# Mechanical Engineer preparing for the Civil PE exam



## Porter_ (May 26, 2014)

any and all advice/suggestions would be appreciated. i plan to sit for the October 2014 Civil:Structural exam and i'd like input on study materials. i passed the April 2014 Mechanical: Mechanical Systems and Materials PE exam. the only resources i used to study were the MERM and Practice Problems by Lindeburg. i felt the subject theory was much more detailed than needed to pass the exam and i like that. i feel that studying the MERM has made me a better engineer. i want to take the same approach for the Civil PE exam. 

the CERM and Practice Problems are on their way to me from Amazon. the NCEES syllabus for the Civil:Structural PM exam lists the following design standards:

AASHTO 6th ed.

IBC 2009

ASCE 7-05

ACI 318-08

AISC Steel Construction Manual 13th ed.

NDS 2005

PCI 6th ed.

ACI 530-08

any advice on whether or not all of these standards are required? any other recommendations?


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## thegooch (May 26, 2014)

I just took it and passed it without the AASHTO and PCI. I accepted the risk of missing a couple of questions that covered those topics, which there were probably about four of. The CERM has a chapter on prestressed concrete in it, and Goswami has a chapter on bridges to help skate by those topics. You absolutely should have the rest, though I only had the stuctural oriented chapters of the IBC with me.

Also I had the 14th edition of AISC, shouldn't make a difference in case you don't want to buy an obsolete edition to use as a paperweight after the test.


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## Porter_ (May 28, 2014)

Ok, thanks for the input thegooch.

here's where i'm at right now for codes/standards:

*AASHTO 6th ed.* not purchasing

*IBC 2009* - to be purchased

*ASCE 7-05* - borrowed from my company

*ACI 318-08* - borrowed from my company

*AISC Steel Construction Manual 14th ed.* - to be purchased

*NDS 2005* - to be purchased; i assume the free-to-download 'Manual For Engineering Wood Construction' and 'Wind and Seismic' are not enough? (http://www.awc.org/standards/nds.php)

*PCI 6th ed.* - not purchasing

*ACI 530-08* - borrowed ACI 530-05 from my company; i'm banking on this being close enough

any thoughts/opinions from anyone would be appreciated.


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## thegooch (May 28, 2014)

I have some additional study material for sale if interested:

http://engineerboards.com/index.php?app=classifieds&amp;module=core&amp;do=view_item&amp;item_id=205


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## palvarez83 (May 29, 2014)

I think you are in good shape. I was in a similar boat as you. I took the mechanical PE, then electrical PE, and finally Civil (construction). I agree with your method of learning from The ppi reference manual. You will notice that the CERM and MERM are very similar (same author). There is lots of overlap. I actually took my MERM with me into the civil exam so I could answer the water problems.

If you read CERM, it has lots of statements about requirements along with a code reference. I feel he puts what you need to know in there. For the structural depth, I think you are well equipped. Just make sure NCEEs hasn't updated their code references to new editions (eg. Asce 7-10 or IBC 2012). One of the things I did for a lot is code references is google them, find the PDF, print them and bind them.


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## Porter_ (May 29, 2014)

to what extent did people use the recommended standards/codes on the structural depth? the NCEES Civil:Structural outline shows only 12.5% of the PM exam that is specifically code related. are the codes necessary for all or part of the remaining 87.5% of the PM exam? (not looking for exam specifics that would violate NCEES rules about discussing exam details) i'm having some heartburn over spending money on outdated codes that will serve as paper weights when i'm done with the exam.


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## Lomarandil (May 30, 2014)

For the NDS, the free materials may be enough to jog your memory for a problem if you were really familiar with timber design, but I've never used them. The NDS itself really has the meat of the material.

I did not use ACI 530 at all. Think I referenced the masonry design section in the CERM or that little Structural depth reference for anything related.


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## Porter_ (Jun 2, 2014)

thanks for all the input. i received my CERM, practice problems, and AISC steel construction manual today. so i'm on track for collecting study materials.

Study Materials:

*CERM 13th ed.* - purchased

*Lindeburg Practice Problems* - purchased

*NCEES Civil: Structural Sample Exam* - purchased

Codes/Standards:

*AASHTO 6th ed.* - borrowed from work, won't have enough time to become familiar with this though. it's a monster. i may print out sections i deem relevant.

