Civil - Construction PE Study Schedule

[civilrobot PE etc etc]

I was on youtube viewing someone's video about preparing for the PE and he recommended building a study schedule. He had an example in google docs but it was for Mechanical. I wanted to know if anyone had a pretty good study schedule that they followed that was broken out into days of reading/studying and days used for doing problems. I would like to base it on the exam specifications but that's as far as I've gotten so far.

 

[cuatona1]

I was on youtube viewing someone's video about preparing for the PE and he recommended building a study schedule. He had an example in google docs but it was for Mechanical. I wanted to know if anyone had a pretty good study schedule that they followed that was broken out into days of reading/studying and days used for doing problems. I would like to base it on the exam specifications but that's as far as I've gotten so far.

I used Microsoft word..calendar template as a guide and it was somewhat of a schedule...my schedule was flexible..like if needed to focus on a particular subject I would adjust accordingly I did a topic every week and wrote down what i studied. This also help keep track of my hours of study...in total it was 386 hrs. When I get home I'll try to find my filled out calendar and post it. 

View attachment 10632

 

[cuatona1]

I used Microsoft word..calendar template as a guide and it was somewhat of a schedule...my schedule was flexible..like if needed to focus on a particular subject I would adjust accordingly I did a topic every week and wrote down what i studied. This also help keep track of my hours of study...in total it was 386 hrs. When I get home I'll try to find my filled out calendar and post it. 

View attachment 2012 12.docx

I also started out with hitting Construction Depth first..I believe Desantis from http://www.learncivilengineering.com/ said that construction is about 60% of the exam and if you study it first you'll also be covering your depth and a 25% of the morning Breadth so I tried it that way.

Important thing is to fully understand and master the topic....cause if you do that you'll learn all the different ways they can ask the question, find "****ie traps" and you'll also start to develop your own short cuts. I also developed my own cheat sheet-let me know if you want to see it.

 

[civilrobot PE etc etc]

I used Microsoft word..calendar template as a guide and it was somewhat of a schedule...my schedule was flexible..like if needed to focus on a particular subject I would adjust accordingly I did a topic every week and wrote down what i studied. This also help keep track of my hours of study...in total it was 386 hrs. When I get home I'll try to find my filled out calendar and post it. 

View attachment 10632

Super helpful! Thank you!

 

[ruggercsc]

I did not go into daily detail but based it on weeks:

12 weeks before Exam - Collected Resources, SOPE Calculator Review, SOPE CERM Recommended Reading

11 weeks before Exam - SOPE Math Review, SOPE CERM Recommended Reading

10 weeks before Exam - SOPE Transportation Review, SOPE CERM Recommended Reading

9 weeks before Exam - SOPE Engineering Economics Review, CERM Recommended Reading

8 weeks before Exam - SOPE Evening Classes 3.5 hrs ea. night  (M,Tu,W,Th) - Water Resources AM Review, Weekend worked Water Resource Problems

7 weeks before exam - SOPE Evening Classes 3.5 hrs ea. night  (M,Tu,W,Th) - Geotechnical AM Review, Weekend worked Geotechnical Problems

5 weeks before Exam -  SOPE Evening Classes 3.5 hrs ea. night  (M,Tu,W,Th) - Construction AM Review, Weekend worked Construction Problems

4 weeks before Exam - SOPE Evening Classes 3.5 hrs ea. night  (M,Tu,W,Th) - Structural Review, Weekend Worked Structural Problems

3 weeks before Exam - SOPE Evening Classes 3.0 hrs ea. night  (M,Tu,W,Th) - Construction PM Review Week 1, Worked Construction Depth Problems

2 weeks before Exam - SOPE Evening Classes 3.0 hrs ea. night  (M,Tu,W,Th) - Construction PM Review Week 2, Worked Construction Depth Problems

Saturday before Exam - Took NCEES Practice Exam, Sunday - Self Analytics on NCEES Practice Exam

Exam Week - worked Practice Problems(SOPE, PPI Exam Cafe); Tabbed CERM, References, and Notes

Day before Exam - Double checked all references

Parked car outside garage in case Spring Broke on garage door broke (Have had this happen before).  Assumed odds of Spring breaking>Car being stolen in driveway.  Assumed References being stolen from Car>References being stolen from locked house (Placed rolling Suitcase with references/2 calculators by the front door and wheeled to car in the morning).

