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First time poster; thought I’d provide input on my PE prep.

Background is that I took the Oct, 2015 PE for Civil, WR/Env and passed on my first attempt.

Books that I picked up for practice problems:

To begin with, I picked up a bunch of second hand Lindeburg PE Prep books.  I just wanted to get my hands on as much material as I could.  I didn’t use most these books, as I later found them to be outdated (4th and 5th editions) in terms of problem-style as I got into it.  The main book I used was Lindeburg’s Practice Problems for the Civil Engineering PE Exam (9th Ed, 2003.)  It’s an enormous book and has tons of problems and I snagged it for $9.98. Yeah, it’s old, but it has good problems in it. 

I borrowed SMS for Construction and WR and didn’t touch them.  I borrowed the NCEES practice PE Exam for WR/Env (2011) and it found it to be invaluable.  I ordered the NCEES practice PE Exam WE/Env (2014), which was fantastic.  I picked up the NCEES practice PE Exam for Env (2011) only and found it to be too in-depth and esoteric for the Env problems I thought were likely on the test and I didn’t use it. 

 

Practice regime was as follows:

I started studying in April.  I knew it was early to begin, but I wanted to enjoy the process and not feel pressed for time if anything came up (some family stuff did come up, so I’m glad I did start early).  I spend a couple hours a few nights a week studying to begin with and ramped it up at the end.  I would re-work problems that I got wrong, so I could spend a study day (i.e. a couple hours) on a problem.  If I was totally lost, then I would look at the solution.

I ended up working through:

  • 154 problems from the Lindeburg Practice Problems, 9th Edition. 


  • 80 problems from the NCEES Sample WR/Env (2011)—worked through this twice—once in June so I could get an idea of the real gist of the problems and once again in Sept (was like I hadn’t taken it before as I forgot the problems).

  • 80 problems from the NCEES Sample WR/Env (2014)—worked through this once in early Oct; set aside a Saturday and worked it straight through with four hours for each section (AM & PM) and with a one hour break in between sections—tried to make it “real”

Total unique problems worked:  314 (Practice problems + practice exams)

I focused my studying based on the proportion of and types of questions provided on the NCEES website. 

I took a classroom review course at my old grad school that my job paid for and I found it to be fairly useless to me, as I had already reviewed the concepts by then.  It would have been a good review if I hadn’t been studying for a few months prior. 

 

The key for me:

I found the key to studying was that I would correct my mistakes in red pen and circle or write down key equations or concepts in red.  Even for problems that I did correctly, I marked up the correct, key equations in red.  At the end of Sept I went back over all of the problems I had worked and copied down the key (red pen) equations onto equation sheets.  As I kept studying and using this equation sheet as my go-to and distanced myself from the CERM; I took the last practice NCEES exam and relied on this sheet almost exclusively.  Along the way I would add to the equation sheet and tweak it if I found an error, or if something could be added/changed to better it—i.e. I took it for a “test drive”.

When all was said and done, I ended up with 36 pages of equation sheets.  The sheets themselves weren’t just equations, they had diagrams showing each variable on the diagrams, etc.  I didn’t want to get stuck with an equation with a bunch of variables that I couldn’t remember what they stood for when under pressure.  I found it to be very helpful.  All in all, there weren’t a ton of equations on the sheets.  Some sheets had eight equations on them, others had only two; the majority of the sheets were taken up by diagrams and variable designations.  All the equations were boiled down to their simplest form that I thought would be useful on the test (e.g. parallel pipe networks in terms of Q1 and Qtot since I came across that a lot in prepping). 

The main reason that I made myself an equations sheet was that I didn’t want to be flipping through the CERM during the exam.  Note that I found the CERM to be very helpful in developing my equation sheet, and I couldn't have done it without it.  I just didn't want to rely on a huge reference book during the exam (I had so many flags that I couldn't find anything anymore because flags were on top of flags...).  The fringe benefit of the equation sheet, aside from boiling everything down, was that I knew where 150+ equations were and could get to them within 10 seconds because I authored it.

