How I passed the PE-exam

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Bolivia-PE

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I took the pe exam (chosen civil-structural on afternoon) on April 2010, and I passed it the first time. Here is how I did it.

HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE PE EXAM: First of all, I read all the recommendations for taking the pe exam given in this forum and on the books of samples for the pe exam. There, among others, it was recommended to give about 3 months to prepare for this exam.

I got laid-off from my job on december-20, 2009. I started studying for the exam on Christmas-day, and for the next three months and change I only stop studying for breakfast, lunch, dinner and to sleep.

By that time, I had the following books: ACI 318-05, ASCE 7-05 and IBC-2006.

I decided to buy: ACI 530-05 (Masonry), AISC 13th EDITION, AISC Seismic, NDS-2005 (Wood), and the PCI 6th EDITION.

I decided not to buy AASTHO-LRFD Bridge, based on the recommendation of somebody on the pe forum, who said that it was not worth it to spend that much money for 2 or 3 questions that probably were coming for bridges, which was true at the end.

Also, I decided to rent the following books on as needed basis: “Civil Engineering reference manual for the pe exam” (first), then later “practice problems for the civil engineering pe exam: a companion to the civil engineering reference manual”, and finally “Structural depth reference manual for the civil pe exam”.

I started with the “Civil Engineering reference manual for the pe exam”, studying it in detail from beginning to end. I finished it on february 10. This book with the companion book, in my opinion is enough for passing the pe exam. While I was studying this book, I came up with the idea of making a index of any subject that I thought it could be on a question for all the books that I was going to take to the pe exam, write the book’s name and page to locate it, put it on excel, sort it and print it. This was absolutely a tremendous help. For example, there was a question where I needed to find 2 graphics to get a value. First I thought I knew where to find these graphics without looking at my index, I started flipping the books with no luck (I lost 2 minutes). When you are at the exam and you cannot find what you are looking for, you become more nervous, that was my case. Then I went to my special index and voila! it gave me the name of the book and the page number. It took me 2 minutes to answer the question.

Then, I follow with the “practice problems for the civil engineering pe exam: a companion to the civil engineering reference manual” for the next 2 -1/2 weeks. That is end of february already.

Finally, I took the “Structural depth reference manual for the civil pe exam” for the next 2 weeks. This book is good because it has the wood design section, but the problems for the other sections are way too complex. Remember that it is only 6 minutes for questions, so they are not going to ask you to completely design a concrete deep beam, but instead a small portion of the whole design. So, you have to know how to design a concrete deep beam, and where to find the codes and the best example for designing a concrete deep beam.

“THE PE EXAM IS TO MAKE SURE YOU KNOW BASIC ENGINEERING AND THE CODES!!!!!!” and those are the type of questions that you are going to find there.

I am in the middle of March already. The next 2 weeks were for the studying of the codes. ASCE 7-05, IBC-2006(chapters 16 & 17), AISC 13th Ed.(for example, if they give you the available moment and the unbraced length and ask you to size the beam, then you have to know that you have to go to the tables 3-10 graphics and size of the beam, piece of cake!), and NDS-2005.

I am at the beginning of April already. The first 12 days of April I used it to tab the books, print and coiled my “SPECIAL INDEX”, quick revise of the codes, get my body use to go to sleep early and get up early, and to relax!!!!!!.

The last 3 days before the exam I used it to check that I have all the papers need it, how to carry the books, parking space, etc.

THE EXAM: The biggest fear that I had was I did not know the type of question that I was going to get and if some of the question were going to touch subjects that I had not studied. Anyway, base on what I read on the pe forum, I knew that the morning section was easy and that the afternoon section was the one to fear.

When I got the book of questions for the morning section I was so happy to see that it was so easy (too easy I would say), then I said to myself that was expected for the morning section and that the afternoon section was the one to worry about. I tried to compose myself and went to work. I finished it in 3 hours and then used the remaining time to double check on the answers.

