Test Strategy

[jdayrail]

I passed the Oct 2017 civil-construction depth exam (2nd attempt) after being out of school for many, many years.  I'm 57 years old so don't let age dissuade you. 



Here was my strategy after failing the first attempt:
 



Review Courses: The Ultimate Civil PE Review Course and EET's Breadth and Depth



 



Practice Exams:  For construction depth, include as much geotech review as possible. My practice exams included ones from EET, Ultimate Civil Engineer Review Course, Goswami, NCEES, Beth Lin Hartmann, Learncivilengineering.com, and passthecivilPE.



 



Practice Problems: Indexed binder contained breadth in the front and construction depth in the back. This seemed like a time waster initially and was a pain, but it paid off by allowing me to quickly look up problems and, more importantly, giving me one simple binder to practice problems from.



 



References: 1926 OSHA, CERM, MUTCD, Geotech Engineering (Coduto), ACI Formwork for Concrete.



 



Other Practice Problem Books: Civil PE Morning Exam (Shepherd), Mike's Civil PE Exam Guide
 
As you know, the real key is working problems until they are almost second nature.  It seems like some of the theory behind the problems comes to life with repetition.  Good luck and don't give up.

 

[Eak_want]

Thank you very much for shearing this. it made so motivated on me.

 

[Bait O' Eggs]

I took the EIT 31 years ago, and plan to take the PE in April.  Thanks for the thoughts, I am rounding up reference material and practice test.   

 

[ruggercsc]

I took the EIT 31 years ago, and plan to take the PE in April.  Thanks for the thoughts, I am rounding up reference material and practice test.   

I took the PE Exam 27 years to the day after I took the FE Exam.  My best advice is to take a refresher course (SOPE, EET).  They have high pass rates and go over the material you will most likely find on the exam.  I tried to self study for awhile and got extremely overwhelmed going through the CERM.  A refresher course was the best dollars I spent.  Get all the references that NCEES recommends as those tend to be fairly easy look up type questions.

I would also bring a construction and architectural trades dictionary just in case there is a term/concept that you may need a little help with. I just replaced mine (lost it somewhere) with one I found on Amazon for $5.00.

BTW, there is no need to study up on the Fortran questions from your FE exam.  Most people on this forum probably have no idea what I am referring to.  

 

[Platypus Engineer]

BTW, there is no need to study up on the Fortran questions from your FE exam.

I was going to start on Fortran after  I finished BASIC programming review.  (graduated 92)

 

[tj_PE]

I used fortran 2 jobs ago, in 2010.. boss/owner was proud because he helped product test it and seek out errors so he was still using it. I designed so many things 2x - once with his fortran program and another time with a new program so he could compare results, then I had to do the same with LRFD for bridge design!

 

[ruggercsc]

When I took the FE there was required morning section and an optional afternoon section of FORTRAN exam questions (that was the last time I used it).  I believe I read that the USAF still uses it for some of it's older guidance systems.