# Structural or Civil?



## DJsigma (Jan 3, 2011)

I have failed the Structural 1 exam twice now. First time with a 63 and second time with a 65 (46/80). The second time around I studied hard and bought all of the references.

Now I am faced with taking the new 2-day structural behemoth test in April. I am thinking of taking the Civil/Struc. exam instead. I just wanted to get some feedback from people who have taken these exams in the past. My job is strictly structural, mostly commercial and industrial building design. I haven't done any civil design since college.

Which test would y'all recommend?


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## MA_PE (Jan 3, 2011)

DJsigma said:


> I have failed the Structural 1 exam twice now. First time with a 63 and second time with a 65 (46/80). The second time around I studied hard and bought all of the references.
> Now I am faced with taking the new 2-day structural behemoth test in April. I am thinking of taking the Civil/Struc. exam instead. I just wanted to get some feedback from people who have taken these exams in the past. My job is strictly structural, mostly commercial and industrial building design. I haven't done any civil design since college.
> 
> Which test would y'all recommend?


If you want to be a structural engineer as a career then you should stay with the structural exam. If you thicnk you might change disciplines or go to management or some other facet where there is not much core engineering work, but you want/need a PE, then take the Civil/Structural. Of course you need to learn all the Civil subjects for the test. :2cents:


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## billbillbillbill (Jan 3, 2011)

I work for a structural company and I just took and passed the PE exam Civil-Structural and I felt like the Civil morning wasn't too outrageous with a refresher of the subjects.

My plan has been to get my PE after 4 years then with 3 more years, I can take the Structural tests and become a licensed Structural Engineer in addition to PE in my state.


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## kengineer (Jan 3, 2011)

I took the Structural I (fail) and the Civil Structural (pass). My career path has taken me away from pure Structural and more into project management. I decided to change course and go for the PE instead of the SE. With that said, I found the Civil-Structural to be easier than the Structural I. I did a review course to catch up on the Civil part and passed the Civil-Structural the first time. The Civil-Structural afternoon questions aren't as in depth and are more straightforward. The old Structural I had 20-percent bridge problems which is what always sunk me. Even if you are a great at structures, but you don't do bridges, you were at an immediate 20-percent disadvantage. Not sure how the new format uses bridge problems.

I agree with the other posts though, if all you are going to do is Structural Engineering, you should probably stick with the Structural Exams or research your state's requirements. A lot of states are moving to SE designations instead of PE. If you just need to get the PE, take the Civil-Structural.


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## MA_PE (Jan 3, 2011)

billbillbillbill said:


> I work for a structural company and I just took and passed the PE exam Civil-Structural and I felt like the Civil morning wasn't too outrageous with a refresher of the subjects.
> My plan has been to get my PE after 4 years then with 3 more years, I can take the Structural tests and become a licensed Structural Engineer in addition to PE in my state.


you don't say what state you're in, but if it's CA, I believe that your plan is the only way to get registered there. They don't recognize the Str1 test for anything.


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## DJsigma (Jan 3, 2011)

Thanks for the input fellas. I guess I should have mentioned that I am in Texas, where a PE is a PE irregardless of the discipline.


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## IL-SE (Jan 4, 2011)

DJsigma said:


> Thanks for the input fellas. I guess I should have mentioned that I am in Texas, where a PE is a PE irregardless of the discipline.


If your state only requires a PE and you don't plan on doing any work in states that require SEs, then the PE civil-strucutral is a MUCH easier exam.

The requirements to practice structural engineering vary widely by state.


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## redsouther (Jan 5, 2011)

Not sure how it works in other states, but our state board (GA) would not allow me or any of my colleagues to take the civil/structural exam instead of the SE1. I was told that since I practice structural, I had to take the SE exam.

Also, you may want to look into whether your state is in the process of transfering to a separate SE licensure. I know that GA, FL and several others are currently in the process of doing that.


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## redsouther (Jan 5, 2011)

for the record, there are 5 people in my office (including me) who have taken the SE1. Two of us passed the 2nd time, and one just passed on his 5th attempt this past October. One other failed at the 5th attempt, and the other has failed 4 times. It's a tough test, but it is passable. If I were you, I'd hang in there and try to pass it in April.


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## VAPSU (Jan 5, 2011)

I'm wondering this as well. I can't seem to pass the structural (although I do keep getting 69's so I'm sooooo damn close!), and I really don't want to take the 16 hour test in April.

The problem I have is I didn't graduate from a civil program, so the only background I have is in building design, so I'm afraid the civil will have too many new subjects to try to learn.

Any advice on which one I should take???


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## kengineer (Jan 6, 2011)

VAPSU said:


> I'm wondering this as well. I can't seem to pass the structural (although I do keep getting 69's so I'm sooooo damn close!), and I really don't want to take the 16 hour test in April.
> The problem I have is I didn't graduate from a civil program, so the only background I have is in building design, so I'm afraid the civil will have too many new subjects to try to learn.
> 
> Any advice on which one I should take???


I took my last Civil class 10 years ago, which really so long ago it doesn’t count. I didn’t remember any of it. I was worried and stubborn about switching from pure structural to a Civil-Structural exam. Learning the Civil stuff isn’t all that bad, but for me a refresher course helped a lot. The concepts you have to learn for the morning aren’t that in depth I think anyone with an engineering background could probably learn them.

A lot of it is just matching the right formula to the situation and understanding a few basic differences for each case. Just make a lot of notes around each formula and it becomes manageable.

The Civil-Structural is much easier and the afternoon structural part is not nearly as difficult. On the Structural I in the past, the problems were so obscure that you really had to be a near expert in each subset of structures, ie: steel, concrete, masonry, bridges, timber, etc.

I will sum it up like this. I took the Structural I and failed, took the Civil-Structural and passed.


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## VAPSU (Jan 8, 2011)

kengineer said:


> VAPSU said:
> 
> 
> > I'm wondering this as well. I can't seem to pass the structural (although I do keep getting 69's so I'm sooooo damn close!), and I really don't want to take the 16 hour test in April.
> ...



That's good to know, thanks! I think I will try out the civil-structural this April. Thanks for the advice!


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