I passed the PE Civil. I am now in the process of taking the SE. I have passed the SE2 and failed the SE1 twice. I am still waiting to see if I passed the SE1 this time... The PE Civil is a lot easier than the SE1. If you don't need the SE1, i would take the PE.
See you in April...
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I passed the PE Civil. I am now in the process of taking the SE. I have passed the SE2 and failed the SE1 twice. I am still waiting to see if I passed the SE1 this time... The PE Civil is a lot easier than the SE1. If you don't need the SE1, i would take the PE.
NCcarguy
Well-known member
All I can say to those that didn't make it this time around is.....HANG IN THERE!!! This was my 4th time as well, DV was tremendously inspirational to me when he passed it on his 4th attempt, so it can be done. Over the coming month's I hope to post as much as I can about what I think it took for me to pass, and hopefully some of you can find that information to be helpful.
FLBuff PE
Multi-disciplinary engineer
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danm9
J
JunkerJorg
When I was done studying, I had worked every sample problem in the CERM sample book, the Six-Minute Solutions for Civil, Environmental & Transpo and completed 3 different sample exams.
Everyone is different, but I used the same methodology for prep that I used for the FE when I studied for the PE. (I just started earlier for the PE)
First off - gather EVERY resource you can. I had the CERM, 6-min soln's and all my college textbooks.
Second - I took the 4-hour practice test online that the NCEES offers COLD - no studying, no tabs in the CERM. (I made 46% btw, but don't get discouraged) Use those results to highlight your weak areas (for me it was structural and transpo) and your strengths.
Third - I studied my strengths first - Wat. Res., Env., to refresh my long term memory. I started out at 3 times a week after work, for about an hour or 2. Mostly working problems and reading the CERM. This was in July. By September I was studying every day. Weekends were the best time for me. I would put in 8 hour days on Sat. every weekend in October. I'd say I spent 80% of my time working example problems.
Fourth - I studied my weaknesses to try and place as much info into my short term memory. I spent 3 days on Structural and 3 days on Transpo. The transpo stuff on the CE morning seemed very basic and easy to me. I would say definitely NOT to neglect studying this if you're taking the CE morning - I think I made my hay on the morning session, b/c the afternoon was an a&*kicker.
Fifth - I spent the final few days trying to relax and just organizing all my junk. (I took in WAY too much) I tabbed the hell out of the CERM and a few other books, made a folder with every conversion table/chart I could find and then prioritized my materials into 2 piles - Take and Don't Take. I then tried to load up everything into one suitcase and a bookbag. If I had to do over again I would take a CRATE, b/c your references aren't stacked on top of each other. I had a tough time finding stuff buried under things.
I'd say the biggest thing that helped me was taking the sample exams
I studied my arse off for SE1 and felt like hell after the test. Civil/Structural is the way to go if you do not already have a PE. If you are already licensed in civil, then there is no harm in going for itas an additional discipline. But for your first time out, avoid SE1 like the plague. I've heard horror stories of EI's who became so fixated on passing SE1 and refused to lower themselves to take the Civil, they never did get licensed. forever doomed as an EI in Florida. (you only get 3 tries here)
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danm9
i also recommend the practice exam. i think it was a lindeburg edition. it was very similar to the 6-minute solutions. treat the practice exam just like the real thing. do the 8-hour thing. it really helped me get an idea of what to expect. and forget the results - i got a 45% on the practice test and still passed the PE.
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goingtopass
Haha, i did the same thing. took the Lindeburg practice exam 2 weeks before the real thing and got a 49! Needless to say, it scared me to death, and i passed the PE. the practice exam is harder because the problems are more in depth, so i had a bunch of questions i guessed on in the practice exam. it does get you to practice using your references in an exam setting (i tabbed and set myself up at a table and pretended i was at the exam, no getting up, etc), and gets you to pick and do the easy problems first, then go back and do intermediate, and know when to move on to another problem when you get stuck. i went over the solutions for the next 2 weeks, and flipped through my sample problems and reference to have a general idea of where everything was. i studied about 100 + hours in 2 months, and did mostly practice problems...work them, review them, and work them again to see if you understand and remember them. i actually worked them, not just skim through the solutions. working them makes you realize the stuff they trick you with such as what references they use for "n" or "c" values (i took the WR exam), which werent the same i used in practice, as well as common things they throw at you like unit conversion tricks. if you work practice problems you will get a feel for the setup of the questions, know where to look in your references, and the exam will be like working 8 hours of practice problems. tab tab tab and highlight references, but do that AS you study and work problems, so you are using them during your studying. otherwise you are going to have a hell of a lot of tabs, and no idea what they mean. good luck!!
