Preference on Exam

[Soma0013]

I'm curious what people think is the best PE Depth Exam for me. A couple things to Not Going over the CERM, I'm roughly able to do half of the first sections I've stated, for Transportation, Geo, And Fluids, But haven't done much in depth.  Also I'm having to teach myself how it's done. For my Work experience is below.

For my first company I was hired to do entry level engineering Under one  (only one there) PE at the company,  where all I had time to do was draft what he threw on my desk, yes I tried to teach myself and asked questions but never really got an answer other than just make the changes I said, 1.5 years. For my second I was hired for the entry to engineering , but both engineers hired under false pretenses in my mind for sending me out to survey on my first day and never doing engineering. I brought up the fact that I'm willing to learn and work inside the office, which lead to  doing basic subdivisions with splitting up land and adding houses, streets, underground piping, detention ponds, rain gardens, pretty much general civil of everything, but still required to survey everyday. While looking for new work was laid off  again 1.5 year. Third company was doing soil testing and identifying for an soi; engineering/construction firm 8 months. to Currently where I'm again doing subdivisions above and more in depth geotechnical work.  The problem I'm looing at now is at my current company we don't do half of what's on the PE depth Exam, keep in mind I recently looked this up and came here.  Looing at the other exams, Structures is not happening, construction maybe the first sections or two, Hydro is 2-3 sections, transportation and geo I feel the 3-5 sections in the PM depth Exam. I also don't think waiting more time for experience will help 1. because my company doesn't cover all the topics. and 2. in order to get to those jobs you must have experience in them already.

 

[Ranger1316]

It sounds like you’ve primarily dealt with Land Development and Geotechnical. Most of the land development guys at my company take Water Resources but I’ve heard extensively about how hard it is so I would rule that out unless that’s what you want to focus on. You could do Transportation if you become or are intimate with the design standards. Would your current company provide/buy the design standards? If not, that would be an expensive endeavor on top of taking a review course. I completely agree on not even considering Structural.

With that said, I’d recommend Geotechnical since you’re doing in depth work currently and you’ve had prior experience. Ultimately, do the one you’re most comfortable with/want to focus in your career. Good luck

 

[john813_PE]

I took the WRE and I do Land Development. 

Water and Wastewater design/quality etc was tough to study for/on the test, due to not having any meaningful experience in the topics on the test but the hydraulics and hydrology was stuff I was at least familiar with. 

I went in with the mindset of acing the AM and the PM Hydraulics/Hydrology part and pray I get 50% right on the W/WW section. 

Think that worked out. 

Assume you have reviewed the topics in the NCEES guidelines between both WRE and Geo and are still stuck? 

IMO buy some practice tests/official NCEES practice tests for both and see which one you feel more comfortable in the PM.

 

[Soma0013]

I have thought about those that you two talked about, thanks for your feedback.

 

[Mo84]

Generally speaking, passing the PE exam has more to do with time management and the strategy followed to prepare before, and answering questions during the test. When I was deciding which depth to go with, I narrowed down my options to code free depths, Geotech and WRE, as I simply did not have the time to go over all the reference books listed for the other three depths. Also, Chances were that I would have ended up wasting a lot of time during the test going over codes that I knew I was not confident/familiar with.

So I had two options to choose from. Geotech or WRE. 

I eventually picked WRE because I found the topics to be more controllable and less tricky than that of Geotech and also because of the fact that the majority of test takers go with the WRE depth with slightly higher pass rates. I took the test and passed first time. The test was not easy but I was prepared. I used CERM 2015, EET morning binder, Youtube videos, Goswami practice tests and some random notes I found online.

But remember, the only person who truly knows which depth is best for you, is you. I would sign up for a class for both the morning and whichever depth you'll end up with. Good luck