My Do's and Don'ts For Taking the Exam

[Zizu]

Ok Guys, just wanted to put the most important things that helped me pass the PE on here, anyone else feel free to chip in. I took the Civil-Water Resources Exam

1. Cheat Sheet with Formulas-both SI and English, with formulas ALREADY derived for more than two variables at least. Plug and Chugs are easy points-if you have the formula for determining pipe size in inches with flow given in CFS from Mannings ready.

2. A Geotech book is a must for the morning-just trust me on this one. 

3. Do a walk thru of the test before you start answering and mark the questions you are sure you can easily do w/o a ref with a circle, the questions you are sure you could do with a quick reference with a triangle and the questions that are 'WTF?' hard with a diamond-for obvious reasons. Time management is critical. With any luck, you'll be done within a couple of hours on the 30 or so questions that fall in the first two categories. leaving you the other two to work on the 10 or so insane Q's-assuming a bell curve nature for the exam. 

4.Do not forget to use the bathroom BEFORE you get into the test room(our proctors told us we could go after they read us the instructions and they never did let us)-believe my by hour three things got real uncomfortable.

5. The test room was so cold the first time I took it in October that the proctors had blankets on-but apparently they didnt bring enough for everyone-I had to keep blowing into my hands and rubbing them. NCEES does say prepare for variable conditions but it didnt say dress for Siberia. At least wear a hoodie or thermal. The second time I took it, it was pouring rain-so keep a jacket in the car.

6. Do not leave your stuff in the car the night before. Someone broke into mine and took EVERYTHING. Calculator, Books, Notes, EVERYTHING. Fortunately, Police caught him and I was able to make it on time with my stuff back and passed the test the second time around(No one said it'd be easy).Just wait till the morning-dont take anything for granted.

7. Hurry; slowly. 

8. Sure, you'll be able to use your references, but you gotta know them inside out to use them. There's no way around it. You gotta know your South Harmon Institute of Technology. What chapter in Lindberg is the info on concrete properties?Where is the stuff on backsights and leveling?Dont know?You gonna have a bad time.

9. For the WR depth portion, I had way too many refs. Try and limit yourself to no more than Ten books max-you wont have time to look in more anyway.

10. Follow the procedure. Check your units. Believe in yourself. Good luck.

 

[matt267 PE]

Do NOT wear your fitbit.

 

[snickerd3]

Do NOT wear your fitbit.

or any other type of fitness tracking wristband

 

[P-E]

Didn't think hoodies were allowed

 

[matt267 PE]

Do pack a lunch.

 

[jijir83]

A Geotech book is a must for the morning-just trust me on this one. 

Let me guess... you're talking about April 2016. That was the case (first hand experience).

I spoke with some people and they felt October 2015 was more transportation in the morning. And it flipped flopped every cycle going backwards. They seem to lean heavy on a given topic in the morning. I wish I cared enough to poll a bunch of people to see the trend. But I'd say, anyone taking it this Fall or onward should find a good depth book in each discipline and do a good review of them for the morning exam and bring that. Not just Geotech. They will be leaning heavy on a given topic and you should be able to pull a good reference to help you score well.

 

[hjg7715]

Ok Guys, just wanted to put the most important things that helped me pass the PE on here, anyone else feel free to chip in. I took the Civil-Water Resources Exam

1. Cheat Sheet with Formulas-both SI and English, with formulas ALREADY derived for more than two variables at least. Plug and Chugs are easy points-if you have the formula for determining pipe size in inches with flow given in CFS from Mannings ready.

9. For the WR depth portion, I had way too many refs. Try and limit yourself to no more than Ten books max-you wont have time to look in more anyway.

I think creating cheat sheets (binder) with formulas, tables, practice problems and quick reference info was the most beneficial advice I received in preparation for the exam. I think I ended up using the binder I created as much or even more than I used the CERM. I think working practice problems and taking the time to add to and organize my binder with frequently used formulas and tables also helped reinforce some of the content. So this is a must for anyone taking the exam.

I also took the WR depth and I think that most people, in general, take too many references into the exam, but I guess it's better to have too many than not enough. I honestly think I could have gotten by with just the CERM and personal binder for the morning session and an additional 3-4 references for the afternoon even though I ended up using my personal binder primarily. But again it included a lot of the typical formulas you would use on the exam and I also found some very useful formula sheets for water and wastewater treatment online which I added to my binder. Another tip for anyone taking the WRE depth, find or create a sheet with the hydraulic properties (cross sectional area, wetted perimeter, hydraulic radius) of all the common pipe sizes. Also, become very familiar with the relevant appendices in the back of the CERM.