This worked for me.

 

[civilrobot PE etc etc]

I did not go into daily detail but based it on weeks:

12 weeks before Exam - Collected Resources, SOPE Calculator Review, SOPE CERM Recommended Reading

11 weeks before Exam - SOPE Math Review, SOPE CERM Recommended Reading

10 weeks before Exam - SOPE Transportation Review, SOPE CERM Recommended Reading

9 weeks before Exam - SOPE Engineering Economics Review, CERM Recommended Reading

8 weeks before Exam - SOPE Evening Classes 3.5 hrs ea. night  (M,Tu,W,Th) - Water Resources AM Review, Weekend worked Water Resource Problems

7 weeks before exam - SOPE Evening Classes 3.5 hrs ea. night  (M,Tu,W,Th) - Geotechnical AM Review, Weekend worked Geotechnical Problems

5 weeks before Exam -  SOPE Evening Classes 3.5 hrs ea. night  (M,Tu,W,Th) - Construction AM Review, Weekend worked Construction Problems

4 weeks before Exam - SOPE Evening Classes 3.5 hrs ea. night  (M,Tu,W,Th) - Structural Review, Weekend Worked Structural Problems

3 weeks before Exam - SOPE Evening Classes 3.0 hrs ea. night  (M,Tu,W,Th) - Construction PM Review Week 1, Worked Construction Depth Problems

2 weeks before Exam - SOPE Evening Classes 3.0 hrs ea. night  (M,Tu,W,Th) - Construction PM Review Week 2, Worked Construction Depth Problems

Saturday before Exam - Took NCEES Practice Exam, Sunday - Self Analytics on NCEES Practice Exam

Exam Week - worked Practice Problems(SOPE, PPI Exam Cafe); Tabbed CERM, References, and Notes

Day before Exam - Double checked all references

Parked car outside garage in case Spring Broke on garage door broke (Have had this happen before).  Assumed odds of Spring breaking>Car being stolen in driveway.  Assumed References being stolen from Car>References being stolen from locked house (Placed rolling Suitcase with references/2 calculators by the front door and wheeled to car in the morning).

This worked for me.

Thank you!!!

 

[Mr. Zane]

I did not go into daily detail but based it on weeks:

12 weeks before Exam - Collected Resources, SOPE Calculator Review, SOPE CERM Recommended Reading

11 weeks before Exam - SOPE Math Review, SOPE CERM Recommended Reading

10 weeks before Exam - SOPE Transportation Review, SOPE CERM Recommended Reading

9 weeks before Exam - SOPE Engineering Economics Review, CERM Recommended Reading

8 weeks before Exam - SOPE Evening Classes 3.5 hrs ea. night  (M,Tu,W,Th) - Water Resources AM Review, Weekend worked Water Resource Problems

7 weeks before exam - SOPE Evening Classes 3.5 hrs ea. night  (M,Tu,W,Th) - Geotechnical AM Review, Weekend worked Geotechnical Problems

5 weeks before Exam -  SOPE Evening Classes 3.5 hrs ea. night  (M,Tu,W,Th) - Construction AM Review, Weekend worked Construction Problems

4 weeks before Exam - SOPE Evening Classes 3.5 hrs ea. night  (M,Tu,W,Th) - Structural Review, Weekend Worked Structural Problems

3 weeks before Exam - SOPE Evening Classes 3.0 hrs ea. night  (M,Tu,W,Th) - Construction PM Review Week 1, Worked Construction Depth Problems

2 weeks before Exam - SOPE Evening Classes 3.0 hrs ea. night  (M,Tu,W,Th) - Construction PM Review Week 2, Worked Construction Depth Problems

Saturday before Exam - Took NCEES Practice Exam, Sunday - Self Analytics on NCEES Practice Exam

Exam Week - worked Practice Problems(SOPE, PPI Exam Cafe); Tabbed CERM, References, and Notes

Day before Exam - Double checked all references

Parked car outside garage in case Spring Broke on garage door broke (Have had this happen before).  Assumed odds of Spring breaking>Car being stolen in driveway.  Assumed References being stolen from Car>References being stolen from locked house (Placed rolling Suitcase with references/2 calculators by the front door and wheeled to car in the morning).

This worked for me.

