Best Books to Buy for Structural PM???

[DrewJ]

Hello all. Can someone advise me as to the best books to buy to prepare for the afternoon portion of the civil: structural PE exam? I am looking at the following list but I don't have the resources to buy them all:

Structural Depth Reference Manual for the Civil PE Exam (CEST2), 2nd Edition (buying this one for sure)

NCEES PE Civil: Structural Sample Questions & Solutions (NCPECS)

Six-Minute Solutions for Civil PE Exam Structural Problems (SXCST3), 3rd Edition

Bridge Design for the Civil and Structural PE Exams (CEBR2), 2nd Edition

Seismic Design of Building Structures (SEIS9), 9th Edition

Do I need to buy a separate book for seismic and bridge design? Is it worth the cost to buy those books? I have limited experience in both and since I'm taking the test in April, I'm not sure I will have time to adequately study for either. I'm hoping the Structural Reference Manual will cover Timber enough for me to get those questions.

Also, which practice set would be better to buy, the 6 minute solutions or the Structural Sample Questions and Solutions (Full practice exam, 80 questions)??

Any and all advice greatly appreciated.

-Drew

 

[blybrook PE]

Hello all. Can someone advise me as to the best books to buy to prepare for the afternoon portion of the civil: structural PE exam? I am looking at the following list but I don't have the resources to buy them all:
Structural Depth Reference Manual for the Civil PE Exam (CEST2), 2nd Edition (buying this one for sure)

NCEES PE Civil: Structural Sample Questions & Solutions (NCPECS)

Six-Minute Solutions for Civil PE Exam Structural Problems (SXCST3), 3rd Edition

Bridge Design for the Civil and Structural PE Exams (CEBR2), 2nd Edition

Seismic Design of Building Structures (SEIS9), 9th Edition

Do I need to buy a separate book for seismic and bridge design? Is it worth the cost to buy those books? I have limited experience in both and since I'm taking the test in April, I'm not sure I will have time to adequately study for either. I'm hoping the Structural Reference Manual will cover Timber enough for me to get those questions.

Also, which practice set would be better to buy, the 6 minute solutions or the Structural Sample Questions and Solutions (Full practice exam, 80 questions)??

Any and all advice greatly appreciated.

-Drew

When I took the Civil / Structural exam, I used the Civil Engineers Reference Manual (CERM), the Lindeburg practice problems, the 6 minute solutions and the NCEES practice exam as primary study tools for the areas I hadn't touched in a while. Having access to the applicable code books through my office helped immensely as well (both for studying & the exam). They are still tabbed for future reference as another co-worker becomes eligible to sit in October & it'll help him study as well.

I did not need the seismic or bridge books for the civil / structural exam (although every design I do is seismic & have yet to see a bridge design on my desk). I do know that I'll need them for the Structural Engineers (SE) exam in the future.

HTH

Bill

 

[VAPSU]

I would say bring all the code books that NCEES shows for the exam. I made the mistake of bringing the 01 NDS code one exam and was unaware that some important factors in equations had changed between that and the 05 version, it wasn't until after the exam I realized that the codes had changed. Worst was I got a 69 on that exam and I remember at least two of the questions that had factors which had changed between codes. I still can't believe how dumb I was for bringing the older code...if I had brought the one NCEES showed I probably would have passed that time around!

 

[dastuff]

Structural Depth Reference Manual for the Civil PE Exam (CEST2), 2nd Edition (buying this one for sure)Why would you get this over the CERM?

NCEES PE Civil: Structural Sample Questions & Solutions (NCPECS)

Problems are always good

Six-Minute Solutions for Civil PE Exam Structural Problems (SXCST3), 3rd Edition

I don't think this is a good book (too hard for the test)

Bridge Design for the Civil and Structural PE Exams (CEBR2), 2nd Edition

Not worth it (even if you know bridge design just bring the bridge AASHTO bridge manual)

Seismic Design of Building Structures (SEIS9), 9th Edition

Not worth it unless you are taking the CA seismic, then I recommend Hiners.. You should have your ASCE 7-05 though..

I would look into the CERM for the general equations, The accompanying CERM book of problems, the practice tests, and the codes. For Seismic, if anything, I'd use Hiner's book...

If you haven't done any bridge design it is not worth buying a book for it. There will be 1-2 problems on avg of bridge design and honestly spending time reviewing it to try to find that needle in a haystack isn't worth it in my opinion.

