# Vertical vs. Lateral or Other



## Andy Lin (Jun 5, 2014)

Testing out the poll system on this forum.

Also a legitimate question: which one do you find more challenging while studying for the SE - Vertical or Lateral?


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## Opie Winston (Jun 5, 2014)

Lateral, but not because of the material, but because of experience.

In real life practice, I've never designed a building in SDC D-F, mostly SDC A-B.

This lack of experience and practice makes SE lateral more difficult.


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## dussbucs (Jun 5, 2014)

Lateral, by far in my opinion (awaiting results on 4th attempt). Passed Vertical on 1st try.


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## pwilliams (Jun 5, 2014)

Vertical, due to the depth of material while studying. I passed Lateral first try, but am waiting on results for Vertical, second attempt. I think I found lateral easier because all of the material is contained within fewer code/references.

However, I took both exams at the same time October, 2013, and felt that they were both equally difficult in their own way.


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## pwilliams (Jun 5, 2014)

Also, I'm a buildings guy, not bridges. I can't speak for the differences in Bridge exams.


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## str_academy (Jun 5, 2014)

Eastern USA and bridge design. 3rd attempt at lateral bridges.

Vertical morning - Similar difficulty to PE-Civil Structures PM - medium difficulty

Vertical bridge essay - Light to medium difficulty - passed on 1st try

Lateral morning - very hard, problems look simple but lot of trick questions (so far did not get a chance to finish all in time)

Lateral bridge essays - medium difficulty

I know it is tough for bridge guys, but we get to learn/study/explore more than building test takers


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## Andy Lin (Jun 9, 2014)

Thanks for the input guys 

It seems like more people find lateral portion challenging (8 vs 4 as of this writing) so I am going to give it a shot and write a few things for SDC C-F and see if I can be helpful.

pwilliams: I hope you pass! What was your main weakness if you don't mind me asking?

str_academy: I am a building guy also; sorry I probably won't be able to help much with bridges in terms of technical info. Out of curiosity though, what are the benefits of having a SE if your work mainly involves bridge design. I am just wondering because most of the bridge engineers that I know in CA don't have their SEs.


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## HurryCA! (Jun 9, 2014)

SEHQ said:


> str_academy: I am a building guy also; sorry I probably won't be able to help much with bridges in terms of technical info. Out of curiosity though, what are the benefits of having a SE if your work mainly involves bridge design. I am just wondering because most of the bridge engineers that I know in CA don't have their SEs.


Certain states require an SE for bridges over 200-ft long (or other specified length).


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## HurryCA! (Jun 9, 2014)

HurryCA! said:


> SEHQ said:
> 
> 
> > str_academy: I am a building guy also; sorry I probably won't be able to help much with bridges in terms of technical info. Out of curiosity though, what are the benefits of having a SE if your work mainly involves bridge design. I am just wondering because most of the bridge engineers that I know in CA don't have their SEs.
> ...


Or maybe it's just Washington...


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## Andy Lin (Jun 9, 2014)

HurryCA! said:


> SEHQ said:
> 
> 
> > str_academy: I am a building guy also; sorry I probably won't be able to help much with bridges in terms of technical info. Out of curiosity though, what are the benefits of having a SE if your work mainly involves bridge design. I am just wondering because most of the bridge engineers that I know in CA don't have their SEs.
> ...


That makes sense... thanks.


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## pwilliams (Jun 9, 2014)

SEHQ said:


> pwilliams: I hope you pass! What was your main weakness if you don't mind me asking?


Thanks! Probably masonry design at the time of taking it the first time. Wood is a distant second to that, however, what we were tested on was a specific weakness within wood design. There were a couple of tricky questions in the afternoon that tripped me up, which I knew after taking it and confirmed by my diagnostic. I didn't find problems that those this go round so we'll see how it goes.

This time around I studied masonry a lot more and continued what I was doing on the other subjects. Felt comfortable after the exam, so hopefully I did what I needed to do to pass.


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