Three Tips to Pass the Civil PE Structural Depth Section
The Civil PE Exam breadth section is a mile wide and an inch deep. In other words, to make it through you only need to know the basics of each subject. The depth section is a different story: you must know almost all the ins and outs of structural engineering to pass. Fortunately, studying and preparing for this section are easier than you might think. Here’re some tips to help you with your studying process:
Tip #1: Know your references
The NCEES syllabus gives you a comprehensive list of all the references you’ll need for the depth section. You can answer just about all the questions in this section using these books. The Civil Engineering Reference Manual isn’t nearly as useful for this part, though you may open it for some of the more basic questions. The references change from time to time, but as of 2019, they are:
AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications — You can buy this book in loose-leaf form online. It’s super expensive and consists of enough pages to fill multiple 3-ring binders. Due to its price and unwieldy size, most test-takers opt not to bring it. I sure didn’t. When I took the exam, I only saw two or three questions that referenced bridge specifications. I guessed on all of them and still passed. Unless you can borrow a copy from your workplace and know how to read all the charts (which I didn’t) it’s not worth bringing.
International Building Code — This one is straight-forward. The test will ask you trivia questions (not quantitative problems) about certain standards and practices, and you have to rifle through this reference to find them. Your best bet is to tab every major section.
ASCE 7 Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures — The instructions in this reference are straight-forward but also complicated: you’ll have to flip through several sheets and various charts to find the information you need. Be sure to research snow, wind, and seismic loads and familiarize yourself with all the factors that go into making a calculation. Focus on the exceptions to the rules, as they’ll try to trip you up with those.
ACI 318 Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete — This reference contains plenty of quantitative and qualitative information. You’ll find equations and charts, but also information about the properties of concrete. As of this writing, the latest incarnation of the ACI 318 is the 2014 edition, which consists of standards and explanations side-by-side.
AISC Steel Construction Manual — This one can be tough to navigate due to the sheer volume of information contained therein. Needless to say, it’s impossible to effectively use this reference without thorough tabbing. Know how to use all the charts. Also, remember that the steel manual is as much a textbook as it is a reference: sections at the back have step-by-step instructions for compression, tension, and flexural design. Be sure to tab those.
NDS National Design Specification for Wood Construction — Like the steel manual, this manual contains a vast amount of information. Make sure you tab every section that references a specific design factor, as well as tables and charts for wood properties and effective lengths. The design package includes multiple references, but I only used the actual manual.
OSHA CFR 29 Part 1926 — Government agencies publish this reference online. Google it. Your best bet is to find the PDF file and then bring it in to a print shop to get it printed out in a spiral- bound book. That’s cheaper than being the book itself, and you can save time by only printing the relevant sections identified in the syllabus.
PCI Design Handbook: Precast and Pre-stressed Concrete — Nice-looking book, but I literally didn’t open it during the exam.
TMS 402/6024 (ACI 530/530.1) Building Code Requirements and Specifications for Masonry Structures — The biggest surprise from the exam was the amount of masonry questions. I never took a masonry class, but fortunately most of the problems were simple and straight-forward. I
barely skimmed the reference, but I did tab the chapters. In hindsight, it would’ve been helpful to go through and memorize at least where to find all the important bits of information (i.e. definitions and equations.)
Keep in mind the following:
- Tabbing is important, but it won’t take the place of studying. You’ll have time to lookup crucial information during the exam but you won’t have time to learn unfamiliar material. Tab every major section but also ensure that you can understand every chart and every equation and apply it during the test.
- The reference they’re referencing may not be the one you’re thinking of. One example, when I took the exam, we had a question about the acceptable height of a masonry wall. I searched all over the masonry manual and found nothing. Afterwards, I discovered that the answer was in the OSHA manual.
- Studying your references will help you more than doing practice problems. Some engineers may disagree with this assertion, but it was true for me. Problems can help you get used to the format and presentation of the exam, but due to the volume of information to draw from, it’s unlikely you’ll find problems exactly like the practice ones.
Tip #2: The questions vary in terms of difficulty
You’ll get to some questions and think “why the heck is this even on here? It’s too easy!” Other questions will have you scratching your head because you can’t make heads or tails of it. In fact, when I took the exam, I saw a handful of questions about subjects that I had never seen before. Of course, the questions are all worth the same number of point so it’s important to go through
and complete the easiest questions first. If you’re unsure of your answer, mark it and move on. The NCEES folks are trying to trick you into wasting your time. I would suggest marking all the questions that you have no clue how to solve…and doing them last. Remember, even if you guess, you still have a 25% chance of getting it right. Use the process of elimination to your
advantage. NCEES won’t publish the cutoff for the exam, but I do believe it hovers around 56/80. If you have at least 28 questions that you know you got right in both sections, you have a clear path to victory. Also, don’t obsessively check the NCEES website after the test — they’ll send you an e-mail when results are posted.
Tip #3: The aforementioned references aren’t your only sources
When I took the exam, I used some additional manuals that helped quite a bit. The references include pages and pages of raw data in the form of charts and graphs. These manuals, published by PPI, help put much of that information into a more practical context:
You can also bring in any textbook or even handwritten notes (although it all must be secured in a 3-ring binder!)
