Preparing for the Water Resources depth

[tmckeon_PE]

Preparing for the PM Water Resources Depth

This topic will cover the the nuts and bolts of preparing for Water Resources Depth exam. Some of the key elements in the preparation process include:

1. How to plan for Water Resources Depth

- Required Reference Materials List

- Optional Reference Materials List

- Topics of focus and alloted effort

- Additional topics to be covered for extra points

2. Study Schedule

- 15-Week Program starting Thursday from exam date

- Focussed weekly study schedule

- Input format/postings

- Countdown Timer to the exam

3. Water Resources Depth Reference Material/Problems

- Establish links to existing reference material

- Link to space for additional material

- Suggested focused study per topic w/listed ref

4. Problems on Eng Board

- Share problems by topic/weekly

- Provide solutions/discussion/answers

5. Practice Exams

- How many to take

- Post a complete Practice Exam/Exams

- Grading Performance/Areas to improve

6. Exam Day Preparation

- Sleep/Rest Schedule

- References to take/Consolidated list

- Other Suggestions

Please provide input and suggestions to improve the structure or whatever works for the to-be users.

NOTE: Special thanks to PhillyEngr for providing the basic outline in the Geotech prep area.

Due to time constraints, I am asking for a lot of help with this thread. Feel free to offer problems, solutions, advice, ideas or anything else you find useful.

 

[tmckeon_PE]

I really do want and need some others to participate if this is going to work. I am trying to start a new company and still trying to help out the company I was doing all my work for.

Those that have passed. I ask you to step up to the plate and offer something (scheduling, problems, etc.). April is coming quickly.

:true:

 

[jfusilloPE]

Here is some useful information that I got from a review class and used for the Civil/WR Exam. I wrote these into my CERM for quick reference.

Hydraulic Jump:

Head Dissipated, Head = d1 + v1^2/2g – d2 – v2^2/2g

Time of Concentration:

Kirpich Equation: Tc = (0.0078) x L^0.77 / S^0.385

Where L = length, feet and S = slope

Flood Probability:

Pf = 1 – (-1) x (1-R)^(1/n) x 100

Where R = acceptable risk and n = period of interest

R = % / 100

Unit Hydrograph:

Qp / Qh = Qo / Qt

Where: Qp = peak discharge

Qh = hydrograph peak discharge

Qo = measured peak discharge

Qt = hydrograph discharge at time, t

Mixers and Mixing:

Paddle Area = (# of shafts) x (# of paddles per shaft) x (paddle width) x (paddle length)

• paddle area is in square feet

BOD

BOD Loading Rate = (0.20 lbm/day x person) x (# people per home) x (# of homes)

BOD = DOi – DOf / (Vsampale / Vtotal)

Where DOi = initial DO

DOf = final DO *

Vsample = volume of sample

Vtotal = total volume (typically 300 mL unless given)

* Range for DOf : 2.0 mg/L – 7.0 mg/L, disregard using any DOf outside of this range

Composting:

Nutrients required:

C (carbon)

N (nitrogen)

P (phosphorus)

K (potassium)

Ca (calcium)

Fe (iron)

B (boron)

Cu (copper)

composting/nutrient ration for composting is 30/1

O2 is required for composting

Fungi is the most important microorganism in composting

 

[ktulu]

good stuff, jfusillo...

I recognize some of those equations from the 6-min solutions, WR

helpful, nonetheless....multiple locations = higher probablility for possible test question? JMO

ktulu

 

[Government Engineer]

I'm new to the boards and it doesn't appear I can post my own topic, so I'll start off here and if I'm off base, hopefully the moderator will give me some direction.

I'm a Civil Engineer trying to decide which depth portion I should plan to take. I'm also trying to devise a strategy to prepare myself for the exam.

I have worked in City, State, and Federal government in the 10 years since I've graduated (Dec 1996) and done very little design. I've done some plan review and a lot of administration. I've also had a number of jobs working for the Water Resources section of a state environmental department, the highway section of a state DOT, and most recently as a staff engineer for a medium sized City. Of my 10 years out of school, I've spent the better part of the last 4 being called up to active duty as a member of the National Guard. As you can see, my engineering skills are not very fresh. And being honest with myself, I wasn't exactly God's gift to engineering in school.

I took the PE unsuccessfully back in 2000. I do not believe I prepared properly and didn't put in enough study time. I've already forgotten most of whatever I knew then. So, I guess I'm starting from a clean slate. At the time, I took the environmental depth portion since I had taken a couple environmental related grad courses (hydrology & hazardous waste management). It was also one of the areas I was most interested in. I'll put my score breakdown at the bottom of this posting, although at this point I'm not sure it is very relevant.

On the positive side, I'm a well organized person and consider myself to be a good test taker. I also consider the multiple choice format to be to my advantage. On the down side, I do need some structure to keep myself going and I'm 1 1/2 hours from the nearest review course. I question if 3 hours each week in the car would be better spent studying. Right now I'm thinking I need to take a shot at studying on my own or perhaps participating in an online review program (if such a thing exists).

A friend of mine, with a similar career progression, told me he chose water resources because he felt it presented the easiest material to grasp starting from scratch. He is a bridge engineer and now has the title of PE. If I had to pick without any help, I think I'd lean towards either environmental or water resources.

