Best Civil PE + Structural Depth Review Materials

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Spencer The G

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Hi All,

I'm not a huge fan of taking classes to study for things, especially standardized exams. I feel like the most effective solution is to do as many sample problems as possible that are as similar to the exam as possible, that cover all subject areas. Some questions:

1.) Does anyone know of any good resources for sample exam problems?

2.) NCEES appears to have a single sample exam for the civil breadth + structural depth, do you know where we can find more? Are there different versions?

https://account.ncees.org/exam-prep/315

3.) My boss has a sample exam from NCEES, copyrighted in 2014 (I think this is the same as the current sample exam), does anyone have any older/alternate NCEES practice exams?

4.) Does anyone know of any good study resources in addition to sample exams?

Thanks!

Regards,
Spencer

 
The sample exams I took came from 1) the NCEES official one, 2) the PPI breadth practice exam (BPXCPDF) $65, 3)PPI: Structural Depth Practice Exams for the Civil PE Exam, and 4) PPI: Six-Minute Solutions for Civil PE Exam Structural.     Do NOT buy 1) the PI: Structural Depth Reference Manual for the Civil PE Exam or 2) PPI: Structural Engineering Solved Problems**. They were not useful at all for the structural PE. They're more SE oriented.

As far as additional resources, I really want to share my resources with as many people as possible. I went kind of crazy putting together study materials for the structural depth.

I've given them to a few people, but not enough  People seem to like them.  Here's a sorta humorous/cool thing that happened:

Good Guy 1 says to me....

I'm a structural engineer of Seoul in South Korea. Recently, PE license is needed for some overseas projects. But, unfortunately I could have around 3 weeks for preperation of exam.
So, I decided to find some good material which was made by previous test takers.Then, I finaly found your post and download attached index which is incredibly well-organized.
I'll prepare my first exam with your special index and those structual compliations from tommorrow.And, I'll take the exam on 29 Oct.
If I pass the exam using your study materials within 3 weeks, I'll let you know through an email.
A few months later....

Thank you for sharing me the Civil Structural Compilations.Finally, I passed the PE exam Oct. 2017.

0


I think I couldn’t do this job without your help. I will never forget your kindness. 

Marry Christmas!

I thought this was pretty cool.  

This is not spam. I'm trying to help the community in general and anyone that wants them can pm me their preferred email address.

 
This is not spam. I'm trying to help the community in general and anyone that wants them can pm me their preferred email address.
@DrZoidberWoop, you're a rockstar and good samaritan, thanks for all the help! :) I messaged you. 

Thanks for the tip about the Structural Engineering Solved Problems for the SE Exam, and the Structural Depth Reference Manual. I could guess that the Solved Problems one would be more SE geared based on the name, but it is a shame that the reference manual is also more SE geared.

I'm sure it depends on your level of background, but do you think you can self-study for the breadth and depth? I only have 4-months of on the job structural experience, but a BS and MS from UC Berkeley with a strong focus in structures. 

Thanks again!

 
Yes. You can self study and pass. Your background is very similar to mine, just the west coast version. The CERM is going to be your best friend for the breadth section. Use the CERM and CERM companion problems to study the sections referenced in the file I attached. Don't waste time on sections that aren't specifically called out in the exam specs.

View attachment 3-28-17 PE Special Index (4) (1).xlsx

 
The sample exams I took came from 1) the NCEES official one, 2) the PPI breadth practice exam (BPXCPDF) $65, 3)[COLOR= rgb(53, 60, 65)]PPI: Structural Depth Practice Exams for the Civil PE Exam, and 4) PPI: Six-Minute Solutions for Civil PE Exam Structural.     Do NOT buy 1) the PI: Structural Depth Reference Manual for the Civil PE Exam or 2) PPI: Structural Engineering Solved Problems**. They were not useful at all for the structural PE. They're more SE oriented.[/COLOR]

[SIZE= 14px]As far as additional resources, I really want to share my resources with as many people as possible. I went kind of crazy putting together study materials for the structural depth.[/SIZE]

[SIZE= 14px]I've given them to a few people, but not enough  People seem to like them.  Here's a sorta humorous/cool thing that happened:[/SIZE]

Good Guy 1 says to me....

[SIZE= 11px]I'm a structural engineer of Seoul in South Korea. [/SIZE][SIZE= 11px]Recently, PE license is needed for some overseas projects. But, unfortunately I could have around 3 weeks for preperation of exam.[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 11px]So, I decided to find some good material which was made by previous test takers.[/SIZE][SIZE= 11px]Then, I finaly found your post and download attached index which is incredibly well-organized.[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 11px]I'll prepare my first exam with your special index and those structual compliations from tommorrow.[/SIZE][SIZE= 11px]And, I'll take the exam on 29 Oct.[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 11px]If I pass the exam using your study materials within 3 weeks, I'll let you know through an email.[/SIZE]
A few months later....

[SIZE= 11px]Thank you for sharing me the Civil Structural Compilations.[/SIZE][SIZE= 11px]Finally, I passed the PE exam Oct. 2017.[/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]
0
[/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]I think I couldn’t do this job without your help. [/SIZE][SIZE= 11px]I will never forget your kindness.[/SIZE][SIZE= 11px] [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]Marry Christmas![/SIZE]

[SIZE= 14px]I thought this was pretty cool.  [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 14px]This is not spam. I'm trying to help the community in general and anyone that wants them can pm me their preferred email address.[/SIZE]
I found your documents useful in studying, I didn't use them much during the exam, but it may have been more that at that point I knew where to look for things.  Must have worked - passed!  :)   I did do a prep course this time for the AM, since I had zero classes in civil outside of geotech and structural, and I don't use it in my day to day.  I also helped that my husband is a civil guy also, and I utilized a lot of his old textbooks this time around.  I used an older 6-min solutions, and I think the most helpful was that even if I knew how to solve it, I still had to look things up to verify changes in codes between versions.

 
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