PE Exam

On Friday, April 11 I took the Professional Engineering (PE) Exam. I studied for a pretty long time starting probably six to eight months or maybe more. Anyways, studying for it was a long process. First, you have to find out what to study and civil engineering is so broad that it's hard to know where to begin. First, I started using a book that I borrowed from a guy at work, Shaun. It's supposed to prepare you for the exam but I later found out that it is useless. It was way too specific and way too elementary. It seemed that they assumed that you knew nothing and were starting from scratch. Then, I went to the NCEES website, who sponsor the test and write it. Oh, and I had bought a study book from them too, NCEES. I had gone through it and it seemed pretty hard. Back to the website. I found a list of things to study, so I began a tedious process of trying to study all those topics over about three or so months. I finished that and in the mean time had purchased the latest edition of the study materials that NCEES has. To describe the book, I have to describe the test. The test includes a morning and an afternoon session. In the morning there are 40 questions about general civil engineering. In the afternoon, there are 40 questions about a specific civil engineering discipline, in my case transportation engineering. There is also water resources, geotechnical, and structural. Anyways, back to the book. The book is written by the same people who write questions for the actual exam. So, the book gives 20 general questions and 20 specific questions. Anyways, I took timed exams at the library using both books. This was great because it gave me a really good idea of what I needed to study. The test was getting closer and I realized I needed more books. NCEES has a list of reference books you may need for the exam for the transporation part. So, I bought the ones I didn't have except one. Anyways, I prepared the best I could and felt good about my preparation. When actually taking the exam, the general went by way faster and I was able to go back and rework some problems that I had skipped. I did well on everything except geo I think. Each part was 4 hours. then, the afternoon came. It was grueling. I barely barely got through to the last question and had no time to rework questions I had skipped. Even so, I felt pretty decent about how I did. I don't know if I passed but it doesn't matter. I did well in my book and if I have to take it again, I will know what I need to work on for next time. I'm out.