Reference Material for exam day

[daywalker]

Greetings,

I have been out of the loop for quite some time. I recent came into some free time, as I am unemployed, so I figured it would be a good time to study for the Environmental PE exam. Since I took and passed my FE exam (02'), I see that quite a bit has changed. I remember utilizing my HP48gx for the exam. I guess that calculator is not acceptable anymore. I am looking at a similar HP calculator now.

I guess my one big question is what references are acceptable now to take into the exam. I recently visited the NCEES website and it hasn't changed much, some new graphics, but still sort of vague on pertinent information. I know that books are acceptable, but what books meet the criteria. Are books with solved problems acceptable or just engineering manuals with formulas and derivations. In addition, are notes allowed. In other words, if I take notes, and do practice problems, am I allowed to take those notes into the test or is that considered Illegal.

Once final question. I have the breakdown for the topics on the tests. Again very vauge. Is there a link or a post here that has a more specific breakdown of the topics on the Environmental exam?

Thank you for you help! It is greatly appreciated

 

[EnvEngineer]

What you take to the exam is pretty open but depends on your local board, In CA they dont seem to care what you bring. 6 minute solutions and other problem books are fine. Notes are fine including solved problems, just all notes must be in a notebook, no loose paper. Other post have warned of making copies of copyrighted material.

The best and only guide to the test is the outlines provided by NCEES, not all the material on the outline will be covered each time but it is all fair game. The guide does seem vague but when you combine it with their problem books what they are after becomes clear (most of the time) They also provide a list of references or standards which are a must and within the solutions of their problems they show some texts and books used to develop their problems, these are good as well.

Now for something self serving, I am selling nearly all the environmental problem books that are available, see me in Yard Sale.

 

[RevMen]

The details of what's allowed varies by state. In Texas we were allowed to bring anything in, even solution manuals, but it all had to be bound and all notes and markings had to be in pen. Bound documents included 3-ring binders, so I was able to bring in a binder with a printed index to the reference manual and a variety of psychometric charts.

 

[kinigit]

Same in Colorado. You can only bring in the very specific models of calculator, but anything bound was fine. Binding included 3 ring binders, and I was told you can even just use the rings and bind loose papers without the cover to save space, although I did not try. Solutions manuals were no problem. I would highly recommend getting your hands on as many years of the NCEES Practice Problems books as possible. They were extremely helpful. Also for the Environmental PE you can get the older civil references from when the civil included an environmental section.

 

[daywalker]

Yeah, I figured that they would be a little more helpful than they have been. They are kinda vague. Its like they dont want to limit you. But they dont want to be too specific. I figured that they wi\ould want to be clear on this point