When I took the exam, I used my equation sheet almost exclusively.  I brought 8 books with me and only used the following a few number of times:

  • Steel Manual (ancient edition):


  • Introduction to Environmental Engineering (Davis & Cornwell):

  • CERM:

  • University-supplied prep binder:

The rest of the time (90% of it) I used my own equation sheet or did it from memory.  This was quite a relief and immensely helpful.    

 

 In Summary, my advice is:

  1.  Start studying early, as: you’ll never know what will come up; so that you can enjoy the process; and so you’re not cramming;


  2. Download the NCEES breadth and depth specifications for the test so you know what to study for;

  3. Use the CERM, but write  your own equation sheet based on key equations and concepts learned over your time spent working problems; do it so you know where everything is and how to use it.

 

Hope it helps and good luck. 

 

 
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Hey I took School of PE on transportation, the PM I did 27/40. the AM portion killed me.I only got 19 out of 40. I am still deciding about taking the EET-California online ( I live in  FL).

Would you recommend me EET- California for the morning portion? Also do you remember any questions I can re-study again please.

Site development, materials and especially Hydraulics..I did very poorly

 
Any advice from repeat test takers?
I took the Electrical - Power exam twice. Failed in April with a 58%. I walked out of the exam room back then thinking that was the worst test I'd ever taken in my life. Don't let one bad test day get you down.

I found out I passed the second time around last night. I spent from Labor Day to exam day this time studying 2-4 hours a night, and did practice problems almost every weekend. I definitely brought more books than I needed, but the first time around I found myself needing books I hadn't brought (NESC Handbook for one).  I also took the School of PE review course and brought all of the notes they provided, after spending countless hours familiarizing myself with these notebooks, and working the practice problems to recognize the most useful formulas and concepts. I had another notebook of my important notes pulled out of other textbooks and notes for quick reference on exam day.

Another very important thing is to familiarize yourself with your calculator. You definitely don't want to waste time on exam day translating polar values to rectangular. 

 
I started studying near the beginning of August for the Mechanical Thermal / Fluids exam. I graduated in '02 and got a masters in '04. I passed the FE in '08 with an '81' ... whatever that means.

I bought the MERM and reviewed it for a week or two before buying the 'Practice Problems' book. I struggled through those problems, doing about a chapter a day. I didn't finish the book but started just scanning the problems toward then end because they were overly difficult and time consuming. I'm glad I did the problems specific to my discipline in that book though.

I then worked 4 different practice exams with the last one being a 'mock' exam for me on the Wednesday before the real exam. I set a 4 hour timer for each session and used the most recent practice exam that I bought from NCEES. With the first 3 exams, I just worked the problems, I just worked the problems during my regular study sessions and loosely kept track of how long it was taking me to solve them. If I got to where I was spending large amounts of time or couldn't seem to solve a problem, I tried not to waste too much time and looked at the solution method.

During the test, I used the MERM almost exclusively. I think I used one of my thermo books on one or two problems to find some properties that were out of the range on the MERM table. During my studying I labeled tabs in the MERM to assist me in finding equations and in being familiar with the book. The rest of my books and the cardboard tote I brought them in were used for an easel for my MERM book during the exam since they wouldn't let me use the easels I brought with me.

The first 3 out of 4 problems on the test were ones I didn't know right away so I had to regain my composure and thankfully was able to rattle off 25 in a row or so. If I didn't know a problem, I wrote down what my best guess was (or my two best guesses) at that moment because I knew when I came back to it, I may not have time to get a better answer. That turned out to be right.

In the end, I guessed on 5 or 6 problems in each session, with a few of those being better than 1 out of 4 probability ('educated guesses). I'm attaching a file with a calculation showing how I guessed how well I did after the exam. You should be able to use it by plugging in your own guesses.

I normally don't post but I couldn't find a lot of people on here that were mechanical and especially not thermal and fluid specific so I thought would.

I was helped by the fact that I have done fluid flow and heat transfer problems at work quite a bit during my career but hurt by the fact that I've been out of school and test taking practice for a while. I definitely benefited by the review and most likely would not have passed without all the studying.

Do as many 'test like' practice problems as you can get your hands on.

