# Civil Construction PE Prep - Second Attempt



## civilrobot PE etc etc (Dec 19, 2019)

I've got to be honest, I have no idea where to begin. 

I started studying in June 2019. I studied for ~340 hours. Maybe a little more. I stopped counting during the last few weeks leading up to the exam. 

I took EET breadth and depth courses on-demand. I also did every practice problem, practice test, simulated exam. I completed a host of problems from:


Six Minute Solutions

NCEES Civil Construction Practice Exam

Lindbergh Practice Problems

Indranil Goswami PE Civil Breadth Practice Exams

Aside from the simulated 8 hour exam hosted by EET, I also took two timed 4-hour exams. 

I will admit that my scores were not always consistent. I started off in the 40% range and improved to 70-80% occasionally. I definitely got better as time went on and as I practiced more. I also switched my study hours from night time to morning time. For 3 months, I studied from 9 PM to ~12:30/1AM. At the end of September but the sleep deprivation became a bit much so that changed to 5AM - 6AM with me coming home and studying from 8PM to 10 PM.

I thought I had a solid plan. 

Test day came, and I was filled with so many jitters in the beginning but after the first 30 minutes, I calmed down. I counted about 27 that I felt confident with in the AM. Results showed that I only got 21 right.

I felt confident with 24 in the afternoon; results showed 21 correct. 

Any suggestions on how to improve? I know that repeating the same study habits will not result in a pass. However, I felt like I threw everything at this and it didn't stick. So, I need to be more strategic this go 'round. Where do I begin? 

Also, I have a kid and my husband works long hours. I have family close by and friends willing to jump in and help out. But it's important that I say that because studying from 5 PM to 12 AM isn't going to work for me.


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## Will.I.Am PE (Dec 19, 2019)

Go get it, @civilrobot! We're all rooting for you.  :appl:

The only specific advice I would give is to throw the Lindeburg Practice Problems in the trash, where they belong. (Or use them as a doorstop, which is my plan.) 

You may have seen already, but I wrote out a novel about my approach for this last round. I don't know how much you'd be able to glean from it, but it pretty much represents my accumulated wisdom for prepping for the exam. 



You also might consider sharing your strengths and weaknesses from this past round. I'm not pressuring you to post your diagnostic, but you might be able to get some more specific advice, depending on what your strengths and weaknesses are, specifically.

:thumbs:   ldtimer:   :th_rockon:


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## civilrobot PE etc etc (Dec 19, 2019)

Will.I.Am PE said:


> Go get it, @civilrobot! We're all rooting for you.  :appl:
> 
> The only specific advice I would give is to throw the Lindeburg Practice Problems in the trash, where they belong. (Or use them as a doorstop, which is my plan.)
> 
> ...


Thanks! Any advice helps.

*ETA: Diagnostic report below.*


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## ruggercsc (Dec 19, 2019)

If you felt confident in your answers, you probably got a result that matched one of the answers.  If that is the case, you most likely used a wrong equation, used a wrong assumption, or got tricked.   NCEES throws in trick questions and if you missed one or two of these, that could have been the difference.  In the practice tests I took, I made a lot of these mistakes and made it point to not make that mistake on the actual exam.  I am assuming that you probably made these same type of errors.  I would just keep at it and really pay attention to the practice questions I missed and why i did not get the correct answers.


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## civilrobot PE etc etc (Dec 19, 2019)

Hopefully this works.


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## civilrobot PE etc etc (Dec 19, 2019)

ruggercsc said:


> If you felt confident in your answers, you probably got a result that matched one of the answers.  If that is the case, you most likely used a wrong equation, used a wrong assumption, or got tricked.   NCEES throws in trick questions and if you missed one or two of these, that could have been the difference.  In the practice tests I took, I made a lot of these mistakes and made it point to not make that mistake on the actual exam.  I am assuming that you probably made these same type of errors.  I would just keep at it and really pay attention to the practice questions I missed and why i did not get the correct answers.


Two things:

1. Yes, I left the exam and got in my car. Started driving down the highway and realized that I fell for a trick that I fell for on a practice exam, and told myself not to do on this exam. Totally did that. 

2. I did not go back and check my work. I know that really cost me. I completed a problem and just kept pushing through. I feel like my effort on my 3rd pass was a little all over the place. I felt a little loss with which equation to use at times (hydrology). Sometimes debating myself down to the theory over which one to use. Then a voice would pop in my head that said "TOO MUCH TIME! MOVE ON!"

So, it got a little chaotic and then I just filled in whatever was missing with C.


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## LyceeFruit PE (Dec 19, 2019)

So I didn't take civil as you know.

But I created a binder of all of my completed problems and created an index sorted by category from NCEES. And on the problems I got wrong, I corrected them in a different color pen to show where I went wrong. And pointed out traps and such so it'd be stuck in my head 

I don't know if this is something you can apply to your exam


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## civilrobot PE etc etc (Dec 19, 2019)

LyceeFruit PE said:


> So I didn't take civil as you know.
> 
> But I created a binder of all of my completed problems and created an index sorted by category from NCEES. And on the problems I got wrong, I corrected them in a different color pen to show where I went wrong. And pointed out traps and such so it'd be stuck in my head
> 
> I don't know if this is something you can apply to your exam


I created a practice problem binder of problems that I solved myself. I divided them by NCEES exam topic and created an index that identified the following: 

"Exam Topic" - "Find" - "Given"

Then wrote the same thing at the top of the problem in that section "Find:... Given:...."

