# My Do's and Don'ts For Taking the Exam



## Zizu (Jun 28, 2016)

Ok Guys, just wanted to put the most important things that helped me pass the PE on here, anyone else feel free to chip in. I took the Civil-Water Resources Exam

1. Cheat Sheet with Formulas-both SI and English, with formulas ALREADY derived for more than two variables at least. Plug and Chugs are easy points-if you have the formula for determining pipe size in inches with flow given in CFS from Mannings ready.

2. A Geotech book is a must for the morning-just trust me on this one. 

3. Do a walk thru of the test before you start answering and mark the questions you are sure you can easily do w/o a ref with a circle, the questions you are sure you could do with a quick reference with a triangle and the questions that are 'WTF?' hard with a diamond-for obvious reasons. Time management is critical. With any luck, you'll be done within a couple of hours on the 30 or so questions that fall in the first two categories. leaving you the other two to work on the 10 or so insane Q's-assuming a bell curve nature for the exam. 

4.Do not forget to use the bathroom BEFORE you get into the test room(our proctors told us we could go after they read us the instructions and they never did let us)-believe my by hour three things got real uncomfortable.

5. The test room was so cold the first time I took it in October that the proctors had blankets on-but apparently they didnt bring enough for everyone-I had to keep blowing into my hands and rubbing them. NCEES does say prepare for variable conditions but it didnt say dress for Siberia. At least wear a hoodie or thermal. The second time I took it, it was pouring rain-so keep a jacket in the car.

6. Do not leave your stuff in the car the night before. Someone broke into mine and took EVERYTHING. Calculator, Books, Notes, EVERYTHING. Fortunately, Police caught him and I was able to make it on time with my stuff back and passed the test the second time around(No one said it'd be easy).Just wait till the morning-dont take anything for granted.

7. Hurry; slowly. 

8. Sure, you'll be able to use your references, but you gotta know them inside out to use them. There's no way around it. You gotta know your South Harmon Institute of Technology. What chapter in Lindberg is the info on concrete properties?Where is the stuff on backsights and leveling?Dont know?You gonna have a bad time.

9. For the WR depth portion, I had way too many refs. Try and limit yourself to no more than Ten books max-you wont have time to look in more anyway.

10. Follow the procedure. Check your units. Believe in yourself. Good luck.


----------



## matt267 PE (Jun 28, 2016)

Do NOT wear your fitbit.


----------



## snickerd3 (Jun 28, 2016)

matt267 PE said:


> Do NOT wear your fitbit.


or any other type of fitness tracking wristband


----------



## P-E (Jun 28, 2016)

Didn't think hoodies were allowed


----------



## matt267 PE (Jun 28, 2016)

Do pack a lunch.


----------



## jijir83 (Jun 28, 2016)

Zizu said:


> A Geotech book is a must for the morning-just trust me on this one.


Let me guess... you're talking about April 2016. That was the case (first hand experience).

I spoke with some people and they felt October 2015 was more transportation in the morning. And it flipped flopped every cycle going backwards. They seem to lean heavy on a given topic in the morning. I wish I cared enough to poll a bunch of people to see the trend. But I'd say, anyone taking it this Fall or onward should find a good depth book in each discipline and do a good review of them for the morning exam and bring that. Not just Geotech. They will be leaning heavy on a given topic and you should be able to pull a good reference to help you score well.


----------



## hjg7715 (Jun 28, 2016)

Zizu said:


> Ok Guys, just wanted to put the most important things that helped me pass the PE on here, anyone else feel free to chip in. I took the Civil-Water Resources Exam
> 
> 1. Cheat Sheet with Formulas-both SI and English, with formulas ALREADY derived for more than two variables at least. Plug and Chugs are easy points-if you have the formula for determining pipe size in inches with flow given in CFS from Mannings ready.
> 
> 9. For the WR depth portion, I had way too many refs. Try and limit yourself to no more than *Ten books max*-you wont have time to look in more anyway.


I think creating cheat sheets (binder) with formulas, tables, practice problems and quick reference info was the most beneficial advice I received in preparation for the exam. I think I ended up using the binder I created as much or even more than I used the CERM. I think working practice problems and taking the time to add to and organize my binder with frequently used formulas and tables also helped reinforce some of the content. So this is a must for anyone taking the exam.

I also took the WR depth and I think that most people, in general, take too many references into the exam, but I guess it's better to have too many than not enough. I honestly think I could have gotten by with just the CERM and personal binder for the morning session and an additional 3-4 references for the afternoon even though I ended up using my personal binder primarily. But again it included a lot of the typical formulas you would use on the exam and I also found some very useful formula sheets for water and wastewater treatment online which I added to my binder. Another tip for anyone taking the WRE depth, find or create a sheet with the hydraulic properties (cross sectional area, wetted perimeter, hydraulic radius) of all the common pipe sizes. Also, become very familiar with the relevant appendices in the back of the CERM.

But below are the additional references I used for the afternoon session along with 2 design standards manuals for the local municipality I work. I think including the design standards manual(s) for the jurisdiction you do work in might also be very useful, especially if you're already familiar with it.


----------



## Ken PE 3.1 (Jun 28, 2016)

My Do's and Dont's:

1. Do pass

2. Don't fail

I hate tapatalk


----------



## pdids911 (Jun 30, 2016)

Ken PE 3.0 said:


> My Do's and Dont's:
> 
> 1. Do pass
> 
> ...


your signature ruined this post.


----------



## matt267 PE (Jun 30, 2016)




----------



## knight1fox3 (Jun 30, 2016)




----------



## smahurin (Jul 1, 2016)

hjg7715 said:


> I think creating cheat sheets (binder) with formulas, tables, practice problems and quick reference info was the most beneficial advice I received in preparation for the exam. I think I ended up using the binder I created as much or even more than I used the CERM. I think working practice problems and taking the time to add to and organize my binder with frequently used formulas and tables also helped reinforce some of the content. So this is a must for anyone taking the exam.
> 
> I also took the WR depth and I think that most people, in general, take too many references into the exam, but I guess it's better to have too many than not enough. I honestly think I could have gotten by with just the CERM and personal binder for the morning session and an additional 3-4 references for the afternoon even though I ended up using my personal binder primarily. But again it included a lot of the typical formulas you would use on the exam and I also found some very useful formula sheets for water and wastewater treatment online which I added to my binder. Another tip for anyone taking the WRE depth, find or create a sheet with the hydraulic properties (cross sectional area, wetted perimeter, hydraulic radius) of all the common pipe sizes. Also, become very familiar with the relevant appendices in the back of the CERM.


It really depends on which exam you take (obviously!) but for the civil AM component I really believe all you need is the CERM.  I'd guess that approximately 34 of the AM civil questions when I took the exam were just straight find the equation in the CERM, plug in numbers into the necessary equation, if the number you got was one of the multiple choice answers, Great!  If not try and figure out where I fat fingered a number.  The other 6-ish questions I didn't use a reference for and were some combination of basic mechanics, unit cancellation, general knowledge, or I misunderstood the questions and/or did them wrong.  

I took the Civil/Structural and definitely used my structural references on the PM portion though.  I was too lazy to cart in a whole slew of references and automatically missed a few of the questions because I had intentionally not brought several of my structural reference manuals thinking I wouldn't need them, and was too lazy to carry them into the exam.  It worked out OK, because I still passed, but if I had to do it again, I'd bring them.  Several of the questions from the references I didn't bring were straight table look-ups that seemed designed solely for the purpose of seeing if someone brought their reference.  One question was literally... "In table X of Reference Y what is the ____?".  I read that question and was like... FFS, why didn't I just bring that manual...


----------



## hjg7715 (Jul 1, 2016)

smahurin said:


> ...but for the civil AM component I really believe all you need is the CERM.  I'd guess that approximately 34 of the AM civil questions when I took the exam were just straight find the equation in the CERM..


I don't disagree with you at all!


----------



## ptatohed (Jul 1, 2016)

Zizu said:


> Ok Guys, just wanted to put the most important things that helped me pass the PE on here, anyone else feel free to chip in. I took the Civil-Water Resources Exam
> 
> 1. Cheat Sheet with Formulas-both SI and English, with formulas ALREADY derived for more than two variables at least. Plug and Chugs are easy points-if you have the formula for determining pipe size in inches with flow given in CFS from Mannings ready.
> 
> ...


Very nice, thanks Zizu.  My humble 2 cents:

1.)  This is a great recommendation that I rarely hear anyone mention.  Very good advice.  Take all of the typical formulas you regularly use, and solve them for every other variable in the equation.  For instance, if a common formula you find yourself using a lot while studying is A = B^2 + C, then on your cheat sheet, also have C = A - B^2 and B = (A - C)^1/2.  Trust me.

