"Been There!"--Advice from Civil PE Examinees

Each of these comments has been contributed by an engineer who has recently taken the civil PE exam. Some of the advice may seem contradictory-- sometimes engineers disagree. Nobody received any compensation for mentioning any product.

As you read this advice, keep in mind that the exams change from administration to administration. Subjects that are emphasized on one exam may not show up at all on the next exam.

If you would like to contribute to this compilation, send us email. Please mention what exam module you took and when you took it.

General Advice

Advice for the Afternoon Modules:
Construction | Geotechnical | Structural | Transportation | Water Resources and Environmental

You will need at least 3, maybe 4 months to prepare for this exam adequately. Don't shortchange yourself in the amount of time you allow for studying.

Start early. Take a sample exam first to identify your weak areas, work practice problems, take another sample exam, compare your progress, work more practice problems. Know what depth section you want at least a month before the exam.

I spent about 35 hours a week for 4 months studying for this exam. It is quite a change in lifestyle, and your family needs to understand this from the start. Set up a schedule so your family will know when to try not to bother you, and establish a place to do your studying that doesn't need to be cleaned up every night.

If you are pressed for time focus on your chosen depth module. The Civil Engineering Reference Manual for the PE Exam can get you through the morning part pretty well, but for the afternoon depth you're on your own.

When you have prepared yourself for one afternoon module, don't waste time looking at the others. Yes, they will look easier (the grass is always greener). But looking just wastes time. And in the afternoon, your time is very short.

During the afternoon session, I had originally planned to take the fluid/thermal systems section, because I had spent many years operating power plants. The questions seemed tough, so I switched to HVAC, because that's what I do now. I ended up wasting close to an hour switching back and forth between the two, but ended up taking the HVAC. I passed, but I was lucky. Anyway, decide on the section you want to take in the PM and stick with it.

Remember: you do not have to get 100%, you only have to pass. Spend some time devising a method of recognizing and skipping the hard or time-consuming problems, and DO NOT let them bother you. Move on and get more points. Just guess on the hard ones.

I found it helpful to perform triage on this exam. Divide the questions into three levels: easy, OK, and tough. Work the easy ones first, then the OK, then the tough (if you have time). This way you avoid missing anything easy that happens to fall at the end.

Don't let the exam format (multiple-choice) dictate how you prepare. Working longer, more detailed problems is always good, because this allows for more thorough comprehension. Then, when you get a less complex problem on the exam, with some process-simplifying "givens," you'll know exactly where they fit into the overall problem.

Start with the basics in Civil Engineering Reference Manual for the PE Exam and study everything. Then, work as many problems as you can get your hands on. The harder the better. The more you work, the less chance there is that you'll be surprised on the exam. Work as wide a scope as possible.

Study using the calculator you will use during the exam. Now that the HP48s are banned, don't use yours as you practice solving problems, but use the actual model you plan to use for the test.

First of all, check this web site out! It helped me get a grip on all of the information that I would be required to know and also let me know that I was not alone. Examinees should do as MANY practice problems as possible, but DO NOT think that you are going to be able to copy any problems from a book. (First, you will not have the time to relocate it, and second, the people who prepare the exam have also seen those same books.)

In the morning, you should have time to verify most of your answers, if you need to. That's why you should bring as many books as possible. Score as many points in the morning as possible. In the afternoon, you'll be pressed for time.

Look at the exam breakdown, pick the afternoon [depth] area you will take, and study everything listed. Some of the questions on the depth part of this test are unbelievably "picky." Get to know all your references well, and where to find information.

Be sure to review EVERY topic listed for your area of specialization. This is where you'll get the most points. Don't shortchange yourself here.

Take to the exam every book you can possibly beg, borrow, or steal that is on the recommended reference list.

Take an engineering dictionary!!! There were about three questions that were answered by simply reading a definition from an engineering dictionary, and with only 80 questions total on the PE exam, that means easy points that add up to a significant percentage.

It is essential that an examinee take as many of the resources recommended on the PPI website as he/she possibly can. I studied for only about 200 hours to take the Civil PE exam and I came to realize (after the test) that it wasn't necessarily what I memorized in my brain that benefited me the most, but it was having the IBC when a question would say "...according to the IBC" or having the ASCE 7 when the question would reference it (and having the correct edition). There are easy points to be had if an examinee has the recommended resources.

