# S.E exam books



## jocey07 (Dec 19, 2019)

Hi everyone,

What books did everyone study to take the vertical and lateral exams for buildings? Review courses?

Also, I am thinking of taking one day at a time, so I can really focus on each day at a time. What are  y'all thoughts on this?


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## User1 (Dec 19, 2019)

i recommend one day at a time. this is how i'm doing it. 

as for references and courses, and even both vs one at a time, there's a lot of info already in this forum that you can search through and browse

I highly recommend AEI California. The content is great, the instructors are fantastic and responsive.


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## MR_E30 (Dec 19, 2019)

One day at a time is the way to go.

I used School of PE for vert-buildings and would give it a 'meh'. No experience with AEI but I hear fantastic things often.

I used the SERM primarily as my main study tool. Felt it was much more worthwhile than the much more expensive online class.


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## Titleistguy (Dec 19, 2019)

SERM is useful on test day for random things and general reference.  

As for systematic study I'd take AEI and follow their schedule,  do all the homework , quizzes, mini exams, and practice exams and besides that David Connors bridge book was handy, David Fanella concrete, Breyer for Wood.  Hibbler for structural analysis and hibbler statics and mechanics book.  Structural loads by Fabella and ACIsp17 vol 1, 2...

Cant think of much else off top of my head.


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## Titleistguy (Dec 19, 2019)

Some 2nd tier resources that were useful at times...

Sabbelli - ductile design of steel

Moehle - seismic design conc. Structures 

Hiner seismic workbook 

Ummmm .... ppi steel design was solid, the conc one was meh.


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## dlegofan (Dec 19, 2019)

I took the PPI course, and I passed in my first attempt. I studied about 400 hours between the course and personal study. I bought all the references from the PPI course and used almost all of them while studying--though not necessarily on the test.

There is a lot of debate on taking 1 vs. 2 days. I went with taking both in 1 sitting. Personally, I felt the exams had much different material so it wasn't difficult switching from from vertical to lateral. After studying for about 6 months almost nonstop, I would not want to put my family through that again. You are going to sacrifice a lot of personal time if you do the studying correctly. Personally, if you're going to put in a lot of hours studying for the vertical, the lateral isn't that much more difficult (at least for bridges). The right answer for me was to take 2 days in one sitting, but yours might be different.

Personally, I would recommend the PPI course, especially if you are taking both days.


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## David Connor SE (Dec 19, 2019)

Definitely split up the components. I took lateral first because it was easier to study for. Vertical has such broad base of questions that could be asked. 

Definitely the SEAOC IBC Seismic Design Manuals for lateral. Just study those and maybe take a review course and you should be OK for lateral. 

Follow the NCEES specs. for what to study.  Try not to stray off into subject matter that would probably not be covered by the exam.


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## bigirishman (Dec 19, 2019)

I find it impressive just how different everyone's experiences are.  Guess that's a testament to the material on the test, the background of the test taker, and how the individual learns/studies.

Personally I found splitting the test up far better than taking in one cycle.  I found as a career bridge designer the vertical was far easier to study for than the lateral (vertical felt broader but also shallower than the lateral).  I used the SERM for studying for Vertical and found it almost 100% adequate for getting me through the morning.  Having a wealth of long form example problems for the afternoon at the ready was good enough for the bridge test.  I didn't find any of the references I purchased for lateral were useful (I bought and studied Williams's Seismic and Wind Structural Design Examples, Volumes 1 through 4 of the SEAOC design manual, PPI's Seismic manual, and a bunch of more niche references).  The lateral portion of the SERM is almost nonexistent.  I didn't even understand when each of the wind design methods was supposed to be used, let alone how to actually use them correctly.  I ended up taking the EET/AEI lateral class and that gave me everything I needed to confidently pass the lateral.

So your background and the way you learn will likely dictate what works best for you.  Note that despite working primarily in high seismic areas (CA and WA) and being fairly competent in displacement based and force based lateral bridge design, the only thing that really helped me "learn" building seismic and wind was taking that class.  Self study was perfectly fine for the vertical _for me_.

Best of Luck!


