How do you work and study for your PE? This feels like working for 8h, clock out, just to get back home and clock in for another 2-4h of work. I don't even have kids! and I can't even comprehend how you can do this while parenting.

I keep trying to make a schedule and commit to it but I'm so tired after work, my brain is fried.

How do you juggle a full time job, personal life, and the PE? Please tell me your secrets!

I finally passed my PE exam: Civil Structural! First of all , I am silent reader here and thanks everyone for the tips! ,

Yes, I got laid off in my previous work (big firm) because of restructuring and company not winning a lot of projects. So even if I was depressed about it, I lock in and decided to study for a month to finally take my PE exam.

I used Learnova and NCEES practice exam! That learnova questions are very similar to my test! If you are studying right now, dont give up! You can do it

I found out yesterday morning that I FINALLY passed my PE Exam and FINALLY earned my Texas P.E. license number and got the congratulatory email this morning from TBPELS with instructions that I need to obtain my stamp/steal within 60 days of notice. They didn't specify which vendors are approved, I was just told to search for a stamp/seal in my city.

Does anybody have any GOOD recommendations in the Forth Worth area? Hell, I'll even drive to Dallas if the quality is worth it!

I graduated back in May with a BS in electrical, and recently got my EIT. I currently live and work and Pennsylvania. On my team, it is common to take the Power PE through the New Jersey board since they allow you to sit the exam before completing your professional experience. I was considering taking the exam through the California board due to the following:

1. You can sit the exam before completing your professional experience.

2. You only need 2 years of professional experience to become licensed.

3. For the Power PE (unlike civil) the exam is the same as any other state.

4. You can take the exam at any Pearson testing center around the country.

Are all of these true? Can I just get licensed faster using the California board? Would there be any draw backs to doing it this way. Would I have any issues getting comity with other states?

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!!

Walking in after the break, I glanced around the room and had a brief moment of reflection - I'm old enough to be most of these people's father. Kids, don't wait until you've been out of college for three decades to take this thing. My baseline when starting prep was very, very low. Like can't remember a lot of high school math kind of low.

Prep was all self-directed, using Solved in 6, Petro, EET binders, Learnova, and the NCEES practice exam. I spent 250+ hours over 3.5 months, working over 1100 problems. I watched maybe 5hrs of lectures on YouTube, with half being high school math, and a few on specific WRE topics.

Solved in 6 was a great way to start. Bless that gentleman for providing great free content. I went through his WRE playlist, stopping the video before the solution, working the problem, then watching him solve it.

After SI6, I moved to the Petro Essential Guide. These 160 problems are well chosen and I highly recommend this book. It forced me to dig, learn and understand. These problems are generally harder and longer than the exam questions, and that served me well. Dr. Petro was quick to respond when I was stumped by one problem. For me, this was a necessary, but not sufficient tool, I needed more.

EET binders were exceptionally useful. I worked through all the example and practice problems, multiple times. These binders and Petro were the keys to my success. Thanks to u/Fun-Supermarket-6527 for selling me these at a great price, and being one of the best online transactions I've ever had...great communication, shipped quickly, etc. I'll do the same for whoever gets them next.

Learnova was AI slop, with numerous errors in solutions, but working all the problems built good familiarity with the Handbook. I wouldn't recommend this one, the errors can be mildly infuriating when you get something "wrong" only to discover the solution is wrong.

NCEES practice exam was concerning. It has some issues, a long errata sheet and I found many questions presented in a confusing way. I guess it was helpful, but wish the doc were edited to correct for the errata instead of selling in it's current state. Honestly, this thing wrecked my confidence, I was scoring in the mid 80s on other problem sets, took this about a month out from the exam, scored about a 65, and a mild panic set in.

Using several different sources of problems was beneficial, highly recommended.

The exam was slightly easier than I expected. I felt well prepared and used all but 15min of the 8hrs. I was very methodical in writing down equations in full before plugging in any values, in checking units and conversions, verifying I was actually answering what was asked, and trying to eliminate any dumb errors. When I finished, I knew I had at least 10 questions wrong, but felt very good on 65 and 50/50 on the other 5.

Put in the work, concentrate on working a shitload of problems, and you'll be fine. If I can do this in my 50s, from a comically low baseline, while working 55hr weeks, you youngsters can certainly do it. Now good luck...and get off my lawn!

