Customer Reviews

Practice Problems for the Civil Engineering PE Exam: A Companion to the Civil Engineering Reference Manual

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I took the exam today (10/24/03) and had this working along with the big Lindeburg Reference book. This is a great supplement to the big book. I took the structural afternoon session and flagged 2 problems that dealt with concrete design. I actually sifted directly to the problems I flagged in here instead of digging through the big book and I got the problem answered quickly.

Besides the basic structural questions, most of the problems in this guide are probably too involved. This is why as another review mentioned, I recommend you get the NCEES sample questions as well. That book is put out by the organization that is in charge of the PE exam and their problems are much more realistic to what you will be getting the day of the test.

One other thing to note...a lot of the transportation problems in this practice problems book refers directly to transportation codes such as HCM, AASHTO, etc. I would have liked it if some of these tables were in the Civil Eng. Ref. Manual so I wouldn't need a copy of the code everytime I wanted to study at home.

But I still say this is a must have.

This edition is an improvement. It provides complete questions and answers. It is nice to have a quick reference, of just questions and answers. However, I found that I used the material in the Reference Manual more than anything else--especially on the exam.

I find the Six Minute Solutions book and the 101 Solved Civil Engineering books much better. Those books give you solved solutions to the problem, where the Practice Problems book for some of the sections only gives you answers, like A. I've been trying to work through this book but it is frustrating when you get stumped that there is no where to go and see how the problem was solved. Wish it had a companion with the full solutions. The ones that do give you the solutions make assumptions and do not list them. I would also highly recommend getting the Sample Problems book offered through NCEES.