Civil Construction PE Exam
Notes from a one year journey.
I just want to take this time to thank all who helped, one way or another, those of us who took the exam April 2012. There were a lot of Civil PE’s here who took considerable time and effort to help us through the long process. And for that I say thank you to all.
I found this site June 2011, while putting together my exam application. At the time I planned taking the fall 2011 exam, but circumstances conspired (i.e. job workload) to put the exam off until spring 2012. I read almost every civil PE thread I could as I tried to decide what depth to take. For the longest time I was hung up on taking Geotech vs. Structures vs. Construction. At the end of the day I chose Construction, though with the amount of Geotech involved I could just as well have chosen that one.
References
Once approved for the exam, the next step was identifying references to use. Again, this site was an invaluable resource. Let me emphasize this: Buy all NCEES guidelines for references and for study! The 2011 NCEES Sample Questions show additional references in the solution section. I highly recommend acquiring most of those references too. I identified the texts which were repeatedly reported as most relevant for the AM, which was the CERM and Goswami All-in-One. For the Construction PM, in addition to the recommended referenced listed by NCEES, I acquired:
[*]Texas A&M Study notes. Free on-line. Some good Concrete Mixture problems and Hydrology on here.
[*]6-Minute Solutions each for Water, Soils, Transpo, Structures. Good practice problems. Some of these take longer than 6 minutes and are more complex than the NCEES sample problems, but again, still good practice. Not sure if it was worth the cost though. I would recommend finding used copies if you can.
One thing I learned with the Construction Depth is you need lots of references. This is not an easy depth to prepare for; the topic base is broad. But you certainly will learn a lot during study. I did.
I was very fortunate that my employer paid for most of my books. I bought a few later on out of pocket. In all, the total cost was about $2,000. Not cheap, but I consider this a long term investment. It’s a Cost–Benefit issue, right?
Study Method
I began studying in earnest November 1, 2011. I started with Water Resources and spent about 1 month on it. My weekly routine was to spend on average 2 hours per night and 8 hours/day on weekends. By the end of November I started Geotech and finished that around Christmas time. I then spent about 1 week on Transpo (I am also a professional surveyor and hence was very familiar with the geometric problems for the AM exam). From mid-January I dug into Structures, reviewed the AISC Steel Manual, and refreshed how to look up beam designs; I got familiar with the welding chapter, particularly the welding symbols. From late January on through March I focused mostly on Construction. And that’s another benefit to Construction – it uses a bit of everything – from Geotech to Structures to Transpo, and even hydraulics (de-watering problems). So it’s a nice capstone topic after reviewing the other four depths.
During the first two months of my study I happened to be very busy with work so in a couple instances I went a week without opening my books. This hurt because upon resuming studies I had to spend a good 30 minutes reviewing where I left off prior.
Pre-Exam
The best preparation without question was the NCEES Sample Exams. Closely following these sources was Mike’s Civil PE Sample Exam, which covers the AM exam. Mike’s questions were also very close to the real thing. I believe I paid around $25 for Mike’s, which was a real bargain.
Lindeburg’s Practice Problems were, as expected, more difficult than the real thing. But that’s also what made them worthwhile. They were some of the best Construction PM questions, particularly the OSHA and contracts problem chapters. I also found some great pavement and concrete mix problems in there, in addition to water resource questions; overall a very useful source to prepare with. I skipped the very difficult questions, but worked the reasonable ones with success. If you can work the reasonable problems you will know you are on the right track.
Day before Exam
I live about 2 hours from the exam site so my wife and I decided to drive down the day before and stay in a nearby hotel. The day we drove down we also visited the exam site, found where the available parking was, noted the one way travel time in traffic, noted the parking cost, and payment method. I walked into the exam room and visited with an NCEES employee making final preparations for the exam. She helped clarify a few last minute questions about what is allowed in the exam room. I also made a few mental notes on how it would be best to arrange my books. Two of us would be sharing one table, so I made a mental map on my reference layout. I also located the elevators for hauling my tubs of books with a dolly. I drank a lot of water that day to keep a storage of stamina for exam day and it worked. That night I went to sleep early with a clear mind.
Exam Day
I arrived about 40 minutes early which worked out perfect, as I found a parking space immediately. I walked to the waiting area and collected my thoughts. I brought two large tubs of books. The only others who brought at least the same volume were the structural guys. Those codes and standards really take up weight. At the advice of another member here (ptatohead) I hauled the heavy tubs on a foldable dolly which I found for about $25 at Menard’s (similar to Home Depot). While waiting I was also fortunate to visit with a Transpo Civil guy who was relaxed. That helped. I was calm and focused. Very ready and starving for the exam, similar to Shakespeare’s “….standing like a greyhound at the slip, straining for the start.”
The exam room was large and all of the engineering exams and I think FE exams were administered in the same room. It made for tight quarters. I had arranged my tubs so that one was for primarily the AM exam and the other was for the PM exam. That worked well.
Once the exam started I was a little nervous for the first 5, or so, questions, but then settled down. My strategy was the same as other board exams I’ve taken prior (as a licensed surveyor in 6 states), in that I read each question and if I immediately knew the answer I did it. If not, I circled the question number on my bubble sheet and came back to it later. This methodology really works for me. Oftentimes I’ll skip a problem and come back to it later after working a problem further down that helped trigger the solution. On the AM exam I had about 5 to 8 questions that I had to skip and come back to later. On the PM I had maybe 12 to 15 such questions. In almost every instance I was able to come back to the question and solve it.
Once I finished working all 40 problems on the AM exam, there was still two hours to go! I resisted the temptation to be “first done” and went back to question #1 and reviewed each question step by step. I was very glad I did! I found one question, a relatively easy one, that I misread the first go-around and marked wrong and corrected my answer. Upon handing in my AM exam I felt relieved knowing I did not surrender easy points. I felt good knowing I had reviewed each question, and confirmed my answers with the appropriate question numbers. It may sound trivial but the peace of mind this brings is priceless.
For lunch I had about 2 hours to kill so I took my time and found a restaurant and had a light salad. As I had the days before and during the exam I kept my energy up by staying hydrated. I drank only water and I firmly believe this helped me stay focused. With about 45 minutes to go before the PM exam began I went back to my car and took a light nap, after setting my phone alarm so I didn’t oversleep.
I arrived to the start of the PM exam fresh and focused again. I had braced myself for what the majority Civil PE’s say is the afternoon blues. I fully expected and prepared for the PM exam being much more difficult than the AM. And It was more difficult but I still thought it was easy! Upon working the first few problems I found myself taking too much time. To avoid giving up any easy problems later if I got into a time crunch I decided to skip any problem that was not immediately apparent and come back to it later. This worked great. I ended up hitting the easy ones and still had about 1 ½ hours remaining for the forementioned 12 to 15 that I skipped. I worked through those step by step. Knowing that I had likely aced the morning exam (or approximately), I began doing some curbside math in my mind; I knew I could get about 50% on the PM and still pass the exam. I reasoned that by the time I had circled back to finish said 12 to 15 problems I probably had it in the bag. This really released any inhibitions and helped me relax more. It worked great because the hard problems came easy and upon checking all problems with about 15 minutes to go, I was almost as positive that I had either aced the PM or, worst case, had about 5 to 6 wrong. But I was convinced I passed the exam. During those final 15 minutes I sat back, cleared my mind, and finished my water and fruit that I had brought in and organized the paperwork to be handed in.
After being released by the proctors, I took my time and let my neighbors clear the area. I retrieved my dolly that I had placed against the wall and packed up my tubs again for the journey home, with a smile deep down.
Lessons Learned
One topic definitely lacking in my references was a good unit hydrograph description and related problems for the AM exam. I found both the CERM and Goswami’s All-in-One text weak in this topic and the only decent reference was the Texas A&M notes. But there was only 1 good question in that one. So maybe an old textbook is the way to go. I didn’t have one, so I felt inadequate in that subject going into the exam. I am not a water guy, so if you are maybe this is a non-issue for you. It wasn’t for me.
All the best,
Jason
Notes from a one year journey.
I just want to take this time to thank all who helped, one way or another, those of us who took the exam April 2012. There were a lot of Civil PE’s here who took considerable time and effort to help us through the long process. And for that I say thank you to all.
I found this site June 2011, while putting together my exam application. At the time I planned taking the fall 2011 exam, but circumstances conspired (i.e. job workload) to put the exam off until spring 2012. I read almost every civil PE thread I could as I tried to decide what depth to take. For the longest time I was hung up on taking Geotech vs. Structures vs. Construction. At the end of the day I chose Construction, though with the amount of Geotech involved I could just as well have chosen that one.
References
Once approved for the exam, the next step was identifying references to use. Again, this site was an invaluable resource. Let me emphasize this: Buy all NCEES guidelines for references and for study! The 2011 NCEES Sample Questions show additional references in the solution section. I highly recommend acquiring most of those references too. I identified the texts which were repeatedly reported as most relevant for the AM, which was the CERM and Goswami All-in-One. For the Construction PM, in addition to the recommended referenced listed by NCEES, I acquired:
- Peurifoy, et al. 2006. Construction Planning, Equipment & Methods. Fantastic book! Lot’s of great production problems, probably the best. Highly recommended. I will keep this book at my desk at work for a long time.
- Shapiro, Cranes & Derricks, 4th Edition.