But below are the additional references I used for the afternoon session along with 2 design standards manuals for the local municipality I work. I think including the design standards manual(s) for the jurisdiction you do work in might also be very useful, especially if you're already familiar with it.

 

[Ken PE 3.1]

My Do's and Dont's:

1. Do pass

2. Don't fail

I hate tapatalk

 

[pdids911]

My Do's and Dont's:

1. Do pass

2. Don't fail

I hate tapatalk

your signature ruined this post.

 

[matt267 PE]

 

[knight1fox3]

 

[smahurin]

I think creating cheat sheets (binder) with formulas, tables, practice problems and quick reference info was the most beneficial advice I received in preparation for the exam. I think I ended up using the binder I created as much or even more than I used the CERM. I think working practice problems and taking the time to add to and organize my binder with frequently used formulas and tables also helped reinforce some of the content. So this is a must for anyone taking the exam.

I also took the WR depth and I think that most people, in general, take too many references into the exam, but I guess it's better to have too many than not enough. I honestly think I could have gotten by with just the CERM and personal binder for the morning session and an additional 3-4 references for the afternoon even though I ended up using my personal binder primarily. But again it included a lot of the typical formulas you would use on the exam and I also found some very useful formula sheets for water and wastewater treatment online which I added to my binder. Another tip for anyone taking the WRE depth, find or create a sheet with the hydraulic properties (cross sectional area, wetted perimeter, hydraulic radius) of all the common pipe sizes. Also, become very familiar with the relevant appendices in the back of the CERM.

It really depends on which exam you take (obviously!) but for the civil AM component I really believe all you need is the CERM.  I'd guess that approximately 34 of the AM civil questions when I took the exam were just straight find the equation in the CERM, plug in numbers into the necessary equation, if the number you got was one of the multiple choice answers, Great!  If not try and figure out where I fat fingered a number.  The other 6-ish questions I didn't use a reference for and were some combination of basic mechanics, unit cancellation, general knowledge, or I misunderstood the questions and/or did them wrong.  

I took the Civil/Structural and definitely used my structural references on the PM portion though.  I was too lazy to cart in a whole slew of references and automatically missed a few of the questions because I had intentionally not brought several of my structural reference manuals thinking I wouldn't need them, and was too lazy to carry them into the exam.  It worked out OK, because I still passed, but if I had to do it again, I'd bring them.  Several of the questions from the references I didn't bring were straight table look-ups that seemed designed solely for the purpose of seeing if someone brought their reference.  One question was literally... "In table X of Reference Y what is the ____?".  I read that question and was like... FFS, why didn't I just bring that manual...

 

[hjg7715]

...but for the civil AM component I really believe all you need is the CERM.  I'd guess that approximately 34 of the AM civil questions when I took the exam were just straight find the equation in the CERM..

I don't disagree with you at all!

 

[ptatohed]

Ok Guys, just wanted to put the most important things that helped me pass the PE on here, anyone else feel free to chip in. I took the Civil-Water Resources Exam

1. Cheat Sheet with Formulas-both SI and English, with formulas ALREADY derived for more than two variables at least. Plug and Chugs are easy points-if you have the formula for determining pipe size in inches with flow given in CFS from Mannings ready.

2. A Geotech book is a must for the morning-just trust me on this one. 

3. Do a walk thru of the test before you start answering and mark the questions you are sure you can easily do w/o a ref with a circle, the questions you are sure you could do with a quick reference with a triangle and the questions that are 'WTF?' hard with a diamond-for obvious reasons. Time management is critical. With any luck, you'll be done within a couple of hours on the 30 or so questions that fall in the first two categories. leaving you the other two to work on the 10 or so insane Q's-assuming a bell curve nature for the exam. 

4.Do not forget to use the bathroom BEFORE you get into the test room(our proctors told us we could go after they read us the instructions and they never did let us)-believe my by hour three things got real uncomfortable.

5. The test room was so cold the first time I took it in October that the proctors had blankets on-but apparently they didnt bring enough for everyone-I had to keep blowing into my hands and rubbing them. NCEES does say prepare for variable conditions but it didnt say dress for Siberia. At least wear a hoodie or thermal. The second time I took it, it was pouring rain-so keep a jacket in the car.

6. Do not leave your stuff in the car the night before. Someone broke into mine and took EVERYTHING. Calculator, Books, Notes, EVERYTHING. Fortunately, Police caught him and I was able to make it on time with my stuff back and passed the test the second time around(No one said it'd be easy).Just wait till the morning-dont take anything for granted.

7. Hurry; slowly. 

8. Sure, you'll be able to use your references, but you gotta know them inside out to use them. There's no way around it. You gotta know your South Harmon Institute of Technology. What chapter in Lindberg is the info on concrete properties?Where is the stuff on backsights and leveling?Dont know?You gonna have a bad time.