*IBC 2009* - purchased

*ASCE 7-05* - borrowed from work

*ACI 318-08* - borrowed from work

*AISC Steel Construction Manual 14th ed.* - purchased

*NDS 2005* - to be purchased

*PCI 6th ed.* - not purchasing

*ACI 530-08* - borrowed ACI 530-05 from work. good enough.

studying begins this weekend. i'll have to balance finding time to study and making sure my pregnant wife gets enough quality time with her husband.


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## UncivilWolf (Jun 6, 2014)

I passed the Civil Structural in April, and I'll just add my two cents. I spent more time on ACI, AISC and ASCE in my studying and it paid off. I too made a few gambles-- I didn't take the AASHTO or IBC, and had a very dated NDS (1992!), and did fine. One thing I noticed is the CERM I bought in December didn't have the up-to-date braking distance equations, which I found out in the sample tests, so I found the right equations and printed them out for the morning section. I took the NCEES sample test and also bought the structural depth practice problems by Giancaspro. Both helped me focus on the areas I needed to work on, and got me better acquainted with the codes.

You'll probably see overlap with ME-- strength of materials, statics, etc, so you are already off to a good start.

Good luck!


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## Porter_ (Jun 6, 2014)

Thanks UncivilWolf and congrats on becoming a PE! I may look into another structural depth practice exam like Giancaspro etc. Also i stumbled upon a 2001 version of NDS. i'll either wing it with that or just suck it up and buy the outdated 2005 edition. still waffling back and forth.


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## rah2115 (Jun 6, 2014)

Porter,

I too am planning on taking the Civil:Structural in October. I recently purchased the CERM 13th ed. and it's accompanying practice problems. Today I noticed that the 14th ed. is now being sold (at least through PPI). Do you, or anyone else for the matter, feel like there will be much of a difference between the 13th ed. and the new 14th ed. to warrant looking into purchasing the 14th ed.?


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## Porter_ (Jun 7, 2014)

Yeah I saw the 14th edition on amazon earlier this week. No sweat, won't be much difference. If you open an older edition of the CERM you'll see lots of similarities, some chapters verbatim. Download the errata from ppi's website and you're good to go.


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## Porter_ (Jun 7, 2014)

Study:

*CERM 13th ed.* - purchased

*Lindeburg Practice Problems* - purchased

*NCEES Civil: Structural Sample Exam* - purchased

Codes:

*AASHTO 6th ed.* - borrowed

*IBC 2009* - purchased

*ASCE 7-05* - borrowed

*ACI 318-08* - borrowed

*AISC Steel Construction Manual 14th ed.* - purchased

*NDS 2005* - borrowed

*PCI 6th ed.* - nope

*ACI 530-08* - borrowed ACI 530-05

i'm good to go. time to get cracking.


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## Porter_ (Jun 7, 2014)

i might as well use this as my dumping ground for thoughts/questions/goal-tracking during my study process.

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i came up with a study schedule this morning. i have 18 weeks total excluding 4th of July week because i'll spend most of that week at the lake and drunk. to come up with a schedule i used the NCEES outline to weight subjects. it's not an exact science. this is what i came up with considering the entire exam (AM and PM) at 100%:

WR&amp;E - 10%

Transpo. - 10%

Constr. - 11.6%

Geotech. - 13.1%

Struct./Codes - 54.5%

(straggler Engineering Econ. - 0.8%)

weighting my available 18 weeks and also considering the number of chapters present in the CERM for each subject:

WR&amp;E - 2 wks

Transpo. - 3 wks

Constr. - 1 wk

Geotech. - 3 wks

Struct./Codes - 9 wks

study schedule:

6/7 - 6/22: WR&amp;E

6/23 - 7/20: Transpo.

7/21 - 7/27: Constr.

7/28 - 8/17: Geotech.

8/18 - 10/19: Struct./Codes

10/20: Practice Exam

10/21 - 10/23: Brush up &amp; Eng. Econ.

if it's anything like studying for the Mechanical PE exam several of these dates will slip. i should be able to put in about 20 hrs/week up until ~10/4 when my son is due. after that it's a crapshoot.


