AASHTO and PCI

[Mher]

Hi All

As I mentioned in an earlier thread, I'm scheduled to take the PE Civil-Structural this coming friday. However, I have been unable to get my hands on the AASHTO. I literally couldn't find it online to purchase, and now I'm stuck in a specially difficult place because my options would be limited to 4 day shipping. Does someone have a link to purchase it that they can provide?

Alternatively, I've found a 6th edition online. Would this suffice for the test? And if so, would someone be kind enough to recommend sections that I should consider printing, or would you recommend printing the whole thing? The book is 1700 pages. 

Generally how much is the book used in the exam? I did purchase the School of PE and having finished breadth, I'm going through its depth lectures now. And will have all of its notes printed and studied on the day of the exam. Would printing the sections mentioned in the School of PE be sufficient? 

Also, I still have not purchased PCI 7th Edition, prestressed concrete.  However, I've found a 6th edition pdf online. The general consensus seems to be that it's not really put in use during the exam, and if it is, for one problem. Given that it's over 700 pages, would anyone be kind enough to let me know what sections would be worth printing, or should I just print the whole thing. I'm very unfamiliar with the textbook. 

p.s if anyone wants links to the code manuals PDFs mentioned above, please message me and I will gladly send them to you. I'd also managed to find older versions of the other code manuals, before ordering the updated versions. Would be glad to share those as well. 

(sorry if this is against forums rules. Please let me know, and I'll delete this part. Just trying to return the favor.)

 

[tj_PE]

Check if pci is even mentioned in the references list - I feel like I remember it went away but that may be for se not PE to exam (on phone in transit so I can't find where right now). I don't remember using pci but that doesn't mean you definitely wouldn't use it if you had it. One thing my coworker did when printing aashto was print 4 pages per sheet and double sided. This made it about a 1.5 inch coiled book. For the handful of times you may need to reference it, it might be worth just straining your eyes for them. 

Good luck this week! Make sure you give yourself a break before the big day. 

 

[leggo PE]

I did not bring AASHTO or the PCI with me any of the times I took the PE structural exam. Granted, it took me three tries to pass, but I don't think not having those codes was the deciding factor for my first two failing scores.

That aside, I did have the CERM and, the third time, my EET class notes, to cover certain parts of AASHTO and PCI sections that were likely to be where questions would come from. These definitely didn't cover most of either the AASHTO or the PCI codes, but did cover parts of them generally. I felt comfortable enough with these resources.

My general feeling for AASHTO is it is definitely required for the SE exam, but you don't necessarily need it for the PE exam as you're not likely to see that many questions from it.

Those are just my $0.02!

 

[DoctorWho-PE]

I had AASHTO and PCI both times, and both old versions.  There was a PCI question on at least the first attempt, and not knowing the code made it almost impossible to figure out day of anyway.  The second time around there was at least 1 AASHTO code question, and if you had the code there, it was a gimmee question. (granted, I had an older version, so who know if I actually got it right, but the answer made sense.)  

In short, it is hard to pinpoint specific sections to print, or tell you definitively if it is something you should skip or print.

 

[Mher]

lmaoo brilliant tip as far as 4 pages per page. Just tried on my 2012 home printer equipped with knockoff amazon ink, and it's actually legible  just gotta label chapters and sections, and I should be good for both books. Thanks a lot for the help guys. 

 

[bsimms89]

I had 1 AASHTO question and 1 PCI question, neither were from parts that I had learned in EET or had expected to have a question on, they were just lookup questions, if you were somewhat familiar with the codes and indexes you had a shot at finding them ( I managed to). So I don't think you can just print 1 or a couple sections and be confident the answer to the question would be there.