The hardest Geotech test?

[ktulu]

robiam,

Way to come out swinging.....welcome to the board (I think...). I'm in total agreement with your statement. There were topics that I could not find any information about. Which makes it hard to keep focused.

Anyway, it was the death of me, as I did not pass........

ktulu

 

[dkent]

I took the Geo test this last April and passed. I didn't think it was that difficult, but I studied like a sonofbitch.

What I did was pay close attention to the topics that NCEES says are covered and made sure I especially knew those subjects. Then I worked tons of problems. I worked Lindeburgs practice problem manual, the 6 minute solutions manuals, and NCEES's manual. Lastly, I made damn sure I was organized and I could find anything in a second. During the exam, I had a binder with all my organized worked problems, my Lindeburg Quick Reference book that I separated and drastly added to, and of course I had my CERMS. The only other manual I brought in was my Steels manual (AISC or something) that had the simple load, shear, and moment diagrams.

Hope this helps.

Cheers.

 

[PEPG]

I took the Geo test this last April and passed. I didn't think it was that difficult, but I studied like a sonofbitch.
What I did was pay close attention to the topics that NCEES says are covered and made sure I especially knew those subjects. Then I worked tons of problems. I worked Lindeburgs practice problem manual, the 6 minute solutions manuals, and NCEES's manual. Lastly, I made damn sure I was organized and I could find anything in a second. During the exam, I had a binder with all my organized worked problems, my Lindeburg Quick Reference book that I separated and drastly added to, and of course I had my CERMS. The only other manual I brought in was my Steels manual (AISC or something) that had the simple load, shear, and moment diagrams.

Hope this helps.

Cheers.

DKENT - that is very encouraging - we brought practically the same material. I found the afternoon to be reasonable. But I too studies my b's off in the geo depth area. I worked every single problem in the Six-minute solutions, then I worked them again, then I did a clean copy of each that I put in my binder and referred to in the exam. Even though there are solutions in the back of the book, the rationale did not always make sense to me, and I wanted my own solutions to refer to (not to mention I found tons of mistakes, and was happy to have the errata confirm).

This exam I organized my reference material and stripped it down - way down. If I didn't study with it - I left it home. In past exams I wasted a lot of time trying to dig up reference info. This time I wasted no time because I was tabbed, and super organized. I too had my CERMS tabbed and highlighted to the gills, and the AISC manual for my moment diagrams and such.

The only difference between you and me is that damn letter. I am still waiting.

 

[robiam]

KTUlu

thanks for the welcome. . . .

i organized all my notes by subject, WITH indexes noting solved practice problems . . .

just for the LIFE of me i cant figure out WHY some of those questions are on that exam!!

anyway . . . .

keep your head up!!!

 

[Farmboy491]

I have to agree with dkent. Review NCEES and focus there. I wish I had more Geotech reference, but went in only with Lindburg and my practice problems and tests. I agree, many probs were obscure and my dart throwing practice must have paid off, because I had to throw a few in the afternoon.

 

[dkent]

For what it's worth, I'm tring to get rid of my worked problems binder and my CERMS Quick Reference guide. Check out the Yard Sale forum. I put $20 on my worked problems binder, however, I could probably let it go for the cost of shipping. The quick reference guide tho, I'd like to get a few bucks for.

D

 

[Ange_NYPE]

New York State - Passed Civil PE/Geotech Depth (April 2007):

I thought I would post my results for those that are uncertain about the difficulty level of the Civil/Geotech Depth Module.

My Degree and professional background are civil/structural. The April 2007 exam was my first attempt at this format (Breadth/Depth). I previously sat for the April 1995 Civil PE and just missed it with a 66% converted score (AM portion was written).

Being a "structures guy", I never considered taking the Geotech Depth route until about three weeks prior to the exam. I have a good soils background from my college course work (mid 1980's) and foundations design experience, so it made sense for me to compare my chances of passing with the Geotech Depth vs Structural Depth and in New York State it is the same license, at least for now.

Also, I read a number of posts, both here and on "other" forums, that the Structural Depth could be brutal, therefore I decided that the Geotech Depth was the one for me. Unfortunately I had already invested over $1,000 in updated structural codes/references, but now that I have the PE, the updated codes will not be wasted.

I felt that the April 2007 Geotech Depth slightly favored candidates with a good background in structures and groundwater hydrology, I was fortunate. The Civil AM Breadth module seemed to be almost too easy, but I had read nearly 70% of the 10th edition of the CERM in preparation for it (the first and last time I actually "read" an engineering reference book).

At first, my test taking strategy was to "scan" both Depth Module questions and then decide which seemed easier, but during my last week of preparation I had decided to go 100% Geotech and not waste any exam time looking at the Structural Depth questions, as it turned out, every minute was valuable, I had just enough time to fill in my unworked "guesses".

Based on what I can actually remember about the exam, my best guess for my raw score hovers around 60/80, this is how I felt right after the exam and also the following week while I was trying to calculate a score based on what I "knew" or "hoped" I had answered correctly. As time slowly went by waiting for the results from Castle, I had convinced myself that I totally screwed up the entire exam by answering all of the "distractors" and/or using all the wrong units throughout, but my initial gut reaction proved to be correct, I was elated.

Ange_NYPE