Civil PE Sample Examination

The Civil PE Sample Examination by Michael Lindeburg, PE and PPI is a very thorough sample examination. It is also more difficult than the NCEES Civil Sample Examination and from what I have heard is more difficult than the actual PE exam. The questions are well worded, with few ambiguities, with more variety and overall questions than the NCEES sample exam. The solutions are somewhat more comprehensive than the NCEES sample exam though I do wish they were cross-referenced to the Civil Engineering Reference Manual, also by Mr. Lindeburg. Additionally, the solutions do not always use the same notations as the Civil Engineering Reference Manual, though the discrepancies are not so great as to require too much digging for clarification. I like that the breadth problems are grouped by discipline. Overall, I highly recommend that prospective engineers use both this and the NCEES sample exam. This sample exam would be best used, I think, in the middle of your studying timeline to focus your remaining study time on your individual problem areas. Take the NCEES Sample Exam within the last two weeks of studying to get a better idea of the actual test problems.

The sample problems in this text prepare you only in the sense that it gets you back into thinking again like a college student preparing for a big exam. Being a few years out of college, reviewing these problems got me back into study mode. Most of the problems in this book are much more difficult and involved than the problems on the actual exam. When I began studying I looked at the large pile of reference books on the floor and freaked out thinking I'll never remember all of topics covered in the PE. I calmed down, ordered this book (after receiving advise from several others who passed the PE before me). I felt much better and more prepared after a week or two of reviewing the material in this book. Overall, I recommend this as well as the reference guide by Lindeburg. Both are much better than you originally think. After the exam, you'll be glad you had them along!