2.)  In my opinion a dedicated anything book is not needed for the AM.  CERM and All in One should be enough.

3.)  This general advice is successfully used by many and you are absolutely right, time management is a must.  But, my slight twist recommendation on this is to not 'waste' a first pass.  On the first pass, I suggest answering the 'slam dunks' and guessing the 'impossibles' as you are marking the others easy, medium, hard.  Then on pass two, you hit the easys, pass three the mediums, etc.  If time allows at the end, you can always attempt the previously guessed impossibles. 

4.)  It's not good advice to use the bathroom and waste time but during my exams (FE AM/PM, PE AM/PM), I just had to take a little breather and get up to collect my thoughts and take a deep breath so I asked to go to the bathroom.  The better advice is to probably not waste bathroom time.   

5.)  Check

6.)  Holy [email protected], are you serious???! 

7.)  Check

8.)  Agree.  It's way better to have less references that you know well than to have a whole bunch of references you have never opened.

9.)  See #8.  

10.)  Check.


----------



## Audi Driver P.E. (Jul 1, 2016)

Zizu said:


> Ok Guys, just wanted to put the most important things that helped me pass the PE on here, anyone else feel free to chip in. I took the Civil-Water Resources Exam
> 
> 2. A Geotech book is a must for the morning-just trust me on this one.
> 
> ...


Obviously these aren't generic recommendations.  A Geotech book?  Would have been completely useless to me.  And I sat next to a transportation guy that had a stack of books as tall as he was (about 6 foot) and he went through just about every book.  After the exam he told me he wished he'd brought a couple more references because the codes are spread across so many different books and most of it (according to him) was lookup.


----------



## Ken PE 3.1 (Jul 1, 2016)

pdids911 said:


> > On 6/28/2016 at 9:25 PM, Ken PE 3.0 said: My Do's and Dont's: 1. Do pass
> >
> > 2. Don't fail
> >
> ...


How so?

I hate tapatalk


----------



## NJmike PE (Jul 1, 2016)

pdids911 said:


> > On 6/28/2016 at 9:25 PM, Ken PE 3.0 said: My Do's and Dont's: 1. Do pass
> >
> > 2. Don't fail
> >
> ...


Fixt


----------



## Ken PE 3.1 (Jul 1, 2016)

NJmike PE said:


> > > On 6/28/2016 at 9:25 PM, Ken PE 3.0 said: My Do's and Dont's: 1. Do pass 2. Don't fail
> > >
> > > I hate tapatalk
> >
> ...


Fixt

I hate tapatalk


----------



## matt267 PE (Jul 1, 2016)

Keep me out of this.


----------



## smahurin (Jul 3, 2016)

Audi driver said:


> Obviously these aren't generic recommendations.  A Geotech book?  Would have been completely useless to me.


I agree, as I said earlier, the only thing I used was the CERM in the AM civil portion.  While some people might find it nice to have additional references for the AM portion, the questions themselves are mostly simpler one-step questions that lend themselves to the use of a single basic reference (Ala CERM or other similar reference).  Personally even if I had brought a geotech reference (or transpo, or hydraulics, or any other reference for the AM) I wouldn't have had a clue where to look and would have taken me forever.  I don't want to overgeneralize, as everyone will have their own thought process and study methods, but I suspect alot of issues some have with the PE are due to overthinking or overcomplicating the questions.  I'm not saying the questions or exam are easy, but the questions are usually simple in nature (figure that one out!).  Read the question, jump to the most appropriate equation in the CERM, plug your shit in, and move on to the next question.  I personally would think having separate detailed references for each of the AM components (transpo, hydraulics, hydrology, geo, estimating, structural, etc) would eat up a crap ton of time searching through stuff.  Again, that's not to say the exam questions are easy, but they generally are relatively simple.  In the Civil AM portion if you're having to use multiple equations or going through a complex or convoluted multi-step process, there's a pretty good chance you're over-complicating the problem.  As I mentioned before, there were a few questions when I took the exam that could even be solved by straight unit cancellation.  

Its sort of conter-intuitive but the less you think on the PE, I think the better off you're going to be.  Trying to think can get you in trouble.  Sometimes its good to be a simpleton!