- Das, Principals of Geotechnical Engineering (Das), 25th Anniversary Edition
- Nunnally, Construction Methods and Management (8th Edition). I wasn’t impressed at first glance, but I found this text to be an excellent resource for scheduling and production.
- Mike’s Sample AM Exam (some relevant PM questions are in here too – highly recommended). Work these problems days prior to the exam as a confidence booster. I thought the sample questions were very similar in nature to the NCEES sample exam AM questions.
- Bob’s Rigging & Crane Handbook. Perfect for rigging and wire rope design. Good exhibits for spreader beam balancing too. It also has OSHA rules in here too, which can be very useful.
- 2001 NCEES Sample PE Exam Questions
- 2008 NCEES Sample PE Exam Questions
- 2011 NCEES Sample PE Exam Questions
- CERM 12 Ed. Sample Exam Questions. Lots of good Construction stuff in here. Pay particular attention to Concrete mixtures, OSHA, Contracts, soil testing, and engineering economics. The practice problems also have an excellent hydraulics section for the AM exam.
- Korman, Construction Reference Manual. Lots of errors in my 1st print version. But it does have excellent earthwork and OSHA sections. It also has a few decent economics problems. However, it was very expensive and failed to live up to its promise. Might be good if you can find a used copy.
- Goswami’s Practice Exams – has 2 sample AM exams and sample PM exams for all 5 civil modules. My first printing had lots of errors. The problems are much harder than the actual exam, some transpo AM problems are outside of the NCEES syllabus for AM – transpo, but if you can look beyond those issues it’s good for over preparation, which is always useful. I akin these problems to some of the CERM Practice Problems – much harder than the real exam, and thus take much longer than 6-minutes but over preparation is not a bad thing. Work these problems a month or two prior to the exam and you will be prepared. Work them immediately prior to the exam and your confidence may sag.
- Huang’s 6-Minute Solutions for Construction. Again, I had the misfortune of purchasing the 1st edition, 1st printing. At least 12% of the 100 problems had some sort of error. Having said that there were some excellent problems in here very similar to the NCEES sample problems. I purchased the text and work through all 100 two days before the exam and it really helped. I would say if you can get about 70% to 80% correct on the problems that are not already in error you should be prepared for the PM exam.
- Ruwan’s Civil PE Professional Engineer exam Construction Module, 3rd Edition
- Ruwan’s Civil PE Construction Module Practice Problems
Both of Ruwan’s texts are pretty rough in nature, mistakes here and there. Poor index, if any, but LOT’S of good construction problems. Work these books from cover to cover and you will be well prepared or construction productions and estimating. It also has some good surveying questions.
[*]Texas A&M Study notes. Free on-line. Some good Concrete Mixture problems and Hydrology on here.
[*]6-Minute Solutions each for Water, Soils, Transpo, Structures. Good practice problems. Some of these take longer than 6 minutes and are more complex than the NCEES sample problems, but again, still good practice. Not sure if it was worth the cost though. I would recommend finding used copies if you can.
One thing I learned with the Construction Depth is you need lots of references. This is not an easy depth to prepare for; the topic base is broad. But you certainly will learn a lot during study. I did.
I was very fortunate that my employer paid for most of my books. I bought a few later on out of pocket. In all, the total cost was about $2,000. Not cheap, but I consider this a long term investment. It’s a Cost–Benefit issue, right?
Study Method
I began studying in earnest November 1, 2011. I started with Water Resources and spent about 1 month on it. My weekly routine was to spend on average 2 hours per night and 8 hours/day on weekends. By the end of November I started Geotech and finished that around Christmas time. I then spent about 1 week on Transpo (I am also a professional surveyor and hence was very familiar with the geometric problems for the AM exam). From mid-January I dug into Structures, reviewed the AISC Steel Manual, and refreshed how to look up beam designs; I got familiar with the welding chapter, particularly the welding symbols. From late January on through March I focused mostly on Construction. And that’s another benefit to Construction – it uses a bit of everything – from Geotech to Structures to Transpo, and even hydraulics (de-watering problems). So it’s a nice capstone topic after reviewing the other four depths.
During the first two months of my study I happened to be very busy with work so in a couple instances I went a week without opening my books. This hurt because upon resuming studies I had to spend a good 30 minutes reviewing where I left off prior.
Pre-Exam
The best preparation without question was the NCEES Sample Exams. Closely following these sources was Mike’s Civil PE Sample Exam, which covers the AM exam. Mike’s questions were also very close to the real thing. I believe I paid around $25 for Mike’s, which was a real bargain.
Lindeburg’s Practice Problems were, as expected, more difficult than the real thing. But that’s also what made them worthwhile. They were some of the best Construction PM questions, particularly the OSHA and contracts problem chapters. I also found some great pavement and concrete mix problems in there, in addition to water resource questions; overall a very useful source to prepare with. I skipped the very difficult questions, but worked the reasonable ones with success. If you can work the reasonable problems you will know you are on the right track.
