New Practice Exam (Breadth) by Indranil Goswami

[civilized_naah]

A new 40 question practice (breadth only) exam written by Indranil Goswami will become available on Amazon around September 30th, 2016. Questions are all different from previously published (2012, 2014 and 2015) practice exams. They are also consistent with the latest official NCEES syllabus.  

 

[ptatohed]

A new 40 question practice (breadth only) exam written by Indranil Goswami will become available on Amazon around September 30th, 2016. Questions are all different from previously published (2012, 2014 and 2015) practice exams. They are also consistent with the latest official NCEES syllabus.  

Very nice.  There definitely has been a deficit of good, accurate AM sample exams ever since NCEES significantly modified their AM syllabus a few years ago. 

 

[ngmakhlo_PE]

SWEET! thank you for the heads up!

 

[geomane]

I'm definitely going to purchase this. His latest morning practice exams are pretty tough. For example, 2 weeks ago I took the NCEES morning practice exam and got 100%. This past weekend I took the 2nd Goswami morning exam and got 75%. Some of the material in that exam however is not covered in the syllabus.

I have read Goswami's exams are more difficult than the actual exam. Can anyone confirm this? 

 

[jijir83]

I have read Goswami's exams are more difficult than the actual exam. Can anyone confirm this? 

That's correct for the ones he has prior to September 2015.

I bought his revised practice exam for the test this past April (1 breath and 1 geotech) when it came out late last year. Those problems were definitely more in line with the exam and easier. However, I did practice a good number of the older problems. They helped with studying and figuring out where I was lacking (mostly little details I had forgotten). I think that's why the actual test went so fast. There was no doubt along the way after suffering through some of those harder problems and realizing what not to do. By the time I took the September practice test, it was a nice boost of confidence.

Good luck!

 

[geomane]

Should I purchase the one that came out September 2015, or just wait to get the new one? Or both?

 

[jijir83]

Should I purchase the one that came out September 2015, or just wait to get the new one? Or both?

You might be better off buying the new one if it's coming out soon and asking him how it differs from the September 2015 one. I got mine on amazon.

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[civilized_naah]

https://www.amazon.com/Breadth-Exam-2016-Indranil-Goswami/dp/1539098494/

 

[ngmakhlo_PE]

it's available now! just bought mine! woohoo!!

 

[civilized_naah]

I've gotta say, that's the most excitement generated by anything I have ever written.

 

[ngmakhlo_PE]

I've gotta say, that's the most excitement generated by anything I have ever written.

Haha! Any new practice problems I can work through gets me fired up I guess haha

 

[ngmakhlo_PE]

Just as an update-for what it is worth- I have worked through 27/40 of the practice problems from Goswami's new breadth practice exam, and per usual, the problems are pretty difficult, more difficult than what I am hoping to see on the exam, but they are VERY thought provoking and really test your true understanding of the subjects. What I am noticing is that each problem requires you to use 2-4 different equations or concepts in order to get to your final answer, rather than the 1-2 concepts/equations that you will typically see on the NCEES practice exam. I have been stubbing my toe pretty frequently on the problems which is nice because it forces me to think deeper about what is being asked. For a while there it seemed all the practice problems I was working on from other sources were not very challenging. Hope this helps!  

 

[geomane]

You got yours in pretty fast. Still waiting for mine to come in the mail.

I plan on taking it like a simulated exam and seeing how I do. I also plan to use a strategy such as working the easy problems first, then working the rest as I annotate them with an A, B, or C.

 

[ngmakhlo_PE]

Let me know how it goes for you, I was going to treat it as a simulated exam, but after 3-4 problems I realized pretty quickly that the level of difficulty seemed to exceed what the exam will look like so I have been treating it as more practice. I plan on using the EET simulated exam as my true reference for how well I am prepared and what I need to focus more on.

 

[geomane]

Let me know how it goes for you, I was going to treat it as a simulated exam, but after 3-4 problems I realized pretty quickly that the level of difficulty seemed to exceed what the exam will look like so I have been treating it as more practice. I plan on using the EET simulated exam as my true reference for how well I am prepared and what I need to focus more on.

Just finished the exam. It took me every second of the 4 hours too lol. I missed 5 total questions. 2 of the problems I missed however may need to be revised. The boring log question and the vibratory plate questions. I work at a geotechnical firm and review borings logs everyday. Moisture content is included as well as the USCS classification. The vibratory plate could go either way. They work very well on an SP material. The difference between the retention pond and detention pond question also may need to be re-worded. Retention ponds do not always hold water.

Overall I feel like it was a good practice exam however. I will take the 2015 version including the geotech in a few days.

 

[jijir83]

Is the new practice exam heavy on geotech concepts? Or is it heavy in any other subject that is not your specialty? His 2015 version I thought would still be harder than the exam. It turned out to be on the same level. There were two problems that were exactly the same and required 3 steps to get to the right answer. That's really common for soil phases and borrow material problems. So unless he's using a different approach with this exam (i.e., as hard as his old ones), then I'd treat it as actual exam level. It could be that you're not well versed enough in a subject so you think it's hard or too involved when it actually isn't. So be mindful of that.

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[ngmakhlo_PE]

Just finished the exam. It took me every second of the 4 hours too lol. I missed 5 total questions. 2 of the problems I missed however may need to be revised. The boring log question and the vibratory plate questions. I work at a geotechnical firm and review borings logs everyday. Moisture content is included as well as the USCS classification. The vibratory plate could go either way. They work very well on an SP material. The difference between the retention pond and detention pond question also may need to be re-worded. Retention ponds do not always hold water.

Overall I feel like it was a good practice exam however. I will take the 2015 version including the geotech in a few days.

Agreed in regards to the USCS classification on Boring logs, I review boring logs pretty frequently as well and after I got that question wrong I grabbed a spec book for one of my projects and sure enough the USCS classification was right there, however, I was not sure if that is STANDARD or just a convenience provided by most geotech firms.

 

[JGipe1]

Can anyone confirm that Problem AM005 has a typo? The load is 12000 pounds in the problem statement and not 20000 pounds as per what is shown in the solution.

Some of these problems are quite frustrating. I was working on that problem for over 15 minutes, thinking it should be easy, trying to figure out how I was not getting the right answer, so I had to look at the solution, and am pretty sure there is a typo.

I found the first 2 structures problems difficult, and the vibratory plate question was a toss up between SP and SM. I'm only halfway through the test now.

 

[cogborn84]

Thanks for the advice on this thread. I have the Goswami Transportation AM and PM 2015 ed. The AM portion kicked my butt, but I told myself that it must be harder than the actual exam... But after reading this thread it sounds like I might need to brush up on some of those concepts. All of my co-workers and associates have said the AM portion of the exam was really easy, so I have focused primarily on the PM portion. 

 

[JGipe1]

Can this booklet be brought into the exam? Or does it have to photocopied and put in a 3-ring binder?