# Must-Have Manuals/Books/Materials for SE (Bridge) Exam?



## Stewie (Nov 15, 2018)

Hi, Dear All, Please help... T.T

I am planning to take SE (bridge) exam in April 2019. I wonder if you guys could recommend some useful materials/books/manuals to buy/study and bring to the exam as references (other than the codes specified in the SE exam specifications). Hopefully you guys can make a must-have list for me when you guys get time. Thank you so much for the help. XD


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## onemanwolfpack (Nov 16, 2018)

Hey Stewie, saw your post over on eng-tips, but forgot to respond. Are you still considering taking an online review course? I took the Bridge depth last year, and took EET's review course for both modules and was very satisfied with it. There is also an EET-SE Review thread you can read through for other opinions. They provide you with a study binder to go along with their course, and it is pretty much the equivalent of having the CERM for the PE morning section. The amount of material they provide you along with all of the lectures doesn't leave a whole lot of time to be digging through many other references/study guides. 

For studying, the only materials I looked through were the NCEES SE Practice exam, PPI's 16-hr building practice exam (only for the morning questions obviously), and David Connor's Bridge Problems for the SE Exam. I think Connor's book is mostly geared towards building engineers taking the exam that don't have any knowledge of AASHTO, but I still found it very helpful. I had the SERM from before, but never ended up diving into it at all, but I think it's a good resource to have for the Vertical exam. Additionally, I had printed out a lot of design examples for the depth problems.

On exam day, I of course brought everything with me, but only ever used the EET binder with my supplemented notes/examples, and the codes. If you decide not to take a review course, or if you go with a course other than EET, I think you'd get a different answer on a plan of attack than what I provided, so I'll let others chime in there.


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## Hindianapolis (Nov 16, 2018)

@David Connor, SE book is a must have.


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## Stewie (Nov 16, 2018)

onemanwolfpack said:


> Hey Stewie, saw your post over on eng-tips, but forgot to respond. Are you still considering taking an online review course? I took the Bridge depth last year, and took EET's review course for both modules and was very satisfied with it. There is also an EET-SE Review thread you can read through for other opinions. They provide you with a study binder to go along with their course, and it is pretty much the equivalent of having the CERM for the PE morning section. The amount of material they provide you along with all of the lectures doesn't leave a whole lot of time to be digging through many other references/study guides.
> 
> For studying, the only materials I looked through were the NCEES SE Practice exam, PPI's 16-hr building practice exam (only for the morning questions obviously), and David Connor's Bridge Problems for the SE Exam. I think Connor's book is mostly geared towards building engineers taking the exam that don't have any knowledge of AASHTO, but I still found it very helpful. I had the SERM from before, but never ended up diving into it at all, but I think it's a good resource to have for the Vertical exam. Additionally, I had printed out a lot of design examples for the depth problems.
> 
> On exam day, I of course brought everything with me, but only ever used the EET binder with my supplemented notes/examples, and the codes. If you decide not to take a review course, or if you go with a course other than EET, I think you'd get a different answer on a plan of attack than what I provided, so I'll let others chime in there.


Hi, Dear @onemanwolfpack, Please help the rookie engineer Stewie... XD

First of all, thank you so much for the response~    

Yes, sir, I finally decided to take the EET courses.

1. I feel I am already very late since I just started for the April 2019 exams (both vertical and lateral). Could you please share your experience time-wise? Like how many hours you study everyday?

2. You said you printed a lot of design examples for the afternoon session. Could you please share the books/manuals' title for the design examples? Are they from textbooks? I tried to search "SE exam bridge" book on google, and I only found David Connor's book. I must've picked wrong key words...

Again, thank you, man! I really hope I can make it this time. Nervously...


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## David Connor SE (Nov 19, 2018)

Stewie said:


> Hi, Dear @onemanwolfpack, Please help the rookie engineer Stewie... XD
> 
> First of all, thank you so much for the response~
> 
> ...


When I was studying for the SE exam 4 years ago, I googled the same thing and came up with nothing.  That's why I wrote the book. 

Structural Engineering Reference Manaul does have 1 chapter on bridge design if you are looking for some more information.  

Also, the NCEES SE practice exam and the PPI SE practice exam (multiple choice only) has some additional examples.


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## onemanwolfpack (Nov 19, 2018)

Stewie said:


> Hi, Dear @onemanwolfpack, Please help the rookie engineer Stewie... XD
> 
> First of all, thank you so much for the response~
> 
> ...


