Are either Tyler Hicks books worth bringing

[ttf5003]

I'm getting down to the wire and the Lindberg practice exam is showing that I am pretty weak in strucutral (which I already knew).

I saw a recomendation for Hicks Civil Engineering Handbook, about 400 pages that I think is mostly equations:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0071614699/ref=sib_dp_ptu#reader-link

Then I saw he has another book which is about 800 pages and appears to be solved example problems. The look inside on Amazon shows quite a few good structural examples solved. I'm thinking it could be a lifesaver if I can find an example if a problem is completly foreign to me.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0071472932/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

I am taking the geotech afternoon session and feel like I am set for reference material. So any thoughts? These books would be mainly for structural and transportation morning sections. I don't care about the money but I don't need a wasted reference that I'm not very familar with slowing me down either.

Thanks

 

[ptatohed]

My vote would be no. In addition to the cost, you'd be giving yourself one/two more book(s) to have to become familiar with before the exam (only two weeks a way, right?)and to fumble through during the exam. If you have the CERM (and All-In-One?), you have everything you need to do well in the AM. My advice would be to know your current sources better than to first start learning new sources. Also, I'd strongly suggest that you do not rely/hope on finding example problems that match exam questions. The much better strategy is to understand the core concepts and rely on your references only for equations, charts, etc. Good luck.

 

[ttf5003]

All good points. I actually took the NCEES 2008 exam this morning and feel much better about the morning session. I was able to use my school of PE notes to answer most of the questions. I got 19/20 with time to spare.

The afternoon geotech was a real eye opener though. I ran out of time and only answered 13/20 questions correctly. Although I did guess at the end and raised my score to 15/20. At least I know what to focus on the next two weeks!

 

[matt267 PE]

All good points. I actually took the NCEES 2008 exam this morning and feel much better about the morning session. I was able to use my school of PE notes to answer most of the questions. I got 19/20 with time to spare.

The afternoon geotech was a real eye opener though. I ran out of time and only answered 13/20 questions correctly. Although I did guess at the end and raised my score to 15/20. At least I know what to focus on the next two weeks!

Did you find SOPE helpful for the morning? How about the afternoon?

 

[ttf5003]

Yes I found the SOPE helpful. I never took a formal structural or transportation course in college so those were especially helpful. Probably the most useful thing is telling you what you need to study. And the notes are worth their weight in gold. The afternoon notes are very good as well. But they 8 hours of review for the afternoon was just that- a review. There's no way they could teach you your afternoon depth in 8 hours.