Balancing Goswami's All-In-One & CERM

[K19]

Hopefully the topic title is somewhat indicative of my question/dilemma... I've begun a program of study for the October exam (Env/WR PM) with these two primary references, and from what little I've already covered it appears that:

(a) Goswami's All-in-One, while being more approachable and less daunting, may be too light in it's coverage of the syllabus material.

(B) Lindeburg's CERM, while being far more comprehensive and the test prep standard, is often (to borrow from a review I read on Amazon) "like trying to drink water from a fire hose." This is particularly the case with respect to material outside one's areas of practice/knowledge. The material is by and large organized/presented in such a way that there's no way to tell (beyond consulting the NCEES syllabus) whether a particular topic/item is fundamental or esoteric.

It's a frustrating "goldilocks"-type dilemma, whereby one reference is to much, the other to little. Furthermore, neither are particularly well-aligned to the exam syllabus - I've already spent a fair amount of pre-study time pruning the chapters of each that won't apply come exam day.

In researching here on the EB forums and elsewhere, I gathered that a reasonable approach would be to using the All-In-One as the primary base for my review, consulting the CERM as needed for additional depth. Several hours in and I'm feeling less than confident that this is the way to go, hence this slightly long-winded post!

Does anyone have any experience in reckoning with these two texts that they could share? Any guidance or advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

Kevin

 

[ptatohed]

K, I too used both references. I went down the NCEES syllabus and for each syllabus topic, I reviewed the topic discussion in both the CERM and AI1. I found this to be very helpful (reading the same topic twice from two authors). What I found useful is, for any given topic, I'd put the page number in book one where the topic can also be found in book two. In the CERM I'd put the AI1 page covering that topic and vice versa. Also, if I felt that one book had an advantage over the other in any given category, I indicated that with a little note. I took transpo depth so I needed additional standards and codes (AASHTO, MUTCD, etc.) but you should be fine with only the CERM and AI1 for water resources. I think once you get deep into studying and you start solving problems, you'll learn the books inside and out and you'll know exactly where to go to solve the problem. Jump in my friend! Good luck.

 

[Jayman_PE]

K,

To reiterate ptato, I too used both references. What I found was Goswami's was most useful for the Transpo AM portion (I took Construction PM, so not sure how much it would help on the Transpo PM exam). However, CERM should be your main go-to reference. I saw many examinee's bring the CERM as their only reference. I don't know what their depth was but I suspect Water Resources. A WR depth sat across the row from me for the exam last month and he brought about 3 or 4 references, vs. me brining 2 full tubs of books! lol.

Bottom line - I used All-in-One as a supplement to the CERM.

 

[ptatohed]

I'll second what J10 said. I treated the CERM as my main reference and the AI1 as a supplement.

 

[terzaghi83]

I used the CERM only, but just stuck to studying the topics on the NCEES outline.

 

[K19]

Hi guys, that a million - all very sage advice! Going forward I think I'll continue to use both texts (will probably shift the CERM as my primary reference) and try to keep the material I study in line with the NCEES syllabus to the best extent possible.

 

[bennyG19]

I took the test in April. I feel like I passed but really don't know yet...

I did most of my studying with the All in One but tabbed everything in both books. During the exam I actually used the CERM more than Goswami. I printed the CERM index and had it in a separate binder that I kept to my right with my books to the left on the table. There were quite a few where I looked up something in the index and found an answer easily when at first I didn't have a clue! There are some things that the Goswami book does a better job of explaining than the CERM, and others that Goswami gives a brief overview and the CERM is needed to actually solve problems. I think I used these two books for 38/40 of the morning questions.

 

[wow]

For last October's exam, I bought Goswami's book.. never got the CERM. Seemed like I used Goswami's book most of the time. I'm sure there were a couple of questions I could have more likely answered correctly with the CERM as well but feel I managed well enough with just Goswami's book. I feel that the simplicity and better organization of his book compared to CERM was an overall net plus.

BTW, I took Civil/Structural and passed.

 

[jharris]

Both books have their advantages and disadvantages, but you'll have to study using both to determine what they are. Some things are quicker to find in Goswami's book and summarized better, others are better explained by the CERM. During the exam, both books led me to a lot of correct answers. But, I had also developed a style utilizing both books and was very familiar with both of their layouts.

Their strengths and weaknesses will be based largely on the style of problem solving you develop with your references. You might like Goswami's summarized explanations on certain topics better, or the CERM's wealth of info, etc. Can't hurt using both.