Code understanding vs technical concepts

[orticio]

Hi fellas,

I'll be taking the CA civil pe exam (structural depth) in April15 and before I decide which books to buy or borrow from colleagues, I was wondering how important is to understand and get familiar with ASCE 7-10, Steel and seismic manuals, etc. for the exam preparation and for the actual exam questions...would you guys recommend to spend some time (I'll have plenty, since I'll be taking it in 10 months) going over them, or just get familiar with them as I solve problems once I start studying??

Thanks!

 

[Lomarandil]

Especially taking the other California exams, knowing ASCE 7 thoroughly will be a big leg up. You'll end up using it a lot. (If you were only taking the 8-hr, I'd be on the fence about it).

I felt the same about the Steel manual, but your mileage may vary. It has lots of nice shortcuts for design that you may not discover by tabbing during your practice problems.

Of course, it also depends on how much you use the codes during your day-to-day work

 

[TJM]

Especially taking the other California exams, knowing ASCE 7 thoroughly will be a big leg up. You'll end up using it a lot. (If you were only taking the 8-hr, I'd be on the fence about it).

This is very good advice.

Knowing the ASCE 7 inside and out for seismic will help you out on the PE exam and is crucial for the state specific exam. In my opinion, taking the time to do this is time better spent than going into detail on some of the lesser topics.

Overall, I spent most of my time studying out of the CERM and I feel like that was plenty for the 8 hr exam.

 

[nightwing]

The seismic exam use the ASCE 7-10 a lot in the questions?

 

[The Wizard]

The seismic exam use the ASCE 7-10 a lot in the questions?

Yup!