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## dauwerda (Dec 20, 2019)

I would recommend taking them separately. I took both on my first attempt (did not put in the study time that i needed to), I was so mentally exhausted after the first day, but still had to get up and do it again for the second day - I have never felt so drained as I did at the end of the second day.

I then took just the vertical and passed and followed that up with just the lateral and passed (I took EET for the lateral portion). Overall the single day attempts were a better experience just because I had time to recover after taking an 8 hour test.


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## Reverse Polish (Dec 20, 2019)

Structural Analysis by Hibbeler

David Connor's Book O' Bridge Problems

SEAOC Structural / Seismic Design Manuals 1-4 are great for learning/refreshing seismic, and make a terrific addition to your permanent library.


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## AndieWoooooooo (Jan 8, 2020)

I heard most of the existing courses are not that friendly to Bridge guys, can anyone confirm this for me? Based on your experience with AEI or PPI, are they also good for bridges? Thanks


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## Titleistguy (Jan 8, 2020)

AEI is great for bridges. 

Remember it's a review course covering many topics....and aaahto is a gazillion pages.  

AEI hits all the high percentage topics and several of the more obscure one too.  No class or text covers them all.  

For bridges for bldg folks here is what I'd suggest :

1 AEI Course 

2 Connors book 

3 Caltran chapter 3

4 FHWA Example problems, especially the one for composite beams and the plate girder one

All those taken together will get you 90 percent of the way. 

If ncees wants to ask some obscure bearing designs or random detail that's buried in the code you likely have a small chance of getting it right.  However, assuming 10 bridge questions on the test... The above references get you to 70-80 percent.  The other 20... Not much here you can do unless you're a bridge person.


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## dlegofan (Jan 9, 2020)

AndieWoooooooo said:


> I heard most of the existing courses are not that friendly to Bridge guys, can anyone confirm this for me? Based on your experience with AEI or PPI, are they also good for bridges? Thanks


I took the PPI course and the bridge exam. I passed my first try.


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## AndieWoooooooo (Jan 9, 2020)

dlegofan said:


> I took the PPI course and the bridge exam. I passed my first try.


do you recommend PPI for me to take the SE exam? or you study something else in addition to it? Any tips/suggestions from you will be highly appreciated.


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## Just_SE (Jan 10, 2020)

I highly recommend AEI ( Advanced Engineering institute). I took both vertical and lateral classes (building) with them. I did my first trial for both vertical and lateral in April 2019, passing vertical and fail lateral (27/40 AM, A, A, IR, U). Then I passed my lateral in Oct 2019. 

I only took AEI's handout and required codes with me for both exams. AEI's handout in really detailed and helpful. I can almost find all the things I need for the exam from their handout. 

Hope this help. Good luck for the exam.


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## dlegofan (Jan 10, 2020)

AndieWoooooooo said:


> do you recommend PPI for me to take the SE exam? or you study something else in addition to it? Any tips/suggestions from you will be highly appreciated.


I do recommend PPI just for the sake of the one-on-one with the instructor and collaboration with classmates. Here are some things that helped me:

-Get all your books early and every time you study, lay them out on a desk the size of the testing desk. Put your books in the same place every time. The more you simulate how you will actually take the exam, the more comfortable you will feel. Personally, I separated into 4 stacks: materials (steel, concrete, timber, masonry), AASHTO, design codes (IBC/ASCE 7, etc.), everything else.

-Break up AASHTO into 4 sections: Ch. 1-4, Ch 5, Ch 6, everything else

-Make a binder with helpful cheat sheets. For example, I made a quick-reference for rebar development lengths.

-You need to study every chance you get. I took 1 week off for a vacation about midway through and studied about 400 hours total. You are going to sacrifice a lot of time, but your family and friends are also going to sacrifice time with you as well. Make sure to tell them upfront the commitment you are making. You don't want to have to retake the test and have them go through it again. (That was a big motivator for me)

-If you have a weakness, the test will exploit it. You need to know everything or at least where everything is located.

-Don't bring extra books that you don't need. You will just waste time thumbing through them.