I think your advice could be a great add to this resource. That binder was very helpful but I think if I tweak it to include marked up mistakes or something that could help. I'll take a look at how I have them presented.


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## PlanCheckEng (Dec 19, 2019)

It looks like you did pretty well in the afternoon, but morning needs some more work.  Geometrics typically should be a free 2 or 3 points.  You'll need to tighten up core subjects of the morning; structural, soils, and water.  It appears a strong performance is required in those areas to pass.  You're in construction depth so its expected means and methods will pick up next go around.  

Before test day, I read on the forum someone mentioning that the exam has an equal number of A's, B's, C's, and D's as answers.  Not sure how true it is, but I used that rationale to guide my guesses in the morning.


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## TSLT2010 (Dec 19, 2019)

Reading all what you did, sound like you pushed yourself through too much. This time just be constant with 3-4 hrs of study M-F and Weekends 6hrs. No distractions, I know is a little bit difficult with two kids (son and husband) lol because I'm in the same boat, but we can do this! My advice and is what I will do is start studying the topics where more I failed, focused in practicing and understanding the concept to apply similar problems, but not the same. 

I was very confident that I did a great morning, thinking that nailed 30 of the 40 and I only did 22 correct, in the afternoon I though that I failed and I did 26 correct (i'm including my diagnostic report). With that being said, the key is not be too confident and double check each questions thinking out of the box.

Also, we can do an online support group to discuss problems, this will help.


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## Mo84 (Dec 19, 2019)

civilrobot said:


> Any suggestions on how to improve? I know that repeating the same study habits will not result in a pass.


What is your approach to study computational problems ? Do you actually try to solve practice problems on your own without looking at the solution until you finished ?


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## john813_PE (Dec 19, 2019)

Looking back on the test and your practices tests, did any Practice test seemed completely off base from what you saw?

I picked up the 6 minute solution book while trying to grab a lot of content as possible for the WRE test. 

5 problems in I felt the problems took 6 minutes to copy/wonder how they even got those steps. Stopped using it but brought it to the test for the hell of it. Saved me a lot of time not bothering to practice off that book. The exam looked easier than the problems from 6MS. 

And then reviews on it on Amazon and other places too showed others thought it was too much for the WRE exam. 

But, I have heard that some did find 6MS helpful for their depth...

Some books that helped me in the AM were:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1983913685/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1981825614/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1

^(Have A-B-C morning practice tests) 

Those IMO definitely helped me solve some AM questions on the real exam. 

I feel you on the young kid. I had a 1 year old at the time I started studying that would want to be with me everytime I wanted to study lol. Would open the door and want to sit on m lap. (Early walker)

What I did was M-Thurs 2-3 hours. Friday off, S&amp;S 2 hrs in am and PM. Didn't want to overload myself cause I knew longer hours studying for me equaled less being retained.  Especially after a 10 hour day at work. 

Did that till a week or 2 before the exam. Then I added Friday into the mix and took off some days before to attempt to study all day. 

So, the bulk of my studying was at night when he was asleep. 

I'm a firm believer of more problems the better to learn. But, that works for me. I honestly didn't read much from the CERM outside of a few sections I was weak on. Just highlighted/tabbed sections that I felt would be on the exam.


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## TSLT2010 (Dec 19, 2019)

john813 said:


> Looking back on the test and your practices tests, did any PT seems completely off base from what you saw?
> 
> I picked up the 6 minute solution book while trying to grab a lot of content as possible for the WRE test.
> 
> ...


How similar are those practice exam to the original exam?


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## TSLT2010 (Dec 19, 2019)

Mo84 said:


> What is your approach to study computational problems ? Do you actually try to solve practice problems on your own without looking at the solution until you finished ?






Mo84 said:


> What is your approach to study computational problems ? Do you actually try to solve practice problems on your own without looking at the solution until you finished ?


You brought a good point!! I start not cheating in to the results and that works. Obviously, looks that I didn't try hard in the temporary structures and earthwork sections.


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## john813_PE (Dec 19, 2019)

TSLT2010 said:


> How similar are those practice exam to the original exam?




I felt some AM questions were close via difficulty with what I saw on the April 19 exam. 

Some in the PE Prepared tests are a bit too easy but I guess were good for confidence while studying. 

_Civil Engineering PE Practice Exams: 2 Full Breadth Exams _Problems had a few problems very close to the NCEES Practice exam but different variable to find which actually came handy for a problem on the exam. 

I went through the exam on my 2nd/3rd look through with these books to give me a spark on some questions and think they gave me enough hints to get the right answer.


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## civilrobot PE etc etc (Dec 19, 2019)

Mo84 said:


> What is your approach to study computational problems ? Do you actually try to solve practice problems on your own without looking at the solution until you finished ?


