Passed Civil PE - Transportation CBT - 2nd Attempt - Here's my Advice

[Kashybobashy]

​

After taking both Paper & Pencil in April 2021 and CBT in Feb 2022 I believe they are making the exam more representative of the style of questions they put in the NCEES Practice Exam. I paid for EET on demand depth course for Transportation but I barely watched any of the videos for this course so personally it didnt really help me at all, it could be helpful but I am not sure since I didnt really use the course.
The Pearson Center I was at was small only like 15 computers, and theres other types of examinees there. As far I as I knew I was the only PE Examinee. Other people were social working, nursing, etc.
They give you 8 hours total. Your allowed breaks to use the bathroom or access food/water in your locker at any point but your timer doesn't stop. You get one optional planned break for 50 minutes after finishing the first section and your able to take as little of that 50 minutes as you want and then go back into the exam. During this break your allowed to go to car, access your phone etc. The morning section you use however much time you want. ( I used 3 hrs 30 minutes). Then the afternoon section is whatever time you have left ( I had 4 hrs 30 mins). My exam had 35 questions in the AM and 45 questions in the PM. I believe I had just enough time to work through all the problems without feeling rushed and then both sections had 30 minutes to go back and review the questions I flagged and used 100% of my time.
At the end of both sections they bring you to a review screen to click on any questions you flagged and they also notify you if theres any questions you didnt answer. AM portion I had maybe 5 questions I was unsure of and PM I had maybe 8-10 I was unsure of.
I started studying about 4 weeks before my exam because I realized after taking the PE the first time around and failing, that studying too early I forgot things that I learned 2 months prior. It was best to have everything fresh in my mind. I took my exam on a Saturday and Mon-Thursday that week I took a practice exam every day. Friday I looked over stuff and the different codes to just have engineering on the mind without exhausting myself.
I bought a lot of practice exams but in in my opinion the best books available for studying were and style of questions were most representative were these books all purchased on AMAZON:
*NOTE* While doing practice problems, have all of the required codes in PDF form so you get used to using them and the NCEES reference manual. You can find PDFs of most of them on SCRIBD.
HCM, AASHTO GREENBOOK, Highway Safety Manual, MUTCD, AASHTO Roadside Design Guide - These are the most important. The rest of the required codes have only a few questions.

BREADTH:
"NCEES PE CIVIL : TRANSPORTATION PRACTICE EXAM"
"Path to PE Services: CIVIL PE PRACTICE EXAM CBT BREADTH (Updated 11/21)"
"Civil PE Practice: CIVIL ENGINEERING PE PRACTICE EXAMS A & B"
"Civil PE Practice: CIVIL ENGINEERING PE PRACTICE EXAM C"

DEPTH:
"NCEES PE CIVIL : TRANSPORTATION PRACTICE EXAM"
"Path to PE Services: CIVIL PE PRACTICE EXAM TRANSPORTATION DEPTH"
"PPI: TRANSPORTATION DEPTH SIX MINUTE PROBLEMS FOR THE CIVIL PE EXAM" - This book was good to help me learn the transportation depth problems, I worked through every problem and how to do each one and it was a really good way to learn how to do the depth portion of the exam as I had no Transportation Engineering experience.

 

[LAMEngineer]

Congratulations, and thank you for the feedback! very helpful for those of us preparing for the exam. Interesting that there were a different amount of questions in the AM/PM sessions, have not heard that before. Will be useful for timing! How did you feel about the alternative question types?

 

[zachmccormick33]

I started studying about 4 weeks before my exam

I've started studying in January and my exam isn't until May 2022 and I'm still very nervous about whether or not I'll be prepared.

 

[CharlieHotel47_CE_WER]

Can you confirm you had more than in reference manual via PDF? I see on the website that only the CERM is provided via PDF but with transportation I feel like there should be more PDFs available.

also… did each question had a link for the reference or where to find the material? Or was it one click to access everything available with the hopes that control F Is your friend that day.
Thanks for all the info. Cheers

 

[LAMEngineer]

Can you confirm you had more than in reference manual via PDF? I see on the website that only the CERM is provided via PDF but with transportation I feel like there should be more PDFs available.

also… did each question had a link for the reference or where to find the material? Or was it one click to access everything available with the hopes that control F Is your friend that day.
Thanks for all the info. Cheers

Hi there,

The NCEES PE Civil Handbook Version 1.1 will be provided during the exam, it is free through NCEES. In the first few pages the PE civ handbook outlines how the CBT tests will be conducted.
"In addition to the PE Civil Reference Handbook, the exam will include searchable PDF versions of codes and standards. A
list of the material that will be included in your exam is shown on the exam specifications. Any additional material required
for the solution of a particular exam question will be included in the question itself. You will not be allowed to bring
personal copies of any material into the exam room. "


