Most Helpful Customer Reviews
37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This book is vital though it could be better..., October 24, 2003
I just took the PE exam today (Oct. 24, 2003) and I really field tested this book thoroughly. I found it to be a great reference and it helped me answer a lot of the problems on the exam. There tend to be a bunch of questions on the exam that are definition questions...you look up the topic in the index and instantly, you have an answer. Or lots of questions where you have no idea how to solve it...look up the topic in the index, and instantly, you have the equation you need to solve the problem. It does cover all the topics that the exam deals with...and even has nice supplemental material which deals with some theory/background. You must get the sample questions book that accompanies this book...I even looked through those problems occasionally to assist my in answering the exam problems. There are some weaknesses though but ones that you can work around. For transportation, the book simply refers you to the codes. Same for the sample questions. It would be nice if the book contained more of the code directly so you wouldn't need to be jumping to those books. Same for the more special topics in structures...it would be nice if the book contained more AASHTO bridge type stuff and it doesn't help much with seismic. The geotechnical section is very decent...and the water resources section is also good for the morning session (I took structures so do not know how it handles for other topics in the afternoon session). The environmental section was not very good to me (although I don't know much about that topic which is why I probably found it to be confusing) but there are some definitions that come in handy. The only other slight nag is that the sample problems that accompany the book are in general too involved. You want to understand the topic but you don't want to overstudy a topic. All in all, this is a must have...could use slight improvement but without much real competition from the other PE book writers, you gotta get it.
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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good starting point, but don't let it be your only reference, October 30, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Civil Engineering Reference Manual for the PE Exam (Hardcover)
This is a good general reference book for use on the exam, as it contains a wide variety of subjects within the Civil discipline. The strong points of this reference manual are the number of topics discussed and the layout of the book (each module has its own tabbed section). The index and glossary are lengthy, which is an asset on the exam when you need to look up specific topics (college textbooks often skimp on the index and make you search the book for the topic because it isn't in the index). However, don't let it be your only reference on the exam, as this manual often refers to other references, particularly the AISC Manual of Steel Construction, TRB's Highway Capacity Manual, and AASTHO Green Book. Three glaring drawbacks: numerous errata (see www.ppi2pass.com), practice problems at the end of each chapter are few in number and do not resemble actual exam conditions (practice problems are one problem statement with 10 related problems; exam questions will stand independent of each other) and some depth modules may not be covered as extensively as others (a wide range of topics, but not many are discussed to great depth [particularly environmental and transportation]). I recommend using NCEES' Practice Exam if you want example questions similar to exam questions in style and difficulty. Don't rely on CERM as your only reference for afternoon depth modules (although it will function well for the simpler (shallower) problems in the depth modules); bring additional references to cover the specialty topics in your module (ACI/AISC, HCM, AASHTO Green Book, etc. depending on your module of choice). Overall, a very good reference book for general topics (AM session) but you'll need additional backup for the depth modules (PM session). 3 stars due to the drawbacks above weighing down the good breadth and layout (particularly the large number of errata - 8th edition had 13 pages of listed errata as of October 2001). Be sure to download and print the latest errata from the publisher website before you head to the exam!
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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perfect companion for the morning session, February 20, 2004
This book is more or less standard-issue for PE-takers (come exam day, you'll see zillions of the CERM scattered throughout the exam hall). If you find yourself on the fence about shelling out the $$ for it, I've found it to be a good investment. Having recently taken and passed the PE exam, I can attest to this book's usefulness. The index, in particular, I found to be pretty expansive - I used it to find answers to more than one problem where I was fairly clueless. Please note, the CERM's utility is certainly highest on the morning (breadth) section. Although it won't be entirely useless on the afternoon (depth) portion of the exam, you'll definitely utilize other references more heavily. I, for one, was impressed by how lopsided the difference in difficulty between sections turned out to be. Regardless of exam section, each question is equally weighted; thus, it's best to "clean house" where it's easiest - in the morning. You'll find this manual quite useful for that. My $0.02...
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