Yes. I'll sit down and solve 10-25 problems (depending on the amount of time I have allocated for that day) and then I go through and check them and score myself. That's where I'm thinking I can make sure I identify my mistakes or dive deeper into why I solved something a certain way. 

I sometimes said "well why didn't you just say you were solving for that?" after looking at a solution though.


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## civilrobot PE etc etc (Dec 19, 2019)

john813 said:


> Looking back on the test and your practices tests, did any Practice test seemed completely off base from what you saw? *Yes, but I knew that would happen. One thing I didn't mention is that I've been out of school for 15 years and in executive management for about a year. Therefore, I'm a little removed from some of the technical mechanics of some of the breadth subjects. With that being said, I took in every practice problem I could to regain (and in some cases just learn) the ability to do that level of technical problem solving again. Maybe I spent too much time on it.*
> 
> I picked up the 6 minute solution book while trying to grab a lot of content as possible for the WRE test.
> 
> ...


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## cbass (Dec 19, 2019)

Did you run out of time on the exam?

How did you do triage to decide which problems to work first? I scanned all the problems and mentally noted which ones would be easier. Then I worked those first. I skipped around the exam going from easiest to hardest. This prevented me from be stuck on any one problem. I end up with 30 minutes on AM and 45 minutes on PM to review my answers and rework problems I had doubts on.

I would also add is to ensure that you put tabs on all your references. I feel like one could waste a huge amount of time flipping through the crate of books one brings to find answers or formulas. So, knowing where everything is and having it tabulated would help reduce wasted time during the exam.

Also, study the concepts and not work billions of problems. Becuase if you understand the concepts you will be better able to solve problems you have never seen before. Try and elminate answers that do not make any sense.


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## civilrobot PE etc etc (Dec 19, 2019)

cbass said:


> Did you run out of time on the exam?
> 
> How did you do triage to decide which problems to work first? I scanned all the problems and mentally noted which ones would be easier. Then I worked those first. I skipped around the exam going from easiest to hardest. This prevented me from be stuck on any one problem. I end up with 30 minutes on AM and 45 minutes on PM to review my answers and rework problems I had doubts on.
> 
> ...


I followed the multi-pass strategy. First pass, I labeled problems either 1 or 2. Third pass, I either gave them a 3 or nothing (as in, I have no idea how to solve this). I probably should have spent the time going back and checking my label-1 or label-2 problems rather than staring at problems that I didn't know how to solve. I probably loss points on rushing and making mistakes on problems I could have solved correctly.

I think my tabs/indices/organization was on point. I don't think I need to change that.


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## Mo84 (Dec 19, 2019)

civilrobot said:


> Yes. I'll sit down and solve 10-25 problems (depending on the amount of time I have allocated for that day) and then I go through and check them and score myself. That's where I'm thinking I can make sure I identify my mistakes or dive deeper into why I solved something a certain way.


Seems you used about the right method to study !

Your diagnostics indicate you struggled on construction related topics in the morning ( soil and structural mechanics can strongly relate to construction along with the obvious ones - project planning and means &amp; methods ) and you didn't exactly do well on the afternoon . What made you decide on the Construction Depth if I may ask ? Maybe Transportation or WRE Depths are a better fit for you ?

Construction is probably the least well defined Depth and it covers a wide variety of topics which can be more challenging and less predictable


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## civilrobot PE etc etc (Dec 19, 2019)

Mo84 said:


> Seems you used about the right method to study !
> 
> Your diagnostics indicate you struggled on construction related topics in the morning ( soil and structural mechanics can strongly relate to construction along with the obvious ones - project planning and means &amp; methods ) and you didn't exactly do well on the afternoon . What made you decide on the Construction Depth if I may ask ? Maybe Transportation or WRE Depths are a better fit for you ?
> 
> *Construction is probably the least well defined Depth and it covers a wide variety of topics which can be more challenging and less predictable*


To be honest with you, it wasn't until I was more than halfway through my preparation that I realized that I should have chosen WRE because of the broad scope of construction. My field experience is in construction. I surprised I kinda bombed on Project Planning, etc. I will admit that I studied that topic pretty hot and heavy when I started back in June and then I never revisited it with that same intensity until a month out. But by then, I was more into Deep Foundations, Welding and Bolting, PM stuff basically. I work in transportation but I'm in a senior executive level, and not in the field so that one is meh... 

I don't know if backing out of this area and going into another is the right move...meaning, I really don't know. It's crossed my mind but I wonder if it's a pretty heavy lift.


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## civilrobot PE etc etc (Dec 19, 2019)

This troubleshooting session has been very beneficial. 

If you think of anything else, please let me know. 

So far, I will work on:

1. Building in time to check my work when I practice problems. 

2. Note my mistakes and learn from them. 

3. Try to maintain ability with the PM topics but beef up on the AM.


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## Mo84 (Dec 19, 2019)

civilrobot said:


> I don't know if backing out of this area and going into another is the right move...meaning, I really don't know. It's crossed my mind but I wonder if it's a pretty heavy lift.


I agree it's not easy to switch at this point.  Take some time off to clear your mind and then come back with a strong plan. You are not that far off you can definitely do this.


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## NCHomebrewer (Dec 19, 2019)

civilrobot said:


> To be honest with you, it wasn't until I was more than halfway through my preparation that I realized that I should have chosen WRE because of the broad scope of construction. My field experience is in construction. I surprised I kinda bombed on Project Planning, etc. I will admit that I studied that topic pretty hot and heavy when I started back in June and then I never revisited it with that same intensity until a month out. But by then, I was more into Deep Foundations, Welding and Bolting, PM stuff basically. I work in transportation but I'm in a senior executive level, and not in the field so that one is meh...
> 
> I don't know if backing out of this area and going into another is the right move...meaning, I really don't know. It's crossed my mind but I wonder if it's a pretty heavy lift.


Hey civilrobot - I'm in a similar position.  I took the Construction depth in October 2018 and failed with a 42/80.  I wasn't surprised as I just did self-study and had a one-year old that wasn't sleeping well.  I took the Construction depth again in October 2019 and failed with a 41/80.  I was shocked - I did a prep class, tons of study, and my sleep schedule was fairly consistent.  I took Construction because it felt like a "catch-all" category but I work mainly in environmental remediation.  I decided this year to switch to the Environmental PE and see how that goes.  Maybe you need to consider a change to a different exam as well?  The instructor in one of my refresher classes made a comment that you should only do the construction depth if you work in it every day.


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## enrique_nola (Dec 19, 2019)

As someone who failed in April and just passed October's, the two biggest changes I've done have been to use EET's material for the depth and to check each problem's solution immediately after completing it.  Doing 10-25 problems in a row then checking after attempting all of them seems like theres too much time for it to properly 'etch' the correct procedure in your head.  Once finish, check--if you find an error see the solution, I would (now this may have been overboard) start the problem from scratch and try to solve until correct...Even after you see that its incorrect and look at the solution.  Redo it, make sure its correct, then move on to the next.  I sped up because I eventually developed an intuition from practicing enough.


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## CampCounselor (Dec 19, 2019)

In reading thru your story, there aren't any glaring omissions or issues with your prep that I can see.  It sounds like our prep and background was/is similar.  This was my first attempt.  I chose Civil Construction and passed.

I've been out of school for 20yrs and have worked in more of an administrative capacity for most of that time, so I needed to not only refresh but re-learn a lot of material.  I have two young kids at home and work 50-60 hr weeks.  I used EET for breadth and depth but didn't put in as many hours as you did.  

My only comment would be this:

I spent a lot of time doing problems.  Over and over, again.  And then again.  And then again.  And then again.  Again and Again.  I only used EET's practice problems, their exams, the NCEES practice exam and the 6-minute solution book.  But, I spent most of my time doing and re-doing the EET problems.  I probably did them all 4-5 times and some more than that.   I didn't care about simulating the exam, I only worked at recognizing problems and their solution path as quickly as possible.  In preparation, it wasn't enough for me to understand the problem and solution, the goal was to be FAST.  The only way I know how to do anything fast is for it to be almost second nature.  And that comes thru practice.  Lots of it.

By the time I went thru all of EET's problems once, I would go back and redo them.  I rarely remembered the individual problem details.  I did this until I could quickly assess and do the problem without reference to procedure or theory.  I took only the EET materials into the exam and opened them a handful of times to reference formulas I couldn''t recall and for the Safety questions.  Other than that, I motored thru.  Oh, and geometrics.  I didn't review that at all pretest so I did use EET's materials to muddle those couple problems. 

In my opinion, the majority of pretest preparation/study should focus on speed and how fast one can recognize problems.  If this means doing the same problem 10 times in a row until it's burned into your brain, so be it.  Speed.  It's the key.

Hang in there.  You'll get it.


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## Michael Scott PE (Dec 20, 2019)

Do you have all of the required reference materials called out in the NCEES exam guidelines for the Construction depth?  I can guarantee that having those books landed me an easy 12 questions on the exam in October.

I highly recommend Civil Engineering Academy's "Ultimate Civil PE Review Course".  Isaac has put together the best online exam prep course there is.  And that's coming from someone who took PPI2Pass twice and has seen the materials from SoPE.  I took the exam for the 4th time in October and really credit a lot of my success to the Ultimate Civil PE Review Course.  

I also suggest working as many practice problems as you can possibly find.  I worked two full NCEES practice exams (current and 2011 version), Goswami's practice exams, Learn Civil Engineering's construction exam, and all of the Ultimate Civil PE Review Course practice problems (and there are a couple hundred).  I think I worked 500+ problems in preparation for this last go-around, and that's what I credit the rest of my success to.


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## civilrobot PE etc etc (Dec 20, 2019)

@Michael Scott, PE yes I have all of the references. 

thanks for the input.


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## Fisherman504 (Dec 20, 2019)

LyceeFruit PE said:


> So I didn't take civil as you know.
> 
> But I created a binder of all of my completed problems and created an index sorted by category from NCEES. And on the problems I got wrong, I corrected them in a different color pen to show where I went wrong. And pointed out traps and such so it'd be stuck in my head
> 
> I don't know if this is something you can apply to your exam


Actually, that's kinda what I did too. I would write myself little notes on the problems I would work out and tell myself don't fall for this trap. It's 8.34 x ........ to get to lbs/day. This test is worst than the child support trap I got stuck with.