-Make notes in all of the references. I drew pictures. I wrote what page number to go to instead of the section because it's quicker to find a page number. I made a chart of beta values for concrete. if a section called for iteration, I made a table when possible. Etc. Anything that saves you time and brain power will help.

-Leave time to study your weakest subject last. That way, it is the freshest in your mind. But you need to make sure you have enough time to study for it. For me, I left about 1 month.


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## AndieWoooooooo (Jan 10, 2020)

dlegofan said:


> I do recommend PPI just for the sake of the one-on-one with the instructor and collaboration with classmates. Here are some things that helped me:
> 
> -Get all your books early and every time you study, lay them out on a desk the size of the testing desk. Put your books in the same place every time. The more you simulate how you will actually take the exam, the more comfortable you will feel. Personally, I separated into 4 stacks: materials (steel, concrete, timber, masonry), AASHTO, design codes (IBC/ASCE 7, etc.), everything else.
> 
> ...


Thanks a lot for your detailed explanations. I really appreciate your help.


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## ZEZO4 (Jan 14, 2020)

Take AEI they will provide you the best handout to pass the S.E. exam.


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## davab (Jan 24, 2020)

Anyone who has studied using AEI...

How useful was the AEI handouts for the test? During the test, were you guys using the AEI binders 90% of the time? 80%? 50%? 

So far, I am putting post-it notes on both the AEI binders and code books. Wondering whether I should focus on one or the other.

At the end, I feel that it would be best to be the master of either the code book (ACI, AISC, NDS, etc) itself or AEI binder so I don't lose any time searching through the code references.

Any thoughts?

Also, after a long day at work,  I am barely putting 2 hours each night and extra hours on the weekends. I am worried that I am not studying enough for this April's tests. What were your study routines like for those of you who passed?


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## Titleistguy (Jan 24, 2020)

Binders cover about 75% of the material (which when you think about it is quite a bit).  Code look ups are maybe another 15-20% and the last ten percent is going to be a bit random maybe more binder or more code or possibly a more obscure reference.  Depends on how you organize.  

My advice if you're short on time is to just work problems since that's the actual mechanism by which you'll be tested.   Mark up codes as you go and highlight and note binder and reference materials as needed.


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## Reverse Polish (Jan 24, 2020)

davab said:


> Also, after a long day at work,  I am barely putting 2 hours each night and extra hours on the weekends. I am worried that I am not studying enough for this April's tests. What were your study routines like for those of you who passed?


That same worry persisted for me right up until the exam.  Remember to breathe every now-and-again--you still have about three months of productive study left.  

I studied about 10 hours a week on average, but was able to drag it out over 9 months.  That's just what my schedule permitted from a work and personal standpoint.  The rule-of-thumb that others have suggested in the past is that "adequate" study will amount to about 300 hours for the 16-hour exam.  Your results may vary, of course.  

Agreed with Titleistguy that at this point, working problems and making annotations along the way is a sound approach.  Practice exams are helpful to identify areas of weakness, as well as to get comfortable with the constructed response problems.  You can then go back to the codes to brush-up the weak areas.  I think I took one practice exam about 6 weeks out as a diagnostic, which allowed time for brushing-up on problems I missed.  I took a second practice exam 2 weeks out, to catch any last-minute points that remained.

Best of luck to you, and keep breathing!


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## dauwerda (Jan 24, 2020)

The AEI binder/lectures is good in that it points out some more subtle parts of the code that can be easily overlooked during the test. I used the AEI binder to go through and add notes and highlights to my code books as I was more comfortable with finding most of the material in the code books. I only went to the AEI binder when I knew there was an example problem similar to something on the exam that I could reference to for all of the steps. So for me, I spent time to make sure I could reliably find everything I needed in the codes, and mainly used them during the test. I know others have said they used the binder for 90% of the test.


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## davab (Jan 24, 2020)

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful responses. Yes, I will remember to breath... Focus on AEI binder for now... and test problems!

When I registered for both exams and spent $1000 on the registration fee, I thought, "of course I can do it if I was able to pass CA PE with one try."

But wait.... I have a 5 month old baby now and started my own practice last year... Crap. I will make sure to breath before I suffocate!!


