Structural 1 Study Strategy

[deviationz]

I have posted this on the Civil -> structural forum and was directed here.

Folks,

I know many of you here have been in my boat previously. I work in a building design firm and I have mainly worked in Concrete/steel and masonry. I haven't designed timber at all and no exposure to AASHTO other than a bridge design course in school.

What should be the strategy in preparing for the exam? I already have the required building codes and the SERM, six minute solutions? How thorough should your review of topics be and are there good strategies to prepare and pass the exam? I know I only have little less than 4 months.

Please advice.

 

[StructuralPoke]

I have posted this on the Civil -> structural forum and was directed here.
Folks,

I know many of you here have been in my boat previously. I work in a building design firm and I have mainly worked in Concrete/steel and masonry. I haven't designed timber at all and no exposure to AASHTO other than a bridge design course in school.

What should be the strategy in preparing for the exam? I already have the required building codes and the SERM, six minute solutions? How thorough should your review of topics be and are there good strategies to prepare and pass the exam? I know I only have little less than 4 months.

Please advice.

The SERM is all I had for bridge design -- period. None in school. It was rough. Timber is really pretty easy if you can find the right equation. From there it is just looking up the correct adjustment factor.

I'd try to get the "6 minute solutions" book as well. I bought the "256 solved..." (or whatever it's called) and it was pretty useless all said and done.

Good luck

 

[kevo_55]

I too only had my SERM as well as the AASHTO code for bridge questions during the exam.

I did not have a wood or masonry design class in college so I bought textbooks to teach myself.

The best thing that you can do is to work problems until you are blue in the face. Buy the 6 min solutions, Kaplan books, the NCEES sample exam, and even the SERM practice problems. You will need everything and anything for this exam.

 

[deviationz]

Is 4 months enough time? Considering I may be able to set aside 2-3 hours everyday.

 

[jpsncsu]

I'm a bridge guy so maybe I can chime in. Flip through Chapter 3 and 4 in AASHTO LRFD if you have it and take note of where things are located. If you don’t have AASHTO this describes load combinations and how live loads are distributed. Then make sure you know have moving loads work. Then make sure you fully understand how lateral loads are distributed in a bridge. A stiffness chart for various end conditions of laterally loaded members may help. Know all of these things very well and you should get two or three questions right, which could be the difference in passing or not. The AASHTO index is pretty decent too if you want to look up things on the fly.

As for wood the design manual from NDS comes with a fat book of examples. I would spend some time with it.

 

[MOOK]

You need to reasd at least a book in each subject of the exam (Loads, Concrete, Stee, Masonry, Wood, Bridges, and Seismic) besides the PPI books you got.

Put in your mind that the problems in SE-I exam are tricky problems. The problems look easy but there is a small trick in each problem if you do not notice it you will pick the wrong answer.

Good Luck

 

[AL2GA-Eng]

I can't stress it enough . . . WORK AS MANY PROBLEMS AS YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ON!!!!!!!

Take it from me! I took the SE I 4 times before passing on my fifth try. What did I do differently on the last exam? I was let go from my company in December 2008, so from January thru April all I did were problems. I also signed up for a great 2-day course that gave me shortcuts to some fancy design problems I had seen in the test before. Don't think I over did it. When I sat down that Friday in April, I was way more confident than the last 4 times combined. Just the fact that I studied so much gave me an incredible confidence boost. You'll always be nervous during the test, but having that extra confidence can mean the difference between passing or going back 6 months later to that exam site.

Good luck in October!!!