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I do better with structure, and especially if I am held accountable to someone besides myself. Plus I'm lazy and I hate to study. So does anyone want to whip up a study schedule and have a study group? As an added bonus, I have tons of study material scanned that I am willing to email around that you would probably end up buying anyway. I am taking Testmasters also, which I am sure will have some good notes as well.

 
I do better with structure, and especially if I am held accountable to someone besides myself. Plus I'm lazy and I hate to study. So does anyone want to whip up a study schedule and have a study group? As an added bonus, I have tons of study material scanned that I am willing to email around that you would probably end up buying anyway. I am taking Testmasters also, which I am sure will have some good notes as well.
Sounds like a plan. Which depth module are you planning on doing? I plan on doing Transportation (I took the test in October, in California, so I haven't received my results yet, but I fully expect to be sitting there again in April). What is your Testmasters schedule like? I have the one from The Other Board, and it's a 5 month schedule, so I would have to condense it.

 
Sounds like a plan. Which depth module are you planning on doing? I plan on doing Transportation (I took the test in October, in California, so I haven't received my results yet, but I fully expect to be sitting there again in April). What is your Testmasters schedule like? I have the one from The Other Board, and it's a 5 month schedule, so I would have to condense it.
Aww- I was going to take the CA in April, but since they won't have the seismic stuff ready til March, I ditched it for TX. I'll be taking surveying and seismic in October instead. I'm taking WR in the afternoon. It'd be cool if we could get at least one person in each afternoon depth so we can answer questions better. (Hint hint!) Testmasters is one 3-day weekend in February and one in March. After that I won't see the light of day I think! :-( I was going to check out the new breadth stuff tonight and see how best to study for it- I'm thinking Construction last, just because it'll be harder to find stuff.

 
Hello,

i am interested. I already took the test in water resources once in Oct' 07 and i failed. I suck on structures. But i am good at water resources and environmental. Also i have lots of material.

 
Hello,i am interested. I already took the test in water resources once in Oct' 07 and i failed. I suck on structures. But i am good at water resources and environmental. Also i have lots of material.

Hey I am interested too, Im taking the construction come April, also have lots of study material...mostly in .pdf form. Have material for all depths though.

 
[SIZE=24pt][/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]I have pasted a study schedule that was used for a review class I took through the local SPE chapter. Maybe we could change the dates and make something work.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Fall 2007 Course Schedule[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]MSPE Civil PE Review Class[/SIZE]
[SIZE=18pt][/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Topic Date Instructor[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt][/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Introduction/PE Exam Overview Tues. 9/11[/SIZE]


Soils and Foundations Thurs. 9/13
Highway Engineering Tues. 9/18
Engineering Economics Thurs. 9/20
Waste Facilities Engineering Tues.
Open Channel Flow Thurs. 9/27
Hydrology Tues. 10/2
Mechanics of Materials, IBC Loads Thurs. 10/4


Concrete Tues. 10/9
Timber/Steel Design Thurs. 10/11
Fluid Mechanics Tues. 10/16
 
What about this:

Soils 1/9/2008-1/13/2008

Transportation-Geometric Design 1/14/2008-1/20/2008

Engineering Economics / Construction 1/21/2008-1/27/2008

Waste Facilities Engineering 1/28/2008-2/3/2008

Open Channel Flow 2/4/2008-2/10/2008

Hydrology 2/11/2008-2/17/2008

Mechanics of Materials, IBC Loads 2/18/2008-2/24/2008

Fluid Mechanics 2/25/2008-3/2/2008

Foundations 3/3/2008-3/9/2008

Groundwater and Wells 3/10/2008-3/16/2008

Editted to remove some weeks :)

 
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Here's some stuff to get us started:

A soil sample has a water content of 20%, a degree of saturation of 80%, and a specific gravity of

2.68. The dry unit weight is most nearly _____

A moist soil sample in a tare can is put on a balance and the mass of the soil plus can is found to be

48.30 g. After oven drying, the mass of the soil plus can is found to be 41.22 g. The mass of the

empty tare can is 7.41 grams. The water content of the soil is most nearly _____

A clay deposit has a unit weight of 100 lbf/ft3 and an unconfined compressive strength of 2000 lbf/ft2.

What is most nearly the depth at which the horizontal soil pressure is zero?

A dry sand has a minimum unit weight of 105 lb/ft and a maximum unit weight of 125 lb/ft . The unit

weight in place is measured at 121 lb/ft . What is the relative density?

Five pounds of moist soil has a water content of 20%. How many pounds of water must be added to

increase the water content to 30%?

A fine-grained, inorganic soil sample has liquid limit of 45 and a plastic limit of 30. Classify the soil

according to the Unified Soil Classification System.

 
Here's some stuff to get us started:
A soil sample has a water content of 20%, a degree of saturation of 80%, and a specific gravity of

2.68. The dry unit weight is most nearly _____

A moist soil sample in a tare can is put on a balance and the mass of the soil plus can is found to be

48.30 g. After oven drying, the mass of the soil plus can is found to be 41.22 g. The mass of the

empty tare can is 7.41 grams. The water content of the soil is most nearly _____

A clay deposit has a unit weight of 100 lbf/ft3 and an unconfined compressive strength of 2000 lbf/ft2.

What is most nearly the depth at which the horizontal soil pressure is zero?