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## Titleistguy (Jan 24, 2020)

The SE is not easy to get.  But the journey is worth it.  There are fist time passers and 5th time passers on this site.  And what's cool is there isn't any way to know the difference once you accomplish it.  So study hard, don't be afraid to fail, and your baby is only a baby once make sure you don't miss out on those moments to work problems.  The SE will always be there waiting.  Lol.


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## jmm7200 (Jan 30, 2020)

This is my take. 
 

I would take both days at once. It is A LOT but there is a key component to this test that doesn’t seem to be talked about, luck. If you take them both, you may get lucky and get an easier exam.  What if you decide to take only vertical, and that cycle has a lateral passing rate above 60%?  To me that was worth the chance.  Also, some states offer a slight discount to take them both at the same time (Illinois did). 
 

For classes, I did both PPI and AEI (formerly EET).  I failed after taking the PPI but passed after AEI.  I would recommend AEI by far.  The PPI one includes a lot of books (including the STERM) which is nice.   

That being said, it is not in the same universe as AEI. The binder alone that AEI mails you, is incredible for morning problems.  Especially for us bridge people that are at an extreme disadvantage on the heavily lopsided morning.  The binder has pretty much everything we would need for the building portion in addition to the codes.  The instructors are great, thorough, and responsive.  I actually still can email them now if I have a question on something and they get right back to me.

For books, obviously bring the codes and know them in and out.  Make sure to have the edition specified, NCEES likes to hit you with things that changed.  It’s a cop out and not very practical if you ask me, but that is another subject.  
 

Other than codes, bring the NCEES practice exam, the AEI binder (if you decide to go that route), the STERM (it is really only good for vertical, it’s worthless for lateral.), the laminated Codemasters, the the masonry TEK’s, maybe an old structural analysis textbook, any other practice exams, and hand notes.  Other books you can bring, but you probably won’t have time to use them. 
 

One thing I did that was extremely useful was to create step-by-step notes for specific things. For example, for the afternoon Lateral bridge column problem, I had every step you can have for circular or rectangular columns in seismic zone 4 and all of their checks.  This will really help you learn the topic and will speed things up significantly for afternoon portion.  

I apologize it was so long, but I think I covered everything.  
 

Good luck.  I can tell you that it feels wonderful to see those ACCEPTABLES on your dashboard.


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## davab (Jan 31, 2020)

That is a great advice jmm7200. 

For STERM, what edition would be acceptable?

I guess it is much like being a coach of a football team. I need a playbook for every play!!


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## jmm7200 (Feb 1, 2020)

davab said:


> That is a great advice jmm7200.
> 
> For STERM, what edition would be acceptable?
> 
> I guess it is much like being a coach of a football team. I need a playbook for every play!!


For the STERM, the latest edition would be best, but it is very expensive.  You could probably use an edition or two older, just make sure whatever code that has changed you go through and update any changes that may have occurred.  I am almost positive that the 8th edition references the same codes as the 9th edition, which is what the current NCEES SE specification.  The 8th edition is much cheaper.


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## TheLoneStarEngineer (Feb 3, 2020)

jmm7200 said:


> For the STERM, the latest edition would be best, but it is very expensive.  You could probably use an edition or two older, just make sure whatever code that has changed you go through and update any changes that may have occurred.  I am almost positive that the 8th edition references the same codes as the 9th edition, which is what the current NCEES SE specification.  The 8th edition is much cheaper.


Many codes got updated between the 8th and 9th edition including AASHTO, ACI, NDS, IBC and TMS. I would highly suggest spending some extra $$ and getting the 9th edition. It will be very helpful for concrete as well due to the whole reorganization of ACI 318-14.


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## Stardust (Feb 3, 2020)

STERM = SERM? If not, what is it?

i.e., SE Structural Engineering Reference Manual by Alan Williams.


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## jmm7200 (Feb 3, 2020)

Stardust said:


> STERM = SERM? If not, what is it?
> 
> i.e., SE Structural Engineering Reference Manual by Alan Williams.


Yes.  STERM = SERM.   When I took the PPI review course they called it STERM and that just kind of stuck.