All this said, I think sometimes undue emphasis is put on the PE. I have worked with plenty of engineers who have never taken it or even who have failed it that are very competent and even exceptional in some cases. I've worked with a few PE's who I thought were pretty incompetent. If you pass, don't get a big head. If you fail, don't get so down in the dumps. Try to stay even keel either way.

Thankfully, Kentucky was one of the first two states to release the results and I passed. In my case, I decent after I left the exam room thinking I'd done basically all that I could've done and that if I had to take it a second time, I'm not sure my odds would've increased.

View attachment PE test results guess.pdf

 
I also passed the Civil WRE exam on the first attempt. My studying included solving as many exam-type practice problems as I could get my hands on. I bought all three editions of Goswami's practices exams. The first edition has two AM exams and one PM exam for every discipline. I found these exams to be a little more challenging then the actual test, but the questions were still invaluable when preparing. They were definitely more exam-like than the Lindeburg practice problems book, which was ridiculously challenging (I ended up not using this book in my study efforts). Goswami's exams didn't have many theory/look-up questions but provided an array of quantitative questions that required you to actually understand how to approach the problems. All exams can easily be taken in the 4-hr time window. The second edition  included just two AM exams, again these were invaluable practice and really allowed you to understand how to approach different types of questions. The first two editions are geared for the previous NCEES exam syllabus. The third edition, developed for the new syllabus, included one AM exam and a discipline specific exam. These questions were also very great practice!  

My main go to reference in the exam was the newest edition of the All-In-One by Dr. Goswami. In my opinion this text is a tremendous reference for not only the AM, but the PM (WRE) portion as well. I found the CERM to be overwhelming and difficult to use. I did have a CERM with me in the exam, and used it for one or two questions that were look up/definitions type problems. 

Along with the aforementioned practice exams, I also had the newest and previous version of the NCEES exams. These exams were great practice and really gives you a feel for what to expect on test day. However, do not assume that the actual exam will have any question like or similar to these practice exams.

In summary, I would recommended getting your hands on as many practice exams that you can. Determine what topics you are weak in and really try to understand how to approach a question in that topic. Know your go-to reference and what types of problems that the reference can help you with. Also, I had several different text books from all the different disciplines that I would tested on. I didn't necessarily study from these, I just took some time to understand what the text could provide should I encounter a question that either I didn't know how to do or that my go-to reference didn't cover very well. 

 
Any advice on how to get earlier editions of NCEES (Civil/Structural) practice problems? I have the latest few editions that were available going back a year - but nothing earlier as mentioned on EB sometimes

 
I posted in the other thread, but I'm not going to be productive today. 

I took the School of PE course. The 6 weeks leading up to it I studied and did practice problems from PPI then I took the NCEES practice test right before school of PE courses started. After the course I did the PPI practice test. I did pretty bad on all of them. I spent the final two weeks reviewing 6 minute solutions, NCEES practice test, and the PPI practice test. I think total time was the ~70ish hours in school of PE plus probably another 100 hours. 

I took fluids, I brought the MERM, Merm QR, FE Book, and Cameron hydraulic data (a MUST for fluids people, absolutely use this book and be familiar with it). I felt good about the test after but I was pretty nervous waiting for results. 

I'm 10 years out of school, 3.0 student, and think of myself as a decent/good standardized test taker, but have bombed some tests in my life.

 
I took the EE - Power course in KY this year (flew from Colorado because it would have taken until fall to sit for CO and I have a KY EIT).  I went home to KY and sat in my dads basement from Sunday night to Thursday night of that week doing work. I also had some work for my office I had to do so I would say I studied a total of 24 hours, maybe 30 with the prep I did to help me study before I went home.  I passed because: 1) A lot of the stuff that was on the test I took in elective classes in college. Per Unit, 3 phase power, load flows, energy conservation type problems, all of that I had in the last two years of EE school because I knew I would be a power EE when I graduated. 2) I had a lot of the rest of what was on the test in practice in real life. Especially the NEC problems.  3) I seem to do well with figuring out stuff on open book tests. It was the same with the FE there wasn't a lot in the morning that I knew a lot about.  

