Do take this book to the civil PE exam. It had the info for all the Qs save one on the Oct '07 exam.

Do not study everything in this book. Use the list of topics available on the NCEES website to organize your study efforts. If you use this book to create your study plan for the exam, you'll won't have had time to study all the topics on the exam by the time it rolls around.

Do not let the practice problems scare you. They are more difficult than the exam Qs. The exam Qs are doable in 6 minutes if you are knowledgeable about the topic. Do find practice problems that are similar to the exam's and practice those to get ready for the exam.

it contains all what you realy need ,not forget any ,and not overexplain
like it is exact what you (as an engineer) should look for .

it contains all what you realy need ,not forget any ,and not overexplain
like it is exact what you (as an engineer) should look for .

take 3 months of your life and spend them working every problem in this book, then you may just pass the PE exam.

good for the exam and an overall good reference book

take 3 months of your life and spend them working every problem in this book, then you may just pass the PE exam.

good for the exam and an overall good reference book

This CERM is a great resource to have for studying and is very useful for the morning(breadth) session of the PE. I don't think I used it at all for the afternoon session as the industry resources are needed for the afternoon (depth) session. It's a must have.

The best resource you can get to refresh your memory in preparation for the PE exam!

Does anyone know if the 11th edition will be coming out anytime soon? I will be taking the PE exam in 2008, and I need to buy a book, but I don't want to buy the 10th and then the 11th comes out right away...I'm in a dilemna because I need the book NOW to start studying!

Thanks!!

This book has a lot of information. If you look hard neough, you can find almost anything in it. The problem is there is so much stuff in there, that you need to spend a LOT of time with the book prior to the test figuring out where it all is. I would not even consider taking the PE exam without this book.

BUT, with the changes to the April 08 exam, the book is not enough for the morning anymore. The topic areas have been rearranged, which is no big deal- some things in traffic are now in geotech, but you can still find them. The problem is the book doesn't have construction in it. I'm sure there will be an 11th edition that will change all that, but until then, you'll need additional material to get through that section of the exam.

This was an excellent exam reference for me during the general portion of the Oct 2007 PE exam, for which I did not have any time to study. All the information that I needed (for which I didn't already have another reference) was easily referenced via the very useful index, and the information provided was succinct and well organized. I went in prepared to fail the first day, but now I think I may actually pass, thanks in no small part to this book.

terrific resource book. I read that it should help with PE exam. Will find out. Too much information though. Bought one for FE - passed it.

This is a complete reference manual for the PE exam. It was basically the only book that I used during the exam. Most of the other examinees had this book too. Definitely familiarize yourself with this book and tab pages for fast reference. Don't waste your time with other books. Also, I recommend Lindeburg's "practice problems" book, to compliment this book. BUY THIS BOOK!

This book is very important in finding information outside your area of expertise. It is very helpful in looking up information during the test for the morning "breadth" session. In going through the problems, I noticed that some of the methods in achieving answers are different from what I remember learning in school. The answers came out to be the same most of the time. Some of the approaches, to me, appears to be long winded, but yet will get you to understand the essentials. During the exam, I used this book to look up topics that I didn't know or had forgotten.

It's a good guide in training you to get back to the study mode of the college days. It will NOT help you if you don't study. The exam is much more difficult and deserves much respect and effort.

I found this book useless in the "depth" portion for structural questions. I relied on other sources, AISC, ACI, NDS, etc. The overview approach of this book did not go into the specifics that would be necessary of the "depth" portion.

Hope this HELPS. The time you spend studying will be much more beneficial than just relying on this one aid.

. . . . and that's the main problem with this book.

My main gripes are:

1. The author's basic premise in designing the book and accompanying practice exam/problems is that the only good preparation is over preparation. To that end, many of the problems and examples are gratuitously overcomplicated with unit conversions or problem assumptions that are far afield of actual exam questions.

2. The author seems to have a deep set insecurity that propels him to focus on witless minutia. The most glaring example of this is his ongoing obsession with gravity and the distinction between "lbf" vs "lbm" that needlessly over complicates familiar formulas throughout the manual. The exam doesn't ask us to calculate the unit weight of soil on the moon or to make frequent conversions between SI and English units so what's the point? Yes, the English system is silly but, NO, it doesn't need to be over complicated.

3. Apart from the introduction, the book really doesn't focus on the PE Exam at all. Notably absent are strategies for solving problems of a type that frequently recur on the exam. Nor is there any sort of notation that might indicate that a particular discussion thread is really more suited for the "PM Depth" exam than the general "AM breadth" preparation. The book is really more a collection of helpful knowledge than an exam preparation guide.

All in all, this manual tries to be too much to too many people. With five separate engineering disciplines, each examinee must derive their own studying focus without any real guidance from the author.

PPI should make reference manuals for each discipline that reflect each discipline's corresponding exam focus.

This was definitely useful during the test. It's the Bible for civil engineers. One advantage of this book is the glossary in the back since the a few test questions will test you on knowledge of specific engineering words. Get it!

Good for reviewing for the PE exam, very comprehensive. Note: I haven't taken the exam yet.

The advertisement for a $30 credit is deceiving, don't fall for it.

Same author helped me pass the F.E. (EIT) with the study book that he has available for that, and hopefully this one will do the same when it's time for me to take the P.E.

