Oct 2014 thought it was a toss up to pass or fail and ended up failing with a 46/80, I studied Geo the whole 3 months prior to the exam (I didn't study the AM topics at all) and somehow ended up doing worse on the Geo Depth then I did in the AM. Not really sure what happened, I thought the exam was more than fair and thought I did way better than I actually did.
So after getting my results I decided that with current work experience which over the past 4-5 years I have had Bridge Design, Geo, and Construction experience I decided to give the Construction exam a go. I gathered all the reference materials in late Jan. to early Feb. Started with LearnCivilEngineering construction material. Went through it page by page and learned it completely. I would say a 1.5 months, I would say most of it was familiar but it definitely added to my understanding of all the subjects on the exam. I took a week or so off and then spent around a month review morning topics and then the last 2 or so weeks I did practice problem and tabbed references. During my construction prep at the end of each section I did practice problems given in the LCE reference and the referenced problems. I tabbed all the problems I worked in a Construction Binder by topic and it was very helpful during the exam. I didn't waste time flipping pages to find a problem I recalled working.
If you have any other questions don't hesitate to send me a message I know back in January I found other exam takers post exam experience and study habits helpful so hopefully this helps a few of you for future exams.
Test Day....
I finished up the morning exam about 20 minutes early, figured I had 33 correct and another 3 which I was pretty sure and guessed on 4 of them. Overall I thought the morning was pretty easy and more than fair. Very basic engineering questions and it definitely helps to hit a homerun in the morning exam.
Afternoon exam I thought was a little challenging but if you have a very good understanding of the topics listed by NCEES for the exam you will do fine. I did get caught up and a problem that I knew it was just a matter of looking up the answer in a reference, next thing you know I think I burned half an hour on it and I still had another 4 questions to go. I guessed on that darn problem and then got through my last 4 questions and had about 10 minutes to spare. At this point I felt like I had 30 definitely correct and then the other 10 were all coin tosses. All of those I had seen/studied but I couldn't guarantee I got them correct.
Walking out of the exam I felt very good and really confident I had passed.
As stated many times before me, study your ass off for 2,3 or 4 months. Hit a homerun on exam day and sit back and try not to think about the exam. If your in PA like me and the exam results start getting released just figure on another 2 weeks until you know so try not to stress out over it.
Learncivilengineering.com was invaluable during my prep time and during the exam and EngineerBoards.com was great while waiting for the results.
I have all my references as listed by NCEES (minus the masonry/bracing reference) and a number of sample exams.I will be selling them on ebay/amazon in the near future if anyone is looking for some study material feel free to pm me.
A little background on my exam preparation.....
I did take the Geo Exam in Oct 2014 thought it was a toss up to pass or fail and ended up failing with a 46/80, I studied Geo the whole 3 months prior to the exam (I didn't study the AM topics at all) and somehow ended up doing worse on the Geo Depth then I did in the AM. Not really sure what happened, I thought the exam was more than fair and thought I did way better than I actually did.
So after getting my results I decided that with current work experience which over the past 4-5 years I have had Bridge Design, Geo, and Construction experience I decided to give the Construction exam a go. I gathered all the reference materials in late Jan. to early Feb. Started with LearnCivilEngineering construction material. Went through it page by page and learned it completely. I would say a 1.5 months, I would say most of it was familiar but it definitely added to my understanding of all the subjects on the exam. I took a week or so off and then spent around a month review morning topics and then the last 2 or so weeks I did practice problem and tabbed references. During my construction prep at the end of each section I did practice problems given in the LCE reference and the referenced problems. I tabbed all the problems I worked in a Construction Binder by topic and it was very helpful during the exam. I didn't waste time flipping pages to find a problem I recalled working.
If you have any other questions don't hesitate to send me a message I know back in January I found other exam takers post exam experience and study habits helpful so hopefully this helps a few of you for future exams.
Test Day....
I finished up the morning exam about 20 minutes early, figured I had 33 correct and another 3 which I was pretty sure and guessed on 4 of them. Overall I thought the morning was pretty easy and more than fair. Very basic engineering questions and it definitely helps to hit a homerun in the morning exam.
Afternoon exam I thought was a little challenging but if you have a very good understanding of the topics listed by NCEES for the exam you will do fine. I did get caught up and a problem that I knew it was just a matter of looking up the answer in a reference, next thing you know I think I burned half an hour on it and I still had another 4 questions to go. I guessed on that darn problem and then got through my last 4 questions and had about 10 minutes to spare. At this point I felt like I had 30 definitely correct and then the other 10 were all coin tosses. All of those I had seen/studied but I couldn't guarantee I got them correct.
Walking out of the exam I felt very good and really confident I had passed.
As stated many times before me, study your ass off for 2,3 or 4 months. Hit a homerun on exam day and sit back and try not to think about the exam. If your in PA like me and the exam results start getting released just figure on another 2 weeks until you know so try not to stress out over it.