In school i was a 2.5ish -3ish GPA with crap attendance but I did do well in most EE classes. My advice to EEs wanting to take the power exam is that if you are still in school take every single Power EE elective you can take. It will all be on the test. There was stuff from every single power elective I had including: Power Generation, Power Systems 1 and 2, Electric machines, and a motors class I took.  I would also say make sure you understand what horsepower is, how it effects the amount of power consumed, and how to take information like effency of the motor and back you way away form the HP and get close numbers for how much electric power its consuming.  

 
I failed my first civil/structural back in April and passed the October exam. For April exam I did a lot of reading and very few problems. Second time around I only did problems for six months straight. If I didn't know how to solve a certain problem, then I would brush up on theory.

Get as many practice exams as possible. I even bought practice exams for SE exam, which were helpful. Besides NCEES PE exams and SE practice exams I had practice exams by Goswami, Frolov, Schuster, Ruwan, and a few others I can't remember off the top of my head.

In my opinion Goswami's All-In-One book is better than CERM for morning portion but it does have some errors in it. In the end I worked so many problems that I did not see many surprises on the test. I think morning portion had more problems that I haven't encountered before than the afternoon structural portion.
That was my strategy exactly.  I failed the Environmental exam the first time.  The first time I focused on getting myself organized (tabbing, summary sheets, etc.) and the School of PE review course.  After failing, I only did practice problems, concentrating on areas I didn't do as well in.  If I didn't understand/struggled with the practice problem, I went back and reviewed the material.  I also took several practice exams.  Organization and then practice was key for me.  I essentially made my own reference manual with equations and appendices I used and organized it by subject matter (I barely used the EERM on the exam).  I indexed all of my practice problems and equations/topics alphabetically and had a separate index for each for fast reference during the exam.  The prep was grueling but paid off.    

 
I just passed the Civil/Structural exam. I purchased the PPI book packages for the morning and afternoon modules along with all the relevant codes and references specified by NCEES. I worked all the relevant chapters in the PPI Solved Problems book to review the general stuff and highlight the important formulas/information. Once I reviewed the "breadth" areas I worked through all the specific design books that came in the structural package from PPI, such as Steel, Concrete and Timber design. I worked all the problems while also tabbing the corresponding codes to save time during the exam. Below are a few pointers that I think will help anyone:

- Read through the chapters in the CERM and correlate the information to the "real" reference (codes, manuals, etc...)

- Make a copy of the Appendix and Index sections in the CERM and put in a separate binder.

- Tab the separate index with letters and the chapter numbers in the CERM, this will save TONS of time during the exam.

- Make notes of specific "details" for formulas and code sections, especially empirical formulas that only work in certain units.

- Start studying with plenty of time and make a schedule so you can afford to take time off along the way and it doesn't become too burdensome towards the end.

I started reviewing in January for the October exam and it took me like 4 months to go through the relevant chapters of the CERM working at my own pace without pressure, then I dedicated about a month each for Steel Design, Concrete Design, Timber Design, Masonry Design and such. The last month I did Six-Minute Solutions and worked PPI and NCEES sample exams. Doing the exams I noticed that I finished quickly and got about 75-80% of the questions right, that gave me a lot of confidence. Last couple of weeks I just relaxed and made sure everything was tabbed and organized for quick access during the test.

I felt that I was over-prepared, I finished each section in less than 3 hours and the whole thing was a breeze, I felt very confident throughout and most importantly I passed on the first try and I feel that I actually know the material instead of just learning it for the test.

Everyone learns differently, starting early lets you figure out what works best for you and gives you time to tweak and optimize your methods for the best results.

Good luck to everyone, keep at it, focus on the goal and stay disciplined. Invest the time and it will pay off!

 
Bottom line up front: start studying early, do lots of practice problems, take a day or two off from studying when you need it, and during the test skip problems that you don't immediately know how to solve.