9. For the WR depth portion, I had way too many refs. Try and limit yourself to no more than Ten books max-you wont have time to look in more anyway.

10. Follow the procedure. Check your units. Believe in yourself. Good luck.

Very nice, thanks Zizu.  My humble 2 cents:

1.)  This is a great recommendation that I rarely hear anyone mention.  Very good advice.  Take all of the typical formulas you regularly use, and solve them for every other variable in the equation.  For instance, if a common formula you find yourself using a lot while studying is A = B^2 + C, then on your cheat sheet, also have C = A - B^2 and B = (A - C)^1/2.  Trust me.

2.)  In my opinion a dedicated anything book is not needed for the AM.  CERM and All in One should be enough.

3.)  This general advice is successfully used by many and you are absolutely right, time management is a must.  But, my slight twist recommendation on this is to not 'waste' a first pass.  On the first pass, I suggest answering the 'slam dunks' and guessing the 'impossibles' as you are marking the others easy, medium, hard.  Then on pass two, you hit the easys, pass three the mediums, etc.  If time allows at the end, you can always attempt the previously guessed impossibles. 

4.)  It's not good advice to use the bathroom and waste time but during my exams (FE AM/PM, PE AM/PM), I just had to take a little breather and get up to collect my thoughts and take a deep breath so I asked to go to the bathroom.  The better advice is to probably not waste bathroom time.   

5.)  Check

6.)  Holy cr@p, are you serious???! 

7.)  Check

8.)  Agree.  It's way better to have less references that you know well than to have a whole bunch of references you have never opened.

9.)  See #8. 

10.)  Check.   

 

[Audi Driver P.E.]

Ok Guys, just wanted to put the most important things that helped me pass the PE on here, anyone else feel free to chip in. I took the Civil-Water Resources Exam

2. A Geotech book is a must for the morning-just trust me on this one. 

9. For the WR depth portion, I had way too many refs. Try and limit yourself to no more than Ten books max-you wont have time to look in more anyway.

.

Obviously these aren't generic recommendations.  A Geotech book?  Would have been completely useless to me.  And I sat next to a transportation guy that had a stack of books as tall as he was (about 6 foot) and he went through just about every book.  After the exam he told me he wished he'd brought a couple more references because the codes are spread across so many different books and most of it (according to him) was lookup.

 

[Ken PE 3.1]

On 6/28/2016 at 9:25 PM, Ken PE 3.0 said: My Do's and Dont's: 1. Do pass

2. Don't fail

I hate tapatalk

your signature ruined this post.

How so?

I hate tapatalk

 

[NJmike PE]

On 6/28/2016 at 9:25 PM, Ken PE 3.0 said: My Do's and Dont's: 1. Do pass

2. Don't fail

I hate tapatalk

your presence ruined this post.

Fixt

 

[Ken PE 3.1]

On 6/28/2016 at 9:25 PM, Ken PE 3.0 said: My Do's and Dont's: 1. Do pass 2. Don't fail

I hate tapatalk

matt ruined this post.

Fixt

Fixt

I hate tapatalk

 

[matt267 PE]

Keep me out of this.

 

[smahurin]

Obviously these aren't generic recommendations.  A Geotech book?  Would have been completely useless to me. 

I agree, as I said earlier, the only thing I used was the CERM in the AM civil portion.  While some people might find it nice to have additional references for the AM portion, the questions themselves are mostly simpler one-step questions that lend themselves to the use of a single basic reference (Ala CERM or other similar reference).  Personally even if I had brought a geotech reference (or transpo, or hydraulics, or any other reference for the AM) I wouldn't have had a clue where to look and would have taken me forever.  I don't want to overgeneralize, as everyone will have their own thought process and study methods, but I suspect alot of issues some have with the PE are due to overthinking or overcomplicating the questions.  I'm not saying the questions or exam are easy, but the questions are usually simple in nature (figure that one out!).  Read the question, jump to the most appropriate equation in the CERM, plug your **** in, and move on to the next question.  I personally would think having separate detailed references for each of the AM components (transpo, hydraulics, hydrology, geo, estimating, structural, etc) would eat up a crap ton of time searching through stuff.  Again, that's not to say the exam questions are easy, but they generally are relatively simple.  In the Civil AM portion if you're having to use multiple equations or going through a complex or convoluted multi-step process, there's a pretty good chance you're over-complicating the problem.  As I mentioned before, there were a few questions when I took the exam that could even be solved by straight unit cancellation.  

Its sort of conter-intuitive but the less you think on the PE, I think the better off you're going to be.  Trying to think can get you in trouble.  Sometimes its good to be a simpleton!