PM Strategy

Well I registered for the April SE Exam (Passed vertical on first time, this will be the second time for lateral). One thing that kind of smacked me in the face last time was that I didn't really go in with a strategy for the PM portion. For the AM portion I went by topic. For the PM portion I went in order and as fast as I could. But I ended up not finishing the 4th problem. Is there a better way to approach the PM?

I should mention that I actually did decent on the Lateral PM last time (IR/A/A/A). But I can't help but feel that there has to be a better way to approach it. Maybe quickly skim questions for first 15 minutes and then go easiest to hardest? Let me know your thoughts.

E720 said:

Well I registered for the April SE Exam (Passed vertical on first time, this will be the second time for lateral). One thing that kind of smacked me in the face last time was that I didn't really go in with a strategy for the PM portion. For the AM portion I went by topic. For the PM portion I went in order and as fast as I could. But I ended up not finishing the 4th problem. Is there a better way to approach the PM?

I should mention that I actually did decent on the Lateral PM last time (IR/A/A/A). But I can't help but feel that there has to be a better way to approach it. Maybe quickly skim questions for first 15 minutes and then go easiest to hardest? Let me know your thoughts.

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I think most people will tell you that time is definitely a factor for the PM portion of the exam. With that in mind, it's up to you whether sacrificing five minutes of your time to skim all the problems (and if you have anxiety like me, freak yourself out) before deciding which one to work first.

The rumor is that even one "Unacceptable" problem in the afternoon is sufficient to torpedo your exam result. Thus, it pays to be horribly thorough on all problems. I made sure to periodically look at my watch to make sure I was on pace to finish one problem each hour. This came in handy when I got stuck on the first PM problem, and ended up staring at it for 15 minutes to ascertain the question, what kind of response the exam was expecting, and formulate my strategy for working through the problem. After that first one, I knew I had some ground to make up time-wise, so I just reminded myself to keep breathing, and to maintain a methodical problem-solving approach.

It sounds like you did sufficiently well on the PM portion of the Lateral exam last time, so you may not need to change much in your approach. Best of success!

With a,a,a,ir.... I think the advice is if it’s not broke.... sounds like you’d wanna focus on the am a bit more.

Unlike the AM, it is hard to figure which questions are easy in the PM. Spending 15 minutes on deciding the order is going to put pressure towards the end when fatigue can set in especially if one is going to do both days.

Like everybody is saying, if it ain't broke....

I got the same score as you on the PM, A/A/IR/A...I put my pencil down with about 30 seconds to spare.

Personally, I skimmed each problem first to try to get a brief understanding of what they're asking (for about 5 minutes total) and then did them in order 1-4.

Timewise, the AEI guys tell us to aim to actually work on each problem for no more than 45 minutes, and spend the remaining 15 minutes of each hour writing the equations and approaches you'd use to finish. They say that writing 'out of time' is a big no-no.

So I started each problem with the full intent of finishing it in 45 minutes instead of an hour, and practiced working at that pace with problems in the weeks leading up...I didn't actually finish any of the problems 15 minutes ahead of time, but putting that extra time pressure on myself helped me keep a good enough pace.

thedaywa1ker said:

Like everybody is saying, if it ain't broke....

I got the same score as you on the PM, A/A/IR/A...I put my pencil down with about 30 seconds to spare.

Personally, I skimmed each problem first to try to get a brief understanding of what they're asking (for about 5 minutes total) and then did them in order 1-4.

Timewise, the AEI guys tell us to aim to actually work on each problem for no more than 45 minutes, and spend the remaining 15 minutes of each hour writing the equations and approaches you'd use to finish. They say that writing 'out of time' is a big no-no.

So I started each problem with the full intent of finishing it in 45 minutes instead of an hour, and practiced working at that pace with problems in the weeks leading up...I didn't actually finish any of the problems 15 minutes ahead of time, but putting that extra time pressure on myself helped me keep a good enough pace.

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I used the same approach and really think it's the best way to tackle the afternoon. There's going to be (at least) one problem that could be an absolute time sink, so setting those limits for yourself is a must.

Well, I got A, A, U, IR... so I should be the one asking for the advice, haha.

With that said, I'm just going to study harder. My plan is to read more long form problems and also work out MC questions fully to simply practice the act of working out full solutions.

My AM strategy was to read and answer what I knew... then do another pass to get the ones I didn't know... and one more pass if necessary. In a way, that was rating my problems from a difficulty of 1-3 and solving accordingly. I will continue that strategy as I finished both days early with this method.

But the PM, I did not take that approach. I just solved them in order. I had a clock on my desk and watched for the 50 minute mark as a warning to start to wrap it up no matter where I was. Maybe I should have read them first. My fear would be overwhelming myself and losing focus on the problem I do choose to tackle. But, I remember Dr. I at AEI mentioned that reading a problem, your brain will kind of be turning the gears even somewhat subconsciously while you work on other parts. So, in that way, you might be more ready when you come back to those harder ones.

Anyway, whatever you did worked. The three A's and an IR is all you'll need to pass.

I believe different people process things differently. Compartmentally working one problem at a time vs rating levels of difficulty and going in that sequence. There is no shallow end to deep end in this pool. It is the Pacific Ocean, has hills and valleys. Taking the plunge into it thinking it is the shallow end may lead to a trench hopefully not as deep as the Marianna.

I wish I had a clock on my desk. That testing site was generous. Clocks are meant to be placed on the floor. Placed flat so one can crane the neck and see?

Thanks everybody for the pro tips. I have previously mentioned that I ran out of time on the last problem and wrote "Ran out of time" on 2 of the parts and still got an "A" on that problem, and that is mainly why I am asking this question. It seems like I had used an average of about 1 hour 10 minutes on the first 3 problems and only had like 30 minutes left on the fourth problem. I think I just have to work slightly faster and/or force myself to move on from a problem after an hour. Maybe after 50 minutes on a problem I just outline the steps on the rest of the problem.

Can anyone suggest some SE depth problems to add to my studies? I have the NCEES, AEI, and some PPI ones

vhab49_PE said:

Can anyone suggest some SE depth problems to add to my studies? I have the NCEES, AEI, and some PPI ones

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Structural Engineering PE License Review Problems & Solutions by Alan Williams. I don’t know if they published a newer edition than the 8th in 2009 but that book helped me tremendously both for the vertical and lateral exams. One of the lateral steel problems in the book ended up being a ~90% match for the steel problem on my exam.

Thanks. Just ordered one, and then looked at my cart and apparently I ordered it last week as well. CANCEL!

It looks like that book might not be published anymore. I'm assuming that 2009 8th edition is based on ASCE 7-05?

organix said:

It looks like that book might not be published anymore. I'm assuming that 2009 8th edition is based on ASCE 7-05?

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Yep.