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Civil Engineering All-In-One PE Exam Guide (text only) 1st (First) edition by I. Goswami
The only resource engineers will ever needto ace the Civil Engineer's PE Exam on thevery first try!Civil Engineering All-In-One PE Exam Guide is a completereview manual for the Principles and Practice of CivilEngineering (PE-CIVIL) Examination, given by theNational Council of Examiners in Engineering andSurveying (NCEES). Presented in the Breadth andDepth format of the actual exam, this sure-fire studytool will equip you with everythingyou need to prepare for and pass the exam with flyingcolors.This comprehensive resource contains short modules targeting structural engineering, geotechnical engineering,water resources & environmental engineering, transportation engineering and construction. Each moduleincludes brief theory, supporting equations anddiagrams, cross-references to other topics, analyticaland design tools, and exam questions and solutionssimilar to those on the actual exam. The guide also features strategies for preparing for the PE Exam.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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May 28, 2011
DISCLAIMER: I wanted to wait until I had passed the PE Exam before writing my review. This review is written approximately 8-10 weeks since I was elbow deep into this book. My memory might not be so fresh.
The big question is how does this book measure up against PPI's Civil Engineering Manual (CERM).
The CERM, as the title suggests, is a Reference Manual. The All-in-One book is more of a textbook. Being a textbook, there are a few spots where concepts are explained a little bit better than how they are explained in the CERM, but emphasis is on few. I read the chapters in this book in advance of reading the chapters in the CERM, I will say that using this as an intro helped to speed up comprehension of the information in the CERM.
As far as advantages of having this book, when I took my practice tests before the exam (I took three: NCEES, Kaplan, PPI), if I couldn't find what I was looking for in the CERM, I could usually find it in this book. Not to say that the CERM didn't have the information, it was just that the way the All-in-One book presented the information it was more apparent which equation to use for the problem. Sometimes the CERM suffers from information overload. However, on the actual test, there were one or two questions that were not in the CERM that were in this book. I'd like to tell you what they were, but the NCEES confidentiality agreement prevents me from divulging that information.
Another advantage I found were the tables. The main tables I used were for the Manning Equation for partially full pipes, determining the depth of flow in a channel with certain unknowns, and stopping distances. For some reason, I also preferred the economic tables in this book compared to the CERM. Some of the tables made it quicker to come up with an answer on the test. While you could get the equation in the CERM and set up the problem, it was much quicker just to look up the answer in the table in the book.
Now to the problems I have with this book. The Index is not so great. I had mentioned previously that there was an equation that was in this book, but not in the CERM that I had found in this book on the actual PE exam. The Index was no help in finding this equation, it wasn't till I was finished with the rest of the test and I was just flipping through pages that I said, "Hey! This equation will help me answer that problem!" (the irony is that the answer to the problem was what I guesstimated it would be, but at least I had the assurance that my guess was good).
The way that equations are presented are inferior to the CERM. At the beginning of each chapter, the CERM identifies what each variable is and what units they are. Not so with the All-in-One, the author does not do a good job at defining what units are associated with the variables in the equation. While studying this might be an advantage because by trying to figure out what the units are, a greater understanding of the equation may be achieved. However, in the middle of a timed test, valuable seconds are wasted trying to decipher the equation and make sure you are not going to make a stupid conversion mistake.
Also, in the examples, the author takes some shortcuts that make it difficult to follow how he came to the given answer. Also, there aren't as many examples as the CERM. There are no practice problems (the CERM doesn't have practice problems either, but it does have a companion book of practice problems [which are way more difficult than anything you will encounter on the actual test {don't get discouraged}]).
So would I recommend purchase of this book? I would say if you have an extra 60 to 70 bucks and time to incorporate this book into your study schedule, then go for it. I would like to emphasize that in order to get the greatest benefit from this book, you have to actually read it cover to cover, and try to work the sample problems (no matter how poorly written they might be). By reading the book, I think it will become a much more valuable tool than if it was just used as a backup for stuff that might (or might not) be missing in the CERM. There were times during my tests (practice and actual) that I would remember that I had read something in this book and knowing how the book was laid out help me to retrieve the information from the book in a timely manner.
The big question is how does this book measure up against PPI's Civil Engineering Manual (CERM).
The CERM, as the title suggests, is a Reference Manual. The All-in-One book is more of a textbook. Being a textbook, there are a few spots where concepts are explained a little bit better than how they are explained in the CERM, but emphasis is on few. I read the chapters in this book in advance of reading the chapters in the CERM, I will say that using this as an intro helped to speed up comprehension of the information in the CERM.
As far as advantages of having this book, when I took my practice tests before the exam (I took three: NCEES, Kaplan, PPI), if I couldn't find what I was looking for in the CERM, I could usually find it in this book. Not to say that the CERM didn't have the information, it was just that the way the All-in-One book presented the information it was more apparent which equation to use for the problem. Sometimes the CERM suffers from information overload. However, on the actual test, there were one or two questions that were not in the CERM that were in this book. I'd like to tell you what they were, but the NCEES confidentiality agreement prevents me from divulging that information.
Another advantage I found were the tables. The main tables I used were for the Manning Equation for partially full pipes, determining the depth of flow in a channel with certain unknowns, and stopping distances. For some reason, I also preferred the economic tables in this book compared to the CERM. Some of the tables made it quicker to come up with an answer on the test. While you could get the equation in the CERM and set up the problem, it was much quicker just to look up the answer in the table in the book.
Now to the problems I have with this book. The Index is not so great. I had mentioned previously that there was an equation that was in this book, but not in the CERM that I had found in this book on the actual PE exam. The Index was no help in finding this equation, it wasn't till I was finished with the rest of the test and I was just flipping through pages that I said, "Hey! This equation will help me answer that problem!" (the irony is that the answer to the problem was what I guesstimated it would be, but at least I had the assurance that my guess was good).
The way that equations are presented are inferior to the CERM. At the beginning of each chapter, the CERM identifies what each variable is and what units they are. Not so with the All-in-One, the author does not do a good job at defining what units are associated with the variables in the equation. While studying this might be an advantage because by trying to figure out what the units are, a greater understanding of the equation may be achieved. However, in the middle of a timed test, valuable seconds are wasted trying to decipher the equation and make sure you are not going to make a stupid conversion mistake.
Also, in the examples, the author takes some shortcuts that make it difficult to follow how he came to the given answer. Also, there aren't as many examples as the CERM. There are no practice problems (the CERM doesn't have practice problems either, but it does have a companion book of practice problems [which are way more difficult than anything you will encounter on the actual test {don't get discouraged}]).
So would I recommend purchase of this book? I would say if you have an extra 60 to 70 bucks and time to incorporate this book into your study schedule, then go for it. I would like to emphasize that in order to get the greatest benefit from this book, you have to actually read it cover to cover, and try to work the sample problems (no matter how poorly written they might be). By reading the book, I think it will become a much more valuable tool than if it was just used as a backup for stuff that might (or might not) be missing in the CERM. There were times during my tests (practice and actual) that I would remember that I had read something in this book and knowing how the book was laid out help me to retrieve the information from the book in a timely manner.
August 19, 2014
My one guide to prepare for the PE exam, partnered with the NCES sample question book. Hits just the right level of detail to prepare for the exam without overkill.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews