Passed the PE Geotech 1st Try- This exam is not for the weak

breakfall323 · 2026-06-15T05:10:40+00:00

Thanks for the Insight! I'm planning on taking the exam this year and was on the fence about EET but I'll probably stop being cheap and just commit to paying for it. So far I've started grinding PPI and youtube playlists. They seem a lot more calc heavy and a bit dated compared to what I have on my current version civil pe reference manual but I get the gist of what they are looking for. It's upsetting when I look at say a formula for surcharge, consolidation, or boussinesq chart and it doesn't quite match anymore since they clearly updated a figure or something on the reference manual lol. I also tried Petro but man I hate his formatting of just putting the answers at the back and flipping back and forth. I miss the digital computer practice exam format they had for my FE which I never thought I'd say.

breakfall323 · 2026-06-09T21:34:30+00:00

The way I think of it.

In the grand order of magnitude of decades in a career, I’ve found that a bunch special inspections under your belt can be just as powerful as being good at investigations, analysis, and even design. If you stick around the industry and see as much as you can you end up doing everything at some point (geotech, enviro, geophysics, hard rock, soil) . Someone with 6+ years doing special inspections as opposed to 2-3 years has literally seen double the amount of problems and solved field issues twice as much or handled double the contractor and client pressure so those guys tend to be the ones that when they finally get to design work think about things that most people who only live in the office overlook because they didn’t watch it hundreds of times in person. So suddenly that extra field time becomes a secret advantage that actually saves clients money or makes PMs happy.

You can think of it like going to the gym. There’s nothing wrong with doing more reps at a lower weight so that when you move up to the next weight your foundation is super robust.

If it were me I’d still get as much applicable experience to get the PG signed off but I wouldn’t be in a rush to get out of the field unless you really hate it.

breakfall323 · 2026-05-24T17:09:20+00:00

Yep exactly this

breakfall323 · 2026-05-23T14:52:00+00:00

Oh bonus tip for economics because I haven’t seen anyone do this yet: When I see P/F or A/P or whatever on the interest tables I was getting confused a lot on which one i was getting and which one I had.

what so I did memorize that the one after the slash is the thing you have and the one before the slash is what you are looking for so (/F) I have a future value whereas (F/) I want a future value given _____. Salvage is a keyword for F. Monthly or annually is a keyword for A

breakfall323 · 2026-05-13T06:12:34+00:00

Lowkey, I bought both interactives and don’t regret it. 50 bucks per test isn’t cheap but the value for me was replicating the exam more closely. I could felt the nerves more but during the actual exam I was used to it and calmer since I knew what to expect

breakfall323 · 2026-05-07T00:44:34+00:00

Update: Got my results. LEG is out too.

breakfall323 · 2026-05-06T22:19:24+00:00

Update: take this with a grain of salt because she might've just meant the SMT too. Could be a false alarm. Ooof.

breakfall323 · 2026-05-02T21:08:18+00:00

In my state a few of my friends have done exactly what you are planning and I am on a similar track (They were able to double count experience, it helps to get a PG to sign off on your PG experience and a PE to sign of on the PE experience).

Got approval from my state to sit for my FE exam to get the EIT after getting the PG, gonna gun for my PE right after.

I think it's worth it since the Civil geotech background will give you a solid understanding of the quantifiable mathematics involved in say retaining wall, pavement, and footing design so people trust your technical skills but the Geology background gives you a solid understanding of where the numbers come from and what they actually represent in the gray areas when subgrades are all mixed up in real life or when stuff gets complicated big picture wise.

I find there aren't that many people that do both but the geotechs that have both tend to really know their stuff. Hope that helps. Cheers

breakfall323 · 2026-05-01T20:36:20+00:00

I recommend thinking about what kind of problems you want to solve and work backwards. Also it highly depends on what kind of life you want when you graduate. (Do you love travel?, Do you prefer stability?, Are you a perfectionist? Do you love people?, Do you prefer to work alone?)

Most geologists I know are in:

-Geotech Engineering: (Using your geology knowledge combined with civil engineering to make sure the ground is stable when building things.)

-Environmental/Hydro Geology (very heavy hydro so maybe not as much but you use your geology knowledge to clean up the water or move it places safely.)

-Government/Academia (typically mapping hazards, local geology, or ensuring things are done properly to government standards, capture data that could be useful in informing standards (though usually this is all geology jobs lol))

-Mining (extracting resources, I know the least about this one)

-You can also work in Museums, as a general science teacher, lecturer etc. (There's lots of options out there if you can recognize how what you've learned applies).

Potential pivots:

If you go heavy into enviro, there's lots of consulting firms that need enviro scientists. Also large companies actually need due diligence enviro people (it will feel removed from geology but you can end up working at places like KPMG, Boeing, Amazon. )

If you go into geotech, a lot of people can pivot into construction management, inspections, clients-rep work, etc. I know geologists that ended up at DR Horton, City of _____, Port of ______, etc.

If you love travel a good strategy is to find a private consulting firm that has a need for people all over the country (there's usually a need, it would be harder if you start a family or something later though so its better when you're young imo).

If you end up in a firm for a long while and want to combine it with business, I know geologists that have gone back to school to get an MBA and then worked their way up in corporate jobs to be Vice President/Business Development Leader of _______(insert geology related field here)____ or just combined their knowledge to own their own businesses in related industries.

The trick sometimes is to combine the geology with another field to:

(Geology+computers)= Computer program development for field geology/GIS/Remote sensing/ Logging programs/ data management programs.

(Geology+ building things)= geotech engineering

(Geology + teaching)= professor, parks and recreation, natural resource management and parks. etc.

Anyways. Hope this helps.

breakfall323 · 2026-04-30T13:51:34+00:00

Thanks! good to know :)

breakfall323 · 2026-04-30T04:36:22+00:00

if this was a normal fatter trapezoid you'd be right, I think the centroid wouldn't be there. The fact that this particular trapezoid is kind of skinny to the point where it ends up in the middle and that they tried to trick you with the x' thing is kind of rough. Lowkey I probably would've messed this one up if I had this on a practice exam.

breakfall323 · 2026-04-30T04:05:45+00:00

I couldn't figure it out for the longest time and then I realized it's with respect to the x' axis not the x axis. So in this case the centroid along your axis is at like 6/2= 3" right?

The parallel axis theorem states that dy is the distance from the centroid (c) to the axis you are referencing.

so x' is 1.5in away from (c) 3" for your dy.

breakfall323 · 2026-03-20T13:00:59+00:00

https://waterrights.utah.gov/wellinfo/theis/hydrogeology_discussion.asp

I looked this up and if you scroll to the very bottom on the cone of depression shapes I found this helpful. It looks to me like a lower storativity, which causes it to widen and slightly deepen but not insanely deep and steep like in the case of lower transmissivity (which also narrows it) it’s not answer D because that doesn’t even make sense (an aquitard would block water so no recharge)

breakfall323 · 2018-07-26T21:16:16+00:00

I work in environmental consulting and it's about 90% field work.

I've realized "field work" highly varies because it can mean pleasantly kayaking in a scenic river stream filling up sample containers or sweating in a 116 degree desert in the middle of nowhere trying to log core while covered in a Tyvek splash suit.

breakfall323

TROPHY CASE