# How are you organizing your material



## smcintee (Apr 2, 2014)

How are you organizing your material, in particular any practice problems? I have binders for each topic and a big one for my depth. In the back of each binder I have problems sorted by type per ncees list. With any problems I might find useful tabbed.


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## NJmike PE (Apr 3, 2014)

smcintee said:


> How are you organizing your material, in particular any practice problems? I have binders for each topic and a big one for my depth. In the back of each binder I have problems sorted by type per ncees list. With any problems I might find useful tabbed.


my :2cents:

organize them exactly like the NCEES outline. I did for the Oct exam and it was quite helpful. In fact, I created tabs follow the outline so I knew exactly what kind of problem I was looking at.


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## palvarez83 (May 3, 2014)

Some people I know index the heck out of all of their references using sticky tabs. I personally find that overkill since things tend to be well indexed in most books.

During my studying from any bound book or code, I find sections that have tables, equations, ect. which I have to refer to often in sample problems and I put sticky tabs on those such as "beam formula", "stopping sight distance", "pumping energy", ect.

Then there are the "loose references" these are sheets you find elsewhere like on the internet which explain a certain concept more clearly or in depth. These are usually just a page or two. I will take the full collection of all these loose references and stick them in a 3 ring binder, to make them acceptable for the exam. I usually don't need them, but it is comforting to have them there.


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## Predgw (May 3, 2014)

I had a three ring binder for all the practice problems I did and tabbed them very similar to the NCEES outline. I started out with quite a few tabs on the refernce material and then eliminated the ones I never used. Much like the practice exams, there seemed to be a theme as to the chapters and equations you would need.

No matter how many tabs you have, you will still need to look something up in the index. I took the advice from this site and printed the CERM index, put in a small three ringer binder and that went on the far right side of my table. Worked well.


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## Michael Frolov (Jun 7, 2014)

It appears that you are on the right track. Please keep in mind that having too many books on the desk will only consume valuable time in sorting through the stack. Since an average of six minutes should be spent per problem, choosing a few main reference manuals that have been tabbed will allow easy access to appropriate equations, charts, tables, and figures. Also note that the latest editions of the code books should be acquired since they are frequently revised, especially with regard to seismic engineering.


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