# What sections from CERM10 to study? Any help?



## kalare (Jan 18, 2008)

I've been trying to study out of CERM 10 but the thing is huge! There seems to be so much info in there that doesn't really look like it would be necessary. For example, integrals and tons od chemistry things. I also have the 17th ed KAPLAN stuff which seems to me to be much more on point and specific, though I know people don't have a very good opinion on the book, I bought it for the new construction section.

In either case, does anyone have any recommendations on which sections to focus on, there's no way I'm going to be able to learn that whole book in the next 2.5 months.

Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks!


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## EL Nica PE (Jan 18, 2008)

kalare said:


> I've been trying to study out of CERM 10 but the thing is huge! There seems to be so much info in there that doesn't really look like it would be necessary. For example, integrals and tons od chemistry things. I also have the 17th ed KAPLAN stuff which seems to me to be much more on point and specific, though I know people don't have a very good opinion on the book, I bought it for the new construction section.
> In either case, does anyone have any recommendations on which sections to focus on, there's no way I'm going to be able to learn that whole book in the next 2.5 months.
> 
> Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks!



My suggestion is to tab the CERM and familiar your self with it. I think 80% of the answer can be found with the CERM for the morning. For the afternoon it depends which section you are taking. I think if you take water resources or transportation then is a good book for the afternoon too.

Good luck!


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## starkman (Jan 18, 2008)

EL Nica PE said:


> My suggestion is to tab the CERM and familiar your self with it. I think 80% of the answer can be found with the CERM for the morning. For the afternoon it depends which section you are taking. I think if you take water resources or transportation then is a good book for the afternoon too.
> 
> Good luck!



CERM10 came out before the revised morning section. I went through the morning topics provided by NCEES and crossed out any section that wasn't going to be helpful anymore. Almost all of these were in the environmental section, and a few in transportation. However, I would still recommend (if you have time) to go through everything in there just in case. Its a lot of problems, but quite a few of the practice problems I did in the NCEES drew from multiple areas of knowledge at once.


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## Polysloman (Jan 19, 2008)

EL Nica PE said:


> My suggestion is to tab the CERM and familiar your self with it. I think 80% of the answer can be found with the CERM for the morning. For the afternoon it depends which section you are taking. I think if you take water resources or transportation then is a good book for the afternoon too.
> 
> Good luck!


Great advice!

I'm doing what I read from the board: "Get Intimate with the CERM". Forget familiar, I'm making love with that book and my references!!!


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## kalare (Jan 19, 2008)

Polysloman said:


> Great advice!I'm doing what I read from the board: "Get Intimate with the CERM". Forget familiar, I'm making love with that book and my references!!!



Thanks for all the advice. I would tab the heck outta the thing but I'm not sure what to tab is the problem. Like I said before, I'm trying to maximize tiem studied for more important areas, for example, I'm assuming I don't need to know to do integrals and stuff like this. There just seems like too much info in some cases...or am I wrong?

For example, i know open channel flow will most likely be needed...but manometers (just an example, I know they're simple)? That seems more like something on the FE exam not PE. Of course, again, I could be wrong.

The reason I'm doing this, is I only have 2.5 months l and work 9-10 hours a day, there's no real way that I'll be able to study the whole thing. So, I'm trying to see what the more important sections are if anyone might have some input.

Thanks again


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## roadwreck (Jan 19, 2008)

This section on the NCEES website should give you some direction on what areas will most likely be on the exam, depending on which depth section you are considering.

http://www.ncees.org/exams/professional/pe_civil_exams.php

I skipped plenty of sections in the CERM while studying. I actually didn't study any of the Structural chapters, but that was just b/c I was running out of time and it was a topic that would only be covered in the AM portion of the test for me.

The first few chapters are mostly just basic math review, and aren't directly applicable to the exam in most cases. But that information may be needed to build off of for other topics.

Also keep in mind that the 10th edition is now out of date. There is no construction section in it. You will have to look elsewhere for that review material.


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## IlPadrino (Jan 19, 2008)

kalare said:


> Thanks for all the advice. I would tab the heck outta the thing but I'm not sure what to tab is the problem. Like I said before, I'm trying to maximize tiem studied for more important areas, for example, I'm assuming I don't need to know to do integrals and stuff like this. There just seems like too much info in some cases...or am I wrong?
> For example, i know open channel flow will most likely be needed...but manometers (just an example, I know they're simple)? That seems more like something on the FE exam not PE. Of course, again, I could be wrong.
> 
> The reason I'm doing this, is I only have 2.5 months l and work 9-10 hours a day, there's no real way that I'll be able to study the whole thing. So, I'm trying to see what the more important sections are if anyone might have some input.
> ...


I'm not a fan of the tabs... but if you're going to do them, I'd only use the big ones. You're example is good - manometers aren't likely to make an appearance on the PE exam. Take a look at the PE Notes Wiki for an idea of what might be a good summary. Feel free to contribute references to the CERM in the wiki!


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## squishles10 (Feb 20, 2008)

I went through the NCEES list of topics and tabbed each of them. You'll find that nearly EVERYTHING for the morning construction is in the book, it's just not in one place. I color-coded my tabs, which makes finding the randomly scattered construction information easier to find. I'm just reading the chapters on my afternoon section, which is plenty. Everything else I get familiar with as I solve problems. As you do problems and you use certain pages over and over, tab them. Whatever you do, don't read the damn thing!


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## ALBin517 (Feb 21, 2008)

I tabbed every page I referenced during the course of doing review questions.

And the sections in the front of the CERM that I failed to review, but wish I would have, included trig, logs and the like.

BTW my CERM was old by about 4 editions when I took the exam.


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## tawlk (Feb 21, 2008)

I used "the other board"'s study guide as an outline. I did a lot of reading and getting to know the reference as well as I could. After I got familiar with a chapter or two, I would do the problems associated with them. As you go, tab, tab, tab. IMO, organization is the key to passing this thing.


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