Don't be afraid to take in as many references as you can carry. There were some real obscure references to books you wouldn't consider necessary. But with the book handy, you can get the answer easily. It's nice to be ready for as many "gimmes" as possible.

Get Civil Engineering Reference Manual for the PE Exam and the current codes that are used on the exam. Don't think you can use other editions of the codes--you can't. This is not the time to be frugal.

Get CERM and then tab each section with labels for even quicker reference. Color coding the labels by section is a good idea. Speed is essential when you have only a few minutes per problem.

Print out the CERM index and put in a binder so you can use it separately. This really saves time over going back and forth in CERM.

Make a copy of the Appendices from CERM and bring them with you in a separate binder (make sure they aren't looseleaf; this isn't allowed). Being able to have a page in CERM and the Appendix you need available at the same time is a big time-saver.

It's true that you have an average of six minutes per questions on the exam. But what you'll actually find is some (actually more than I expected) questions that take 15 seconds, like definitions, and some ridiculously complicated questions that take 10+ minutes to solve. If you get stuck in one of these, move on!

SLOW DOWN and read each question through to the end. Sure, you have only have 6 minutes on average for each question, but all the more reason not to waste time jumping to conclusions about what's being asked. Often they'll give you data at the end of the questions that you might otherwise start to calculate if you don't read to the end first.

Read and understand each question completely before you start to answer--don't assume you know what's being asked for. I found myself not reading the whole problem, and I wasted time doing calculations or looking things up only to discover that the question was asking for something different than my initial assumption.

Often a problem would look really hard, but the actual question that was asked, in the LAST sentence, was quite simple. Read to the end before you panic.

Use only references that have good indexes. CERM has a great index. Other "comprehensive" study guides I looked at had pathetic little 5-page indexes. Skip those.

When all else fails, try reverse-engineering the question by substituting the answer choices into the appropriate formulas and see what works. This actually worked for me a couple of times.

With some of the multiple-choice questions, it's faster to plug the (reasonable) given answers into the formula (i.e., use the trial- and-error method) rather than solving for unknowns.

I've taken the exam twice, and both times there have been one or two problems on the exam that are so outrageous that you can actually hear people gasp when they read them. They're on subjects nobody ever thought to study, like meteorology. My theory is that NCEES includes these just to rattle examinees. Keep cool, don't get your blood pressure up, just pick an answer and move on. You don't need EVERY question to pass.

Many problems have extraneous information that you must wade through. Don't be fooled into thinking you need to use everything you're given. Many times, you won't need but a few of the pieces of data given.

Many of the questions had a twist--be it with a unit conversion that you had to take into account, or unusual conditions stated, or going for an odd variant of the answer that seemed apparent. Read the question carefully first, then solve, then read it again to make sure you answered what they asked for.

The problem writers trick you by providing information such as a constant for a forumla that you don't need to solve the problem. You have to pick out the useful information in the problem from the garbage.

Don't overanalyze the problems. Often there is an overabundance of data presented. Decide what is actually relevant and what you can ignore. In many cases, you WILL NOT need all the data you are given. (This is unlike any of the sample problems I saw.)

I actually didn't study the month before the exam. Instead, I would practice looking up the topics in my CERM or other reference material quickly. With only 6 minutes allotted per question,?knowing where to find information was more beneficial than knowing offhand how to solve it. The questions aren't that in depth and you can usually figure out how to solve it if you can find an example.?

Use the CERM glossary, It bailed me out several times, defining things I had never heard of (at least by the name used on the exam).

If you don't bring an engineering or scientific dictionary to the exam, you will want to jump into a dimictic, eutrophic lake, taking a packer with you. Trust me.

What is it with the microbiology of lagoons that fascinates these question writers? These questions just keep showing up!

I didn't like how the units were not supplied next to the answer choices. It's easy to screw up by giving the answer in CF instead of gallons. This is a lousy way to lose points, so be careful.

The overwhelming majority of the exam is in English units, but some metric units are definitely creeping onto the test.

Take advantage of the free references you can download on PPI's web site.

The NCEES Sample Questions is useful for practice, but don't expect the exam to be that easy.

Join the Civil Passing Zone, stick to the study schedule, use the Q&A page, and work all the practice problems.