This is a must have book for the test. Most questions can be solved with it. Use the Index it's great. Only weak point is seismic. For the California State survey and seismic you will need other books

This is it. This is THE book you need for the PE exam. What else is there to say? There is not a soul that does not bring this book to the exam....and if there was, the person would be bringing the book next time.

This is it. This is THE book you need for the PE exam. What else is there to say? There is not a soul that does not bring this book to the exam....and if there was, the person would be bringing the book next time.

overall its a good source for the PE exam. however, it goes into much detail about some not so important topics, and the other hand misses some subjects such as timber design and truck loading in the structures section.

This is the only book you need for the morning session. I took the Civil PE exam 4 years ago, and I have since lent the same book to two colleagues who passed without much studying. I am not trying to discourage studying here, but just want to stress how useful this book is. It is very well organized and if you don't know something in the exam, just look it up in the index and voila, that's exactly what the question was asking.

Frankly I don't have much use of the book after passing the exam but I still keep it as a reference. The geotechnical section was very well written and I still look things up from time to time. The background and support section on math comes in handy as well.

Very helpful, not just on the exam but in day to day quick reference use in the work place.

Everyone who takes the P.E. exam has this book at their side during the test, but be warned that it's full of typos. Be sure to check the errata sheet so you can correct the errors. Also, the binding is very poor quality for the price. After two months of light use my appendices are falling out.

I ordered a book from an independent seller, but I did not get it. I communicate with amazon.com, and they refound the money to me. However, I need the book and have order another one. Amazon deliver the book promptly.

I passed the exam in October 2005, and I used this book for 95% of the exam. I know I didn't get 100% on the exam, but I got enough to pass. Make a photo copy of the the index and appendices and put them in a three ring binder. Not only will this keep you from tearing up the book, it will save you time when you look up information in the index. Make sure you get one of the required calculators. I was amazed by how many people had to take the exam without a calculator because they didn't have one that was on the approved list.

I bought this book as my primary resource manual for the PE test. It contained pretty much everything that my texts had, but it took some time to learn how to navigate. If you buy this book, I have a few suggestions: Give yourself plenty of time to get familiar with it's contents and their locations. There is a lot of information, so you have to look pretty hard for some of it. Also, I used this book for about a month and a half, flipping pages, sticking pencils, stacks of papers and books inbetween the pages as I looked for info and as a result, the binding broke free towards the back, so use care with this book, it may not hold up to extensive abuse. Good luck (but not too much, I need to pass this damn thing!)

THE BOOK IS GREAT AND IT WAS DELIVERED JUST AS PROMISED. THANKS AMAZON.

I agree with other users on the great index and also explains clearly phase diagram and their formulas. As I and others can attest to, we have long needed a practice oriented book for the Geotech PM Depth. Improve your odds and get Geotechnical review book by soilstructure.com My copy is well worth the price.

I bought this reference to use for studying for the PE, along with its accompanying study guide; however, I ended up studying only about 4 hours before the PE test. I made my first pass through each session using my normal references, leaving blank any difficult to find problems. I then went back through with this book. I passed the test (in 2002), but in hindsight, I would have done it the other way, That is, use the CE Reference first and then try my other books. This book is a real time saver, and the index is very thorough. I also use it regularly in practice. For perspective, I took the "Water Resources" test.

This book is more or less standard-issue for PE-takers (come exam day, you'll see zillions of the CERM scattered throughout the exam hall). If you find yourself on the fence about shelling out the $$ for it, I've found it to be a good investment.

Having recently taken and passed the PE exam, I can attest to this book's usefulness. The index, in particular, I found to be pretty expansive - I used it to find answers to more than one problem where I was fairly clueless.

Please note, the CERM's utility is certainly highest on the morning (breadth) section. Although it won't be entirely useless on the afternoon (depth) portion of the exam, you'll definitely utilize other references more heavily. I, for one, was impressed by how lopsided the difference in difficulty between sections turned out to be.

Regardless of exam section, each question is equally weighted; thus, it's best to "clean house" where it's easiest - in the morning. You'll find this manual quite useful for that.

My $0.02...

The book looks great. Thanks

I just took the PE exam today (Oct. 24, 2003) and I really field tested this book thoroughly. I found it to be a great reference and it helped me answer a lot of the problems on the exam. There tend to be a bunch of questions on the exam that are definition questions...you look up the topic in the index and instantly, you have an answer. Or lots of questions where you have no idea how to solve it...look up the topic in the index, and instantly, you have the equation you need to solve the problem.

It does cover all the topics that the exam deals with...and even has nice supplemental material which deals with some theory/background. You must get the sample questions book that accompanies this book...I even looked through those problems occasionally to assist my in answering the exam problems.

There are some weaknesses though but ones that you can work around. For transportation, the book simply refers you to the codes. Same for the sample questions. It would be nice if the book contained more of the code directly so you wouldn't need to be jumping to those books. Same for the more special topics in structures...it would be nice if the book contained more AASHTO bridge type stuff and it doesn't help much with seismic.

The geotechnical section is very decent...and the water resources section is also good for the morning session (I took structures so do not know how it handles for other topics in the afternoon session). The environmental section was not very good to me (although I don't know much about that topic which is why I probably found it to be confusing) but there are some definitions that come in handy.

The only other slight nag is that the sample problems that accompany the book are in general too involved. You want to understand the topic but you don't want to overstudy a topic.

All in all, this is a must have...could use slight improvement but without much real competition from the other PE book writers, you gotta get it.