I wouldn't say you're very late into it. Looks like the EET review doesn't start until the first week of December. I would spend this time compiling all of your standards and collecting all of your study materials so you're ready to go once lectures start. Additionally, watch their prerequisite lectures if you feel you're weak in a certain material. I'm not sure if they have those prereq's for all materials, but I recall seeing them for wood and masonry. I studied for about 1-1.5 hours after work during the week, and 4 hours on both Saturday and Sunday, for about 3 months. I only did one exam at a time, and it looks like you're doing both, so you may find yourself doing a lot more than that!

As David just mentioned, there's really no good published resource for the afternoon bridge problems (time to write another book perhaps @David Connor, SE ?!). The only one I know of is the NCEES practice exam, and their depth questions were almost too easy to be considered useful. All of my examples I found were taken from various DOT's design manuals. For lateral, you can dig through the Caltrans and Illinois design manuals, they have good seismic examples. For vertical, there's a lot more to be found...FHWA's steel bridge design handbook, Caltrans again, and WisDOT have good design examples for your various topics. I can dig up what I used at some point for you if that'll help.


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## Stewie (Nov 19, 2018)

onemanwolfpack said:


> I wouldn't say you're very late into it. Looks like the EET review doesn't start until the first week of December. I would spend this time compiling all of your standards and collecting all of your study materials so you're ready to go once lectures start. Additionally, watch their prerequisite lectures if you feel you're weak in a certain material. I'm not sure if they have those prereq's for all materials, but I recall seeing them for wood and masonry. I studied for about 1-1.5 hours after work during the week, and 4 hours on both Saturday and Sunday, for about 3 months. I only did one exam at a time, and it looks like you're doing both, so you may find yourself doing a lot more than that!
> 
> As David just mentioned, there's really no good published resource for the afternoon bridge problems (time to write another book perhaps @David Connor, SE ?!). The only one I know of is the NCEES practice exam, and their depth questions were almost too easy to be considered useful. All of my examples I found were taken from various DOT's design manuals. For lateral, you can dig through the Caltrans and Illinois design manuals, they have good seismic examples. For vertical, there's a lot more to be found...FHWA's steel bridge design handbook, Caltrans again, and WisDOT have good design examples for your various topics. I can dig up what I used at some point for you if that'll help.


Hi, Dear @onemanwolfpack,

It will be really helpful If you can come up with some list of good design examples for the afternoon session when you get time, not only for me, but also for all the SE bridge exam takers (not too many I guess? Lol).

I am trying to collect all the codes listed in the SE exam specifications now. Any idea how often NCEES updates the specification? 

Oh, one more question, any exam practice books for morning/afternoon session you recommend? It drives me crazy when I try to search some preparation books for SE exam (especially for bridge guys)... It seems only a few books and with very limited reviews...

Thank you so much for the help... man~~~


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## Stewie (Nov 19, 2018)

David Connor said:


> When I was studying for the SE exam 4 years ago, I googled the same thing and came up with nothing.  That's why I wrote the book.
> 
> Structural Engineering Reference Manaul does have 1 chapter on bridge design if you are looking for some more information.
> 
> Also, the NCEES SE practice exam and the PPI SE practice exam (multiple choice only) has some additional examples.


Hi, Dear @David Connor, SE,

Thank you so much for the contribution. I just ordered the book. Lol XD


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## David Connor SE (Nov 20, 2018)

Stewie said:


> Hi, Dear @David Connor, SE,
> 
> Thank you so much for the contribution. I just ordered the book. Lol XD


Thanks Stewie!


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## onemanwolfpack (Nov 21, 2018)

Stewie said:


> Hi, Dear @onemanwolfpack,
> 
> It will be really helpful If you can come up with some list of good design examples for the afternoon session when you get time, not only for me, but also for all the SE bridge exam takers (not too many I guess? Lol).﻿
> 
> ...


I'll put one together eventually, need to dig back through my notes. If you search through this forum, some people have done the same. I'm not sure exactly what threads they're in, but I think there's a few bridge-depth specific ones that lay out some good design examples.

The only practice problem books I used were the NCEES practice exam, PPI's 16-hr building practice exam, David Connor's bridge problems, and all of EET's homework/practice exams they give you. Additionally, they give you one full length practice exam towards the end of course.


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