S.E exam books

[David Connor SE]

There are not a whole lot of significant changes between the 6th and 7th edition.

The biggest one I can think of off the top of my head is the steel resistance factor for tension only went from 0.9 to 0.95.  David Conner’s book, I believe, highlights all of the changes.  This is a must have book for both building and bridge people.

There are significant changes between 7th and 8th.  So if you have to choose between 6th and 8th, go with 6th. 

Yeah, AASHTO 6th and 7th editions changes are fairly minor. You could probably get away with using the 6th on the exam, BUT, they have been known to ask questions where if you use an older code the answer is there, but it is incorrect since you are using the old code.  The 8th edition has numerous changes.  Biggest change is how wind pressures are determined now, which now closely follows how they are determined for buildings. 

 

[DoctorWho-PE]

There are not a whole lot of significant changes between the 6th and 7th edition.

The biggest one I can think of off the top of my head is the steel resistance factor for tension only went from 0.9 to 0.95.  David Conner’s book, I believe, highlights all of the changes.  This is a must have book for both building and bridge people.

There are significant changes between 7th and 8th.  So if you have to choose between 6th and 8th, go with 6th. 

Yeah, AASHTO 6th and 7th editions changes are fairly minor. You could probably get away with using the 6th on the exam, BUT, they have been known to ask questions where if you use an older code the answer is there, but it is incorrect since you are using the old code.  The 8th edition has numerous changes.  Biggest change is how wind pressures are determined now, which now closely follows how they are determined for buildings. 

Current plan, since our other bridge office has had thier AASHTO walk off with a former employee, is to take 6th and print the changed articles from the 7th, there are not that many of them like you mentioned.

 

[jmm7200]

Yeah, AASHTO 6th and 7th editions changes are fairly minor. You could probably get away with using the 6th on the exam, BUT, they have been known to ask questions where if you use an older code the answer is there, but it is incorrect since you are using the old code.  The 8th edition has numerous changes.  Biggest change is how wind pressures are determined now, which now closely follows how they are determined for buildings. 

Yes, the wind changed unfortunately.  I really hope that this is as far as it goes, and does not go even closer to the building wind, which is way too confusing.  

The other large changes from 7th to 8th are the development lengths and plate girder splice designs.  Based on my previous attempts at the SE, the development length is a very common multiple choice question.  

 

[davab]

How many hours do you guys study per week when studying for both vertical and lateral?

I am able to put in about 10 to 15 hours and I don't think it is enough.

Now about 8 weeks to go...

 

[DoctorWho-PE]

How many hours do you guys study per week when studying for both vertical and lateral?

I am able to put in about 10 to 15 hours and I don't think it is enough.

Now about 8 weeks to go...

I'm in 10 just for lateral, for the actual class, plus homeworks and such, so not as much as I would like, but it's what I can do right now.

 

[tj_PE]

I'm at about 10 right now as well, ramping up to ideally 16-20 for just vertical

 

[davab]

I'm at about 10 right now as well, ramping up to ideally 16-20 for just vertical

Good to know... I guess I need to ramp it up more for two... Argh

 

[tj_PE]

Good to know... I guess I need to ramp it up more for two... Argh

you might not depending on your experience! 

i'm incredibly terrible at exams and under pressure responses. 

 

[DoctorWho-PE]

you might not depending on your experience! 

i'm incredibly terrible at exams and under pressure responses. 

Same.  Sigh.  Right now i have a cold that is kicking my butt, which is not helping matters.

 

[tj_PE]

I'm thankful for the upcoming long weekend (if i can get all my work done, i'll have 4 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!) so i can catch up on studying but still have a day of laziness. 

 

[DoctorWho-PE]

I'm thankful for the upcoming long weekend (if i can get all my work done, i'll have 4 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!) so i can catch up on studying but still have a day of laziness. 

Nice!  My hubs is taking a 4 day this weekend.  Kinda jelly, since I get a 1 day, with class all day saturday.  

 

[Titleistguy]

This is a four day weekend???  Saaaaaaay what?? 

 

[AndieWoooooooo]

I'm at about 10 right now as well, ramping up to ideally 16-20 for just vertical

You mean per week? or in total? I would like to know how many hours you spent for each exam in addition to your review courses. thanks for your help.

 

[AndieWoooooooo]

Definitely split up the components. I took lateral first because it was easier to study for. Vertical has such broad base of questions that could be asked. 

