What to expect for the Geotech afternoon

[LakersFreak]

Hey everyone.

I am taking the PE for the first time this Oct. I don't know what to expect. I've been studying the CERM book and solving 6 min. sol. problems. Some questions are easy some difficult. What should I study for the afternoon section. for example in the structural section for the geotech depth are there question only related to geotech or are there structural questions that have nothing to do with geotech. I am relying on my geotech afternoon to pass because the other subjects im weak in.

Any suggestions???

Also I am in CA so I will be taking the surveying and seismic. What books should I study for that.

THANKS

 

[user 788]

For seismic you should have the Seismic Design Review by Steve Hiner. It's an excellent book.

For surveying I had Surveying Principles by Cuomo plus the related books with surveying problems and sample exam. I would also recommend reading the land surveyors act and take it with you to the exam.

 

[user 788]

For seismic you should have the Seismic Design Review by Steve Hiner. It's an excellent book.

For surveying I had Surveying Principles by Cuomo plus the related books with surveying problems and sample exam. I would also recommend reading the land surveyors act and take it with you to the exam.

 

[user 788]

Sorry, didn't mean to double post.

 

[bks]

Sorry, didn't mean to double post.

I am also curious about what to expect in structure area for geotech afternoon. Structure has 20% component for PM geotech.

Can anyone kindly write their experience what are asked in structure for common exam in AM and structure component in Geotech PM.

Any reply would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks

 

[LakersFreak]

For seismic you should have the Seismic Design Review by Steve Hiner. It's an excellent book.For surveying I had Surveying Principles by Cuomo plus the related books with surveying problems and sample exam. I would also recommend reading the land surveyors act and take it with you to the exam.

All the reviews I've read about Cuomo's Surveying Principles are bad. People state that the problems in the book are much different than the actual exam. Are there any other books?

THANKS

 

[GTScott]

Even though it has not been a year since I took the afternoon Geotech depth test, I can hardly remember the structural questions. The main reason for this was that, when I took it, the questions were not *that* structural in nature. The one-two that I remember were for of general statics questions that only required some qualitative thought of the situation in order to weed out the correct answer. It was nothing like what I had expected based on what was given in the 6-minutes and other books.

 

[bks]

Even though it has not been a year since I took the afternoon Geotech depth test, I can hardly remember the structural questions. The main reason for this was that, when I took it, the questions were not *that* structural in nature. The one-two that I remember were for of general statics questions that only required some qualitative thought of the situation in order to weed out the correct answer. It was nothing like what I had expected based on what was given in the 6-minutes and other books.

I am just overwhelmed by the Structure contents in CERM. There are so many things like strength of materials, determinate and inderterminate structures, concrete materials, Reinforced concrecte beams, slab, columns, footings, retaining walls, steel beam and steel columns, masonry and timber.

Are these all covered in the AM and also in structure portion of Geotech PM. These are really to many. And the CERM companion - practice problem is almost 1/3 rd by structure problems

OR are questions generally, simple that one can make by just having good surficial review of the text.

Any suggestion would be appreciated.

 

[user 788]

All the reviews I've read about Cuomo's Surveying Principles are bad. People state that the problems in the book are much different than the actual exam. Are there any other books?THANKS

I'm aware of the reviews. But I studied with this book, took the surveying exam once and passed. I thought the book was a big help.

But we already have a thread with book recommendations. See here:

http://engineerboards.com/index.php?showtopic=2370

 

[GTScott]

I have some good examples that I worked when I was studying. While they are of a higher difficulty than what I saw in the exam, they would be good to walk through. When I get some time, I will scan them and post them. It should be within a day or 2.

 

[LakersFreak]

I have some good examples that I worked when I was studying. While they are of a higher difficulty than what I saw in the exam, they would be good to walk through. When I get some time, I will scan them and post them. It should be within a day or 2.

awesome. THANKS

 

[Hockeyfan960]

The best way I found to study is to find all the relavant charts and graphs in each of our reference books and know how to get to them fast. Here are some links to study stuff that I found very helpful.

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/engineering/geotec...ary_listing.cfm

http://www.geotechlinks.com/fe.php#Shallow%20Foundations

http://www.geoengineer.org/books-foundations.html

http://www.vulcanhammer.net/download/gener...l_mechanics.php

The Vulcanhammer book has some really good information in as far as theory goes. It helped to understand where the equations where coming from. That was my biggest hurdle, I could crunch the numbers but knowing how to get to the right section and find the right equation was the hardest part. The first time around I failed not for lack of information, but I couldn't understand where to get the right equation and spent too much time trying different equations with one or two of the variables in it.

Doing problems will help with the number cruching, but spend some time just reading. You don't have to do 1000 problems to understand the subject. Sometimes just slowing down and reading thru the theory will help you to get a better understanding of how to solve the problem.

Heres a link for the survey part of the CA exam....

http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/esc/geometronics/...orkbookTOC.html

my 2 cents worth....

 

[Suns Den]

The Vulcanhammer book has some really good information in as far as theory goes. It helped to understand where the equations where coming from. That was my biggest hurdle, I could crunch the numbers but knowing how to get to the right section and find the right equation was the hardest part. The first time around I failed not for lack of information, but I couldn't understand where to get the right equation and spent too much time trying different equations with one or two of the variables in it.

Which one are you refering to -> Arnold Verruijt or NAVFAC DM 7.01 or other once.