# Civil vs Mechanical PE



## brownie31 (Jun 5, 2008)

Long story short... I took the April '07 PE exam and missed it by 1 point, we had our second kid in May '07 so I did not get a chance to take the Oct '07 or April '08 exam. I am leaning toward the Oct '08 exam but had a quick question.

I have always heard that the Civil exam is easier, I suspect due to fewer subjects than the Mech exam. My question is: Has anyone taken the Mech exam and then the Civil and found this to be true? How difficult would it be for a mostly Machine Design guy to make the switch to the dark side (Civil) and study and pass that exam. My background is mostly machine design and I worked my way through school working construction.

Thanks


----------



## roadwreck (Jun 5, 2008)

I'd say that if you were only one point shy of passing on your last attempt you probably know what you are doing on the Mechanical exam and just need to hit the books and study to push yourself over the edge. Trying to study for an entirely new set of subjects doesn't make any sense at all, especially if most of your experience is in Mechanical.

I think you'll find that if you try to take the civil exam it will be no easier then what you've already taken, it will probably be even more difficult for you b/c you won't have as much experience with the topics covered. If I were you I'd study hard and pass Mechanical rather then trying to 'take the easy way out'.

Of course my advice may be null and void since I studied and passed that 'easy' civil exam.


----------



## brownie31 (Jun 5, 2008)

To be honest, I think my 1 point shy was some form of cosmic alignment. I have 0 (or less than none) experience with Thermo, Fluids and HVAC. Looking at the Civil my initial thought was there is a decent cross over between that and Mech, structures, materials and beams. But that was just my initial thought. Thanks for the thoughts


----------



## Capt Worley PE (Jun 5, 2008)

I'm with RW. You just barely missed it, just keep studying what you've already studied for before.


----------



## roadwreck (Jun 5, 2008)

brownie31 said:


> To be honest, I think my 1 point shy was some form of cosmic alignment. I have 0 (or less than none) experience with Thermo, Fluids and HVAC. Looking at the Civil my initial thought was there is a decent cross over between that and Mech, structures, materials and beams. But that was just my initial thought. Thanks for the thoughts


I seriously doubt that being that close to passing was simply due to luck. The decision to take the civil exam over the mechanical exam would be dependent on how comfortable you feel with the material that will be covered on each exam. While there may be some crossover with the mechanical topics and the structural topics on the civil exam there probably will not be a lot of cross over with the other topics covered on the civil exam. How comfortable would you be with the geotechnical, construction, transportation, environmental, and water resources topics, which could include storm water modeling, and everyone knows that is the hardest thing an engineer could be asked to do. 

My guess is there was a reason you decided to take the mechanical exam in the first place, you came close to passing, build on that so that next time is your last time.


----------



## brownie31 (Jun 5, 2008)

I will have to look at the CERM or other resources to get a feel for the questions on the Civil side. Construction, transportation and envir are pretty comfortable for me. Storm Water and Waste water are pretty easy, hot's on the left, cold's on the right and crap flows down hill. That pretty much covers that topic so I should be good there  .

I think I am just disheartened by the Thermo, Fluids and HVAC portions, and my lack of knowledge in those areas.

Thanks for the encouragement.


----------



## Sschell (Jun 5, 2008)

I can almost guarantee that mechanical is easier (look at the pass rates). But as someone who has a mechanical pe, I can say it is pretty useless (my stamp is still virgin pink, never been inked). If you can take the civil I would study for and take that, as it actually is useable. Is there any reason not to go for both? knock out the Mech, because youre almost there, then start studying for the civil.


----------



## brownie31 (Jun 5, 2008)

You must have meant that the Civil is easier based on pass rates? Either exam will work for me since a PE in NY is a PE, it doesn't matter if it is Civil or Mech.


----------



## Sschell (Jun 5, 2008)

brownie31 said:


> You must have meant that the Civil is easier based on pass rates?


No. According to this: NCEES pass rates A higher percentage people pass mechanical than civil (both on first taking ang repeat taking)... more people passing=easier.

Another good indication of which test is harder: look at the volume of reference materials test takers bring. when I sat for the test the average civil test taker had at least 4X the references that the mechanical test taker had.


----------



## JSS (Jun 6, 2008)

sschell_PE said:


> No. According to this: NCEES pass rates A higher percentage people pass mechanical than civil (both on first taking ang repeat taking)... more people passing=easier.


on that link, I think you're looking at the FE exam pass rates. For the October 2008 PE exam, that link shows essentially the same pass rates for Civil and Mech PE's.

First time takers: 64% / 63 % (Civil / Mech)

Repeat takers: 29% / 28% (Civil / Mech)

so, anyway, that's just statistically speaking, which has very little to do with your actual situation.

I agree with everyone else, stick with the Mechanical exam. You came close last time, and I think that there is a lot less overlap then you might expect upon a quick glance.


----------



## Sschell (Jun 6, 2008)

I stand corrected, I was looking at the FE... huh.


----------



## FL_Civil (Jun 10, 2008)

i agree that you should stick to your strengths. i've always heard they like to change things up when they realize that people are grouping toward a certain test.

maybe not for civil vs. mech. but definitely for depths. there was a time when everyone used to take WR depth in civil and passed b/c it was the 'easy' topic until they finally killed everyone one test with the hardest people had seen in a long time. then transpo became the depth to take and now it is regarded as the 'easy' depth. who knows when they'll bring out the whoopin stick on the transpo section. probably soon.

ps-i took WR/ENV depth for civil and was on the brink of going transpo (didn't want to buy all of the reference material)


----------