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## civilrobot PE etc etc (Jan 3, 2020)

So now that I'm no longer in my feelings, I'm ready to get back to work. Someone recommended that I talk about the things I felt that I did well in the last cycle and of course, the things I could do better. 

I've been out of school for almost 16 years so I had to start from scratch with a lot of topics. 

Strengths

- I was really organized. I tabbed the EET binders, the OSHA reference, ACI reference, and parts of the CERM. I created an index for the EET binders. Shoutout to @CivInTexas who sent a great template of an old EET keyword index. I updated it and included it at the front of the AM and PM binders.

- I had a separate binder for practice problems. I included solved practice problems from EET practice problems, EET midterm, some 6-minute solutions, and EET simulated 8-hr exam. I created an index for my practice problem binder that included the following columns: NCEES test section/Given/Find

- I also brought the entire EET practice exam solutions in a binder. I created an index for this one as well. (I didn't use this as much)

- I completed two 4-hour timed exams and one 8-hour timed exam. I also bought a pack of scantrons from Amazon and used those during simulated exam, and I always worked from my crates. So what I liked the most about this was that it helped me to become more comfortable with maneuvering during test taking. It's really important to get in the habit of transferring answers to the scantron, to keep up with the scantron, and learn how to move your books around. I actually studied at a 6 foot long table and forced myself to work within a 4-5 foot footprint. I never felt awkward during the exam because I was so used to working this way.

- Variety of practice. I used CERM Practice Problems (useless because they mix breadth and depth questions together. kinda helpful for your depth area), Six Minute Solutions (takes way more than 6 minutes to complete so don't feel bad), Goswami Civil Breadth Exams (harder than the exam but good practice), NCEES Civil Construction Practice Exam (not the same questions as what you will see on the exam but it's a similar level of difficulty - a little more straightforward than some of the tricky problems you'll see), and as mentioned before - the EET practice exams and practice problems.

- I kept a log of my study hours. This kept me honest regarding my coverage of each topic. 

- I had all of the required references. My EET binders had most of the information that I needed, however, I forced myself to use my actual references because I needed to learn how to use them just in case the EET binders didn't have something. 

Weaknesses

- I studied way too much. That may sound weird and everybody is different but I sacrificed my sleep and my health. I was burned out by the last few weeks. Lesson: Focus on quality study time rather than quantity. Add in time to exercise and more down time/social time.

- I didn't do a good job of populating each section of my practice problem binder. It showed up in my diagnostic report too. I think I started this exercise a little too late during my studying and didn't really get as much in there as I should have. I completed an endless number of problems across three 3-subject spiral notebooks. I couldn't comb through it to pull out problems as efficiently as I thought I could. So some of my divider sections were empty. I knew how to do some of the problems on the exam for these areas, but the practice problems kind of sparked some ideas on how to start a problem. Time savings is key during the exam. I was left staring at some problems for way too long only to realize how to solve it after I sat with it for 10 minutes. That shouldn't happen. Lesson: Solve more problems AND save them and index them in my practice problem binder along the way.

- Wasted time working through CERM Practice Problems. A couple of people on here told me to stay away from these problems ( @youngmotivatedengineer)  but I didn't listen. I found myself emailing Nazrul from EET about a couple of them only for him to answer my question and then say "...but that's on Geotechnical depth so I wouldn't worry about that level of detail". I spent 2 days on one problem. Ridiculous. 

- I didn't build in time to review my work during the exam. This hurt me bad. The good news is that I completed practice problems at a rate that made me very comfortable with my calculator and transferring information from calculator, to scratch paper, to scantron. The bad news is if I transferred something incorrectly or made some other error, I didn't build in time to check it. I just moved on to the next problem. I felt completely confident with 27 problems in the AM. I got 21 right. That tells me that I made math errors somewhere and I left those points on the table.

- I spent too much time on topics at the beginning of my study plan and didn't return to those subjects. I did really poorly in Project Planning and Means and Methods because I studied those first, throwing almost study hours at those... only to not return until maybe the night before a simulated exam. Lesson: I'm taking a different approach this time around, touching on several subjects in a week. Also dedicate time to the breadth topics towards the end of my study plan.

- I need to understand the application of Hydraulics and Hydrology to practice problems. I understand the ideas but I definitely need practice with applying the equations. So that means more practice!

This might be helpful to someone, not sure. But here ya go.


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## J. Jones PE (Shengineer) (Jan 3, 2020)

I am 20 years out of college and finally passed April 2019 after multiple attempts...I did construction the first time and the remaining times I kept my focus on transportation,  even though I work in construction. 

What i did, after taking EET was sacrificed and used a week of vacation before the exam...i.e. exam was Friday, I took that previous Friday up to that Friday off. Everyday that week, I went to the library and watched the EET videos on demand and did problems loke it was a work week... starting at 730 am and ending at 5 or later depending on my confidence level.

What I found was having that fresh in my mind the week before the exam helped me tremendously with recollection of material and I was rested enough during the week and used to spending a "work day" studying that I was comfortable in the exam.... Yes.. spending my vacation week for studying was a huge sacrifice but I feel it was key to me finally passing the exam... Best of Luck!


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## youngmotivatedengineer (Jan 3, 2020)

When you work on practice problems this time, keep a print out of the test specifications nearby. If you get stuck on a problem,  verify that it is in the specifications before wasting too much time on it. You may find that some questions may get too involved, however the initial steps to solving the problem may actually be on the test. For example,  you may need to solve for 3 or different variables before you can plug them in to solve the problem.  While the overall answer of the sample question, may be beyond the scope of the actual exam, there may be a question asking you to solve for 1 of those 3 things the practice question was asking for. 

When going through the EET course, keep track of the hints, rules of thimb and safe assumptions they give. For example,  when evaluating a truss, theres certain conditions in which the reaction load would be 0. The PE exam may ask you to find a reaction load thag fits this rule, and you will know the answer without having to do any physical math.


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## J. Jones PE (Shengineer) (Jan 6, 2020)

civilrobot said:


> To be honest with you, it wasn't until I was more than halfway through my preparation that I realized that I should have chosen WRE because of the broad scope of construction. My field experience is in construction. I surprised I kinda bombed on Project Planning, etc. I will admit that I studied that topic pretty hot and heavy when I started back in June and then I never revisited it with that same intensity until a month out. But by then, I was more into Deep Foundations, Welding and Bolting, PM stuff basically. I work in transportation but I'm in a senior executive level, and not in the field so that one is meh...
> 
> I don't know if backing out of this area and going into another is the right move...meaning, I really don't know. It's crossed my mind but I wonder if it's a pretty heavy lift.


Personally....for the sake of saving time and valuable study material...I say stick with construction on your next go around so that you can build on the  already know.


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## civilrobot PE etc etc (Jan 6, 2020)

J. Jones PE (Shengineer) said:


> Personally....for the sake of saving time and valuable study material...I say stick with construction on your next go around so that you can build on the  already know.


Yeah I'm definitely doing that.


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## SB_VA (Jan 7, 2020)

Good news is you are now familiar with the format of the test.  I was out of school for 11 years and took WRE.  I had on-demand EET and SoPE and studied for a year+ prior (originally I was going to take Oct 18, then Apr 19, but life got in the way).

I think your major downfall the last test was not re-reviewing information.  This pattern of study should work well for you too.  I set aside ~2 hours a day for studying where I could; 45 minutes at lunch, some time after the kids went to bed, etc.  Weekends I would try to study 3-4 hours when I could.  Every few days I would switch topics and then start again.  I tabbed the heck out of my CERM and relied on that for 90-95% of the test, but Construction probably needs additional references for the PM portion.  

I think one of the craziest and helpful tasks I did was re-tabbing everything the last weekend.  I color coded and organized the tabs so they weren't everywhere.  By doing this I reviewed where everything was, made notes to other pages/references where needed, and had a fresh overview of the information.  

You got this!


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## vcuevas (Jan 16, 2020)

CampCounselor said:


> In reading thru your story, there aren't any glaring omissions or issues with your prep that I can see.  It sounds like our prep and background was/is similar.  This was my first attempt.  I chose Civil Construction and passed.
> 
> I've been out of school for 20yrs and have worked in more of an administrative capacity for most of that time, so I needed to not only refresh but re-learn a lot of material.  I have two young kids at home and work 50-60 hr weeks.  I used EET for breadth and depth but didn't put in as many hours as you did.
> 
> ...


This will be my 3rd time so Im looking for ideas too. EET material was great but I didnt do good on their simulation exams. This time Im going to try your approach, so my question is, did you do this with all exercises or only problems? I will probably skip the videos of the areas I did good and just do problems on them so reviewing the material and doing exercises and problems, your approach is my hope and hopefully will be my last time!


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## Michael Scott PE (Jan 16, 2020)

vcuevas said:


> This will be my 3rd time so Im looking for ideas too. EET material was great but I didnt do good on their simulation exams. This time Im going to try your approach, so my question is, did you do this with all exercises or only problems? I will probably skip the videos of the areas I did good and just do problems on them so reviewing the material and doing exercises and problems, your approach is my hope and hopefully will be my last time!


I passed it on my 4th time.  First off, keep your head up and keep busting your butt.  You'll get it!  I didn't take EET so I can't speak to any of their materials, but I'd like to recommend a few resources that help tremendously with the construction depth exam.  