----------



## ptatohed (Jul 3, 2016)

smahurin said:


> I agree, as I said earlier, the only thing I used was the CERM in the AM civil portion.  While some people might find it nice to have additional references for the AM portion, the questions themselves are mostly simpler one-step questions that lend themselves to the use of a single basic reference (Ala CERM or other similar reference).  Personally even if I had brought a geotech reference (or transpo, or hydraulics, or any other reference for the AM) I wouldn't have had a clue where to look and would have taken me forever.  I don't want to overgeneralize, as everyone will have their own thought process and study methods, but I suspect *alot* of issues some have with the PE are due to overthinking or overcomplicating the questions.  I'm not saying the questions or exam are easy, but the questions are usually simple in nature (figure that one out!).  Read the question, jump to the most appropriate equation in the CERM, plug your *shit* in, and move on to the next question.  I personally would think having separate detailed references for each of the AM components (transpo, hydraulics, hydrology, geo, estimating, structural, etc) would eat up a crap ton of time searching through stuff.  Again, that's not to say the exam questions are easy, but they generally are relatively simple.  In the Civil AM portion if you're having to use multiple equations or going through a complex or convoluted multi-step process, there's a pretty good chance you're over-complicating the problem.  As I mentioned before, there were a few questions when I took the exam that could even be solved by straight unit cancellation.
> 
> Its sort of conter-intuitive but the less you think on the PE, I think the better off you're going to be.  Trying to think can get you in trouble.  Sometimes its good to be a simpleton!


Very well said smahurin.  But please be cognitive of and respectful to your audience on this board.  Around here, we do ask that you remain professional in your conduct and in your choice of words.  As such, you should refrain from the use of inappropriate, improper, indecent, offensive, unpleasant, insensitive, foul, filthy, lewd words such as....... _alot_.  Everyone knows there is no such word.  Thank you very much for your cooperation.  - EB Staff


----------



## Zizu (Jul 7, 2016)

One last thing. Don't forget bug spray. The first time I took it, there were mosquitoes buzzing around me the entire time. V distracting.

Sent from my SM-N910T3 using Tapatalk


----------



## Ken PE 3.1 (Jul 7, 2016)

Zizu said:


> One last thing. Don't forget bug spray. The first time I took it, there were mosquitoes buzzing around me the entire time. V distracting. Sent from my SM-N910T3 using Tapatalk


Perhaps you should have taken the test inside.

I hate tapatalk


----------



## knight1fox3 (Jul 8, 2016)

^ LOL! I was also thinking that. :lmao:


----------



## nmaevh (Aug 8, 2016)

My advice for the morning session is don't overthink it! Some of the questions might be combining two basic concepts from two different areas. You just have to realize that you have to you a geotech eqn with a water resources equation (not the best example).

As for the restroom break, I took the test 8 months pregnant and had to get up multiple times during each session just to pee. You just need to let the proctor of your area know.

I agree 100% with the cheat sheet. it is so much quicker looking at one page than flipping through all your references for one equation that you can't find because you are stressing about time.

I took a backpack and a messenger bag of reference materials. There was a few questions that I knew where to look up, but I didn't have that book handy. Nothing is wrong with brining a lot of references IF you have used them in the past and aren't going to be flipping through it for the first time.


----------



## ruggercsc (Aug 8, 2016)

I read somewhere that test gods equalize the answers so you won't get a statistical advantage if you guess one particular answer choice (always guessed C).   In other words, there will be questions with 10-A's, 10-B's, 10-C's and 10-D's with the correct solutions in both the morning and afternoon sessions.  I have no idea if this is true or not, but with about 10 minutes to go, I counted my questions where  answered with A's, B's, C's, and D's and "equalized" the remaining questions I guessed on so I would not have too may of one particular choice (Note:  I was not exact, for instance I think had roughly somewhere around 10-A's, 9-B's, 12-C's, 9-D's for afternoon).

I am not sure if this is true, but I passed and truly "guessed" (did not have answer that matched a one of the choices, had no clue on how to find the answer, or ran out of time and had to guess) on 12  to 14 total questions (afternoon and morning combined).

Not to change the subject, but I a coach in high school said he had a 100 question True or False History Final in college where you if  the answer was True - you left it blank and False - you put in a "+".   The test had 97 true questions and 3 false questions.  By signing your name and turning it in you got a 97%.


----------



## Ken PE 3.1 (Aug 8, 2016)

I call BS on the "equal parts" theory.