When I got the book of questions for the afternoon section I was ecstatic, I wanted it to yell to everybody that I was a PE already. This was so easy, this was almost a joke. Many of the questions were questions to test your basic knowledge only, without even the need to grab a book or code. The other questions were clear to me because I had studied them, except for the 2 bridge questions. Again, I tried to compose myself and went to work.

One helpful point here, even though the questions were easy to me, they still were going to need more time than the morning questions to solve them. So you have to categorize the questions: easy ones (1 to 3 minutes), regular ones (4 to 6 minutes), and complicated ones (more than 6 minutes).

At the end, I did not have time to work on 5 questions due to time constrains, 15 minutes before the end, I started filling the blanks.

When the time was up I was soooooo happy because I knew there was a 99.9% chance that I had passed, leaving only 0.01% chances due to calculator errors. Then I talk to some of the exam takers and I told them that the exam was so easy but nobody that I talked to or from the comments I heard from others would said the same to me.

Because I was not working, I went back to my country for a 2-1/2 month vacation and on June 7, while I was in my country I received the e-mail with the results.

Now I understand when somebody on the pe forum said that he had passed the exam without studying for it. That is possible, you just have to have the basic engineering knowledge (which that engineer had) and the knowledge of the codes (which that engineer had also because he was working on designing buildings by that time).

MISCELANEOUS: I have never read the wood design code (NDS-2005) before, but because of the recommendations from the pe forum, I read this code and the others thoroughly, and trust me it made a lot of difference at the end. Probably, there is going to be questions where you just have to find a formula in the code, replace the given data and voila, you have 2 points already, but the problem is how long is going to take until you figure it out and find that equation. I did it by knowing the codes almost by heart and using my special index.

I know that my case was special (I was not working at the time), because almost nobody have the time to study full time, but base in my experience I could say that studying between 1 and 2 months, depending on how much you know, you could pass the exam.

 
Now I understand when somebody on the pe forum said that he had passed the exam without studying for it. That is possible, you just have to have the basic engineering knowledge (which that engineer had) and the knowledge of the codes (which that engineer had also because he was working on designing buildings by that time).
Even if you know your subject 100%, 38% of the test is based on other disciplines. So although it is possible to pass the test without studying, it is recommended to study as much as possible because in the end you are learning your profession.

Aside from that, CONGRATS. You definitely deserve the PE after your name. If you could do it all again what would you take out? I found that masonry wasn't useful since it didn't show up on my test (i've heard the test will usually rotate 1-2 wood or masonry problems per test).

 
Now I understand when somebody on the pe forum said that he had passed the exam without studying for it. That is possible, you just have to have the basic engineering knowledge (which that engineer had) and the knowledge of the codes (which that engineer had also because he was working on designing buildings by that time).
Even if you know your subject 100%, 38% of the test is based on other disciplines. So although it is possible to pass the test without studying, it is recommended to study as much as possible because in the end you are learning your profession.

Aside from that, CONGRATS. You definitely deserve the PE after your name. If you could do it all again what would you take out? I found that masonry wasn't useful since it didn't show up on my test (i've heard the test will usually rotate 1-2 wood or masonry problems per test).
Yes, you are right about the need to study for the exam. My point was that the exam is not the monster that almost everybody talk about. I think that with half the time i put in (which is what most of you have, working force), anybody can pass the exam. But, because i had a lot of time for studying, the exam seemed easy for me, in fact too easy.

If i have to do it againg, i would take out the studying of the whole "civil engineering reference manual" in detail, and concentrate the study only on the subjects that were going to be on the exam, but that is impossible because nobody knows what subjects are going to be on the exam. Yes, masonry were not in the exam but wood design was, and it was and easy one(find the formula and replace).

 
I was quite impressed by your account and strategy, however for an average person like myself I am a bit puzzled at the pace you have implemented to cover nearly 65 CERM chapters (say 65x20 pages avg = 1300 pages) not to mention the time needed for SERM or depth subjects and related codes full acquaintance. There must have been topics that you were more or less unfamiliar with (if you are practicing in a specific area). For me with a long structural background, topics such as water and wastewater treatment are unfamiliar to a significant extent, same goes with transportation and construction as compared to hydraulics (to some extent), geotechnical and structural.

