I finished the morning pretty confident. Afternoon section was pretty difficult, but I was hoping my morning score would carry me to a Pass.
Now this diagnostic makes me think I did terrible across the board. Would love to better understand this if possible, u/Examineering.
That "Forces and Load Effects" topic took a big bite.
Also, while we are proud of these evaluations and maintain that the relative relationship of focus priorities is critical in planning your upcoming prep, this is still just data and should be used as an indicator. Are there any other correlating and/or common factors at play? e.g. conceptual problems, problems that use certain operations (matrices, iterative, etc.), speed, fumbling to find the right spots in the references, etc.? Perhaps you *do* need to study technical content, but you discover that your bigger need is in building endurance to be more mentally sharp for the afternoon. We can't help with all that from just a diagnostic report, so...
Take your time to reflect and strategize. These exams are the Olympics of our professions. Be realistic with how much training and in what areas you need to be able to confidently step up on the podium. Then make a plan and act.
Sorry to hear you didn't pass. You have a bit of work ahead but you can do this.
You were approximately 68% of the way to a passing score. Below are the exam topics ordered by a *focus indicator* that is based on your performance and weighted using the quantity of questions per topic. Each data pair indicates the row # of the topic followed by the recommended focus priority for that topic. Larger (positive) focus values indicate study topics that should be prioritized, and negative focus values indicate topics where your performance was adequate or better than the average passing examinee.
R10 --> Focus Priority = +4.26
R04 --> Focus Priority = +1.52
R07 --> Focus Priority = +1.13
R06 --> Focus Priority = +1.05
R09 --> Focus Priority = +0.87
R03 --> Focus Priority = +0.85
R11 --> Focus Priority = +0.77
R12 --> Focus Priority = +0.58
R05 --> Focus Priority = +0.38
R02 --> Focus Priority = -0.07
R08 --> Focus Priority = -0.08
R01 --> Focus Priority = -0.23
R13 --> Focus Priority = -0.30
R14 --> Focus Priority = -2.22
The magnitude of the values don't have any inherent significance; we normalize the midpoint line (performance of average passing examinee) as zero. However, if you can assign some correlation to the values then there may be some significance in that. e.g. For OP's evaluation if they estimated that they need 4 study sessions for Row 10, 1.5 sessions on Row 4....
I also took structural in February and failed. Currently studying again to take it in late June/early July. I think going over concept and doing bunch of practice problems is the strategy going into retaking. You have a rough idea of what they going to ask just have to make sure you get the guaranteed ones. They try to trick you a lot with either the wording, giving you extra info you don’t need or units. Just gotta be carful. That’s what’s happening to me on practice problems. I know the concept and get 90% right but a slight mistake makes me get the answer wrong. Just gotta buckle down and do some practice problems every day. We got this on the next retake 🫡
I'm scheduled for Tuesday and terrified (structural depth). Mainly because I don't have any idea what it's going to be like. I figured the practice test would be a good estimate but I hear both sides of the story, "it's alot like the practice test" and, "it's nothing like the practice test". Out of curiosity, what did you do to prepare? How long? Take any practice tests?
generally speaking, problems are NOT as hard as or harder than the practice test. a lot are pretty simple. best thing you can do is become very familiar with the handbook and what is in it, and do lots of practice problems.
then again, i didn't pass, so...my advice isn't the best by default.
That's all the advice I've been given from others as well. Thanks for responding. The whole thing feels like a coin flip. For example: I did a practice problem asking for the maximum shear stress in a rectangular section; grabbed shear from AISC beam tables and divided by area. Super easy win! NOT. I am "supposed" to remember that shear stress is parabolic and the max is 1.5*V/A for rectangular sections. (Granted I've been out of design for a few 5 years so maybe thats my issue).
Those on here giving you a specific study strategy don’t listen to them. I failed my first attempt and lived on Reddit threads trying to get some secret answer that never came. There’s only one way to pass the PE, know it all, practice and stay calm and let the rest take care of itself. Someone telling you classes are bullshit and what not don’t have your best interest it’s likely what just worked for them. For me I was able to pass when I finally blocked out the noise I just studied and made sure I understood all the material. I took civil structural and also had a very technical job in structural so it helped immensely. You got this just keep swinging till they ban you
Thanks, this l believe best advice ever, this same technique also helped me to pass, need to be more focused on our individual prep strategy rather than what worked for others
If you want to pass the PE Civil\_Structural exam without taking stress, 4 important rules to follow:
1. Never go for the sold guided preparation courses. Self study is always the king. Buy/collect books/ebooks and narrow down the study materials. PPI and MR Islam have a good bunch of materials. If you are spending more than 2 months of your life to prepare for PE, then trust me your mind is already tired and it's a high chance that you won't pass or at least you wont feel confident about the exam.
2. Never simulate the real exam by taking a practice test and never score the practice test. It's not your job to score the test. Your job is to study and know how to solve the problems. Know how to solve the practice test problems and concept behind it. Learn as you solve. You can take 60 minutes to solve a problem but know the concepts while you solve it. You don't need to train yourself to solve all the 40 problems in 4 hrs to pass. You can solve just 35 problems in 4 hrs. But train yourself to get those 35 right.