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## Porter_ (Jun 26, 2014)

Porter_ said:


> 6/7 - 6/22: WR&amp;E




swing and a miss. life has gotten in the way these past few weeks, i'm about half way done with WR&amp;E so i'm playing catch-up. a little motivation as of today:


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## Michael Frolov (Jul 5, 2014)

Looks like you are on the right track. You already have the advantage of taking a similar exam (congratulations by the way on passing the Mechanical PE exam). If you have the time and money, I would recommend taking a review course. Experts (licensed engineers or academic faculty) provide first-hand knowledge of the PE exam material and typically, a comprehensive binder of course notes is provided. Also, tab the main reference manuals so you are able to locate appropriate equations, charts, tables, and figures.

Good luck.


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## Porter_ (Aug 5, 2014)

Porter_ said:


> WR&amp;E - 2 wks
> 
> Transpo. - 3 wks
> 
> ...








alright my summer to-do list (house A/C installation, baby crib/swing/death-ray/stroller research and purchase, buy a new car for the wife) is behind me. time to study. new schedule:

WR&amp;E - DONE

Transpo. - (2 wks) 8/5 - 8/17

Constr. - (1 wk) 8/18 - 8/24

Geotech. - (2 wks) 8/25 - 9/7

Struct./Codes - (6 wks) 9/8 - 10/19

Practice exam - 10/20

Brush up and Eng. Econ. - 10/21 - 10/23


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## Porter_ (Aug 18, 2014)

WR&amp;E - *DONE*

Transpo. - *DONE*

Constr. - (1 wk) 8/18 - 8/24

Geotech. - (2 wks) 8/25 - 9/7

Struct./Codes - (6 wks) 9/8 - 10/19

Practice exam - 10/20

Brush up and Eng. Econ. - 10/21 - 10/23

onwards and upwards! transportation was pretty straightforward, at least the subjects that i studied: sight distance, superelevation, horizontal and vertical curves. on to construction which will be tough to fit into a single week.


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## Porter_ (Aug 25, 2014)

WR&amp;E - *DONE*

Transpo. - *DONE*

Constr. - *DONE*

Eng. Econ. - *DONE*

Geotech. - (2 wks) 8/25 - 9/7

Struct./Codes - (6 wks) 9/8 - 10/20

Practice exam - 10/21

Brush up - 10/22 - 10/23

a nice productive week. i finished Construction a day early and decided to squeeze in Engineering Economics (a logical step since Construction covers some scheduling/cost-estimating). so i shifted the practice exam and 'brush up' days back and added 1 day to Structural/Codes. that 1 extra day will be valuable since i'm taking Oct. 20th - 24th off from work to study. that should give me an extra ~10 hours of studying for Structural.


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## Porter_ (Sep 19, 2014)

WR&amp;E - *DONE*

Transpo. - *DONE*

Constr. - *DONE*

Eng. Econ. - *DONE*

Geotech. - *DONE*

Struct./Codes - (4.5 wks) 9/19 - 10/21

Practice exam - 10/22

Brush up - 10/23

bahh. i haven't been able to study nearly as much as i would like to. [SIZE=13.63636302948px]the good news: i have a very solid understanding of the breadth subject matter. the bad news: i'm short on time for studying the depth subject matter. i work with structural steel regularly in my job so i'm very familiar with that, and thus familiar with the Steel Construction Manual (and AISC 360), IBC, ASCE 7, and AWS. Concrete, Timber, and Masonry will be a struggle though. [/SIZE]


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## Porter_ (Oct 25, 2014)

I feel pretty decent after the exam but not as confident as I felt after the ME PE exam. Here's how I think I did:

AM Portion: 32 I'm confident are correct, 5 could go either way, 3 are complete guesses.

PM Portion: 26 I'm confident are correct, 7 could go either way, 7 are complete guesses.

We'll see how it goes.


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## Porter_ (Dec 15, 2014)

woohoo! thanks to the forum for all the help and glorious entertainment.


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## team1887 (Dec 16, 2014)

Thank you all immensely for your input! I may cut back the 4 weekday hrs to 3hrs. My only commitments are work 730-430 and coaching crossfit. So thats why I chose to have 2 days off. I normally coach 4 days a week after work, but I cut it down to 2 so I can study M-W-F.

I thought about the idea of scheduling each week or day for a specific topic. But I get hung up on areas I am not clear on, I have trouble moving on to the next topic. Thank you all again!


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## team1887 (Dec 16, 2014)

^^ Wrong post. sorry!


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