So, given that I'm probably starting with a nearly clean slate, can anyone make an argument for me to take one particular depth section over another?

And, can anyone make some suggestions on a plan of study -- number of hours, number of weeks prior to the exam to begin, best materials, online self-paced programs, etc?

Right now, I'm looking to take the exam in Oct 07. I'll submit my packet sometime around March.

Here is the breakdown from my first PE attempt (percent correct):

Breadth: Env 88, Geo 63, Str 63, Trans 63, WR 25

Depth: Wastewater 50, Bio 63, Haz Waste 40, GrdWtr 40, Geo 75, WR 40

 

[Guest]

And, can anyone make some suggestions on a plan of study -- number of hours, number of weeks prior to the exam to begin, best materials, online self-paced programs, etc?
Right now, I'm looking to take the exam in Oct 07. I'll submit my packet sometime around March.

Here is the breakdown from my first PE attempt (percent correct):

Breadth: Env 88, Geo 63, Str 63, Trans 63, WR 25

Depth: Wastewater 50, Bio 63, Haz Waste 40, GrdWtr 40, Geo 75, WR 40

First let me welcome you to the board Government Engineer

Reading over your post it sounds like your career, and mine, are very similar. I graduated in December 1996 and have worked in government agencies for the entirety of my professional career. I took the Civil PE Exam (Env Depth) three times missing the score by one point

and then passing this past october taking the WR Depth.

IMHO, with the right references and proper preparation, I think WR is the best way to go. :BS: Since you are not taking the exam until October 2007 you have plenty of time to pick up reference materials. :th_rockon: There are more threads here that speak to reference materials - study schedules and topics to hit well are still being updated. Keep posting questions and they will get updated :appl:

If you are looking for the best investment on time and money - I would recommend the Chelapati Workbooks. I found these books very helpful in organizing my materials and focusing my study to the pertinent subjects. They also contained numerous 'realistic' PE types of problems and useful charts, table, figures, etc. These materials can be found at Chelapati Manuals and select PE Exam Manuals link on the right-hand side of the screen. I would also recommend the Six-Minute Solutions Series even though I think :"the other board": - actually I think the materials are great, the forum over there just isn't very helpful or user friendly.

It sounds like you have started off right by registering with this forum arty-smiley-048: - there is a lot of exam taking experience amonst the regulars here. The moderators and most of the members are very helpful. I think after you post a few more messages you will able to start your own threads, so keep posting and asking questions.

I am keeping this post short, because I have been known to ramble - I don't want to scare you off

. I can add-on to my recommendations in a follow-up thread.

Best of luck in your exam preparation.

JR

JR

 

[ktulu]

Gov't Engineer-

First off, let me say thank you for your service to this country. A few people here have served as well, so you have companions here in that regard as well....

I second everything JR stated in his post. Myself, I have "Not Passed" the exam on three tries and am prepping for April. The Chelapati manuals are a very good starting point. I received the Geotech manual two weeks ago, scanned through it, and recognized SEVERAL questions that were very similar to ones I saw on the last exam. Also, make your own study guide from worked problems during your studies, scanning in charts, tables, assumed values, things that you can quickly get to; I found this helpful already in this go round....

Last thing - don't be a stranger to this board. The people here WANT you to pass. IMO, they get satisfaction out of knowing fellow members succeed....

ktulu

 

[Road Guy]

welcome Govt Engineer, you can post your own topics after 2 posts, sorry but we have been getting killed by some spam bots, we put a man on the moon 40 years ago but we cant do nothing for these spam bots but hurt our new members.

I will give a better answer when its not 1:00 AM, but I have had several people tell me that the best PM section if you have little design experience is the WR. If you can get your hand on the Testmasters Notes (they are around, I keep meaning to scan mine as well) but the notes from the WR section was so good I (A transportation guy) serioulsy cotemplated taking the WR PM section. Jsfullios notes are fairly dead on, the thing that would scare me would be the wastewater design & ENV.

Get those 6 minute solutions books for all your PM discipline sections.

They say that Transportation used to be considered the easiest PM section and a lot of people took it who were not transportation, so ncees made the TRA section harder to keep people from doing that as much.

The 1st time around I didnt study as much as I should, the second time around, I used some similar Army OCS "mind tricks" ignored TV, cheated my work a little where I could and study, I ditched my PT program, basically wrote the family off for 3 months, probably had an honest 175 hours for the second attempt.

 

[tmckeon_PE]

Government Engineer,

Of course anyone can post there suggestions for plan of study. I will try to help as best I can, but, I am hoping for a lot of help.

Thanks.

 

[Walterpaytonlives]

New to Boards, thanks all for helpful info, would like to hear those who may have info addressing some things Tom mentioned above, specifically

under:

1. How to plan for Water Resources Depth - Topics of focus and alloted effort

2. Study Schedule

Basically, are there things to really focus on within WR, or will the exam probably be a crap shoot in terms of what will appear?

Thanks again for everyones input.

 

[Road Guy]

take a good look at the WR Afternoon Sheet that NCEES provides (The one with the "suggested" test topics)

there are several sections to that one page sheet (its also in the CERM) PLan out a way to hit all the topics on that piece of paper that NCEES gives you for starters, there is some good info on that one sheet alone of what to study.