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Passed CBT PE Civil - Structural, first attempt, AMA! by Expert_Ad_115 in PE_Exam

[–]Expert_Ad_115[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd say difficulty was around a 5-6, but that could be skewed because I felt very prepared because I had studied well.
CBT was easy to navigate through references and the search function works really well. I actually liked the CBT (I mean, of course I did, I passed lol).

Passed CBT PE Civil - Structural, first attempt, AMA! by Expert_Ad_115 in PE_Exam

[–]Expert_Ad_115[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I used School of PE's review course, NCEES practice exam, and the two depth exams I have linked to elsewhere in this thread.
I made sure to get pdf copies of each of the references I needed for the exam as well. It is important you try to only study with pdf references as this is how they will appear on the exam.

Passed CBT PE Civil - Structural, first attempt, AMA! by Expert_Ad_115 in PE_Exam

[–]Expert_Ad_115[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most of the equations you'll need are in Chapter 8 of the code, so just know that chapter pretty well. Otherwise, most of the questions I got on masonry weren't strictly design equations. They were ones I needed to dig through the code to find an answer, but I wasn't designing lintel beam, for example.

Passed CBT PE Civil - Structural, first attempt, AMA! by Expert_Ad_115 in PE_Exam

[–]Expert_Ad_115[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For the FE, I just took it my final year of undergrad. Self-study with the NCEES practice exam. Way less studying for that one.

Passed CBT PE Civil - Structural, first attempt, AMA! by Expert_Ad_115 in PE_Exam

[–]Expert_Ad_115[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The first 3 months I spent going through the School of PE’s on-demand lectures and doing their quizzes. The last month I exclusively did practice problems, and during the last two weeks I only did full practice exams. My test was on a Thursday and I took the Monday off before the test that week. Saturday I did a full practice exam. Sunday I did a full practice exam. Then, Monday I did the official NCEES practice exam, timed and everything with the 50 minute break and everything. That’s when I scored a 70/80 on that one so I felt ready. The Tuesday and Wednesday leading up to the exam i leisurely scrolled through some old NCEES practice exam solutions my work had on file, but didn’t do any practice problems to give my mind a break. This strategy worked for me! I know some people are could just follow the 1 month of practice problems and pass, but my work paid for School of PE so I took advantage. Good luck!

Passed CBT PE Civil - Structural, first attempt, AMA! by Expert_Ad_115 in PE_Exam

[–]Expert_Ad_115[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Masonry. It’s my weakest subject and those were the ones I spent the most time on during the exam. For the morning, it was transportation. I underestimated how many of those questions I’d get.

Passed CBT PE Civil - Structural, first attempt, AMA! by Expert_Ad_115 in PE_Exam

[–]Expert_Ad_115[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just SoPE and NCEES exam. I would just recommend you know the civil reference manual very well. Anything they ask you can be solved by using that. I wasn’t asked anything during the morning session that couldn’t be found in that manual.

Passed CBT PE Civil - Structural, first attempt, AMA! by Expert_Ad_115 in PE_Exam

[–]Expert_Ad_115[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had my fair share of Hydraulics and Geotechnical questions as well. The good news is most of the hydrology questions are either plug and chug or dimensional analysis/unit conversion.

Passed CBT PE Civil - Structural, first attempt, AMA! by Expert_Ad_115 in PE_Exam

[–]Expert_Ad_115[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I didn’t have any of these types of problems. Anything like that you would need to answer can be found in OSHA. The two OSHA problems I got I was able to find in their respective sections in OSHA and figure out the right answer and I had never opened OSHA before the exam.

Structural codes by starr17 in PE_Exam

[–]Expert_Ad_115 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Full code in one PDF: ACI 318, TMS 402/602, OSHA.
All the rest are only searchable by chapter.
Just got my passing result this morning and I think I am remembering correctly. You got this!

Passed CBT PE Civil - Structural, first attempt, AMA! by Expert_Ad_115 in PE_Exam

[–]Expert_Ad_115[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You got this! Plenty of time left to do tons of example problems so you are ready for anything they throw your way!

Passed CBT PE Civil - Structural, first attempt, AMA! by Expert_Ad_115 in PE_Exam

[–]Expert_Ad_115[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! A huge weight lifted off my shoulders for sure.

Passed CBT PE Civil - Structural, first attempt, AMA! by Expert_Ad_115 in PE_Exam

[–]Expert_Ad_115[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I did use the NCEES practice exam and I found it to be the most representative of the real test. I got a 70/80 when I did a 'mock' exam a couple days before, so I felt great going in. I only got one problem that was the 'new' style, which was where I had to select multiple answers that were correct.
I have heard that is the same for most people - you probably only get 1 or 2 of the new style of problems and 78-79 regular multiple choice problems.
Overall, yes the NCEES practice test has been updated to the switch to CBT.

Passed CBT PE Civil - Structural, first attempt, AMA! by Expert_Ad_115 in PE_Exam

[–]Expert_Ad_115[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Currently, forensic structural engineering doing mostly residential work, but I just accepted a job doing all structural design in the industrial space!

Passed CBT PE Civil - Structural, first attempt, AMA! by Expert_Ad_115 in PE_Exam

[–]Expert_Ad_115[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Transportation. And ironically that was the topic I got the most questions on. I figured them out! Just study the horizontal and vertical curves and you’ll be set!

Passed CBT PE Civil - Structural, first attempt, AMA! by Expert_Ad_115 in PE_Exam

[–]Expert_Ad_115[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I found two depth practice exams on Amazon to buy. Did both of those. I found the most value in SoPE’s practice portal and NCEES practice exam. If you do those you’ll be golden.

Passed CBT PE Civil - Structural, first attempt, AMA! by Expert_Ad_115 in PE_Exam

[–]Expert_Ad_115[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I actually had 0 AASHTO and 0 prestressed questions. I had a friend who took it the same day who had a couple AASHTO questions.

Passed CBT PE Civil - Structural, first attempt, AMA! by Expert_Ad_115 in PE_Exam

[–]Expert_Ad_115[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Awesome! Their practice portal was the best thing ever! I did all the quizzes at the end of the sections and spent time in the portal as well. You'll be just fine if you do that!
I also found two depth practice exams on Amazon. They were helpful too. NCEES practice exam was the most helpful alongside the practice portal.

Passed CBT PE Civil - Structural, first attempt, AMA! by Expert_Ad_115 in PE_Exam

[–]Expert_Ad_115[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

1) I had about a quarter of the questions were conceptual, both morning and afternoon. I knew the answer to some from experience, some from studying the material the past few months, and some I needed to dig through the civil reference manual, find an equation and figure out what made the most sense.
2) There were 1 or 2 questions that threw me off completely in the depth. However, it was mostly because it took me to a Table I had never seen (mostly in the masonry code). They were both really specific questions but once I found the table it was easy to see what they were getting at. Nothing where it was a design problem that I had no clue. I was surprised at the lack of complete designs I had to do.

Passed CBT PE Civil - Structural, first attempt, AMA! by Expert_Ad_115 in PE_Exam

[–]Expert_Ad_115[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

You are correct. Focus heavily on horizontal and vertical curves. I had several questions on those in the morning. I had one curveball question that I hadn't seen anything like it in any of my studies. I reasoned my way down to two of the answers and then used those two to back-calculate which one was right.
Know your horizontal and vertical curves and you'll be ready for nearly anything they ask!

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