1.  Goswami "All-In-One" exam guide.  It is similar to the CERM but much, much simpler to use and quite frankly I think it has better material than the CERM.  I found tons of theory answers in this book.  https://www.amazon.com/Civil-Engineering-All-One-Guide/dp/0071821953/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=goswami+all+in+one&amp;qid=1579182605&amp;sr=8-1

2.  Goswami Practice Exams.  This book has practice exams for every depth option, as well as breadth exams.  I found that the practice problems Goswami put together are very similar to the NCEES exam questions.  I worked every breadth problem and construction depth problem from this book more than once to familiarize myself with the types of questions I might see.  I even did some of the other depth problems that I thought could be on the breadth portion.  https://www.amazon.com/Civil-Engineering-PE-Practice-Exams/dp/0071777113/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=goswami+all+in+one&amp;qid=1579182670&amp;sr=8-2

3.  Learn Civil Engineering Construction Practice Exam.  This practice exam is awesome.  Very much like what you'll see on the exam.  Probably the most useful construction practice exam I took honestly.  https://www.learncivilengineering.com/practice-problems-and-sample-exams-2/

4.  If you'd like to try a course other than EET I highly recommend the Ultimate Civil PE Review Course by Civil Engineering Academy.  Very affordable course.  I think this course helped me crush the breadth portion.  By the time I finished problem 40 on the breadth portion I only had about 7-8 left to go back and work on, and I think I had 1 problem that I ended up just guessing on by the time the 4 hours were up.  This course comes with tons of practice problems and exams.  It's 20% talking about topics, notes, and definitions and 80% working problems.  Their practice problems and exams are top notch.  https://www.civilpereviewcourse.com/ultimate-civil-pe-review-course/

Best of luck on your 3rd attempt!


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## vcuevas (Jan 16, 2020)

THANK you so much! I will look into those practice books, and that course. I believe I have enough material to practice I just have to spend more time doing problems than theory/videos.


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## J. Jones PE (Shengineer) (Jan 16, 2020)

Breadth is Key and should be easier in April compared to October. The depth will be a challenge so definately focus on getting all of your points in the breadth this spring.


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## civilrobot PE etc etc (Jan 22, 2020)

CampCounselor said:


> In reading thru your story, there aren't any glaring omissions or issues with your prep that I can see.  It sounds like our prep and background was/is similar.  This was my first attempt.  I chose Civil Construction and passed.
> 
> I've been out of school for 20yrs and have worked in more of an administrative capacity for most of that time, so I needed to not only refresh but re-learn a lot of material.  I have two young kids at home and work 50-60 hr weeks.  I used EET for breadth and depth but didn't put in as many hours as you did.
> 
> ...


So this is the approach I've decided on. I started studying a few weeks ago, taking breaks when I need to and not sitting for too long. But when I am sitting down to study, I'm only doing problems. At first I made this complicated matrix of a schedule of how to cover all of the topics. I scrapped that. I'm just working through my EET binder and doing all of the problems. When I'm done, I'll start over, and then I'll add other problems in with it. I'll just keep repeating problems over and over again. The good thing about the way I studied last time is that I actually learned many of the concepts. I'm finding a few gaps here and there and filling them in. 

And like one of my peeps in here mentioned, I'm making a note of the steps that I struggle on, writing down exactly what I need to do as if someone is talking to me. It's helping me to keep my eyes open for the tricks. 

So yeah, this is my approach now. Thanks for the input guys!


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## Sirian (Jan 23, 2020)

If you have time and feel so inclined, you might also try “Learning How to Learn” on Coursera - taught by Dr. Barbara Oakley and Dr. Terrence Sejnowski.

I used the course as meta-studying for the PE, because part of the class focuses on how to perform in high-pressure situations and how to get the most out of your studying hours.

I spent about 80 hrs studying and passed (Civil Transportation) on my first attempt. I did zero practice tests and approximately 100 practice problems, the majority of which took between 3 and 6 minutes to solve.

I did not take the EET simulated exam, nor did I time myself on any problems. Nor did I use any practice problems outside of EET or the official NCEES manual for my discipline (I highly recommend getting the construction one!).

The questions most representative of the PE exam ‘easy/moderate’ questions came from the NCEES manual, for me. The slightly more difficult but still routine questions were straight out of EET breadth and depth binders, at least in terms of topic.

The 10-20 most difficult questions on the exam are unpredictable, they would have taken me far more time to solve than 6-10 minutes, so for most of those I didn’t bother or just did my best to tackle the 3-5 hard questions I felt most comfortable attempting to answer.

My first pass of questions, all I did was label them with the topic and a likely concept or reference I thought I would use. I answered two questions on sight. The next pass I did everything I thought was a simple lookup or 30-second or less calculation. The third pass was all the simple calculations (one or two steps that I knew I could get right). The fourth pass was longer calculations I knew I could get right. The fifth pass was either difficult questions I thought I might be able to solve, or questions that looked easier but where I was less comfortable with the subject. The last pass was questions I thought I needed 10+ minutes to solve it that were just tedious or weird.

I used all of my time on the exam and spent time bubbling in answers only between passes, to help me track where I was and to help guide my next pass.

I left no questions unanswered and tried to, where I could not be certain of the correct answer, at least eliminate any apparently illogical, impossible, or unlikely answers (sometimes through algebraic comparison of units, or through calculation of similar forces in a ‘simplified’ parallel model of the problem -  Reducing a structure to a simple beam, for instance, and seeing the resulting pattern of forces and moments).

Labeling the questions with topics and likely references helped me focus on questions without needing to re-read the whole thing.

You can do this!


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## Magdy Engineering Master (Feb 29, 2020)

Hello

I'm studying these days for PE Construction  exam in April and I started 2 months ago

First I was excited but now I feel that I'm struggling

I study and solve NCEES, PPI,Goswami exams and I made my own notes

trying to navigate faster between equations but I wanted to know how close is the actual exam to these practice exams I have


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## youngmotivatedengineer (Feb 29, 2020)

One important factor is looking at the test specs and making sure what you are working on is within your scope of work.  Depending on age of test, some topics may have been removed or new ones added.


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## enrique_nola (Mar 4, 2020)

Magdy Engineering Master said:


> Hello
> 
> I'm studying these days for PE Construction  exam in April and I started 2 months ago
> 
> ...


I felt that the Goswami tests were good practice for the Construction Depth.  PPI 6 min solutions was a little dated and  because of that was a little more different, but I ran through those questions as well for practice. 

Tab and become familiar with your notes.


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## Bait O' Eggs (Mar 4, 2020)

A little over a month from test time, .........    Feeling anxious

My first attempt was in spring 2018, I bought a few books (not all of them) studied a couple months on what I could find for practice problems on the internet which was not a lot, NCEES practice test etc..   I got a 60% and was crushed I didnt pass with a half hearted attempt.   I signed up for EET and started watching videos in early December for this second attempt, finished in mid February and am going back thru the practice problems now reviewing.  I am not really looking at anything but the EET material.   This will be my 2nd and last attempt at passing the PE, For some of you that think its been a few years and you dont remember the technical stuff, I took the EIT 33 years ago (Spring 1987) and most if not all of the stuff has faded away, I dont plan investing this kind of time again if I cant pass it this time I am done.   

At this point it feels like drinking from a fire hose, just so much material and so much to know on one day it is hard to retain it all.   By the time I get thru a few sections, I seem to forget the stuff from a few weeks ago, maybe it will come back to me on test day, at least I hope.


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## Magdy Engineering Master (Mar 5, 2020)

I totally agree w you, enrique_nola 

Goswami is perfect for pm and I'm trying to go through it

PPI is deeper in am and more detailed

but how close are they from the actual exam, we need someone to tell


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## civilrobot PE etc etc (Mar 5, 2020)

Magdy Engineering Master said:


> I totally agree w you, enrique_nola
> 
> Goswami is perfect for pm and I'm trying to go through it
> 
> ...


The PPI practice problems are a mix of breadth and depth area questions so don't get too hung up on those. Last cycle, I practiced solving these problems and I spent way too much time on a Mohr's circle question only to realize it's a depth problem. Six Minute Solutions and Goswami exams are more in line with the real exam.

If you're taking a review course, try those problems too. I took EET so I'm taking the advice of @CampCounselor and just solving every single problem in the binder (spending more time in the areas that I scored lower on).


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## Michael Scott PE (Mar 9, 2020)

Magdy Engineering Master said:


> I totally agree w you, enrique_nola
> 
> Goswami is perfect for pm and I'm trying to go through it
> 
> ...


I felt like the format, content, and difficulty of the Goswami problems was most like what I saw on the actual exam more than any other problems I worked.  I worked over 500 problems too.


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## Magdy Engineering Master (Mar 14, 2020)

Hi,

I wanted to share this with you,

NCEES cancelled the April PE main exam yesterday and I'm wondering if I can tke th surveying one after 2 months till I go back to AM/PM study to be able to save some time and refresh myself

I looked for materials for self study and I saw some good recommends to use PPI survey review/Practice books

any recommendations?


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## Slowsolver (Mar 22, 2020)

Bait O' Eggs said:


> A little over a month from test time, .........    Feeling anxious
> 
> My first attempt was in spring 2018, I bought a few books (not all of them) studied a couple months on what I could find for practice problems on the internet which was not a lot, NCEES practice test etc..   I got a 60% and was crushed I didnt pass with a half hearted attempt.   I signed up for EET and started watching videos in early December for this second attempt, finished in mid February and am going back thru the practice problems now reviewing.  I am not really looking at anything but the EET material.   This will be my 2nd and last attempt at passing the PE, For some of you that think its been a few years and you dont remember the technical stuff, I took the EIT 33 years ago (Spring 1987) and most if not all of the stuff has faded away, I dont plan investing this kind of time again if I cant pass it this time I am done.
> 
> At this point it feels like drinking from a fire hose, just so much material and so much to know on one day it is hard to retain it all.   By the time I get thru a few sections, I seem to forget the stuff from a few weeks ago, maybe it will come back to me on test day, at least I hope.


Bait o'Eggs and others...  I feel your pain... "feels like drinking from a fire hose, just so much material and so much to know on one day it is hard to retain it all"... I have been out of school for 18 years and I wasn't Civil, I was Construction Engineering Management.  Many topics I've had to learn for the first time to take this test.  AND I am not a designer, I'm a manager.  Yes, like many on here, with a family and working.  It's been a struggle and with the current cancellation of the April 2020 exam I'm not sure I will stick it out for the October... or said another way, I'm not sure my wife will let me crawl into a hole for 3 more months of studying!  I've now studied 3 times for this, her patients are waning, and so are mine.  We'll see what happens.  It really annoys me when I read some of the other threads and how pompous people are on how "easy" it was for them.  Thank you to all the others who offer up support and cheer all of us that struggle on this damn exam.  

Stay Well!


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