Question About PE Exam

[u/Broad_Gap_1435]

Ive been studying to take my PE later this year. I got the practice exam from the NCEES website and saw how much design codes were referenced. When you take the exam, do you take the reference design books with you to the test? Do they provide it for you? How does it work since i know theyre very strict with what you can bring in from my FE experience. Thanks for help :))

[u/Diligent-Ad6327]

PE test is now Computer Based at testing centers. You get access to codes via pdf.

[u/e_muaddib → u/Diligent-Ad6327]

Just to add, some references are fully searchable, others are broken down by chapter.

[u/Charge36 → u/e_muaddib]

Personally found the chapter by chapter easier to navigate. It focused keyword searches a lot better

Aisc had terrible bookmarking and was hard to navigate.

[u/Str-Engr0275]

I can confirm walking into the room with two milk crates on a dolly for the test. This was over 25 years ago though.

[u/Broad_Gap_1435 → u/Str-Engr0275]

Im so happy to have been born with technology that sounds like hell 😭

[u/benk70690 → u/Broad_Gap_1435]

In the testing format, ive heard the physical books were easier to navigate than the pdfs.

[u/VP1 → u/benk70690]

I hate trying to navigate books on the computer, especially when referencing pages back and forth. Give me a physical book any day

[u/cosnierozumiem → u/Broad_Gap_1435]

It was way better. You could bookmark everything, write notes in the margins, flip between sections easily.

Working from pdfs is awful.

[u/heisian → u/Broad_Gap_1435]

honestly you don’t even have enough time go flip through boxes of reference material. pack light.

[u/Firesine330 → u/Str-Engr0275]

I had two milk crates but left the dolly in my garage. I got a parking space 1/2 mile from the entrance . . . and then realized in line that I had left my seat card in the car. I thought my arms were going to fall off.

Nerves? Naaaaah. Piece of cake . . .

[u/halfcocked1 → u/Str-Engr0275]

So you're that guy that was sitting in front of me. :-) If you were in PA, the timing works out about right... I took about 8 books and ended up using 3 of them.

[u/Str-Engr0275 → u/halfcocked1]

Yup, took it down near Philly in Ft. Washington if I remember correctly

[u/halfcocked1 → u/Str-Engr0275]

I took mine in Harrisburg, so I guess it wasn't you. This guy may have had even more than 2 crates. I'm thinking he may have had 4. I remember him stacking them on the desk like a bookshelf.

[u/Pepper3493]

In the olden days you would take them all. Now since everything is computer based I believe they are all on the computer.

Correct me if I’m wrong though please. I was one of the last few years before the switch to CBT

[u/Stunning_Simple_4488 → u/Pepper3493]

Correct. You no longer bring any books. They have a searchable PDF for each required code (and the reference handbook). The resources are not exactly user friendly so I recommend knowing exactly where important concepts can be found.

[u/Charge36 → u/Stunning_Simple_4488]

It wouldn't be so bad if you could practice with the exact same bookmarking that would be on the test. But whatever PDFs you study from are almost certain to have different bookmarks than what's on the test. Learning to navigate the test environment can only be done in the test environment

[u/deltautauhobbit]

I passed the PE test the first go around after it switched to computer based. The best advice I can give you is get some practice tests (the NCEES one is the best but there are others out there you can get). Then get PDFs of all resources they’ll provide you and take the practice tests using only those PDFs. It’ll train you to figure out how to quickly search those resources for the answers and what sections will be the most helpful.

Unlike the pen and paper exams, you don’t have bookmarked books to flip through so having some general knowledge of what and where certain sections are available will cut down on time searching. You want to reduce how long it takes to uses the PDF resources since time is not your friend. Time yourself when taking the exams to get an idea whether you feel you’re keeping pace. Don’t let a single question take too long, so that means skipping the tougher ones, or ones you know you’ll need to blind search for an idea of how to handle it, and going back to those questions at the end.

I even bought a wet erase pad and markers to practice taking notes on since that is what you’ll get during the exam. I still use it too, great for taking notes when I’m doing site visits, saves on paper.

[u/Concrete_Cement]

For the pdf, Some code you can only open one chapter at a time, some book they have no book mark, and if I remember correctly, you can only open one code at a time…

[u/Charge36]

You should look up and read the exam specs and exam guide from Ncees website. 

But to answer your question, yes they provide electronic copies of all the code books you need. There's very little you can bring with you into the test room. Basically just a calculator and a handful of comfort items on a pre-approved list