Day before Exam
I live about 2 hours from the exam site so my wife and I decided to drive down the day before and stay in a nearby hotel. The day we drove down we also visited the exam site, found where the available parking was, noted the one way travel time in traffic, noted the parking cost, and payment method. I walked into the exam room and visited with an NCEES employee making final preparations for the exam. She helped clarify a few last minute questions about what is allowed in the exam room. I also made a few mental notes on how it would be best to arrange my books. Two of us would be sharing one table, so I made a mental map on my reference layout. I also located the elevators for hauling my tubs of books with a dolly. I drank a lot of water that day to keep a storage of stamina for exam day and it worked. That night I went to sleep early with a clear mind.
Exam Day
I arrived about 40 minutes early which worked out perfect, as I found a parking space immediately. I walked to the waiting area and collected my thoughts. I brought two large tubs of books. The only others who brought at least the same volume were the structural guys. Those codes and standards really take up weight. At the advice of another member here (ptatohead) I hauled the heavy tubs on a foldable dolly which I found for about $25 at Menard’s (similar to Home Depot). While waiting I was also fortunate to visit with a Transpo Civil guy who was relaxed. That helped. I was calm and focused. Very ready and starving for the exam, similar to Shakespeare’s “….standing like a greyhound at the slip, straining for the start.”
The exam room was large and all of the engineering exams and I think FE exams were administered in the same room. It made for tight quarters. I had arranged my tubs so that one was for primarily the AM exam and the other was for the PM exam. That worked well.
Once the exam started I was a little nervous for the first 5, or so, questions, but then settled down. My strategy was the same as other board exams I’ve taken prior (as a licensed surveyor in 6 states), in that I read each question and if I immediately knew the answer I did it. If not, I circled the question number on my bubble sheet and came back to it later. This methodology really works for me. Oftentimes I’ll skip a problem and come back to it later after working a problem further down that helped trigger the solution. On the AM exam I had about 5 to 8 questions that I had to skip and come back to later. On the PM I had maybe 12 to 15 such questions. In almost every instance I was able to come back to the question and solve it.
Once I finished working all 40 problems on the AM exam, there was still two hours to go! I resisted the temptation to be “first done” and went back to question #1 and reviewed each question step by step. I was very glad I did! I found one question, a relatively easy one, that I misread the first go-around and marked wrong and corrected my answer. Upon handing in my AM exam I felt relieved knowing I did not surrender easy points. I felt good knowing I had reviewed each question, and confirmed my answers with the appropriate question numbers. It may sound trivial but the peace of mind this brings is priceless.
For lunch I had about 2 hours to kill so I took my time and found a restaurant and had a light salad. As I had the days before and during the exam I kept my energy up by staying hydrated. I drank only water and I firmly believe this helped me stay focused. With about 45 minutes to go before the PM exam began I went back to my car and took a light nap, after setting my phone alarm so I didn’t oversleep.
I arrived to the start of the PM exam fresh and focused again. I had braced myself for what the majority Civil PE’s say is the afternoon blues. I fully expected and prepared for the PM exam being much more difficult than the AM. And It was more difficult but I still thought it was easy! Upon working the first few problems I found myself taking too much time. To avoid giving up any easy problems later if I got into a time crunch I decided to skip any problem that was not immediately apparent and come back to it later. This worked great. I ended up hitting the easy ones and still had about 1 ½ hours remaining for the forementioned 12 to 15 that I skipped. I worked through those step by step. Knowing that I had likely aced the morning exam (or approximately), I began doing some curbside math in my mind; I knew I could get about 50% on the PM and still pass the exam. I reasoned that by the time I had circled back to finish said 12 to 15 problems I probably had it in the bag. This really released any inhibitions and helped me relax more. It worked great because the hard problems came easy and upon checking all problems with about 15 minutes to go, I was almost as positive that I had either aced the PM or, worst case, had about 5 to 6 wrong. But I was convinced I passed the exam. During those final 15 minutes I sat back, cleared my mind, and finished my water and fruit that I had brought in and organized the paperwork to be handed in.
After being released by the proctors, I took my time and let my neighbors clear the area. I retrieved my dolly that I had placed against the wall and packed up my tubs again for the journey home, with a smile deep down.
Lessons Learned
One topic definitely lacking in my references was a good unit hydrograph description and related problems for the AM exam. I found both the CERM and Goswami’s All-in-One text weak in this topic and the only decent reference was the Texas A&M notes. But there was only 1 good question in that one. So maybe an old textbook is the way to go. I didn’t have one, so I felt inadequate in that subject going into the exam. I am not a water guy, so if you are maybe this is a non-issue for you. It wasn’t for me.
All the best,
Jason