The Passing Zone was great! Having a schedule to study to, and being able to ask questions of a knowledgeable advisor who actually wants you to understand the concepts, is worth much more than the price of admission.

Use the PPI Exam Forum. It's a great place to get answers when you're stumped during your review. And it's great to talk to a whole bunch of people who are going through the same experience as you.

The Exam Forum is a great value-added service for examinees. Use it!

DO NOT bring any sort of graph paper with you into the exam. You are not allowed to write on anything but the exam materials.

You can't use graph paper, so no plotting Mohr's circles, etc. This caught me by surprise. You can only write on the exam.

Don't underestimate the physical pain associated with an 8-hour test. Bring your analgesic of choice.

Bring your lunch with you. Don't count on there being any decent food available at the exam site. I saw guys gagging down green hotdogs, while I enjoyed my nice homemade sandwich.

Don't expect everything to go like clockwork at your exam site. At mine, they ran out of mechanical pencils and had to go to shopping for more. Also, we had only 15 minutes for lunch. So bring your own mechanical pencil (in case) and certainly your own lunch.

Especially on the Geotechnical session of the exam, do not spend too much time on one question. Some are out-of-this-world difficult. If you find yourself getting beyond 5 minutes on a problem, move on! There are enough answerable questions to make up for those that are too difficult.

I took the NCEES practice exam and was very comfortable with my results, sure I was prepared. Same with the PPI sample exam. I was humbled. The practice exams are much, much easier than the actual geotechnical module.

Look carefully at the NCEES exam topics. They pretty accurately reflect what is on this module of the exam. The geotechnical module covers a great deal of non-geotechnical material.

I desperately wished I had brought the AASHTO Bridge Design Manual to the exam. Not having it cost me at least 3 problems.

I encountered many seismic problems that required specialized references. Some even required specific UBC provisions.

Having a degree in geological engineering, I was pleasantly surprised to find problems on rock mechanics on the Geotech exam.

Be ready for some unusual given data in the exam problems, and wording of questions to determine whether you really understand what you're doing or just mimicking examples. A good dictionary of construction terminology helped me on a few quick-answer questions.

Study and bring seismic references with you. CERM doesn't cover seismic at all.

I didn't expect the depth of the seismic questions on this test. Don't neglect seismic subjects as you prepare. Five out of 40 questions, already!

Bring the Foundation Handbook and a foundation analysis and design text--there were invaluable.

Bring NAVFAC DM-7. You can download it from the web.

If you bring code books, be sure they are from the right year!

Bring CERM, plus geotech texts, plus the Highway Capacity Manual, the AASHTO pavement design manual, and some environmental references. Many questions in these areas are simple things that can be looked up if you have the right manual with you.

There were questions dealing with legislative acts. I'm not sure how you prepare for those.

Know foundations and soils cold.

The exam this time used tables and charts from a book I was not familiar with (not the Das book). This takes some getting used to. Not sure how one would prepare for this!

CERM is very lacking in geotechnical topics--I don't think I opened it all afternoon. Bring other references for the afternoon, like NAVFAC and Das's foundation books.

CERM is good for the morning but will leave you stranded in the afternoon. Bring Baja Das's texts for the depth exam.

The morning exam is trivial compared to the Geotech exam. Study for the depth exam. The morning problems you can answer off the top of your head or from CERM.

The questions in this module seemed atypical of everyday design problems. I suggest taking the NCEES sample exam, which seemed representative of the actual test.

In the afternoon Structural section, I didn't expect to have to use so many different codes. This was more like an SE exam than a PE exam.

For the Structural PM exam, I used the Structural Engineering Reference Manual, to prepare as well as CERM. This worked well for me.

The morning exam is easier than expected, and the afternoon Structural exam is harder. Don't spend too much time studying for the morning breadth portion, as most of it can be solved with the general reference material. Spend more time on your afternoon specialty, as those questions are much more involved.

Although I had heard this before, I was still surprised at how easy the morning section was and how hard the afternoon section was. Plan your studying accordingly.

I was given the advice to just solve problems from CERM and not to read the chapters. As it turned out, there was a lot of theory on this test, and those chapters I actually DID read and study helped me a lot.

