The ones who passed tell us how you did.

[Geralyn]

I’d like to add: time management is super imperative. 

I marked my booklet up with my answers and then saved filling in the bubbles on answer sheet until the last fifteen minutes or so 

 

[CharlieHotel47_CE_WER]

Passed Civil:WRE

Morning Session: I felt really good about the morning. I believe I only guessed on 3-5 problems, and I was able to come up with answers for all but 1 problem.

Afternoon Session: I thought this was a lot tougher than the three practice exams I took. Mainly because of the Environmental/Water Treatment Questions. I highly recommend the method of going through and answering the easiest problems first, the ones you think you can tackle with a little skimming of the reference material next, and then finally going after the problems that give you a full panic attack. I had to straight guess on 8-10 problems when time was about to run out. This caused me to think I might have failed, because in the three practice exams I was only guessing on about 5 problems per afternoon session.

I studied about 50-60 hours total. No prep classes. Just my reference materials and practice exams/problems.

Morning: ~35

Afternoon: 23-30

Where did you get your practice problems from?

 

[Philly TF]

Passed Civil, Transportation second April attempt, 6 years out of college.  Wanted to share my experience for future test takers.  Started studying mid-October first try.  Studied apprx. 100 hours first attempt, mostly with CERM, NCEES practice problems and HCM.  Definitely over relied on the CERM.  Was never good at structures or geotech, and those killed me on the AM session first attempt.  Should have worked harder on my weak areas.  Also regret not getting more afternoon resources for Transportation.  There were a lot of PM session questions I assumed would be in the CERM, but were not and had to just guess on.  Felt cheated walking out on the PM session, but in reality I should have gotten more references.

Second attempt went with School of PE on-demand lectures.  Started studying again in mid-October, started on the School of PE lectures in early December.  Highly recommend.  SOPE notes were pretty much a second CERM, think I used SOPE notes/CERM 60/40 on AM exam day.  Finished SOPE lectures about a month before exam, and spent those last weeks hammering out practice problems/exams and continuing to get familiar with my references.  Brought HCM (of course they updated it since my first attempt, had to get twice), AASHTO Green Book (ABSOLUTELY NEED IT), HSM, Roadside Design Guide, MUTCD, PROWAG, NCEES practice exam, couple bound sheets of personal notes/problems and OSHA on exam day, in addition to CERM and SOPE notes.  All heavily tabbed and highlighted.  Totaled 175 hours studying on second attempt, including SOPE review class.

I definitely felt much more prepared second attempt, but did not feel confident I passed walking out of the exam room.  Had to guess on more than I expected to; I want to say I made complete guesses on 10 questions each session.  With the review I did and second attempt, was a bit disheartened to guess on that many completely.  Log into NCEES couple weeks later and boom, I had unexpectedly passed anyway.

Can’t speak for the other disciplines, but it will be hard to pass Transportation without most of the references.  Some are free online, but at the end of the day you will need to invest significant time and money to pass.  Some questions may be look-ups out of the references, and CERM will not cover everything in depth for PM.

Getting married in October so pretty much went all in this attempt and fortunately it paid off.  If you have trouble focusing I can’t recommend a review course enough.  A lot easier to focus after forking over an arm and a leg when you have to put the time in to make it worth it.  Good luck future exam takers!

 

[EI_EI_OH]

Where did you get your practice problems from?

• The practice exam that NCEES sells.
  
• "Practice Exams for the Civil PE Exam" by Goswami. It had two full breadth exams.
  
• "Six Minute Solutions for WRE" by Schneiter. I really liked this one.
  

I also worked some examples from the CERM.

 

[IhateShearWalls]

Civil Structures

Morning: about 20 confident, about 4-5 not 100% sure, about 5-6 educated guess, about 10 random pick.

Afternoon: about 30 confident, about 5 not 100% sure, 5 random pick (probably could have made an educated guess or spend more time flipping through the codes but I was tired and just wanted to get out).

 

[Fisherman504]

Civil WRE

AM 25 Confident 10 50% and 5 IDK

PM 24 Confident 8 50% and 8 IDK

I have taken Civil PE Transportation 3 times previously and I would like to say this time it seem alot easier in the morning. So I'm guessing the cutoff score for most of the Civil are higher this time. 

 

[pcanning87]

Power here. I made educated guesses (or narrowed it down to 2 choices) on 2-3 questions, I felt like I had an answer for the others. I finished early both sessions and was very confident walking out. But I have 10 years experience, took a prep class, and put in ~200 hours over 4 months. I also spent a lot on reference materials, knowing my company would reimburse if I passed.