# Help for SE Bridge References



## Becoming SE (Jun 15, 2016)

Hi there!! I want to reach out to everyone about what material to study for morning and afternoon. I took the April 16 and find out I lack the speed for morning and exposure to different areas for bridge afternoon.  1. what books would you recommend for solving problems on your own to get better speed for morning 2. can someone help me find the resources for different variety of sample problems for bridge afternoon problems. Thanks!!


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## VTBridge (Jun 15, 2016)

For the morning, I used the PPI practice exam and the six minute solutions. I found the extended problem book to be too in depth for gaining speed, definitely a good tool to invest extensive study time and understand a concept completely, but geared a bit toward buildings. The Structural Engineer Reference Manual was useful as well as the PE PM Structural book and even the structural section of the Civil Engineering Reference Manual. The NCEES practice exam is valuable as well and I found it to be a good indication of the real exam as far as timing. I did find a few errors in this book though. (As an aside, while annoying, finding errors can be a great way to fully understand a topic. Study with an eye out and look up anything that seems off.) I also used the Bridge morning problem book by David Connor that is now also available on PPI. This is a great resource and has some of the best solution explanations I have seen. I did the 6 minute solutions, PPI Exam, NCEES Exam, and Bridge Problem book 3 times each, at least 10 days apart. I indexed every problem two ways, once by book and once by topic so I could easily find similar problems on the exam. I kept this index in a small binder that I used along with whatever reference I was using. 

For the afternoon, I only took vertical this time, but found the Concrete and Steel Superstructure examples available from FHWA were good to study those two problems, although the codes are out of date so I went through line by line and updated where necessary. The CalTrans design manual is based on the 2012 AASHTO (like the exam) and was very helpful, but there are some CalTrans special modifications that do not apply to the exam. I used an MNDOT example to study the culvert, retaining wall, and abutment design that NCEES publishes as content for the other PM problem. The FHWA examples touch on some of these components as well. I went through these examples, tabbed relevant sections, cross referenced codes, and entered the page number in AASHTO next to the section number listed in the example. I found having the page and section helped with speed and the exercise of doing it allowed me to focus on reading through AASHTO and the examples.


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## TehMightyEngineer (Jun 15, 2016)

I'll throw in a second recommendation for David Connor's bridge problem book. I'm going through it right now and it appears to be a fantastic reference for the morning sections. I'll probably have more thoughts once I go through this text a little more.


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## BridgeSewist (Jun 15, 2016)

Becoming SE said:


> Hi there!! I want to reach out to everyone about what material to study for morning and afternoon. I took the April 16 and find out I lack the speed for morning and exposure to different areas for bridge afternoon.  1. what books would you recommend for solving problems on your own to get better speed for morning 2. can someone help me find the resources for different variety of sample problems for bridge afternoon problems. Thanks!!


I found the DOT examples, NSBA examples, and FHWA examples all to be great resources for studying.  NHI / FHWA course material is also helpful (usually you can find old versions since their courses are for the latest AASHTO).  I was pretty unfamiliar with seismic so I spent a lot of time reviewing their LRFD Seismic Analysis and Design of Bridges to start but I think if you have a background in a high seismic region it would be repetitive.  Generally I used the study time as an opportunity to also become more knowledgeable in general about these topics that I may not consistently see in my day to day design work.

For the morning problems with speed in mind I used the NCEES Practice Exam, the 16 Hour Structural Engineering Practice Exam for Buildings (since the morning is the same), then Six Minute Solutions.  I thought Six Minute Solutions was the least helpful though.  I agree that I have found errors in a lot of the things I have used so beware because it can be very frustrating as you start to study.  I needed the most help in the mornings so I took a review class that provided a lot of notes that ended up being rather helpful for studying but hard to look through during the test so I ended up creating my own binder of what I deemed important information I was less familiar with / felt I needed the help on the exam.  I also used the Kaplan stuff to strengthen my seismic basics speed using ASCE-7 since I rarely use it being a bridge engineer.