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## jmm7200 (Feb 3, 2020)

TheLoneStarEngineer said:


> Many codes got updated between the 8th and 9th edition including AASHTO, ACI, NDS, IBC and TMS. I would highly suggest spending some extra $$ and getting the 9th edition. It will be very helpful for concrete as well due to the whole reorganization of ACI 318-14.


That is good to know.  I was thinking that since the SE specs have not really changed in a while, that the 8th edition was relatively current.


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## Stardust (Feb 3, 2020)

The 9th edition seems to have a lot more materials, and is up to date with the current codes for April 2020. I was able to find a good deal on eBay but yeah, expensive stuff especially when there's many other expenses to this exam.


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## DoctorWho-PE (Feb 3, 2020)

My biggest amount of heartburn comes from the AASHTO current edition, since my office has a 6th, and is buying an 8th, but we don't do a lot of bridges, so I'm not sure if they are willing to buy a 7th also. And that is a darn pricy code.


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## Reverse Polish (Feb 3, 2020)

vhab49_PE said:


> My biggest amount of heartburn comes from the AASHTO current edition, since my office has a 6th, and is buying an 8th, but we don't do a lot of bridges, so I'm not sure if they are willing to buy a 7th also. And that is a darn pricy code.


This is the best price on the AASHTO code.  It's not cheap...but cheaper than taking the exam again.

https://store.transportation.org/Item/PublicationDetail?ID=1541


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## DoctorWho-PE (Feb 3, 2020)

Reverse Polish said:


> This is the best price on the AASHTO code.  It's not cheap...but cheaper than taking the exam again.
> 
> https://store.transportation.org/Item/PublicationDetail?ID=1541


I have a source.... I'm willing to exploit them.    HAHHAHAHHAHA

Also, work pays for exam, but I'd be awful glad to not have to pay the emotional toll again.


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## User1 (Feb 3, 2020)

vhab49_PE said:


> I have a source.... I'm willing to exploit them.    HAHHAHAHHAHA
> 
> Also, work pays for exam, but I'd be awful glad to not have to pay the emotional toll again.


message me your email


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## User1 (Feb 3, 2020)

vhab49_PE said:


> I have a source.... I'm willing to exploit them.    HAHHAHAHHAHA
> 
> Also, work pays for exam, but I'd be awful glad to not have to pay the emotional toll again.


you've got mail


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## Titleistguy (Feb 3, 2020)

tj_PE said:


> you've got mail


I be Tom Hanks you be Meg Ryan...

I want email!


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## dauwerda (Feb 5, 2020)

vhab49_PE said:


> My biggest amount of heartburn comes from the AASHTO current edition, since my office has a 6th, and is buying an 8th, but we don't do a lot of bridges, so I'm not sure if they are willing to buy a 7th also. And that is a darn pricy code.


I went into the exam with the 6th edition and notes from EET and managed to pass - I think you would be OK as long as you aren't doing the bridge exam (sounds like you aren't).


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## jmm7200 (Feb 6, 2020)

vhab49_PE said:


> My biggest amount of heartburn comes from the AASHTO current edition, since my office has a 6th, and is buying an 8th, but we don't do a lot of bridges, so I'm not sure if they are willing to buy a 7th also. And that is a darn pricy code.


There are not a whole lot of significant changes between the 6th and 7th edition.

The biggest one I can think of off the top of my head is the steel resistance factor for tension only went from 0.9 to 0.95.  David Conner’s book, I believe, highlights all of the changes.  This is a must have book for both building and bridge people.

There are significant changes between 7th and 8th.  So if you have to choose between 6th and 8th, go with 6th.


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## David Connor SE (Feb 6, 2020)

jmm7200 said:


> There are not a whole lot of significant changes between the 6th and 7th edition.
> 
> The biggest one I can think of off the top of my head is the steel resistance factor for tension only went from 0.9 to 0.95.  David Conner’s book, I believe, highlights all of the changes.  This is a must have book for both building and bridge people.
> 
> There are significant changes between 7th and 8th.  So if you have to choose between 6th and 8th, go with 6th.