Looks like transportation has quite a few references;
AASHTO A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets, 7th edition, 2018
GDHS-7 (including October 2019 errata), American Association of State Highway &
Transportation Officials, Washington, D.C., www.transportation.org.
AASHTO Guide for Design of Pavement Structures, 4th edition, 1993 with 1998
GDPS-4-M supplement, American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials,
Washington, D.C., www.transportation.org.
AASHTO Guide for the Planning, Design, and Operation of Pedestrian Facilities,
GPF-1 1st edition, 2004, American Association of State Highway & Transportation
Officials, Washington, D.C., www.transportation.org.
AASHTO Highway Safety Manual, 1st edition, 2010, with 2014 Supplement
HSM-1 (including September 2010, February 2012, and March 2016 errata), American
Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials, Washington, D.C.,
www.transportation.org.
AASHTO Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide: A Manual of Practice,
MEPDG-2 2nd edition, August 2015, American Association of State Highway &
Transportation Officials, Washington, D.C., www.transportation.org.
AASHTO Roadside Design Guide, 4th edition, 2011 (including February 2012 and
RSDG-4 July 2015 errata), American Association of State Highway & Transportation
Officials, Washington, D.C., www.transportation.org.
FHWA HIF-12-026 Hydraulic Design of Highway Culverts, Hydraulic Design Series
Number 5, 3rd edition, April 2012, U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal
Highway Administration, Washington, D.C., www.fhwa.dot.gov.
HCM Highway Capacity Manual (Volumes 1–4), 6th edition, 2016, Transportation
Research Board, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., www.mytrb.org.
MUTCD Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways, 2009,
including Revisions 1 and 2 dated May 2012, U.S. Department of Transportation,
Federal Highway Administration, Washington, D.C., www.mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov.

 

[phil_n]

are you selling your transportation depth practice problems? or have the links from SCRIBD available for download?

PPI: TRANSPORTATION DEPTH SIX MINUTE PROBLEMS FOR THE CIVIL PE EXAM

Thanks,

 

[Goforit]

​

After taking both Paper & Pencil in April 2021 and CBT in Feb 2022 I believe they are making the exam more representative of the style of questions they put in the NCEES Practice Exam. I paid for EET on demand depth course for Transportation but I barely watched any of the videos for this course so personally it didnt really help me at all, it could be helpful but I am not sure since I didnt really use the course.
The Pearson Center I was at was small only like 15 computers, and theres other types of examinees there. As far I as I knew I was the only PE Examinee. Other people were social working, nursing, etc.
They give you 8 hours total. Your allowed breaks to use the bathroom or access food/water in your locker at any point but your timer doesn't stop. You get one optional planned break for 50 minutes after finishing the first section and your able to take as little of that 50 minutes as you want and then go back into the exam. During this break your allowed to go to car, access your phone etc. The morning section you use however much time you want. ( I used 3 hrs 30 minutes). Then the afternoon section is whatever time you have left ( I had 4 hrs 30 mins). My exam had 35 questions in the AM and 45 questions in the PM. I believe I had just enough time to work through all the problems without feeling rushed and then both sections had 30 minutes to go back and review the questions I flagged and used 100% of my time.
At the end of both sections they bring you to a review screen to click on any questions you flagged and they also notify you if theres any questions you didnt answer. AM portion I had maybe 5 questions I was unsure of and PM I had maybe 8-10 I was unsure of.
I started studying about 4 weeks before my exam because I realized after taking the PE the first time around and failing, that studying too early I forgot things that I learned 2 months prior. It was best to have everything fresh in my mind. I took my exam on a Saturday and Mon-Thursday that week I took a practice exam every day. Friday I looked over stuff and the different codes to just have engineering on the mind without exhausting myself.
I bought a lot of practice exams but in in my opinion the best books available for studying were and style of questions were most representative were these books all purchased on AMAZON:
*NOTE* While doing practice problems, have all of the required codes in PDF form so you get used to using them and the NCEES reference manual. You can find PDFs of most of them on SCRIBD.
HCM, AASHTO GREENBOOK, Highway Safety Manual, MUTCD, AASHTO Roadside Design Guide - These are the most important. The rest of the required codes have only a few questions.

BREADTH:
"NCEES PE CIVIL : TRANSPORTATION PRACTICE EXAM"
"Path to PE Services: CIVIL PE PRACTICE EXAM CBT BREADTH (Updated 11/21)"
"Civil PE Practice: CIVIL ENGINEERING PE PRACTICE EXAMS A & B"
"Civil PE Practice: CIVIL ENGINEERING PE PRACTICE EXAM C"

DEPTH:
"NCEES PE CIVIL : TRANSPORTATION PRACTICE EXAM"
"Path to PE Services: CIVIL PE PRACTICE EXAM TRANSPORTATION DEPTH"
"PPI: TRANSPORTATION DEPTH SIX MINUTE PROBLEMS FOR THE CIVIL PE EXAM" - This book was good to help me learn the transportation depth problems, I worked through every problem and how to do each one and it was a really good way to learn how to do the depth portion of the exam as I had no Transportation Engineering experience.

Congratulations!
Is the CERM provided in the exam easy to use? Also, is it exactly the same as the one available on NCEES website for download? I heard that in the Breadth Session you don't have many equations handy so need to either memorize or know them well. Wondering if that's true?

 

[sm3191]

I am looking into the Transportation specific. I noticed i couldn't find a few of the equations, and A LOT of them are not in the civil reference handbook. Does anyone know where exactly simple curve, station finding questions are located?

 

[CharlieHotel47_CE_WER]

I am looking into the Transportation specific. I noticed i couldn't find a few of the equations, and A LOT of them are not in the civil reference handbook. Does anyone know where exactly simple curve, station finding questions are located?

PE reference manual doesn't have all the equations and you won't find the in other reference manuals. Best thing you can do is do as many practice problems as you can. After doing so many, it because really easy to remember the equations not listed in the manual.

You should have a working copy PDF of the PE reference manual, I made notes on the PDF of equations not listed. After a while and plenty of practice, I had them memorized. Not ideal for a test that requires familiarity with over 12 manuals but its not impossible. Here are some snips of the kind of notes I added to the manual, just to help me memorize the equations since you won't have access to your own manual during the test. good luck. Cheers