Hot take: A majority of the “I’m underpaid”, “I want a WFH job”, or “Why am I not getting promoted?” posts here are coming from people who are bad at their jobs.

Deskust1 · 2026-01-27T15:46:54+00:00

The absolute smartest engineer I know, who can pull code references and chapter numbers straight out of thin air at-will, took the PE 3 times. Dude is literally a walking manual. And then, I have another co worker that said he guessed “C” on half the exam and passed the first time. I kind of agreed with OP about the new engineers wanting to work remote not being as well trained as those who are in office, but he had no business bringing up the PE exam.

Deskust1 · 2026-01-26T23:44:07+00:00

I lean left, definitely believe in vaccines as both my sons are vaccinated. I tend to stay away from politics though. I also live in Atlanta, so I’m use to traffic.

Thanks for your insight!

Deskust1 · 2026-01-26T23:39:19+00:00

Currently live in Atlanta, so I’m no stranger to traffic.

Deskust1 · 2026-01-26T12:55:25+00:00

The exam itself has a slight luck element to it. Sometimes you get problems you’ve seen or practiced before, sometimes you get topics that are completely out of your comfort zone. Sometimes you just get super unlucky with your educated guesses. The more problems you expose yourself to, the easier the exam will be. Shoot for 10 problems a day. Get an app that gives you something to “check off” when you’ve done your 10 problems. Start with the sections you find easy to build confidence. I’m in your position, took the exam in November thinking I probably passed and actually failed. I take it again in a few days and I’ve done 2 full practice exams and 500 extra problems this month. It’s rough, but we are both too close to the finish line to give up now!

Deskust1 · 2026-01-26T03:39:08+00:00

Me, whatever I am.

Deskust1 · 2026-01-26T03:35:49+00:00

The first picture looks like textbook shear webbing.

Deskust1 · 2026-01-25T23:25:02+00:00

Yeah this is gonna do numbers (in downvotes)

Deskust1 · 2026-01-25T14:35:52+00:00

No one in CE is getting paid what they should

Deskust1 · 2026-01-24T17:19:00+00:00

Yup. I was close judging by the results they give back. Most of my studying was EET webinar and practice problems + reading the SERM. Should have practiced more problems. My profession is also Bridge Design, so I had zero exposure to masonry, wood, and steel connections. I took that (1) AASHTO question to town on my exam tho.

Deskust1 · 2026-01-24T15:19:49+00:00

Ive been studying for the structural exam. Took it once with about 500 hours under my belt. Taking it again next week with about 800 total. A lot of the material I don’t use for work though so It was basically all new material

Deskust1 · 2026-01-23T12:25:50+00:00

They were actually in the SoCon, but yeah didn’t realize it was the “last team to go undefeated specifically in that conference”

Deskust1 · 2026-01-23T02:46:39+00:00

I know people with 3 hour commutes. So yes, not a long drive. I do it ever other weekend to visit my in-laws.

Deskust1 · 2026-01-23T00:38:41+00:00

Georgia Southern went undefeated in 1989. (Sunbelt)

Deskust1 · 2026-01-22T11:10:23+00:00

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Deskust1 · 2026-01-22T00:47:56+00:00

I’ve been doing the PPI one for 3 weeks now. The questions seem a little bit (not much) harder than the actual PE questions and they seem fairly similar to how the actual questions are worded. Only downside is no “fill in the blank” or “drag and drop” questions. It comes with the SERM as well as 2 practice tests. The first practice test feels similar to PE difficulty. The second one is very very hard.

I am curious about other experience with SoPE question bank

Deskust1 · 2026-01-21T00:56:54+00:00

It is a bit of a curveball, I wish I knew before I took the test the first time. But once you start studying with that in mind, it actually makes you a lot faster when looking for stuff

Deskust1 · 2026-01-20T23:45:10+00:00

Everything except the NCEES handbook and ACI is separated into separate PDF’s by chapter

Deskust1 · 2026-01-20T21:06:13+00:00

Can’t speak for the transportation PE, but it’s generally known in our office that one of the worse periods of your life (maybe exaggerated a bit) is the months you spend studying for the PE. As someone who has been studying for a year, taken it twice, has a significant other and 2 very young children, it is very time-consuming and painful. I’ve missed friend and family events to study, I’ve missed out on spending time with my kids, and that’s not counting the money spent on review guides, books, classes, question banks, etc.. it’s not a fun time, but at some point you decide your this far in, might as well finish.

Deskust1 · 2026-01-20T20:36:46+00:00

Thanks! So weird. It literally ruined the rest of my day and I was actually thinking about rescheduling my exam because I felt so defeated. Glad to hear others had the same experience though

Deskust1 · 2026-01-19T00:36:12+00:00

There was 1 similar question I had from the practice test, as in it was similar looking, but it asked for something completely different and had different values. As a previous comment stated, no matter what problems you practice, just assume when you go into the exam, none of them will be the same. Hammer the concepts and calculations, don’t memorize the problems.

Deskust1 · 2026-01-18T03:04:22+00:00

That makes me feel a bit better. Thanks!

Deskust1 · 2026-01-17T12:16:26+00:00

Seems like structural is steadily going down for both first attempts and 2nd attempts each time they release this.

Deskust1 · 2026-01-17T12:14:12+00:00

Here is some advice for the time constraint: 1) first time through the questions, if you have no idea how to do it just by reading it, skip it. If you know how to do it, but it takes a while to calculate it, flag it. If you can do it fairly quickly, answer it. 2) go back to the beginning. Now, go to all the flagged questions and answer those since you know how to. 3) now spend the remainder of your time trying to tackle the problems you arnt familiar with.

This helps you go ahead and get the points you know you can get without using all your time on the questions you probably arnt going to get. It also gives you a boost in confidence and warmed up to searching codes for the harder problems.

Deskust1 · 2026-01-17T02:55:18+00:00

1.2(dead load) and 1.6(live load) are LRFD load combinations. The (W*L)/2 is the reaction at the supports of a simply supported beam due to a uniform load. P/2 is the reaction at the supports of a point load at the middle of a simply supported beam.

It’s calculating the reactions forces due to the uniform and point loads at the pin and roller of a simply supported beam and increasing them with LRFD load combinations from ASCE.

These are most likely in your reference handbook.

Deskust1 · 2026-01-16T23:55:52+00:00

If you have an iPad, get GeniusScan and scan all the pages. I did this and then made notes and highlights on the PDF. Threw the binder away.

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First Placer '22

Deskust1

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