I took the Mechanical Systems and Materials exam for the first time Oct 2015 and passed. I graduated from college in 2009 and have worked pretty much exclusively in project engineering and management since then. I basically needed a full refresher for the exam. I bought the MERM, practice problems from PPI, and the NCEES practice exam (2011 version I think) and got them in early July. I also dug up Shigley's  from school, borrowed Marks' Standard Handbook from the library, and had my company buy me a copy of Machinery's Handbook. I picked up a TI-36X Pro (and shortly before the test picked up a backup that I left in the package so I could return it when I didn't need it) because I have pretty much always used TI calculators, it is solar, I liked the ability to recall entries or answers easily from multiple calculations back, and I liked the way it displayed fractions, exponents, etc. I started studying right away, but looking back I started off too slow. My original goal was to read the entire MERM cover to cover twice and do all the problems in the practice problems book once, then go back for a second pass at the problems in my depth areas. I didn't quite make it. After getting from the front cover (which includes a lot of re-introductory math and review topics) through fluids, in mid-August I decided to skip heat transfer, thermodynamics, power cycles, and HVAC - all major sections in mechanical - so that I could get into statics, mechanics of materials, dynamics, machine design, etc. since those were my depth and I wanted to know them cold. When I finally got back to the ones I skipped, it was already October and unfortunately I had to try to get through them quickly rather than thoroughly. While I did feel reasonably comfortable with the major concepts in each of these sections and felt good about doing the problems, I definitely wanted to feel more prepared that I did. I ended up having to skim portions of these sections in the MERM and skip repetitious problems (while feeling guilty about it because my goal was to only sit for this exam once and there were plenty of times I was not sure that would be the outcome). The time I was able to spend on some of the less "major" sections like economics and plant engineering was, again unfortunately, pretty minimal. I did the NCEES practice exam the weekend before ("morning" session on Saturday, "afternoon" on Sunday) and scored compositely in the 75-80% range. After each session I reviewed the problems I missed to figure out why, and then reviewed the material I had on the applicable topics to add some level of comfort. When the week of the test came, I was still on my first time through some of the practice problems, but I was trying to at least get to several key ones in each section. At two days out I did just a little reading in the MERM (no problems) in my depth sections and other topics I had questions on, and made sure I got to bed by about 9pm. Then I did the same the night before the exam, but with even less and even lighter review.

Now, even though I didn't get all the review done that I wanted, I did still put in probably 200 hours or more and I did feel pretty confident going in on Oct 30th. After the morning session, I felt really good...although there was one problem to which I figured out the answer during lunch, and remembered the answer I had selected was wrong :oops:  Then the afternoon came and kicked my butt!! I spent too much time on several of the first afternoon problems, which hurt me later on in the 4 hours. And it wasn't until pretty late in the session (probably the final 30 minutes or so) that I started feeling reasonably decent about it. Revisiting problems really seemed to pay off as there were numerous that I was completely stumped by at first that after a revisit or two I felt like I knocked out like nothing.

My biggest piece of advice is to try hard to learn to skip problems. I had a hard time with this because I often seem to think I'm right on the cusp of the solution so I don't want to move on and lose my train of thought. But I found that it really is beneficial to move on and come back. You need to get those wins to boost your confidence and then come back to the uncertainties to try to pick them off one by one.

Also for what it's worth, I think I referred to Marks' maybe once and to my practice problems maybe 3-5 times. I used the MERM for everything else and I did not use Shigley's or Machinery's HB. Not to say you shouldn't still bring other relevant references and be familiar with and ready to use them, but just about everything I needed was in the MERM. I do wish I would have been more diligent about creating "quick reference" equation summary sheets for each section and making notes about the caveats for each equation (in my opinion, this is especially true in heat transfer), but it also wasn't totally necessary since I was comfortable and familiar with the MERM.

Like many have said, if you didn't pass, don't despair. It is not an easy test and there is no shame in not passing the first time. For now, take a break and enjoy the holidays, then afterward get back to studying and knock this thing out in April!

