# Structural Morning



## owiewave (Feb 1, 2011)

I'm working through the NCEES outline and some example problems (using Goswami and CERM) for the structural section, and am having trouble finding what I need to focus on. I find the NCEES outline to be a little vague (admittedly it may be due to my lack of experience on this subject...) I only took Intro to Structures, and surprisingly still have a pretty good handle on Truss and Bar problems (I even, with a little push remembered how to do the shear and moment diagrams!)

The books kind of go all over the place, from the types of problems I mention above, to some pretty detailed structural design questions. Where should I focus my efforts when I study?


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## Walker D (Feb 1, 2011)

As I'm sure you have already noticed, the topics stated by the NCEES are VERY broad. I think they do this on purpose so they allow themselves a wide variety of problems that can be used during the morning section of the test. With that being said, I would suggest having the NCEES topics list handy while you are looking through all the structure sections in the CERM and Goswami books. If the topic appears to be a "depth" (afternoon) question and doesn't appear to fall under any of the "breadth" (morning) topics listed, them you may want to skip it.


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## civilized_naah (Feb 1, 2011)

owiewave said:


> I'm working through the NCEES outline and some example problems (using Goswami and CERM) for the structural section, and am having trouble finding what I need to focus on. I find the NCEES outline to be a little vague (admittedly it may be due to my lack of experience on this subject...) I only took Intro to Structures, and surprisingly still have a pretty good handle on Truss and Bar problems (I even, with a little push remembered how to do the shear and moment diagrams!)The books kind of go all over the place, from the types of problems I mention above, to some pretty detailed structural design questions. Where should I focus my efforts when I study?


I think if you are ok on basic statics (determinate trusses and frames, straight cable systems), basic strength of materials (axial load, bending stress, shear stress, torsion), basic materials (Stress strain diagrams of concrete and steel) and basic structural analysis (load path, shear force &amp; bending moment diagrams) you will be more than OK for the 8 Struct AM questions.


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