I think you need to look at the recommended reading list here:

http://www.ncees.org/exams/pe_exam.php

 

[DrewJ]

Thanks to all for your responses. In response to dastuff, I already have the CERM and practice problems that go with it. I am just looking to supplement for the afternoon structural portion of the test. I've heard that elsewhere about the 6 min. solutions being too difficult so I will steer away from those. And thanks for your comments on bridge and seismic. I won't both with either of those.

Thanks again all!

-Drew

Structural Depth Reference Manual for the Civil PE Exam (CEST2), 2nd Edition (buying this one for sure)Why would you get this over the CERM?

NCEES PE Civil: Structural Sample Questions & Solutions (NCPECS)

Problems are always good

Six-Minute Solutions for Civil PE Exam Structural Problems (SXCST3), 3rd Edition

I don't think this is a good book (too hard for the test)

Bridge Design for the Civil and Structural PE Exams (CEBR2), 2nd Edition

Not worth it (even if you know bridge design just bring the bridge AASHTO bridge manual)

Seismic Design of Building Structures (SEIS9), 9th Edition

Not worth it unless you are taking the CA seismic, then I recommend Hiners.. You should have your ASCE 7-05 though..

I would look into the CERM for the general equations, The accompanying CERM book of problems, the practice tests, and the codes. For Seismic, if anything, I'd use Hiner's book...

If you haven't done any bridge design it is not worth buying a book for it. There will be 1-2 problems on avg of bridge design and honestly spending time reviewing it to try to find that needle in a haystack isn't worth it in my opinion.

I think you need to look at the recommended reading list here:

http://www.ncees.org/exams/pe_exam.php

 

[Porta John]

Structural Depth Reference Manual for the Civil PE Exam (CEST2), 2nd Edition (buying this one for sure)Why would you get this over the CERM?

NCEES PE Civil: Structural Sample Questions & Solutions (NCPECS)

Problems are always good

Six-Minute Solutions for Civil PE Exam Structural Problems (SXCST3), 3rd Edition

I don't think this is a good book (too hard for the test)

Bridge Design for the Civil and Structural PE Exams (CEBR2), 2nd Edition

Not worth it (even if you know bridge design just bring the bridge AASHTO bridge manual)

Seismic Design of Building Structures (SEIS9), 9th Edition

Not worth it unless you are taking the CA seismic, then I recommend Hiners.. You should have your ASCE 7-05 though..

I would look into the CERM for the general equations, The accompanying CERM book of problems, the practice tests, and the codes. For Seismic, if anything, I'd use Hiner's book...

If you haven't done any bridge design it is not worth buying a book for it. There will be 1-2 problems on avg of bridge design and honestly spending time reviewing it to try to find that needle in a haystack isn't worth it in my opinion.

I think you need to look at the recommended reading list here:

http://www.ncees.org/exams/pe_exam.php

I took the Civil-Struc last fall and agree 100% with this post. Don't bother w/6-minute solutions unless you go through all your other material and want something else to practice with. A bridge book is not worth it.

Definately bring all the codes if you don't have them already in addition to NCEES practice problems and CERM.

 

[Andrewstructure]

I would only study the most basic of bridge design.

I wouldn't worry about anything harder than what is in the 6 min solutions books or the NCEES practice tests.

 

[kengineer]

Both the NDS and PCI codes have a lot of example problems that can be extremely helpful during the test and are the least expensive codes to acquire if you need to. The PCI even has shear wall distribution problems and some on prestressed beams. The NDS, once you take the time to understand the different volumes within the code can be really quick references in the test.

I know I used both codes for the afternoon problems and they both helped me to make quick work for a few of them. Of course, I also spent some time reading, tabbing and highlighting beforehand but it all pays off when you get a 30 second answer and you know 100-percent that it is correct.

AISC has 'Design Examples Version 13', which I believe I downloaded from a link provided when I bought the code book. The only down side is its a PDF so you have to print it out and put it in a 3 ring binder.

For Bridges, the SERM has enough for the Civil-Structural. I have the AASHTO code and it is nearly useless on the test. My testing location had those small hotel conference style tables and I didn't have room to even put the book on the table, plus I'm pretty sure it would have broke the table, but I wasn't going to stop the test and do a calc just to find out. lol

The AASHTO Bridge code is a far greater requirement on the Structural I and II test.

 

[Bolivia-PE]

Please read topic title "how i passed the pe-exam" for info on books to buy/rent for the civil/pe/structural depth