CERM

[DVINNY]

I took the CE WR exam.

I took several books in with me, but it seems as if I used my 10th edition for more than 90% of the exam. Did anyone else feel this way? or was I using it as a crutch too much?

I figure if that book really covered 90% of the test, then that thing is really worth it's weight in gold. Even if the company that prints it is too cheap to generate an up to date forum. LOL.

 

[Road Guy]

I used it a lot for the AM session, but not much in the afternoon (i took transportation) I used the Highway Capacity Manual and AASHTO Green Book and a Surveying Book mostly in the afternoon.

I even had an 8th edition, I think the main changes were structural related.

I would like to see them offer a series of smaller books to cover environmental, my environmental book I had from college was worthless...

But the CERM was a big help with the drainage for me, the chart with all the Hydraulic Radius and other fomulas was a big help (I know if you took the WR test it probably wasnt that in depth, for us lowely transportation guys it was a huge help)

 

[rleon82]

Would have to say atleast 50% or more of the time. The CERM was great!

 

[ngandy1000]

for the am exam, i only had to use the cerm. for the pm, i used it for more than half of the exam. it is definitely worth the money. i looked at 5 other review books, but a lot of them weren't as well organized. i'm pretty sure that i wouldn't have a chance of passing if i went in with something other than cerm. but i would probably have a had time if the cerm was the only book i had since some of the depth questions were pretty out there.

 

[rleon82]

I don't know about others here, but I did not have time to look through practice exams. The Geotechnical Book by DAS was a waste of space also. The CERM covered enough Geotech to solve most of the problems.

 

[NSEARCH]

I took WR in the afternoon. I used my Test Masters notes for 75% of the exam and the CERM for the other 25%. The CERM is priceless for this exam.

 

[Road Guy]

I had a guy give me his test masters "notes" about a week before the exam, wish i would have gotten it sooner, it had a lot of good practice problems, broken down into AM/PM. I took it with me, but didnt use it because I wasnt familiar with it.

That looked like a pretty good review class, mine was week in comparison.

 

[rleon82]

You have to be silly not to use the CERM for the PE. Just plain silly!

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

I took the ENVL exam, and I used the ENVRM pretty extensively. At least as much as my other texts combined.

It's a good reference. Well worth the expense, because it will contonue to be useful in professional life.

 

[Road Guy]

If I pass this thing, my CERM will be on ebay so fast it will make your head spin!

 

[rleon82]

Luckily my employer paid for half the CERM, that makes the book that much more valuable.

 

[redrum]

Cerm? What is that?

 

[rleon82]

Civil Engineering Reference Manual :thumbsup:

 

[Graffy]

When I studied, I used the CERM to introduce me to topics which I remember only sleeping through in college. When I worked problems, I used my old college textbooks - then the CERM if the books didn't have it (or if I din't have the book anymore). Anyway, I had minimal tabs in my CERM. I used it to look up some unfamiliar terms in the morning and afternoon and it gave me one or two questions, but mostly my old college texts were what did it. I had both Das books - they were far more valuable to me than the CERM - I took Transpo.

In short, the CERM's good for review, but I found it much handier to use my old college texts on the test.

Also, I took 18 references in for the test. All but three of them proved valuable in the course of the 8 hours.

 

[Road Guy]

what are "Das Books"?

 

[rleon82]

DAS equals Geotech Books. Please do not waste your money on these books. :ruh:

 

[Road Guy]

I have 2 large boxes of books from college I wish I had sold back, because I didnt use any of them for the PE.

 

[rleon82]

I used a bunch of my college books.

Biology of Microorganisms

Fluid Mechanics

Metcalf and Eddy

Hydrology Text

Environmental Process Design

Water Supply and Pollution Control

Concrete Design

Plus the CERM

 

[Road Guy]

Metcalf & Eddy has a book?

The firm that owns the firm I work for also owns metcalf & eddy... h43r:

 

[jeb6294]

Metcalf & Eddy has a book?
h43r:

Yeah...great big, expensive, useless thing.