 
[SIZE=16pt]PE Study Hours:[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]9/3/15 - 3 hours - 3 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]9/4/15 - 6 hours - 9 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]9/5/15 - 8 hours - 17 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]9/6/15 - 4 hours - 21 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]9/7/15 - 5 hours - 26 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]9/8/15 - 2 hours - 28 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]9/9/15 - 3 hours - 31 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]9/10/15 - 2.5 hours - 33.5 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]9/11/15 - 3.5 hours - 37 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]9/12/15 - 7 hours - 44 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]9/13/15 - 4 hours - 48 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]9/14/15 - 7 hours - 55 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]9/15/15 - 3 hours - 58 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]9/16/15 - 4 hours - 62 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]9/17/15 - 3 hours - 65 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]9/20/15 - 1 hour - 66 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]9/21/15 - 1 hour - 67 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]9/22/15 - 2 hours - 69 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]9/23/15 - 2.5 hours - 71.5 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]9/25/15 - 1.5 hours- 73 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]9/26/15 - 7 hours - 80 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]9/27/15 - 5 hours - 85 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]9/28/15 - 2 hours - 87 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]9/30/15 - 1 hour - 88 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]10/1/15 - 2 hours - 90 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]10/2/15 - 2 hours - 92 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]10/3/15 - 3.5 hours - 95.5 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]10/5/15 - 1 hour - 96.5 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]10/7/15 - 2 hours - 98.5 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]10/8/15 - 2 hours - 100.5 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]10/9/15 - 1 hour - 101.5 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]10/10/15 - 1[/SIZE][SIZE=16pt] hour - 102.5 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]10/12/15 - 1[/SIZE][SIZE=16pt] hour - 103.5 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]10/19/15 - 1[/SIZE][SIZE=16pt] hour - 104.5 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]10/20/15 - 1.5[/SIZE][SIZE=16pt] hours - 106 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]10/24/15 - 2[/SIZE][SIZE=16pt] hours - 108 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]10/26/15 - 2[/SIZE][SIZE=16pt] hours - 110 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]10/27/15 - 4[/SIZE][SIZE=16pt] hours - 114 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]10/28/15 - 2[/SIZE][SIZE=16pt] hours - 116 hours[/SIZE]

[SIZE=16pt]I passed PE Civil Construction first time taking the test.  5 years out of college.  I started studying early September and logged my hours for a total of 116 hours - you can get a taste of what my September and October were like above.  I felt more than prepared by the end of it.  I bought every book NCEES recommended including the CERM.  I also printed the FE reference handbook.  I went through TestMasters for an online class.  I cannot stress how much this helped.  It gave me direction to my studying (study smart not hard).  I also bought the NCEES practice exam and borrowed a friend's older edition from 2008 (rough guess on the year).  I understand this is a lot of money to drop ~$2800.  My company picked up the tab -- after I already purchased everything (as in, I would have paid this out of my own pocket regardless if they were or were not picking up the tab).  I tabbed A LOT of my TestMasters books, some of the FE Reference and barely any of the CERM.  You should be so familiar with your references that by the time you are done tabbing you think you just wasted a lot of time - but it can ease your mind if you have a brain fart come test day.  Focus on working actual problems instead of just reading the CERM!  This is where TestMasters came in handy.  I recommend the TI-36X Pro solar calculator for the same reasons everyone else has mentioned.  It has the familiarity of the TI-89 which is what I was most familiar with in college.  I personally thought the AM was tougher than the PM.  I was kind of questioning how the PM was going to be going into the test because I saw the Construction depth pass rate has been historically lower than other disciplines.  I have since chalked up the pass rate being lower in Construction due to the type of engineer taking this depth, since typically there is lack of hardcore "engineering" per say...you just don't "engineer" a whole lot, so like anything else if you don't use it you lose it!  I personally worked for a few different General Contractors and in no way is that a blanket statement just my own opinion.[/SIZE]

 
I passed the Civil:Structural exam on the first try.

Step 0: Obtain School of PE notes from friend who took the exam in October 2014

Step 1: December 2014 - I start collecting all of the reference materials listed on the NCEES site and buy the CERM as my Christmas present to myself

Step 2: January - March: I read through all of the School of PE notes. I also buy a couple of NCEES practice exams (1 hour/night, 4 nights a week)

Step 3: April - June: I tab up the structural references and create an index of the tabs for each reference (2 housr/night, 4 nights a week)

Step 4: July - August: Start working structural depth practice problems (2 housr/night, 4 nights a week)

Step 5: September - mid October: Take School of PE class. Work example problems during the weekend and tab/index CERM (3.5 hours/night, 4 nights a week and 4 hours/day Saturday and Sunday).