Yeah, AASHTO 6th and 7th editions changes are fairly minor. You could probably get away with using the 6th on the exam, BUT, they have been known to ask questions where if you use an older code the answer is there, but it is incorrect since you are using the old code.  The 8th edition has numerous changes.  Biggest change is how wind pressures are determined now, which now closely follows how they are determined for buildings.


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## DoctorWho-PE (Feb 6, 2020)

jmm7200 said:


> There are not a whole lot of significant changes between the 6th and 7th edition.
> 
> The biggest one I can think of off the top of my head is the steel resistance factor for tension only went from 0.9 to 0.95.  David Conner’s book, I believe, highlights all of the changes.  This is a must have book for both building and bridge people.
> 
> There are significant changes between 7th and 8th.  So if you have to choose between 6th and 8th, go with 6th.






David Connor said:


> Yeah, AASHTO 6th and 7th editions changes are fairly minor. You could probably get away with using the 6th on the exam, BUT, they have been known to ask questions where if you use an older code the answer is there, but it is incorrect since you are using the old code.  The 8th edition has numerous changes.  Biggest change is how wind pressures are determined now, which now closely follows how they are determined for buildings.


Current plan, since our other bridge office has had thier AASHTO walk off with a former employee, is to take 6th and print the changed articles from the 7th, there are not that many of them like you mentioned.


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## jmm7200 (Feb 6, 2020)

David Connor said:


> Yeah, AASHTO 6th and 7th editions changes are fairly minor. You could probably get away with using the 6th on the exam, BUT, they have been known to ask questions where if you use an older code the answer is there, but it is incorrect since you are using the old code.  The 8th edition has numerous changes.  Biggest change is how wind pressures are determined now, which now closely follows how they are determined for buildings.


Yes, the wind changed unfortunately.  I really hope that this is as far as it goes, and does not go even closer to the building wind, which is way too confusing.  

The other large changes from 7th to 8th are the development lengths and plate girder splice designs.  Based on my previous attempts at the SE, the development length is a very common multiple choice question.


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## davab (Feb 10, 2020)

How many hours do you guys study per week when studying for both vertical and lateral?

I am able to put in about 10 to 15 hours and I don't think it is enough.

Now about 8 weeks to go...


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## DoctorWho-PE (Feb 10, 2020)

davab said:


> How many hours do you guys study per week when studying for both vertical and lateral?
> 
> I am able to put in about 10 to 15 hours and I don't think it is enough.
> 
> Now about 8 weeks to go...


I'm in 10 just for lateral, for the actual class, plus homeworks and such, so not as much as I would like, but it's what I can do right now.


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## User1 (Feb 10, 2020)

I'm at about 10 right now as well, ramping up to ideally 16-20 for just vertical


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## davab (Feb 10, 2020)

tj_PE said:


> I'm at about 10 right now as well, ramping up to ideally 16-20 for just vertical


Good to know... I guess I need to ramp it up more for two... Argh


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## User1 (Feb 10, 2020)

davab said:


> Good to know... I guess I need to ramp it up more for two... Argh


you might not depending on your experience! 

i'm incredibly terrible at exams and under pressure responses.


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## DoctorWho-PE (Feb 11, 2020)

tj_PE said:


> you might not depending on your experience!
> 
> i'm incredibly terrible at exams and under pressure responses.


Same.  Sigh.  Right now i have a cold that is kicking my butt, which is not helping matters.


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## User1 (Feb 11, 2020)

I'm thankful for the upcoming long weekend (if i can get all my work done, i'll have 4 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!) so i can catch up on studying but still have a day of laziness.


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## DoctorWho-PE (Feb 11, 2020)

tj_PE said:


> I'm thankful for the upcoming long weekend (if i can get all my work done, i'll have 4 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!) so i can catch up on studying but still have a day of laziness.


Nice!  My hubs is taking a 4 day this weekend.  Kinda jelly, since I get a 1 day, with class all day saturday.


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## Titleistguy (Feb 14, 2020)

This is a four day weekend???  Saaaaaaay what??


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## AndieWoooooooo (Feb 18, 2020)

tj_PE said:


> I'm at about 10 right now as well, ramping up to ideally 16-20 for just vertical


You mean per week? or in total? I would like to know how many hours you spent for each exam in addition to your review courses. thanks for your help.


