DanHalen
Well-known member
Ahhh the CERM debate. From my experience the CERM is totally worthless and a waste of money. I wasn't able to solve a single problem with it on the exam I took. My prep class notes did the majority of the heavy lifting (School of PE) and the rest was from equation sheets I made and other books I had. Several people at the office swear by the CERM and will tell you to study everything in it and read it cover to cover. If you like to waste time and bog yourself down with information you won't see on the exam then go for it. The only real benefit of having the CERM is to use it to find equations. If you have an NCEES practice exam you should notice that out of each solution there is not one single reference to the CERM. That should tell you something.
Even though I come across as critical of the CERM I'm not advising anyone to go in to the exam room without it. I took the CERM (13th Ed.) and Goswami's All-In-One. I prefer Goswami's All-In-One because it's better written, easier to follow, and the tables are easier to read (look at the Engineering Econ tables). The All-In-One practice problems book is awesome and will definitely help you prepare for the PE exam. If you have an older version of the CERM I wouldn't bother wasting my money buying a new version. 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, or whatever should be good enough. The chances of NCEES giving you a question coming straight out of the CERM or even the latest version of CERM is about like winning the lottery and getting struck by lightening at the same time. A good prep class like Testmasters or School of PE will do more good for you than anything else. In my School of PE notes they generally included all the equations, tables, charts, etc. needed to solve a problem and those did show up on the exam. Just my two cents worth.
Even though I come across as critical of the CERM I'm not advising anyone to go in to the exam room without it. I took the CERM (13th Ed.) and Goswami's All-In-One. I prefer Goswami's All-In-One because it's better written, easier to follow, and the tables are easier to read (look at the Engineering Econ tables). The All-In-One practice problems book is awesome and will definitely help you prepare for the PE exam. If you have an older version of the CERM I wouldn't bother wasting my money buying a new version. 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, or whatever should be good enough. The chances of NCEES giving you a question coming straight out of the CERM or even the latest version of CERM is about like winning the lottery and getting struck by lightening at the same time. A good prep class like Testmasters or School of PE will do more good for you than anything else. In my School of PE notes they generally included all the equations, tables, charts, etc. needed to solve a problem and those did show up on the exam. Just my two cents worth.