Can you provide clews on the rate of coverage per hour or per day and on the grasping extent you have applied (e.g. fast reading, partly memorizing, writing short notes or maybe only directly solving problems by crunching numbers in equations from the references and only knowing where graphs and equations are located)?

I feel like being able to cover at most 5-10 pages per 2 hrs study every day for assimilating unfamiliar subjects, let aside the time for solving problems and then mastering the PM Depth subjects. If there is something wrong with my reasoning, I will be glad if you provided some more insights.

Also I should say, veteran structural designers like me have most probably designed structures using complex commercial software for the past 10-20 years, and hand calculations or design are seldom practiced except for really obvious straight forward situations. This leaves little or no room to have right of the shelf hand design sharpened skills needed for a hand calculated exam such as the PE. Did you have to refresh your skills in structural analysis, prestressed concrete element design, concrete serviceability analysis, 2-D frame and truss solution methods etc… to be able to perform hand calculations?

Thanks,

Misha

 
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I was quite impressed by your account and strategy, however for an average person like myself I am a bit puzzled at the pace you have implemented to cover nearly 65 CERM chapters (say 65x20 pages avg = 1300 pages) not to mention the time needed for SERM or depth subjects and related codes full acquaintance. There must have been topics that you were more or less unfamiliar with (if you are practicing in a specific area). For me with a long structural background, topics such as water and wastewater treatment are unfamiliar to a significant extent, same goes with transportation and construction as compared to hydraulics (to some extent), geotechnical and structural.Can you provide clews on the rate of coverage per hour or per day and on the grasping extent you have applied (e.g. fast reading, partly memorizing, writing short notes or maybe only directly solving problems by crunching numbers in equations from the references and only knowing where graphs and equations are located)?

I feel like being able to cover at most 5-10 pages per 2 hrs study every day for assimilating unfamiliar subjects, let aside the time for solving problems and then mastering the PM Depth subjects. If there is something wrong with my reasoning, I will be glad if you provided some more insights.

Also I should say, veteran structural designers like me have most probably designed structures using complex commercial software for the past 10-20 years, and hand calculations or design are seldom practiced except for really obvious straight forward situations. This leaves little or no room to have right of the shelf hand design sharpened skills needed for a hand calculated exam such as the PE. Did you have to refresh your skills in structural analysis, prestressed concrete element design, concrete serviceability analysis, 2-D frame and truss solution methods etc… to be able to perform hand calculations?

Thanks,

Misha
Once again, Please review the NCEES link I provided above. Don't misinterpret my response, I do think the PE is a difficult test. But it is not as hard as you're making it out to be. Make sure you understand what percentages go into each section (you don't want to spend 20% of your time on prestressed concrete if it's only 3% of the test).

 
I was quite impressed by your account and strategy, however for an average person like myself I am a bit puzzled at the pace you have implemented to cover nearly 65 CERM chapters (say 65x20 pages avg = 1300 pages) not to mention the time needed for SERM or depth subjects and related codes full acquaintance. There must have been topics that you were more or less unfamiliar with (if you are practicing in a specific area). For me with a long structural background, topics such as water and wastewater treatment are unfamiliar to a significant extent, same goes with transportation and construction as compared to hydraulics (to some extent), geotechnical and structural.Can you provide clews on the rate of coverage per hour or per day and on the grasping extent you have applied (e.g. fast reading, partly memorizing, writing short notes or maybe only directly solving problems by crunching numbers in equations from the references and only knowing where graphs and equations are located)?

I feel like being able to cover at most 5-10 pages per 2 hrs study every day for assimilating unfamiliar subjects, let aside the time for solving problems and then mastering the PM Depth subjects. If there is something wrong with my reasoning, I will be glad if you provided some more insights.