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## AndieWoooooooo (Feb 19, 2020)

David Connor said:


> Definitely split up the components. I took lateral first because it was easier to study for. Vertical has such broad base of questions that could be asked.
> 
> Definitely the SEAOC IBC Seismic Design Manuals for lateral. Just study those and maybe take a review course and you should be OK for lateral.
> 
> Follow the NCEES specs. for what to study.  Try not to stray off into subject matter that would probably not be covered by the exam.


Hi David, I believe you are very proficient in Masonry design. could you tell me the differences between 2011 edition and 2013 editions of  Building code requirements and specifications for masonry structures? The current SE exam requires 2013 edition. do you think if it is ok to take edition 2011 since this is the only one I have now. Thanks.


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## David Connor SE (Feb 20, 2020)

AndieWoooooooo said:


> Hi David, I believe you are very proficient in Masonry design. could you tell me the differences between 2011 edition and 2013 editions of  Building code requirements and specifications for masonry structures? The current SE exam requires 2013 edition. do you think if it is ok to take edition 2011 since this is the only one I have now. Thanks.


Not sure where you heard I was proficient in masonry design, but I have done some masonry walls before.   .  Anyway, I don't know all of the differences between the 2011 and 2013 masonry code so I would bring the code that the test is based on. I have heard others say that they had questions before that if you had an older version of the code you could arrive at an answer in the multiple choices, but it would be wrong because you are using the old code.  Also, for the essay questions you need to site chapters and sections that you are using, and an old code may have a different section number, etc.


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## Titleistguy (Feb 20, 2020)

Buying the latest and greatest codes is part of the process here and even if you dont need them beyond the test its still nice to have bc you never know.


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## AndieWoooooooo (Feb 20, 2020)

dlegofan said:


> I do recommend PPI just for the sake of the one-on-one with the instructor and collaboration with classmates. Here are some things that helped me:
> 
> -Get all your books early and every time you study, lay them out on a desk the size of the testing desk. Put your books in the same place every time. The more you simulate how you will actually take the exam, the more comfortable you will feel. Personally, I separated into 4 stacks: materials (steel, concrete, timber, masonry), AASHTO, design codes (IBC/ASCE 7, etc.), everything else.
> 
> ...


Hi Man, did you pass the exams for buildings or bridges?


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## dlegofan (Feb 21, 2020)

AndieWoooooooo said:


> Hi Man, did you pass the exams for buildings or bridges?


I passed bridges.


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## AndieWoooooooo (Feb 21, 2020)

dlegofan said:


> I passed bridges.


Awesome. would you mind describing how the essays problems of bridges a little bit? Thanks


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## dlegofan (Feb 24, 2020)

AndieWoooooooo said:


> Awesome. would you mind describing how the essays problems of bridges a little bit? Thanks


Honestly, I think NCEES does a good job of explaining them. (Although I did not think so prior to the exam). The NCEES practice exam is extremely easy compared to the actual test. It's been well established that describing the actual problems is a bad idea, so I'll try to generalize them.


You are going to have to draw something - whether that be rebar, welds, geometry, etc. 

For lateral, there are only a select few sections of code that problems can be based from. (Wind and seismic requirements). Since there are not a lot of provisions, study all of those and draw pictures in your code of what the language is telling you to do.

It's likely that there is an existing structure. Even the buildings afternoon will likely have an existing structure.

You will have to calculate loads and use load paths.

Don't expect anything that you would typically do in practice. That would be way too easy for the test.

Think of the NCEES practice test but with much more advanced topics.

I really don't want to reveal too much more, but I hope this helps. I believe this is general enough to protect me but specific enough to elaborate on "other elements of bridges" as NCEES puts it.


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## Titleistguy (Feb 24, 2020)

Nice summary there dlegofan.

One way I like to describe the NCEES practice vs the real exam is like this. 

The problems are generally similar but, say if the practice test has a multiple choice problem with 2 intermediate steps, the real test likely has 1 or 2 more, or 1 more with a code look up.  Something like that.  So its not that they're that much harder, its just that extra 1-2 mins of work per question x 40 makes you feel like you're never ahead.


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