Hi, ruggercsc. I did early registeration at SOPE for this coming PE exam in April. 

Since last August, I passed FE, LEED GA, LEED AP, and PMP (last Friday), but I really think PE is a way heavier one than all of these other exams. I am wondering how many hours you spent on your PE preparation. I registered weekend courses, do I need to give 2 to 3 hours on each weekday to review constantly? Do you review the CERM out of SOPE course duration?

I will be doing the Construction for PM section, do I need to buy all listed material in NCEES sheet and bring them all to the exam? SOPE told me the only one to buy is CERM and it was delivered yesterday. To be frank, these material are really valuable but are very expensive for a student at univerisity. I dont know how much I have spent on exams and prep material since last year, but, I know its alot, lol.

Thank you if you could advise. 

 

[Mr. Zane]

I was on youtube viewing someone's video about preparing for the PE and he recommended building a study schedule. He had an example in google docs but it was for Mechanical. I wanted to know if anyone had a pretty good study schedule that they followed that was broken out into days of reading/studying and days used for doing problems. I would like to base it on the exam specifications but that's as far as I've gotten so far.

Hi civilrobot,

From today to the exam date, we have 100 days exactly. I would like to go over the CERM before the SOPE. 

Are you doing Construction for PM as well?

 

[ruggercsc]

Hi, ruggercsc. I did early registeration at SOPE for this coming PE exam in April. 

Since last August, I passed FE, LEED GA, LEED AP, and PMP (last Friday), but I really think PE is a way heavier one than all of these other exams. I am wondering how many hours you spent on your PE preparation. I registered weekend courses, do I need to give 2 to 3 hours on each weekday to review constantly? Do you review the CERM out of SOPE course duration?

I will be doing the Construction for PM section, do I need to buy all listed material in NCEES sheet and bring them all to the exam? SOPE told me the only one to buy is CERM and it was delivered yesterday. To be frank, these material are really valuable but are very expensive for a student at univerisity. I dont know how much I have spent on exams and prep material since last year, but, I know its alot, lol.

Thank you if you could advise. 

[SIZE=10.0pt]I took SOPE evening classes and worked problems on weekends.  I averaged about 25 to 30 hours a week from 12 weeks out to exam date (300 to 360 hours total) with the heavy lifting during the six weeks of SOPE classes.  I took the evening classes, so during the week I participated in the evening classes and worked on homework problems before work, at lunch, and before the next evening class.  [/SIZE]On weekends, I reviewed the prior week’s material and worked on more problems.

[SIZE=10.0pt] I would get all of the resources as these are fairly easy code lookup type problems if you have the correct resource.  [/SIZE]The SOPE notes have excerpts from some of the reference material, but you would hate to miss a question because you don’t have the required resource.  

 

[Mr. Zane]

[SIZE=10pt]I took SOPE evening classes and worked problems on weekends.  I averaged about 25 to 30 hours a week from 12 weeks out to exam date (300 to 360 hours total) with the heavy lifting was during the six weeks of SOPE classes.  I took the evening classes, so during the week I took the evening classes and worked on homework problems before work, at lunch, and before the next evening class.  [/SIZE]On weekends, I reviewed the prior week’s material and worked on more problems.

[SIZE=10pt] I would get all of the resources as these are fairly easy code lookup type problems if you have the correct resource.  [/SIZE]The SOPE notes have excerpts from some of the reference material, but you would hate to miss a question because you don’t have the required resource.  

Wow, this seems really challenging. Sounds like you promised at least 3 hrs in a day for this exam. I think I should have the opposite plan since I registered for weekend class. 

Thank you very much for sharing your experience. I will definitely invest as much as I can. 

 

[youngmotivatedengineer]

SOPE told me the only one to buy is CERM and it was delivered yesterday. To be frank, these material are really valuable but are very expensive for a student at univerisity.

This sounds like the direct opposite of what you should be doing. SOPE will not provide you with all the code sections you need. Take for example the OSHA code. There are only a handful of possible calculation questions they can ask. The rest are all code lookupsthat you can easily miss without the reference guide. My 1st attempt I left OSHA guide to save money. On my 2nd attempt,  if I didn't bring the OSHA book, I would have missed the OSHA lookup question. 