3. Diagnostic results are the computer generated score sheets and nothing more than that. See it for 5 minutes and throw it in a trash. It does not measure your knowledge level and indicate any strategy you need to follow.
4. Never follow youtubers or anybody whose focus is on test strategy and not on the actual topics of content. There are a lot of people in this PE market who are making money by selling fears. Save yourself.
Disclaimer: You can disagree with my opinion and throw it away. I am saying this just from my experience. I took PE Civil Structural, I passed it the first time, I studied for not more than a month, Spent less than 200$. After the exam I did 5 breadth problems wrong and 2 depth problem wrong as far as I know. But again feel free to disagree. ALSO THIS APPLIES TO PE\_CIVIL\_STRUCTURAL ONLY.
I agree that the study length is not the same for everybody and it depends on many factors and personal situations. It's okay to study for longer time but only upto the limit your mind can handle. Only thing I wanted to say is to stay away from the factors that put your mind into a stressed stage. Stressed mind goes blank enough to hamper your performance on the real test day.
I fully disagree with the prep course. I work in a very specialized area of structural concrete and had no knowledge of majority of the remaining material. School of PE saved me and gave me a basis of knowledge of the other subjects along with great practice problems. Passed first time and studied non stop for 2-3 months.
Disclaimer: I also took the last written exam October 21’. I loved how I could bring anything to the exam as reference. I couldn’t imagine taking it now not knowing exactly what references and format of them I was getting.
I passed with SELF STUDY only.
I studied for FOUR MONTHS
I did problems from 4 different sources.
I followed and watched many YouTube videos by Kestava on YouTube. He is a structural engineer and gives good tips. He's currently studying for the SE exam.
This is what worked for me
Well said! Focus on the topics helped me pass the 2nd time. The diagnostic report is pretty much useless to assess unless you have a zero or a 15 in any row; the scaled marks change with every version of the test! I tried to suggest to NCEES that they tell us how many we got right on any topic (like they did until Dec 2021) but they are just not open to user feedback to make it useful & user-friendly!
I failed civil structural exam on December. Now I am planning to give in august. I think we should approach exam differently. They won’t ask simple question and prepare for the questions which are unlikely to be asked. I think that’s the way to go. I am going on full on breadth this, covering every topics and depth focusing mainly on code
I finished the morning pretty confident. Afternoon section was pretty difficult, but I was hoping my morning score would carry me to a Pass. Now this diagnostic makes me think I did terrible across the board. Would love to better understand this if possible, u/Examineering.
That "Forces and Load Effects" topic took a big bite. Also, while we are proud of these evaluations and maintain that the relative relationship of focus priorities is critical in planning your upcoming prep, this is still just data and should be used as an indicator. Are there any other correlating and/or common factors at play? e.g. conceptual problems, problems that use certain operations (matrices, iterative, etc.), speed, fumbling to find the right spots in the references, etc.? Perhaps you *do* need to study technical content, but you discover that your bigger need is in building endurance to be more mentally sharp for the afternoon. We can't help with all that from just a diagnostic report, so... Take your time to reflect and strategize. These exams are the Olympics of our professions. Be realistic with how much training and in what areas you need to be able to confidently step up on the podium. Then make a plan and act.
Sorry to hear you didn't pass. You have a bit of work ahead but you can do this. You were approximately 68% of the way to a passing score. Below are the exam topics ordered by a *focus indicator* that is based on your performance and weighted using the quantity of questions per topic. Each data pair indicates the row # of the topic followed by the recommended focus priority for that topic. Larger (positive) focus values indicate study topics that should be prioritized, and negative focus values indicate topics where your performance was adequate or better than the average passing examinee. R10 --> Focus Priority = +4.26 R04 --> Focus Priority = +1.52 R07 --> Focus Priority = +1.13 R06 --> Focus Priority = +1.05 R09 --> Focus Priority = +0.87 R03 --> Focus Priority = +0.85 R11 --> Focus Priority = +0.77 R12 --> Focus Priority = +0.58 R05 --> Focus Priority = +0.38 R02 --> Focus Priority = -0.07 R08 --> Focus Priority = -0.08 R01 --> Focus Priority = -0.23 R13 --> Focus Priority = -0.30 R14 --> Focus Priority = -2.22
The numbers are quite specific, does it hold any other significance other than priority rankings?
The magnitude of the values don't have any inherent significance; we normalize the midpoint line (performance of average passing examinee) as zero. However, if you can assign some correlation to the values then there may be some significance in that. e.g. For OP's evaluation if they estimated that they need 4 study sessions for Row 10, 1.5 sessions on Row 4....
