When people have posted info on the MUTCD. I downloaded/printed Sections 1, 2, 5 & 6. Which is A LOT of information. I have always heard, a reference is not much good unless you know how to use it.. Is this exam the exception to that rule? I am about to go buy the ACI SP-4, ASCE 37-02 and the Bracing Masonry Walls during Construction. (My review class professor strongly suggested buying all three of those). Should I be pretty familiar with them.. He lead us to believe he would expect a 'look up' type PM question from a reference like that. I guess basically I feel like my time is better spent solving problems and if something crops up from one of the reference, using the index, I should be able to find it in less than 5 min? Is there a good general assumption? I have however Tabbed and highlighted the CERM and as well as my OSHA 1926 Manual..
The MUTCD is a difficult reference to use if you're not familiar with it. Yes it does have an index and a glossary to help, but if you don't know what to look-up, both of these become useless. The transportation guys can use it effectively because it's tied to their work. My past work experience forced me to memorize alot of the info within so I ended up very familiar with the rest of the manual (actually got TCS- Traffic Control Supervisor Certified). This familiarity took several months of all-day field experience directing traffic control crews on a 19 mile section of interstate highway to really learn. You definately don't need this kind of experience to use the manual, but knowing the terms and generally where to find them will help more than you would imagine. Granted this will probably only apply to 1, maybe 2, questions in the afternoon, but I wouldn't throw it away (especially since you still have almost 3 full months before the October exam).
OSHA is an easier to use safety reference because it has to be useable by everyone, not just the contractors. Familiarity with it will also help alot with finding the answer once
It's true that the construction depth is a difficult one if you don't have alot of actual field experience with a general contractor. Because construction covers everything from estimating/scheduling to transportation to structures to safety, it's difficult to lock all of the required info into a couple references.
To anyone who is undecided as to which depth they want to take: Construction is not the "easy way out." Please don't assume that since you're a general civil engineer that you can easily pass this depth. You really need to get all of the little notebooks and references and get familiar with them, especially if you don't have alot of field experience.
MY OPINION ON STUDYING:
As far as which is better between practice problems vs reference familiarity: It depends. I personally only worked the sample exam from the NCEES (yes, that's it for practice problems) just to see if I could look up the info I needed in a reasonable amount of time, and I spent most of my time reading the CERM. I read the CERM cover to cover like a novel. By the time I was ready for the exam, I could tell you within 30 seconds which page had the equations and the sample problems needed to work any problem. This is why I will swear up and down that the CERM has a very large portion of what is needed for the Construction Depth. Most of the info needed is buried in the chapters and sub-chapters of the other depths, and even in the 11th edition didn't make sense to move to the "Construction" section.
I know other people can only learn this stuff by working practice problems, and by no means am I saying their methods are wrong. They learned it how they learn best, I did it how I learn best. I just needed to know WHERE TO FIND the know-how. I personally feel it is more advantageous to know where to find the info than memorize the procedures. Memorization of procedures only works if you are tested on those particular procedures