Also I should say, veteran structural designers like me have most probably designed structures using complex commercial software for the past 10-20 years, and hand calculations or design are seldom practiced except for really obvious straight forward situations. This leaves little or no room to have right of the shelf hand design sharpened skills needed for a hand calculated exam such as the PE. Did you have to refresh your skills in structural analysis, prestressed concrete element design, concrete serviceability analysis, 2-D frame and truss solution methods etc… to be able to perform hand calculations?

Thanks,

Misha

At the beginning i tried to match the subjets given by the NCEES that were supose to be on the exam with the chapters and subjects on the CERM, to see if all NCEES's subjects were in there, that way i could only study those subjects, i had no luck, they don't match.

at the end i decided to study everything that the CERM had.

my strategy was to read in detail the theory of every subject of all the chapters of the CERM with the solved examples that they give on most of the chapters. at the beginning that is easy because the chapters are statics, dinamics, hydraulics, etc., easy subjects, i still remember from my days as a college professor. i also remember spending a lot of time trying to know by heart 2 span moments by the cross method because i thought that was going to be on the exam.

For your info, i did structural design of mostly 2 story houses, holding structures, and a 6 story commercial building about 10 years ago back in my country, but i kept buying stuctural design books and reading them to keep myself fresh on the subject that i like. on the last 10 years i've been working as a structural inspector in the field for a consulting engineering firm building mid and high rise buildings.

I am familiar with transportation, construction and geotechnical as well, lucky me because back in my country civil engineering college is 5 years, and the curriculum in not narrowed to a specific area like structural design or transportation, but to all the areas of engineering.

But when i got to the chapter of wastewater tratment, that was a different matter. i did not understand anything at all, ;and i knew that i wasn't going to understand even if i read it 1000 times. so what i did was just to do a quick read of the chapter.

also remember that if i got up at 9 AM, i immediately started studying until i fall sleep, probably 2 or 3 in the morning.

i also remember that reading and understanding the CERM took alot more time that covering the SERM or the example book, beside those books are thinner comparing to the CERM.

i could not give you a rate of coverage per day because i apply fast reading to the subjects that i knew well and a slow rate to the subjects that were hard for me to understand.

i did not try to memorized anything, while i was reading i did my special index on the subjects (questions) that i beleive were going to be on the exam. i read the subject's theory first untill i understand and then i took a look at the solved problems.

if you say you can cover 5-10 pages per 2 hours study, that is a good rate for unfamiliar subjects.

MY ADVISE: 1) MORNING EXAM IS A PIECE OF CAKE, JUST A FAST READING OF THE SUBJECTS AND SOLVING SOME PROBLEMS FOR THE UNFAMILIAR SUBJECTS.

2) AFTERNOOM EXAM IS NOT EASY BUT AGAIN THE EXAM IS TO TEST YOUR BASIC KNOWLEDGE OF ENGINEERING AND KNOW WHERE TO FIND IT ON THE CODES. for example if they give you a truss a ask to identify the zero force members, you have to be able to do it, CERM has a good example. another example, if they ask you to forces do to the wind on the corner of a one story structure, you have to know where to go on the ASCE-05 code and know how to read those tables. SO, READ AND UNDERSTAND THE CODES (ASCE, ACI, AISC, IBC, ETC).

"refreshing skill"=yes, refresh your skills on structural analysis (very important, a lot on the exam), prestressed design i believe i didn't show on the last exam, but they can include it in this year (who could know?), concrete serviceability, the same advise as prestressed.

another thing, at the beginning of my study i did not know anything about the pe exam (that was my first time), what kind of questions they were, etc., so i decided to study the whole CERM book. today, i can say that the questions are of basic engineering knowledge, and that the questions can not take more than 2-3 minutes to answer it in the morning or 6-8 minutes in the afternoom.

good luck!!
 
Thanks Dastuff. I understand the PE exam is difficult but not impossible. I just wanted to give it its right weight to be able to properly prepare. The link you provided is to NCEES web site but not to a specific subject. Did you mean the exam specification part?