Definitely the SEAOC IBC Seismic Design Manuals for lateral. Just study those and maybe take a review course and you should be OK for lateral. 

Follow the NCEES specs. for what to study.  Try not to stray off into subject matter that would probably not be covered by the exam. 

Hi David, I believe you are very proficient in Masonry design. could you tell me the differences between 2011 edition and 2013 editions of  Building code requirements and specifications for masonry structures? The current SE exam requires 2013 edition. do you think if it is ok to take edition 2011 since this is the only one I have now. Thanks.

 

[David Connor SE]

Hi David, I believe you are very proficient in Masonry design. could you tell me the differences between 2011 edition and 2013 editions of  Building code requirements and specifications for masonry structures? The current SE exam requires 2013 edition. do you think if it is ok to take edition 2011 since this is the only one I have now. Thanks.

Not sure where you heard I was proficient in masonry design, but I have done some masonry walls before.  .  Anyway, I don't know all of the differences between the 2011 and 2013 masonry code so I would bring the code that the test is based on. I have heard others say that they had questions before that if you had an older version of the code you could arrive at an answer in the multiple choices, but it would be wrong because you are using the old code.  Also, for the essay questions you need to site chapters and sections that you are using, and an old code may have a different section number, etc. 

 

[Titleistguy]

Buying the latest and greatest codes is part of the process here and even if you dont need them beyond the test its still nice to have bc you never know.

 

[AndieWoooooooo]

I do recommend PPI just for the sake of the one-on-one with the instructor and collaboration with classmates. Here are some things that helped me:

-Get all your books early and every time you study, lay them out on a desk the size of the testing desk. Put your books in the same place every time. The more you simulate how you will actually take the exam, the more comfortable you will feel. Personally, I separated into 4 stacks: materials (steel, concrete, timber, masonry), AASHTO, design codes (IBC/ASCE 7, etc.), everything else.

-Break up AASHTO into 4 sections: Ch. 1-4, Ch 5, Ch 6, everything else

-Make a binder with helpful cheat sheets. For example, I made a quick-reference for rebar development lengths.

-You need to study every chance you get. I took 1 week off for a vacation about midway through and studied about 400 hours total. You are going to sacrifice a lot of time, but your family and friends are also going to sacrifice time with you as well. Make sure to tell them upfront the commitment you are making. You don't want to have to retake the test and have them go through it again. (That was a big motivator for me)

-If you have a weakness, the test will exploit it. You need to know everything or at least where everything is located.

-Don't bring extra books that you don't need. You will just waste time thumbing through them.

-Make notes in all of the references. I drew pictures. I wrote what page number to go to instead of the section because it's quicker to find a page number. I made a chart of beta values for concrete. if a section called for iteration, I made a table when possible. Etc. Anything that saves you time and brain power will help.

-Leave time to study your weakest subject last. That way, it is the freshest in your mind. But you need to make sure you have enough time to study for it. For me, I left about 1 month.

Hi Man, did you pass the exams for buildings or bridges?

 

[dlegofan]

Hi Man, did you pass the exams for buildings or bridges?

I passed bridges.

 

[AndieWoooooooo]

I passed bridges.

Awesome. would you mind describing how the essays problems of bridges a little bit? Thanks

 

[dlegofan]

Awesome. would you mind describing how the essays problems of bridges a little bit? Thanks

Honestly, I think NCEES does a good job of explaining them. (Although I did not think so prior to the exam). The NCEES practice exam is extremely easy compared to the actual test. It's been well established that describing the actual problems is a bad idea, so I'll try to generalize them.

• You are going to have to draw something - whether that be rebar, welds, geometry, etc. 
  
• For lateral, there are only a select few sections of code that problems can be based from. (Wind and seismic requirements). Since there are not a lot of provisions, study all of those and draw pictures in your code of what the language is telling you to do.
  
• It's likely that there is an existing structure. Even the buildings afternoon will likely have an existing structure.
  
• You will have to calculate loads and use load paths.
  
• Don't expect anything that you would typically do in practice. That would be way too easy for the test.
  
• Think of the NCEES practice test but with much more advanced topics.
  

I really don't want to reveal too much more, but I hope this helps. I believe this is general enough to protect me but specific enough to elaborate on "other elements of bridges" as NCEES puts it.