I similarly indexed my problems and created my own solutions set so that I wouldn't have to remember the way the author came up with their solution since everyone has a slightly different way of thinking.

Good Luck!


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## Becoming SE (Jun 15, 2016)

All of you are so wonderful !!!  It really helps. Thanks a lot.


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## David Connor SE (Jun 15, 2016)

VTBridge said:


> For the morning, I used the PPI practice exam and the six minute solutions. I found the extended problem book to be too in depth for gaining speed, definitely a good tool to invest extensive study time and understand a concept completely, but geared a bit toward buildings. The Structural Engineer Reference Manual was useful as well as the PE PM Structural book and even the structural section of the Civil Engineering Reference Manual. The NCEES practice exam is valuable as well and I found it to be a good indication of the real exam as far as timing. I did find a few errors in this book though. (As an aside, while annoying, finding errors can be a great way to fully understand a topic. Study with an eye out and look up anything that seems off.) I also used the Bridge morning problem book by David Connor that is now also available on PPI. This is a great resource and has some of the best solution explanations I have seen. I did the 6 minute solutions, PPI Exam, NCEES Exam, and Bridge Problem book 3 times each, at least 10 days apart. I indexed every problem two ways, once by book and once by topic so I could easily find similar problems on the exam. I kept this index in a small binder that I used along with whatever reference I was using.
> 
> For the afternoon, I only took vertical this time, but found the Concrete and Steel Superstructure examples available from FHWA were good to study those two problems, although the codes are out of date so I went through line by line and updated where necessary. The CalTrans design manual is based on the 2012 AASHTO (like the exam) and was very helpful, but there are some CalTrans special modifications that do not apply to the exam. I used an MNDOT example to study the culvert, retaining wall, and abutment design that NCEES publishes as content for the other PM problem. The FHWA examples touch on some of these components as well. I went through these examples, tabbed relevant sections, cross referenced codes, and entered the page number in AASHTO next to the section number listed in the example. I found having the page and section helped with speed and the exercise of doing it allowed me to focus on reading through AASHTO and the examples.






TehMightyEngineer said:


> I'll throw in a second recommendation for David Connor's bridge problem book. I'm going through it right now and it appears to be a fantastic reference for the morning sections. I'll probably have more thoughts once I go through this text a little more.


Thanks for kind words guys!  

FYI, we will be using my book in PPI's SE Exam Review course going forward. You will receive a copy of the book when you sign up for the class.

VTBridge - Glad to hear you found my book helpful.


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## Becoming SE (Jun 16, 2016)

BridgeSewist said:


> I found the DOT examples, NSBA examples, and FHWA examples all to be great resources for studying.  NHI / FHWA course material is also helpful (usually you can find old versions since their courses are for the latest AASHTO)


Can you please let me know which DOT examples in particular feel free to message me any link for the free publications that I can download. I actually send you message but thought post it here as well. Thanks


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## BridgeSewist (Jun 17, 2016)

Here are the pages I did most of my studying from on top of the example problem books.  Also I have a link to the course I took. Disclaimer is that some of this stuff is outdated but it made me make sure I knew exactly where everything came from.  Again my original unfamiliarity with seismic is evident here since I am a low seismic region that was my biggest concern studying.

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/seismic/nhi130093.pdf &lt;- FHWA Course on Seismic Design of Bridges

http://www.idot.illinois.gov/assets/uploads/files/doing-business/memorandums-&amp;-letters/highways/bridges/bm-design-guides/bm%203.15%20seismic%20design.pdf &lt;- IL Sesimic Design Guide

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/lrfd/examples.cfm &lt;- FHWA Design Examples 

http://www.aisc.org/contentNSBA.aspx?id=20244 &lt;- NSBA Design Examples 

http://www.seaoi.org/event/seaoi-refresher-course &lt;- course I decided to take

https://www.brightwoodengineering.com/se-exam &lt;- didn't take course just used textbooks

I spent a year studying for my first go around so I studied just about everything I could find.


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