----------



## ruggercsc (Aug 9, 2016)

I read the "equal answers for no statistical advantage" on another site and everyone knows if you read it on the internet it has to be true.   All I know is I tried to equal the answers as best I could and it I passed.


----------



## ptatohed (Aug 10, 2016)

I see no reason why we shouldn't assume at or around equal parts A, B, C, and D answers.


----------



## Ship Wreck PE (Aug 10, 2016)

This is a touchy subject. Several years ago, when I was a noobie, I mentioned the idea of equal distribution, and I got blasted from several directions. I cannot remember who all called me bad names, but they all said I would not be able to pass with such a stupid idea?? I might have counted my answers, but I do not want to get into trouble again with the all powering nay Sayers


----------



## matt267 PE (Aug 10, 2016)

@Ship Wreck PE, you need to learn to troll better.


----------



## Audi Driver P.E. (Aug 10, 2016)

I can't possibly imagine how it could help knowing that.  I suppose it could narrow down your choices, but you'd have to be 100% sure all your already given answers were correct.


----------



## ruggercsc (Aug 10, 2016)

I just took the test in April and how it helped me:

I.With about ten minutes to go, I still had a bunch of questions that I had no answers for by


----------



## smahurin (Aug 10, 2016)

ruggercsc said:


> I just took the test in April and how it helped me:
> 
> I.With about ten minutes to go, I still had a bunch of questions that I had no answers for by


Not to be a naysayer, but that's a test without a control.  You don't know whether it helped, hurt, or did nothing.  Nor would you know if you would have passed using any other random guessing method.

You passed, and that's what is important.  And you feel it helped, which there is something to that physiologically.  But using a guess based technique to answer the last few unanswered questions without any feedback on whether you got those answers correct doesn't really prove (or disprove) anything.


----------



## ruggercsc (Aug 10, 2016)

Sorry,

Sneezed and hit the wrong key,  At least I didn't "reply all"  with a politically incorrect statement to my work colleagues.  It would get me fired at work but praised at this site.

In the afternoon, with ten minutes to go I counted and still had 12 questions I had not answered (either got an answer that was not one of the 4 choices, had no clue where to start, or had skipped it because it would take too long).

1.  4 questions I had narrowed it down to two choices.  I went ahead and answered those as best as I could.

2.  I counted up all my answers to get a distribution of A's, B's, C's, and D's.

3.  I guessed on the remaining questions so I would have close to an equal distribution of answers.  It was not exact, but close.

I read on another site that the test writers want an equal distribution of answers so you can't get a statistical advantage if you guess one particular answer (C for instance).

Who really knows.  I might have got all of my guesses wrong and passed by luck.

My wife reminds me daily that just because I passed the PE test that does not mean I am still not a moron.


----------



## ruggercsc (Aug 10, 2016)

I read on another site that someone had a professor who worked for NCEES at one time. Their advice was to not just randomly guess when you running short on time at the end of a session, but to strategical guess.  With about 5 to 10 minutes left,  count how many A's, B's, C's, and D's that you have answered so far. Which ever one has the lowest count should be the guess for the remaining question.   The idea is that the test is made so that every option (A,B,C,D) is about 25% of the answers and randomly guessing will not help you as much as strategically guessing.  Since this thread is Titled "My Do's and Dont's for Taking the Exam" strategically guessing was a one of my "Do's". 

I wish I did not have to guess at all, but since I did have to guess.  Therefore, I had a guessing strategy, which was to strategically guess as opposed to randomly guess or always guess with "C" .


----------



## matt267 PE (Aug 10, 2016)

^ I did this for both the EIT and the PE. I passed both. BUT, I would NOT make that your strategy to pass.


----------



## ptatohed (Aug 10, 2016)

Ship Wreck PE said:


> This is a touchy subject. Several years ago, when I was a noobie, I mentioned the idea of equal distribution, and I got blasted from several directions. I cannot remember who all called me bad names, but they all said I would not be able to pass with such a stupid idea?? I might have counted my answers, but I do not want to get into trouble again with the all powering nay Sayers


It's a very touchy subject.  I forget who it was - maybe IllPadrino and I - he and I were the only ones defending the belief that it is (or should be) fair to assume equal distribution of A/B/C/Ds.  It was a heated debate for sure - lol.  This topic can get almost - not quite, but almost - as heated as the RPN vs Algebraic debate!


----------



## matt267 PE (Aug 11, 2016)

FYI, RPN FTW!


----------