Step 6: Second to last week of October: Work practice problems from breadth and depth sections. Panic buy 6-min solutions structural depth book (2 hours/night weeknights, 4 hours/day weekends)

Step 7: Last week of October: Take off work and spend 6-8 hours/day Mon-Thursday drilling practice problems and refining the indexes.

Step 8: Thursday @ 4pm: Close the books, pack the car and try to chillax for the rest of the night.

 
Passed my Civil: WRE on 2nd try. Here's what I did differently on my second try:

1. Signed up for EET-CA courses

2. Studied an avg of 2-4 hours every weeknight, and about 20 hours every weekend including class time.

3 Did the HOMEWORK! *Very important tip

4.Got NCEES practice tests

5.Followed a strict study schedule

6. Took time off from studying when I needed to. **Important tip

7. Three days before exam day, do a simulated exam for AM and PM

8. Two days before exam day, do another simulated exam for AM and PM

9. One day before exam day, organize everything you plan on bringing to the test site and have them ready to go in the car.

10. On the night before exam day, have a beer. I had myself a blondie.

11. Get a good night's rest

11. On day of exam, find your confidence and do not falter at all whenever you come across a problem that troubles you. Skip it and move on to the next problem. ***Another important tip

 
I finally passed Civil: Transportation 3rd attempt.  My biggest recommendation is to take a class.  I took testmasters on site rather than online.  With a baby at home, I knew if I took a class online, I would cheat and not pay full attention.  

Do as many problems as you can. Focus on your Depth problems and then Geotech and then Construction.  I did all of the problems in those three subjects at least twice.  

Take as much time off of work as you can to study.  I was able to justify almost 2 months for "family leave" due to my new baby at home.

Follow a strict schedule.  The first two times I took the exam, I crammed and failed.  Don't do that.  Study so much that you could teach the test.

Good luck and God Bless you.

 
I passed the Civil - Water Resources and Environmental on my 2nd try. 

Let me preface this by saying that I was a C student in college and not really good at taking tests.  I also waived the EIT exam because there was no way that I was passing the EIT being out of college for 14 years.  I was an officer in the military (Air Force Civil Engineer) for the first 8 years after graduation, and the military doesn't care if your registered or not.  Back then, I couldn't see me ever leaving the military so passing the EIT or PE was not on my radar...bad idea on my part. 

The first time around, I studied about 3 weeks total and failed.  All I studied were practice problems from the NCEES Civil sample questions book, and the Lindeberg Practice Problems book for Civil.  We had a new baby at the time and had just moved into our new house.  Hard to find the time to study.  I went hoping to pass, but all I got was a trial run.  lol.  According to my diagnostic from NCEES, I got 47/80 correct.  According to the Texas Board website, I scored a 65%.  The curve was apparently around 6 or 7 percent that time around.

The second time around, I studied for about 5 weeks.  Studied the same material as the first attempt, just spent more time doing it.  The ONLY reference material I used in the exam was the Lindeburg Civil Engineer Reference Manual for the PE Exam, thirteenth edition.  Passed with an 80%.    

 
I failed my first civil/structural back in April and passed the October exam. For April exam I did a lot of reading and very few problems. Second time around I only did problems for six months straight. If I didn't know how to solve a certain problem, then I would brush up on theory.

Get as many practice exams as possible. I even bought practice exams for SE exam, which were helpful. Besides NCEES PE exams and SE practice exams I had practice exams by Goswami, Frolov, Schuster, Ruwan, and a few others I can't remember off the top of my head.

In my opinion Goswami's All-In-One book is better than CERM for morning portion but it does have some errors in it. In the end I worked so many problems that I did not see many surprises on the test. I think morning portion had more problems that I haven't encountered before than the afternoon structural portion.
Thanks, this is what I need---what practice problems everyone is doing to study. I failed twice and did improve the second time studying School of PE notes for the AM but I think I need to do more problems to improve me PM.

Anyone who passed the Civil/Structural, if you can break down what you studied from--- that is super helpful. I signed up for EET and will probably just do tons of problems in between classes to help drive theory and concepts down. I can't tell you guys how valuable everyone's advice is. 

 

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