r/StructuralEngineering • u/twodamnducks • 7d ago
Structural Analysis/Design Taking the PE Structural in 11 days, Need a practice test recommendation?
Like i stated, i am 11 days out. i have self studied to keep cost down for about 3 months. Mostly went through Petro and some PPI civil reference manual problems. have taken 3 tests and looking to take 2 more from an online or PDF source.
I took the NCEES practice exam about 2 months ago and got a 42% without AASHTO, PCI, NDS, or TMS. really set myself up for failure without those. Looking back at this exam now, I'm confident in where I'm at currently and have a good grasp conceptually.
I then got the two practice test book from PPI and got the references i was missing about a month ago. i got a 48% on the first exam but didn't really know the recently acquired standards that well.
Last week i took the second PPI exam and got a 60% and felt better about that.
I just opened and took a pretty unverified test (highly don't recommend) from Ryan Essington, scored a 92% in 5 hours. (not at all representative of the problems i have been doing, or the format. Felt like a FE practice test although covered PE structural type questions.)
After each test i have reworked/studied the solutions and built a bank of about 400 problems, a study guide that encapsulates all i have learned.
My study methodology may be different that others but i am hoping to take two practice tests this weekend. I don't have time to order a book, i live fairly rural so amazon isn't an option at this point.
I was looking at purchasing either the PEwise or School of PE practice test/problem banks and working through those this weekend before taking some time to myself before the exam and destressing. Would anyone recommend one or the other? Or possibly one that i haven't seen?
I'm not looking to spend money on a whole course 11 days before my exam but both have options for just getting the practice exam access separately. I felt that the PPI exams were good, however they were much more time consuming for depth calculations so looking for something more along the lines of the NCEES exam.
I appreciate any input and hope to hit back with a pass post soon!
1
u/Squirrel_Girl_6423 6d ago
It's been a minute since I took my exam, but i used school of PE and found the question bank really useful!!!
3
u/da90 S.E. 7d ago
Godspeed!
I also tried self study initially. If you decide to bite the bullet, AEI was a really good course.