How many estimated hours of preparation is required for vertical building module?

[TheStructuralEngineer]

I am about to start preparing for SE Vertical Forces Building this week. Wanted to know how much preparation is needed from members who have taken the test before. All of us here are full-time workers so I don't know if we can put too many hours.
Appreciate your input. My Background: 3 years building design experience , Passed PE structural last year.

 

[bassplayer45]

So here was what I took me. Granted, I am bridge dude, had 5 years experience when I started taking it.

Starting  2-3 months before the exam, I did a minimum of 10 - 15 multiple choice problems a night Monday to Friday. On the weekends, I hit essays and read practice problems. Usually 3 - 4 beers worth of work out of my six pack 4 hours of essay work each day. So I would say you are looking at 12 - 15 hours a week of studying. That was me, obviously I didn't stick to this schedule the entire time, but I don't have munchkins and my lady got fed up with my studying during the lateral exam (good thing though, it wouldn't have worked out anyway)

 

[smahurin]

I'm sure the answers you'll find are going to vary widely.  I put in about 120hrs cumulatively studying for the vert&lat in april 2015, so I guess call it 60hrs for vert and 60hrs for lat.  I started studying about 1.5months in advance of the exam and put in roughly 8-10hrs per week after work or on the weekends.  I would bet my study time is on the light end though.

 

[onemanwolfpack]

I am taking the Vertical this fall as well, but I took the Lateral this past spring. I just started studying yesterday, so about 3 months out from the exam. In the past, I've done 1 hour after work on weekdays, and 4 hours Saturday/Sunday. That's worked out decently well for me, so I plan on sticking to that again for this test. With missing the occasional weekend here and there, I usually get to about 130 hours or so. Similar to bassplayer, I'm a bridge guy with ~5years.

 

[ATLAC47]

I am about to start preparing for SE Vertical Forces Building this week. Wanted to know how much preparation is needed from members who have taken the test before. All of us here are full-time workers so I don't know if we can put too many hours.
Appreciate your input. My Background: 3 years building design experience , Passed PE structural last year.

I just passed the SE back in the spring and asked the same type of question you did in terms of amount of time needed to study.  I studied over 300 hours and took both the gravity and lateral exams.  I wouldn't say there is a set amount of time needed to study.  The most important thing to realize is the difference between reviewing and learning during the studying process.  Depending on your background and work experience you will have knowledge in certain areas.  You don't need to spend much time in those areas besides reviewing the material.  I'm sure there are aspects of the exam that you don't practice at your job and might not have the most knowledge about, so you would have to learn much of the information for those aspects.  These aspects would need more time devoted to studying/learning the material.

My biggest piece of advice is to create a general timeline of materials you need to study (review vs learn) then figure out how much you need to study per day/week and create a schedule and stick to it.  I'm generally someone who over studies for things (even back in college), but the 4 months of hell studying were definitely worth it now.

 

[smahurin]

My biggest piece of advice is to create a general timeline of materials you need to study (review vs learn) then figure out how much you need to study per day/week and create a schedule and stick to it.  

I think this is really good advice. 

 

[TheStructuralEngineer]

Thanks for your responses. I agree that study time varies from person to person for several reasons. I just wanted to get overall idea about how much I should try to target. I think about 12 hours a week seems reasonable. 1.5X5+4x2. @ATLAC47 very good point about learn vs review. Being a building guy, i really have to learn aashto/bridge. 
Congratulations to all who have passed and all the best for who are taking this fall!

 

[David Connor SE]

https://www.davidconnorse.com/study-calendar

See this link. This is an example study calendar that I used. It basically takes the percentages on the NCEES SE exam specification and puts that much time to each area of study. (i.e. more time devoted to seismic reinforced concrete vs. timber, etc). Of course, you would want to adjust based on your own experience. 

I would recommend starting to assemble your codes and start tabbing them 6 months out from taking the exam. I started earlier because I could only comfortably do about 2-3 hours of study after work and then some additional on the weekends. But everyone studies differently. But the sooner you start the better. 

If you are taking the exam in October, I would begin post-haste. 

 

[TheStructuralEngineer]

@David Connor, SE Thanks for your recommendation. The test however is literally 3 months away. So have to squeeze your 6 month study plan. BTW, I have skimmed your book and I think it will be helpful to brush up my bridge knowledge for the test.

 

[smahurin]

I think it's a good idea to know your way around AASHTO.  I always remind people that the SE Bridge and SE Building exams share the same 40-questions in the morning.  So just keep that in mind when prepping.

 

[PowerStroke79_PE]

https://www.davidconnorse.com/study-calendar

See this link. This is an example study calendar that I used. It basically takes the percentages on the NCEES SE exam specification and puts that much time to each area of study. (i.e. more time devoted to seismic reinforced concrete vs. timber, etc). Of course, you would want to adjust based on your own experience. 

I would recommend starting to assemble your codes and start tabbing them 6 months out from taking the exam. I started earlier because I could only comfortably do about 2-3 hours of study after work and then some additional on the weekends. But everyone studies differently. But the sooner you start the better. 

If you are taking the exam in October, I would begin post-haste. 

Which one of your books do you recommend more for the Civil/Structural PE exam? Don't mean to hi jack the thread, tried sending you a PM and said you don't receive them. 

 

[David Connor SE]

Which one of your books do you recommend more for the Civil/Structural PE exam? Don't mean to hi jack the thread, tried sending you a PM and said you don't receive them. 

Oh gosh. It's been so long since I took the PE exam.

I looked at the NCEES spec sheet for the structural PE exam, and even though I don't have it listed I think you may want to take a look at PPI's Structural Engineering Reference Manual. I didn't list it as a resource for the SE exam because the examples are a little too "detailed", but a lot of people on this forum recommend it. It covers basically the full spectrum of the topics listed on the NCEES spec sheet. Just know that more "typical" example problems may be better for practice with multiple choice problem solving. But conceptually, the SERM is a good book. 

 

[PowerStroke79_PE]

Oh gosh. It's been so long since I took the PE exam.

I looked at the NCEES spec sheet for the structural PE exam, and even though I don't have it listed I think you may want to take a look at PPI's Structural Engineering Reference Manual. I didn't list it as a resource for the SE exam because the examples are a little too "detailed", but a lot of people on this forum recommend it. It covers basically the full spectrum of the topics listed on the NCEES spec sheet. Just know that more "typical" example problems may be better for practice with multiple choice problem solving. But conceptually, the SERM is a good book. 

 yeup got that covered.  :thankyou: