Practice Exam Resources

[kidroach]

I'm planning to take the Civil - Structural PE Exam this October, and I have been studying like crazy (been studying since May / June this year).  It will be my first time taking the exam and despite having read through this forum on people's experiences with the exam, I still don't know what to expect.

I started by reading through the CERM to prepare myself for the AM section, and I feel like I have a pretty good sense of the morning session and did pretty well on the practice exams.  I've also been going through the PM practice exams and with less than 1-month left, I'd like to get feedback on specific exam resources that I should practice on.  These are the practice exam materials I plan to use / have been using:

• 2014 NCEES Exam (AM & PM):
  These are the first ones I did back in July and were fairly easy... I got a pretty good score and did pretty well (30 ish?) on the AM despite taking about 2.5 hours to complete.
  
• 2014 Lindeburg Practice Exam (AM & PM):
  These are pretty great, not easy but I can understand most of the references. Didn't time myself to do them though as I would just fail if I do that.
  
• 2012 Goswami Practice Exam (AM & 2x PM):
   lot of people commented that these are the most reflective of the actual exam.  I timed myself on the AM and they took the full 4-hours, but I did 30-ish I think. The first PM exam was brutal so I didn't time myself (I think I still need some studying on my PM).  Planning to time myself for the second PM exam this coming weekend though
  
• 2014 Subasic Structural 6 Mins Sols (20x Structural AM, 80x Structural PM):
  Holy crap! These are tough questions! She goes into VERY small details on each problems!!!  I learned a ton from these problems, but there's NO WAY that they take 6 mins.  I thought I was familiar with ACI, AISC and ASCE already but I couldn't remember ACI having details on footing rebar distribution, shear wall rebar limits, etc.  It seems that she has a background in Masonry, so the masonry questions are also very tough.  I learned a lot about wood connections too.  I have been going through these problems for 2 weeks and about 75% complete now... I was going through them last weekend, and only managed to complete about 15 questions through the weekend (a good 10 to 15-hour study session)
  
• 2014 Giancaspro Structural Depth Practice Exam (2x PM):
  Starting on this right after the Goswami practice exam to gauge myself
  

Once I"m done with the Giancaspro, I am pretty much out of materials to study though!! Any other references / practice problems that anyone here could recommend doing within the 1-month that we have?

I thought about going through the study sessions, but I thought I'll try it out this first time and if I fail - I'll bite the bullet and pay for the expensive study sessions...

I also intend to bring the materials prescribed by NCEES (IBC, ASCE, ACI, AISC, Masonry and NDS Wood), and the Civil Engineering Reference Manual + the Structural Engineering Reference Manual.  I was planning to skip AASHTO, PCI and OSHA, but rethinking my decision on the OSHA one...

 

[kidroach]

I ended up taking a look at the OSHA regulations and found them available here: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/cfr/2016/title29/subtitleB/chapterXVII

The Civil - Structural list from NCEES only listed the following:

• 1910 subpart A (General), D (Walking-Working Surfaces), and F (Powered Platforms, Manlifts, and Vehicle-Mounted Work Platforms)
  
• 1926 subpart E (PPE and Life Saving Equipment), M (Fall Protection), Q (Concrete and Masonry Construction), and R (Steel Erection).
  

I thought the CERM covered CC (Cranes), and P (Excavations) too, at the very least.  Do you guys advice that I print these materials or is it strictly based on the NCEES list?  I guess I don't mind bringing more papers just that it will get more confusing

 

[ads0221]

Bring OSHA, it may be a look up question that you wish you had printed.

If you don't have access to it pm me and I'll forward you what I have.

I agree AAHSTO and PCI were 1-2 questions max.

 

[kidroach]

I just printed the relevant sections of OSHA, and I ended up printing the Cranes & Excavation sections simply because they are covered in the Construction portion of CERM.

Also, my AISC is the black book (13th) edition, and I understand the biggest change from this is the end connection / bolt shear capacity that has been "increased" by about 16.7%.  I was reading around, and they changed the connection factor from 0.75 in AISC 13th to 0.9 in AISC 14th which resulted in the increase in Fnv in Table J3.2.  I am debating on whether to buy the new version of AISC just to be safe?

 

[A-Aron F]

Hello. Feel free to DM me if  you would like to exchange some studying or practice exam materials.

 

[MrEngineer2020]

Hey guys, I just wanna say good luck to all. If you need any study material such as School of PE, EET or other resources for Civil PE Structural, please drop me a message and let me know. 

Good luck!!