SE 2-day

[*Ananda*]

Did you guys get lot of questions based on AASHTO in both morning sessions?

I can't say what I saw, but NCEES is very clear about you should expect to see. Click on the SE Exam Specification links. You'll see that AASHTO content and particular AASHTO are codes specified. You can further deduce from the NCEES Exam Specification info that AASHTO only makes up a fraction of the total content you need to prepare for.

NCEES also sells a book they advertise as "the equivalent of an entire 16-hour STRUCTURAL exam". I didn't count up the number of AASHTO questions in the book as a total of all questions but you could do that to see if it amounts to "a lot".

I took the buildings portion of the exam, since I focus more on buildings than bridges, and I wrote above in my earlier post what I found to be far the most difficult aspect of the exam.

 

[civilengineer75]

Did you guys get lot of questions based on AASHTO in both morning sessions?

I can't say what I saw, but NCEES is very clear about you should expect to see. Click on the SE Exam Specification links. You'll see that AASHTO content and particular AASHTO are codes specified. You can further deduce from the NCEES Exam Specification info that AASHTO only makes up a fraction of the total content you need to prepare for.

NCEES also sells a book they advertise as "the equivalent of an entire 16-hour STRUCTURAL exam". I didn't count up the number of AASHTO questions in the book as a total of all questions but you could do that to see if it amounts to "a lot".

I took the buildings portion of the exam, since I focus more on buildings than bridges, and I wrote above in my earlier post what I found to be far the most difficult aspect of the exam.

 

[civilengineer75]

I took both days of the SE exam. It was tiring but one can take both parts and be ok. I thought the vertical afternoon portion and the lateral morning were difficult. The vertical morning was easy and the lateral afternoon was easy. I would say do "study" but work problems. My friend and I spent too much time reviewing and not enough time doing. I will be surprised if I pass but you never know.

I wonder do the bridge questions carry equal weight if one takes the building portion or will building problems carry more weight? Anyone know? Also, I thought the amount of work we were asked to complete in four hours was nearly impossible. I am a PE and if a client said do these four designs and I will let you bill me for four hours then I would say "pound sand." I mean, we are too busy and have a nice day!

 

[McEngr]

I took both days of the SE exam. It was tiring but one can take both parts and be ok. I thought the vertical afternoon portion and the lateral morning were difficult. The vertical morning was easy and the lateral afternoon was easy. I would say do "study" but work problems. My friend and I spent too much time reviewing and not enough time doing. I will be surprised if I pass but you never know.
I wonder do the bridge questions carry equal weight if one takes the building portion or will building problems carry more weight? Anyone know? Also, I thought the amount of work we were asked to complete in four hours was nearly impossible. I am a PE and if a client said do these four designs and I will let you bill me for four hours then I would say "pound sand." I mean, we are too busy and have a nice day!

I believe that the multiple choice questions are equal weight. It would be a illogical to do otherwise - graders don't have hearts, they have minds... ).

And I completely agree with you on the afternoon questions, but there are plenty of construction issues, cost issues, and judgement issues that will never be calculated or quantified by those questions. I've taken the SE ii and iii and I think they do a decent job of testing competency. I don't believe competency is the total equation of a good engineer, but how else can we measure an engineer's ability without putting objectivity into it?

 

[jillhill]

1. Did people think the SERM was a good preparation, were there other really helpful books (my thought is SERM would not be good for Vertical)

2. Are there any good Review courses online? Webinars? Videos?

3. Anyone know when they are going to change the codes to the new Versions?

4.Anyone wish they would have just take one of the days instead of both?

Thinking about an attempt in Oct 2011

THanks,

 

[civilengineer75]

1. Did people think the SERM was a good preparation, were there other really helpful books (my thought is SERM would not be good for Vertical)
2. Are there any good Review courses online? Webinars? Videos?

3. Anyone know when they are going to change the codes to the new Versions?

4.Anyone wish they would have just take one of the days instead of both?

Thinking about an attempt in Oct 2011

THanks,

Here is what you need to pass:

1. Pencil and paper

2. Calculator

3. Lots of time spent with as many sample test problems your able to work

4. SERM

5. All of the design codes listed by NCEES

6. Rework every problem from ALL of your old college textbooks.

7. Patience of a saint

 

[civilengineer75]

To all those who can recall the morning session, do they feel that the 6-minute solutions structural problems published by PPI are adequate preparation for the gravity portion? How about the lateral morning portion?
Yes... I have the NCEES sample problems and solutions, but I also want further study.

Thanks!

If you can work all of the problems in 6 minutes and get the correct answers without looking in the back of the book then you are well-prepared for the Gravity Portion. No secrets except lots of hard work. Brush up on advanced topics like shear walls and diaphrams. The NCEES list is the exact exam topics. It is a staight forward exam but you do not have time to "figure out" topics. You know it or you don't. That simple. I just hope I knew "enough."

 

[civilengineer75]

I took both days of the SE exam. It was tiring but one can take both parts and be ok. I thought the vertical afternoon portion and the lateral morning were difficult. The vertical morning was easy and the lateral afternoon was easy. I would say do "study" but work problems. My friend and I spent too much time reviewing and not enough time doing. I will be surprised if I pass but you never know.
I wonder do the bridge questions carry equal weight if one takes the building portion or will building problems carry more weight? Anyone know? Also, I thought the amount of work we were asked to complete in four hours was nearly impossible. I am a PE and if a client said do these four designs and I will let you bill me for four hours then I would say "pound sand." I mean, we are too busy and have a nice day!

I believe that the multiple choice questions are equal weight. It would be a illogical to do otherwise - graders don't have hearts, they have minds... ).

And I completely agree with you on the afternoon questions, but there are plenty of construction issues, cost issues, and judgement issues that will never be calculated or quantified by those questions. I've taken the SE ii and iii and I think they do a decent job of testing competency. I don't believe competency is the total equation of a good engineer, but how else can we measure an engineer's ability without putting objectivity into it?

I could envision a grading plan that gave more weight to the building multiple choice questions for people that took the building afternoon portion. It seems unfair that Oregon will not accept the bridge exam for issuing a SE. I would have preferred bridges because the are much easier due to the fact there is one code that covers all materials. With buildings it seems that one needs a dozen codes to cover everything.

The regulations state the building portion must be taken. This is going to be a real surprise to people that take the exam and pass only to be rejected in the application phase. Perhaps this will be changed?

 

[RGCSQUARE]

Hello all, I took the saturday test, LATERAL forces. I took the test in Virginia. I was the only one taking the exam at the test center.

Any body else took the LATERAL forces test in VA? how busy was it at your site?

I think the fewer candidates taking the test the better chances to get a passing score, what is your opinion on that?

Was I the only one taking the saturday exam in the whole USA ?...lol

 

[ipswitch]

1. Did people think the SERM was a good preparation, were there other really helpful books (my thought is SERM would not be good for Vertical)
2. Are there any good Review courses online? Webinars? Videos?

3. Anyone know when they are going to change the codes to the new Versions?

4.Anyone wish they would have just take one of the days instead of both?

Thinking about an attempt in Oct 2011

THanks,

School of PE now offers a webinar SE review class for about $900.

 

[kevo_55]

^^ I see that Kaplan offers something like this as well.

I would be curious to see how well these classes actually are.

 

[mercury3030]

^^ I see that Kaplan offers something like this as well.
I would be curious to see how well these classes actually are.

I took the Kaplan online course and it helped. The lateral portion of the class was really helpful....the gravity portion not so much. It also depends on who is teaching the course, some teachers are a lot better than others.

 

[jillhill]

1. Did people think the SERM was a good preparation, were there other really helpful books (my thought is SERM would not be good for Vertical)
2. Are there any good Review courses online? Webinars? Videos?

3. Anyone know when they are going to change the codes to the new Versions?

4.Anyone wish they would have just take one of the days instead of both?

Thinking about an attempt in Oct 2011

THanks,

School of PE now offers a webinar SE review class for about $900.

I took School of PE for SE1 and I thought it was HORRIBLE!! I took the School of PE for the civil exam also (I know, risky to take it again when I had a horrible experience the first time). THe Civi class was much better, but the Structures class was from a professor i had the first time and still Horrible! So I will see if it's the same teachers but probably won't go with School of PE. I think I'll do Kaplin or passpe.com

Would love to hear more who took Kaplin