 

[Mr. Zane]

This sounds like the direct opposite of what you should be doing. SOPE will not provide you with all the code sections you need. Take for example the OSHA code. There are only a handful of possible calculation questions they can ask. The rest are all code lookupsthat you can easily miss without the reference guide. My 1st attempt I left OSHA guide to save money. On my 2nd attempt,  if I didn't bring the OSHA book, I would have missed the OSHA lookup question. 

Oh, maybe they thought my question was which one shall I buy for the course.

My office mate mentioned as well the OSHA codes. Thank you...

 

[ruggercsc]

Oh, maybe they thought my question was which one shall I buy for the course.

My office mate mentioned as well the OSHA codes. Thank you...

SOPE has excerpts in their notes from most of the recommended resources, but may not have the section, chapter, table, etc. you need.

My $0.02, for what is worth, is to have all of the NCEES recommended resources.  You can probably sell them after the exam (See Yard Sale subforum).  A cursory look appears to show most are able to recoup a big chuck of their investment in reselling their references material.  (Disclaimer:  If they update the test format and change the recommended resources you may not be able to resell them as easily)

 

[Mr. Zane]

SOPE has excerpts in their notes from most of the recommended resources, but may not have the section, chapter, table, etc. you need.

My $0.02, for what is worth, is to have all of the NCEES recommended resources.  You can probably sell them after the exam (See Yard Sale subforum).  A cursory look appears to show most are able to recoup a big chuck of their investment in reselling their references material.  (Disclaimer:  If they update the test format and change the recommended resources you may not be able to resell them as easily)

I definitely will have to own them all I think, even for FE, LEED and PMP, I had all hard copies. 

I had bad habit when I use books which is underlining and highlighting, however, I will try to avoid this time.

So, I can wait till the SOPE starts the courses and then obtain those book ya? I prefer to spend time from now and try to go over the CERM till mid of Feb.

 

[ruggercsc]

I definitely will have to own them all I think, even for FE, LEED and PMP, I had all hard copies. 

I had bad habit when I use books which is underlining and highlighting, however, I will try to avoid this time.

So, I can wait till the SOPE starts the courses and then obtain those book ya? I prefer to spend time from now and try to go over the CERM till mid of Feb.

You can do that if you want too.  As long as you have the references when you are working practice problems you should be okay.

For the AM section, I used my my SOPE Notes for about 80% to 90% of the questions and the CERM for the other 10 to 20% (mainly Horizontal and Vertical curve equations , Moment/Shear diagrams)

For the afternoon, I used my SOPE notes for about 70%, and the references (OSHA manual, MUTCD, ACI SP-4, Steel Manual, etc.) for about 30%.  For me, CERM use in the afternoon was mainly for accounting tables. 

There were a few questions you will not find in the CERM or any other of the stated reccomended references.  Examples might be:

• Current CSI division of Fire Suppression Equipment
  
• Purpose of Specifications in Construction Documents
  
• Value of Construction Contract after "X" occurs
  

NCEES is known to throw in these type of questions to test your experience/knowledge.

 

[bwin12]

SOPE will tell you in the class they don't provide enough of the resources and you need to buy the recommended references at a minimum.

I didn't get out of the room before the 15 minute warning and had to stay. I was able to find the right answer in the OSHA and Steel Manual  to 2 "lookup" questions and changed my answer. It sucks to pay $900-1200 for reference material, but I heard it sucks more to have to take the test again.

Check out the garage/yard sale forum. I have all my stuff for sale along with many others. I will ship it to you cheaper than Amazon will...

 

[leggo PE]

SOPE will tell you in the class they don't provide enough of the resources and you need to buy the recommended references at a minimum.

I didn't get out of the room before the 15 minute warning and had to stay. I was able to find the right answer in the OSHA and Steel Manual  to 2 "lookup" questions and changed my answer. It sucks to pay $900-1200 for reference material, but I heard it sucks more to have to take the test again.

Check out the garage/yard sale forum. I have all my stuff for sale along with many others. I will ship it to you cheaper than Amazon will...

This!

 

[civilrobot PE etc etc]

Hi civilrobot,

From today to the exam date, we have 100 days exactly. I would like to go over the CERM before the SOPE. 

Are you doing Construction for PM as well?

Hi! Yes, I'm sitting for Construction in the afternoon. I'm going to push it off until October due to life getting in the way right now but I plan to do some preparation around the Spring time.