This exam seemed to focus a lot on fundamental knowledge rather than real-life problem-solving techniques. It was more like a college exam than any problems you might solve during your actual day-to-day work.

Get set for some problems on structural dynamics, and some masonry problems.

Be prepared for problems on eccentrically loaded footings and pretensioned beams.

Watch out for questions on construction scheduling.

Study open channel flow, pipe flow, retaining walls, piles, concrete and steel design. Don't waste time on other minor stuff. Be aware that frequently, much more information is given in the problem than you need. Just ignore it.

Two words: prestressed concrete. Bring your favorite textbook or other reference.

Beware...CERM does not talk about timber construction, but there were at least three question relating to timber construction, so prepare accordingly.

CERM absolutely doesn't cover wood or bridges. You'll need the NDS and the AASHTO bridges book.

You must supplement CERM with books on concrete, steel, masonry, timber, etc., for the Structural depth exam.

Bring all the codes they tell you to bring! You must have many of them to do well on the Structural PM exam. I didn't bring them and I could have gotten some very easy questions if I just had them.

Read the Structural, Geotechnical, and Transportation sections of CERM. Reviewing all three was a good general preparation for the Structural afternoon section of the exam.

On this exam, answers can be given in either LRFD or ASD. You can also choose from UBC or BOCA.

CERM is great for the AM, not so great for the PM exam. Not to knock CERM--it just can't possibly cover all the transportation minutiae.

Be prepared for questions that are not straightforward. Every trick in the book is there. Sometimes a code will be mentioned, making you think you need to look something up--but it turns out you don't! Read each problem very carefully.

Underline key words you see in problems, like "maximum," "minimum," "at least," and "nearly," so you will remember to take these into full consideration.

Expect to see some critical path method problems and some economic/cost analysis problems in the Transportation section. These problems are easy when you can access the formulas in CERM.

There was more economics on this exam than I was prepared for! Sometimes combined with other topics, like traffic accident analysis.

If you are a transportation engineer, I suggest you get together with an environmental engineer to study for this exam. That way you can get help on the (many!) environmental topics that you may not have studied before. And vice versa.

Signalization was at least 20% of the exam this time.

I was surprised to see soil problems in metric units. More metric formulas were needed than I expected.

Lots of different braking-type problems this time. Also trip-generation and mass diagram problems.

Be prepared for questions about parking garages.

Be able to put your finger on highway sign letter height data.

Where were the horizontal and vertical curve problems and the survey problems? The exams really do change radically from one time to another.

Very few vertical and horizontal curve questions this time. Lots of Green Book problems, lots of use of Manning Equation. I'm sure this varies test to test.

I was surprised by the number of questions on geotech/retaining walls and pipe/open channel flow.

Know your pedestrian walkway and bike path data.

Two-lane roadway problems all over the place!

Expect to see level of service problems.

The Transportation exam had more traffic questions this time than I expected. It varies from exam to exam--last time there weren't very many. (God willing, I won't know about the next exam!)

Be sure you have the latest version of the design standards. They do change. Check the PPI web site.

For the Transportation exam, bring the Highway Capacity Manual, and the AASHTO Green Book

The NCEES didn't mention that AASHTO Roadside Design was needed on this exam, but it seemed to me that it was necessary!

On the Transportation PM exam, the required codes are an absolute must-have. Be sure to get the right versions, too.

I really did find everything I needed for the AM exam in CERM. For the PM Transportation section, you need at least one or two textbooks for each subject--not just transportation but also geotechnical and water resources. Also, of course, the traffic handbooks and guides.

Watch out for rock mechanics questions. The geotechnicals must love these!

Pay attention to questions where you are asked for MIN or MAX stopping sight distance, length of curve, etc. Tables will usually give you a high and low number--and both of these will appear as answer choices.

I was shocked at the number of hydrology questions on this test--seemed like a good 25% of the total. But looking back at the guidelines, maybe I should have expected this.

Be prepared for a lot of "misdirection" problems. Information is given that is not related to the actual question. One question even referenced ITE, as though you would need it to solve the problem--but you didn't.

Many of the questions on the Water Resources section seemed very real-world, as though written by someone who had specific industry knowledge. Not many of the practice problems I saw were this realistic.