Thanks,

Misha

I was quite impressed by your account and strategy, however for an average person like myself I am a bit puzzled at the pace you have implemented to cover nearly 65 CERM chapters (say 65x20 pages avg = 1300 pages) not to mention the time needed for SERM or depth subjects and related codes full acquaintance. There must have been topics that you were more or less unfamiliar with (if you are practicing in a specific area). For me with a long structural background, topics such as water and wastewater treatment are unfamiliar to a significant extent, same goes with transportation and construction as compared to hydraulics (to some extent), geotechnical and structural.Can you provide clews on the rate of coverage per hour or per day and on the grasping extent you have applied (e.g. fast reading, partly memorizing, writing short notes or maybe only directly solving problems by crunching numbers in equations from the references and only knowing where graphs and equations are located)?

I feel like being able to cover at most 5-10 pages per 2 hrs study every day for assimilating unfamiliar subjects, let aside the time for solving problems and then mastering the PM Depth subjects. If there is something wrong with my reasoning, I will be glad if you provided some more insights.

Also I should say, veteran structural designers like me have most probably designed structures using complex commercial software for the past 10-20 years, and hand calculations or design are seldom practiced except for really obvious straight forward situations. This leaves little or no room to have right of the shelf hand design sharpened skills needed for a hand calculated exam such as the PE. Did you have to refresh your skills in structural analysis, prestressed concrete element design, concrete serviceability analysis, 2-D frame and truss solution methods etc… to be able to perform hand calculations?

Thanks,

Misha
Once again, Please review the NCEES link I provided above. Don't misinterpret my response, I do think the PE is a difficult test. But it is not as hard as you're making it out to be. Make sure you understand what percentages go into each section (you don't want to spend 20% of your time on prestressed concrete if it's only 3% of the test).
 
Code:
Once again, Please review the NCEES link I provided above. Don't misinterpret my response, I do think the PE is a difficult test. But it is not as hard as you're making it out to be. Make sure you understand what percentages go into each section (you don't want to spend 20% of your time on prestressed concrete if it's only 3% of the test).
[/quote]

Dastuff, after anyone has passed the pe exam, everything seems easy. but before the exam, specially for the first timers, they are in the dark. they don't know what kind of questions they are going to give, etc. so, i think that any questions about the exam are valid, specially to those that already passed the exam and can give an insight of what to expect and where to focus your study on, but also to built your confidence.

so people out there, keep asking anything, even if somebody think is stupid or repetitive, still there people out there that are going to answer you.

LISTEN Dastuff AND EVERYONE, EVEN THOUGH I PASSED THE EXAM EASY, I WOULD NOT WANT TO BE AGAIN AT THE BEGINNING OF THAT JOURNEY. I DON'T WANT TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN!!!!

anyway i can help so you guys don't have to do it 2 or 3 times it makes me feel good.

bolivia-pe

 
This thread has been very useful to plan my preparation for April 2012 Civil/Structural PM exam. One thing i noticed is that , to be able to know where the stuff located , is very important. Does anyone still has the "Special -Index"?

I will really appreciate it.

[email protected]

Thank you.

 
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This thread is really a great inspiration and help to plan my PE exam for April 2012.

I really appreciate if anyone of you, please email me that "Special-Index" create by Bolivia-PE.

[email protected]

Thank you so much for your help & support.

 
GREAT JOB PASSING SIR!

I wish I had the time to study like you did, but it's just not feasible for me, but I like how you went about it and I have added a few parts of your plan to my studying. I see several people have already posted this and I hate feeling like a moocher, but I am very intrigued by your "Special Index" that was created and would love to see how that is setup. There is just so much stuff to know and if it's not organized then you feel so overwhelmed and start freaking out....

I really appreciate if you, or someone who has already gotten it could send it to me

THANK YOU AND GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!!

 
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can somebody also please email me the "Special Index"

Really appreciate it.

 
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