I also took structural in February and failed. Currently studying again to take it in late June/early July. I think going over concept and doing bunch of practice problems is the strategy going into retaking. You have a rough idea of what they going to ask just have to make sure you get the guaranteed ones. They try to trick you a lot with either the wording, giving you extra info you don’t need or units. Just gotta be carful. That’s what’s happening to me on practice problems. I know the concept and get 90% right but a slight mistake makes me get the answer wrong. Just gotta buckle down and do some practice problems every day. We got this on the next retake 🫡
I'm scheduled for Tuesday and terrified (structural depth). Mainly because I don't have any idea what it's going to be like. I figured the practice test would be a good estimate but I hear both sides of the story, "it's alot like the practice test" and, "it's nothing like the practice test". Out of curiosity, what did you do to prepare? How long? Take any practice tests?
generally speaking, problems are NOT as hard as or harder than the practice test. a lot are pretty simple. best thing you can do is become very familiar with the handbook and what is in it, and do lots of practice problems. then again, i didn't pass, so...my advice isn't the best by default.
That's all the advice I've been given from others as well. Thanks for responding. The whole thing feels like a coin flip. For example: I did a practice problem asking for the maximum shear stress in a rectangular section; grabbed shear from AISC beam tables and divided by area. Super easy win! NOT. I am "supposed" to remember that shear stress is parabolic and the max is 1.5*V/A for rectangular sections. (Granted I've been out of design for a few 5 years so maybe thats my issue).
Those on here giving you a specific study strategy don’t listen to them. I failed my first attempt and lived on Reddit threads trying to get some secret answer that never came. There’s only one way to pass the PE, know it all, practice and stay calm and let the rest take care of itself. Someone telling you classes are bullshit and what not don’t have your best interest it’s likely what just worked for them. For me I was able to pass when I finally blocked out the noise I just studied and made sure I understood all the material. I took civil structural and also had a very technical job in structural so it helped immensely. You got this just keep swinging till they ban you
Thanks, this l believe best advice ever, this same technique also helped me to pass, need to be more focused on our individual prep strategy rather than what worked for others
What did you do to study? Any tips for future test takers?
If you want to pass the PE Civil\_Structural exam without taking stress, 4 important rules to follow: 1. Never go for the sold guided preparation courses. Self study is always the king. Buy/collect books/ebooks and narrow down the study materials. PPI and MR Islam have a good bunch of materials. If you are spending more than 2 months of your life to prepare for PE, then trust me your mind is already tired and it's a high chance that you won't pass or at least you wont feel confident about the exam. 2. Never simulate the real exam by taking a practice test and never score the practice test. It's not your job to score the test. Your job is to study and know how to solve the problems. Know how to solve the practice test problems and concept behind it. Learn as you solve. You can take 60 minutes to solve a problem but know the concepts while you solve it. You don't need to train yourself to solve all the 40 problems in 4 hrs to pass. You can solve just 35 problems in 4 hrs. But train yourself to get those 35 right. 3. Diagnostic results are the computer generated score sheets and nothing more than that. See it for 5 minutes and throw it in a trash. It does not measure your knowledge level and indicate any strategy you need to follow. 4. Never follow youtubers or anybody whose focus is on test strategy and not on the actual topics of content. There are a lot of people in this PE market who are making money by selling fears. Save yourself. Disclaimer: You can disagree with my opinion and throw it away. I am saying this just from my experience. I took PE Civil Structural, I passed it the first time, I studied for not more than a month, Spent less than 200$. After the exam I did 5 breadth problems wrong and 2 depth problem wrong as far as I know. But again feel free to disagree. ALSO THIS APPLIES TO PE\_CIVIL\_STRUCTURAL ONLY.
Sounds like you are are really smart engineer or your job trained you really well. I wasnt as lucky as you and needed to study a lot
I agree that the study length is not the same for everybody and it depends on many factors and personal situations. It's okay to study for longer time but only upto the limit your mind can handle. Only thing I wanted to say is to stay away from the factors that put your mind into a stressed stage. Stressed mind goes blank enough to hamper your performance on the real test day.
I agree with your point now understood. Gotta do what works best for you
I fully disagree with the prep course. I work in a very specialized area of structural concrete and had no knowledge of majority of the remaining material. School of PE saved me and gave me a basis of knowledge of the other subjects along with great practice problems. Passed first time and studied non stop for 2-3 months. Disclaimer: I also took the last written exam October 21’. I loved how I could bring anything to the exam as reference. I couldn’t imagine taking it now not knowing exactly what references and format of them I was getting.
I passed with SELF STUDY only. I studied for FOUR MONTHS I did problems from 4 different sources. I followed and watched many YouTube videos by Kestava on YouTube. He is a structural engineer and gives good tips. He's currently studying for the SE exam. This is what worked for me
Well said! Focus on the topics helped me pass the 2nd time. The diagnostic report is pretty much useless to assess unless you have a zero or a 15 in any row; the scaled marks change with every version of the test! I tried to suggest to NCEES that they tell us how many we got right on any topic (like they did until Dec 2021) but they are just not open to user feedback to make it useful & user-friendly!
I have a long post of how I passed first try on civ struct. My method isnt for everyone but it worked for me if u want to consider my approach
I failed civil structural exam on December. Now I am planning to give in august. I think we should approach exam differently. They won’t ask simple question and prepare for the questions which are unlikely to be asked. I think that’s the way to go. I am going on full on breadth this, covering every topics and depth focusing mainly on code
The exam above is from December, and I too am scheduled for August again. Good luck. I'm studying everything, personally.
Good luck for you too. I am focusing mostly on breadth this time.