The problems in CERM are very theory-oriented compared to the more practical, real-life problems on the exam. You can really see that the exam is written by working engineers. Solving the CERM problems is time well spent, but just don't expect to see problems like this on the exam.

While invaluable overall (especially for the AM test), CERM's strong point is not water or environmental topics, Bring environmental references with you for this test.

The NAVFAC soils manual was helpful during the exam.

A dictionary of civil and environmental engineering terms is a must. The Handbook of Environmental Engineering Calculations was helpful for some of the more obscure details of some questions.

You'll see some archaic and very specialized terms on the test that will be unfamiliar unless you've been in the field forever. The CERM glossary was helpful for these.

Study material on ponds, lakes, lagoons, and groundwater theory. CERM doesn't cover these in depth.

Who knew we would have to know so much about algae!

Bring Metcalf & Eddy--it's very useful for this test.

A couple of short-answer questions were pulled verbatim from Metcalf & Eddy.

The questions were generally easier than I expected, but many of them were not about fundamental engineering concepts. They were about engineering obscurities. I was able to make good use of the CERM glossary.

Study things like water demand, wells, hydraulic conductivity, and tank chlorination, which I didn't find covered well in CERM.

CERM isn't strong on hydrology. Use another text if you need to study this. It all boils down to the rational method.

I was surprised to see questions on meteorology and population growth. And nothing at all on engineering economics.

It was confusing to see transportation verbiage on the Water Resources PE exam. Transportation topics aren't covered in your average water resources curriculum.

Be prepared for pipe-sizing problems. A handbook covering this would be very useful.

Know how to use the Darcy-Weisbach equations, the Hazen-Williams equation, and the Moody Diagram for the Water Resources exam.

Organic composting questions popped up. I ducked.

Hazardous waste, if you don't know something about it already, will be hazardous to your performance on this exam. You must study outside CERM for this.

I felt like the Water Resources exam was really more environmental than true water resources. Bring your environmental textbooks! If there were the 15% geotechnical questions that NCEES promised, I didn't see them.

Become very familiar with converting units. Especially in the water resources portion, you will find it much easier if you can quickly convert from gpm, acre-ft, MGD, etc. This will allow you to focus on the correct method and not get bogged down in the computation. I found that the conversions inside the front cover of CERM made this a snap.

I was surprised to see several questions in metric, and one question was even mixed units!

I was surprised by the number of transportation and structural

Answer choices are given without units. This can be confusing. Read the problem carefully to see what units they are asking you to solve for.

Expect a couple of questions on environmental law (RCRA, Clean Water Act, etc.). Bring a reference for law.

I was surprised by questions on federal permitting for landfill.

Bring a good environmental dictionary with you--you'll need it.

Only one BOD question this time. Much less water treatment than expected, and more hydrology.

Prepare for environmental remediation questions. You have a lot to catch up on if you aren't strong in this area.

Those geotechnical problems are a killer! (Why are they on this exam anyway??) There are enough of them (at least this time) that you should really try to prepare for them--at least read the appropriate CERM sections and work problems.

Expect hazardous waste questions. CERM won't help with these.

Look out for problems on Superfund documents and other regulations--there were a surprising number of them. Also be expecting obscure terminology, which the test uses to try to confuse you. Bring references with good indexes to look this stuff up quickly.

CERM will get you through the AM section of this exam, but it isn't enough for the PM exam. Bring references, like Metcalf & Eddy's Wastewater Treatment, a general environmental handbook, and a few textbooks. CERM is light on many of the PM subjects.

I had CERM plus 14 other books, and I used each one. This exam makes you go through a lot of references.

There are a number of questions on this exam that can be answered just by looking them up in the appropriate book. So, bring as many books as you can (we're only allowed 15 in my state). Make sure all the books you bring have decent indexes so they are usable in a hurry.

Metcalf & Eddy's Solid Waste and Wastewater Engineering books are invaluable to have with you.

You need to know that every problem on this exam is standalone. There are no problem statements with many separate questions being asked. You need to refocus your brain for every single question.

Take all the practice exams you can find, in all topics--not just environmental. All the exams easier than the actual test, but it is good practice having experience solving diverse questions.

Even for questions that appear to require calculations, look at the big picture before starting your calculating. It may be obvious which answer is right, and you may be done in seconds instead of spending minutes on tedious calculations.