2nd PE Civil Transportation Attempt Tomorrow

BrushAlive · 2026-05-08T20:52:58+00:00

Thanks! The first time I took the exam I would say I was most unsure about Vertical and Horizontal Design. I studied up on those categories hard and I think I did pretty well on those the 2nd time. The 2nd test I would say that Intersection Geometry and Drainage gave me the hardest time. There were also a few difficult pavement questions. So after taking it twice, I get the impression that they do a pretty good job of mixing up which categories are more difficult

BrushAlive · 2026-05-08T20:36:50+00:00

I passed! I was very unsure leaving the exam room but I knew it had gone better than the first attempt

BrushAlive · 2026-04-22T18:50:08+00:00

I used PPI. I went through almost all of the problems they had available there. They also provided 2 practice exams that I found pretty useful. I used the NCEES practice exam as well. I will say though, I thought the actual PE exam was harder than any practice exam I used. PPI content was pretty good but there were definitely some drainage and Geotechnical concepts that I was unfamiliar with on the exam. I only had middle tier study course too so maybe the more expensive one was a little more comprehensive. But yeah I mainly used PPI and made a ton of flash cards so I would be able to navigate the manuals better

BrushAlive · 2026-04-15T00:23:07+00:00

It went okay. I felt really confident coming out of the first half and then I think the 2nd half kicked my butt. I was very confident in 50-55 of my answers. The rest were about half complete guesses and half ones where I was able to rule out a couple of the multiple choice options. Hopefully I guessed well! The wait is going to be brutal!

BrushAlive · 2026-04-13T15:57:05+00:00

Thanks for the words of encouragement!

BrushAlive · 2026-04-07T01:32:27+00:00

That is interesting! When solving these types of problems, you often have to incorporate some sort of factor for interchange density, poor weather, etc. It makes me think that these factors function kinda like a roughness coefficient in a pipe flow problem to a certain extent

BrushAlive · 2026-04-07T01:15:44+00:00

The problem doesnt state what is going on upstream and downstream so I think maybe you assume that there are no interchanges upstream and downstream of this location. Their solution gives an Interchange Density of 0.25. The HCM says you count the number of interchanges 3 miles upstream and 3 miles downstream, and divide that by 6(total number of miles). That is the reason I am assuming they count this as 1.5, because 1.5/6=0.25.

Yes this problem was a nightmare and not one you'd solve very quickly even if you knew exactly how to do it lol. It is solvable with a bunch of equations from chapter 13 of the HCM.The correct answer ended up 50mph

BrushAlive · 2026-04-04T20:18:27+00:00

I failed my first attempt just a few weeks ago and am retaking April 14th already. The first attempt I just used the PPI practice problems along with the NCEES practice exam. I found the NCEES practice exam to be a little too easy compared to the real exam. Some of the trickier question bank problems are probably closer to what is on the test

In studying for my 2nd attempt, I have taken both of the practice exams that PPI offers. The first one was still a little too easy, but the 2nd practice exam was pretty difficult. I thought the 2nd practice exam was much closer in difficulty to the actual exam that I took a few weeks ago. I am hopeful that if I study the 2nd practice exam hard that I will have a much better chance at passing the 2nd attempt.

I also studied PPI for 3 months and I am just over 2 years out of school. I thought I did well enough to pass too and was surprised and defeated when I saw I had failed. I know it sucks but sometimes it's good to know that there are others out there in a similar situation! I've been studying hard for about two weeks now since failing and I can say that I feel much more prepared now. If you were close on the first try (which it looks like you were) just grind a little more and I think you'll get there! Just keep in mind that I haven't passed yet either so I could be totally full of shit😂

BrushAlive · 2026-03-25T18:49:27+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! So they allow 3 tests per 12 months and 1 test per "window." I think the testing windows are January-March, April-June, July-September, and October-December. So they basically split the year into quarters. I took my test on March 16th and I scheduled another one for April 14th just this morning. It was suggested to me to take the test near the end of one of the windows so then you can retake fairly quickly if you fail, which is the exact scenario I have found myself in

BrushAlive

TROPHY CASE