A dry sand has a minimum unit weight of 105 lb/ft and a maximum unit weight of 125 lb/ft . The unit

weight in place is measured at 121 lb/ft . What is the relative density?

Five pounds of moist soil has a water content of 20%. How many pounds of water must be added to

increase the water content to 30%?

A fine-grained, inorganic soil sample has liquid limit of 45 and a plastic limit of 30. Classify the soil

according to the Unified Soil Classification System.
Awesome, I am going to try and work on these tonight!

owillis

 
What about this:
I noticed your study schedule by topic takes you to April 6, 2008 and the actual exam date is April 11, 2008. Does your schedule include opportunities to quiz yourself or provide self-exams?? IMHO, you will want a little set aside time to be able to do that just so you have the feeling of solving a number of problems under the time constraints. If for nothing else, it will also give you the opportunity to see how long it does take write out equations, convert units, etc.

One other piece of advice - once you get closer to exam time (say 3 weeks), I wouldn't be solving problems outright. As long as you can find the governing equations, set-up the problem with proper units/conversions, don't worry about solving. This is especially helpful if you find yourself behind on time.

Don't forget to post questions if you have problems! Good luck in your preparations!

JR

 
This sounds awesome. I've started some geotech studying already, so this works well. I'm doing Transportation in the afternoon.

 
Squishles10 wrote: "I do better with structure, and especially if I am held accountable to someone besides myself. Plus I'm lazy and I hate to study. So does anyone want to whip up a study schedule and have a study group? As an added bonus, I have tons of study material scanned that I am willing to email around that you would probably end up buying anyway. I am taking Testmasters also, which I am sure will have some good notes as well."

Don't anyone believe "squishles10" is lazy...I work with her and she will be a great leader in your studying. She has been studying for 4 months already! I would recommend that whatever area you consider your weakest (mine was structures), study the basics...like for structures this would have been statics (moments and shear diagrams). I was totally lost during the review course because I didn't even remember those basics. I vaguely remember moments of inertia, but did not know how to calculate it -- I'm 20 years out of school and statics was probably 25 years ago!

The week of the exam, plan on organizing materials to be more familiar with them and relaxing. I wouldn't work a bunch of problems, as this will make you more nervous than you might already be!

 
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Don't anyone believe "squishles10" is lazy...I work with her and she will be a great leader in your studying.
I COMPLETELY believe you! Her questions have been directed and spot-on which tells me that she has already done her homework before she even begins to ask questions.

Anyone who is THAT motivated cannot even remotely claim to be lazy. :true:

JR

 
Answers!
A soil sample has a water content of 20%, a degree of saturation of 80%, and a specific gravity of

2.68. The dry unit weight is most nearly 100 lbm/ft3

A moist soil sample in a tare can is put on a balance and the mass of the soil plus can is found to be

48.30 g. After oven drying, the mass of the soil plus can is found to be 41.22 g. The mass of the

empty tare can is 7.41 grams. The water content of the soil is most nearly 21%

A clay deposit has a unit weight of 100 lbf/ft3 and an unconfined compressive strength of 2000 lbf/ft2.

What is most nearly the depth at which the horizontal soil pressure is zero? 20 ft

A dry sand has a minimum unit weight of 105 lb/ft and a maximum unit weight of 125 lb/ft . The unit

weight in place is measured at 121 lb/ft . What is the relative density? 83%

Five pounds of moist soil has a water content of 20%. How many pounds of water must be added to

increase the water content to 30%? 0.42 lbm

A fine-grained, inorganic soil sample has liquid limit of 45 and a plastic limit of 30. Classify the soil

according to the Unified Soil Classification System. ML
 
Got every answer except the "how many pounds of water" one (5th one, I think).

Any explaination available?

owillis

 
water content=(Weight of Water)/(Weight of Solids)

Weight of Water+Weight of Solids=5 lbs

Solve for Weight of Water and Weight of Solids (two variables, two equations)

Weight of water= 0.83 lbs

Weight of solids= 4.17 lbs

To increase to 30%

0.30=(Weight of Water)/4.17

Weight of water in sample with 30% water content= 1.251 pounds

Original weight=0.83 lbs

1.251-0.83= 0.421 pounds to be added

ta da!

:)

 
water content=(Weight of Water)/(Weight of Solids)Weight of Water+Weight of Solids=5 lbs

Solve for Weight of Water and Weight of Solids (two variables, two equations)

Weight of water= 0.83 lbs

Weight of solids= 4.17 lbs

To increase to 30%

0.30=(Weight of Water)/4.17

Weight of water in sample with 30% water content= 1.251 pounds

Original weight=0.83 lbs

1.251-0.83= 0.421 pounds to be added

ta da!

:)
Here is what I know about water:

8.34 lbf/gal

7.48 gal/ft3

62.4 lbf/ft3

How did you get the weight of water to equal 0.83 lbs?

 
Let me expand on the two equations part:

We know that 0.2= Ww/Ws

and we know that Ww+Ws=5 pounds

We can solve for both variables, since we have two equations:

Ww=0.2Ws

Substitute that into the second equation

0.2Ws+Ws=5lbs or 1.2Ws=5 lbs

So Ws=4.17 lbs

To get Ww, it's 5-4.17= 0.83lbs

It's asking the actual weight of the water, rather than asking for the unit weight of water. It's more a math trick than engineering.

Does that help?

 
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