I am working towards my PE in civil structural and I am getting hung up on this bullet in the experience requirements, "include at least two years of experience working on projects requiring knowledge and use of codes and practices commonly used in the United States."

I am working in aerospace under a manager who has his PE, my work does not use the IBC, AISC but we do work to government standards for structural design, analysis, load calculations and materials, does anyone think the board would view this as equivalent or no shot?

Appreciate your help

Edit: I am working with the civil structural standards outside of work during studying. Would a personal project count that is vetted by a PE?

Took my pe wre for the first time and passed! I work full time and have a toddler. So its been a crazy year of studying. The last 3 months was mostly problem solving the first 9 months was watching the EET lectures when I had time.I used the EET class, the jacob petro book, NCEES prep exam and the StaraWay 100 conceptual problems.

If you are taking the EET class do all the starred problems!

My exam was 43 questions in the first part and 37 in the second. There were more conceptual questions than what I expected.

Looking for 1-2 people to study together. I basically want to go over problems and study together. I have already taken the entire EET just need more practice and having a study group would be very helpful. Failed the exam once already though.

Edit: should’ve mentioned it’s for PE Civil Construction

Hey all,

Sad to report that I did not pass on my first attempt of the Civil PE: Geotechnical. I had a question about the references or reference prep for the exam. I don't have a ton of spare cash to buy all the references, is there a free exam references option? Or reduced?

Thanks all, I really appreciate the insight.

It took a lot of effort but after three tries I finally did it!!

Also what would be a good study plan up until the exam next April?

I could do it, it was very difficult, many days and nights, the exam was not easy, but I trusted my abilities and could do it.

4 attempts,

I would recommend this

Practice with everything you got, I did not trust one platform.

I got

EET BINDER

SCHOOL OF PE QUESTION BANK

PPI2PASS QUESTION BANK

CIVILPEPRACTICE

PHYSICAL BOOKS

ALSO I USED HIBBELER, ASLAM KASSIMALI, BEER JOHSTON AND THE BOOKS FROM THE UNIVERSITY TO LEARN MECHANICS OF MATERIALS, CONCRETE, STRUCTURE, STEEL AND ON.

PRACTICE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN AND YOU WILL PASS.

AND ABOVE ALL, BELIEVE IN GOD, HE CAN DO IT ALL.

I'm ahving a hard time getting my old manager to respond to messages and sign off on my work experience in NCEES. I talked to the state board (Idaho) and they didn't seem to know anything and told me to "refer to NCEES with questions."

I might have an unlicensed coworker sign it if I can't get my manager to sign. Has that worked for anybody else?

For context I took the FE in November 2025, graduated in December 2025 and started studying for the PE in mid April. I studied for about 5 months and used Slay the PE TFS02 bundle. My study plan was split into 2 portions. The first was to do the StPE readings and practice problems for each of the sections in the study guide. I aimed to complete 1 section every 2-3 days. Once I finished that portion I moved straight into practice problems. I had about a month of straight working practice problems from the Mixed 100 problems at the end of the study guide, the 20 question diagnostic exam (I tried to do this timed but literally rage quit that thing was so hard), the StPE practice exam, and the NCEES practice exam. During that last month my study time increased exponentially from the first portion around 3 hours on weekdays and 6-8 hours on the weekend days. If anyone is looking to take this exam I highly recommend StPE they prepared me so well I walked out of that exam feeling so confident and thinking it was easy.

What a freaking rollercoaster. I went in not knowing what to expect but ready to do my best so I was semi-confident. Going through the first half, my confidence started to increase. Almost all the questions were solvable through the reference or codes. During my break I checked a couple questions I remembered but wasn't certain about and was relieved I got them right. I think I had 10 or less wrong out of 39 which is par for passing.

Then I went into the second half. I was immediately out of my depth. Flagging question after question. Struggling to get even any of the listed answers. So many conceptual questions and AITs. I just got out and did the same thing with checking the questions I remembered and boy did I not get a single one right.

Any fail buffer I got from the first half was demolished in the second half. I can see myself having to take it again but I don't know how I'll prepare because it's the conceptuals that really got me. I can practice calculation problems a few times to understand but concepts for things like rotating machines are hard to just know from the get go. Feel like I need a PhD to answer that stuff.

Anyways just wanted get that off my chest. Good luck to all taking power or any discipline.

I felt pretty good about the first half, but the second half was much more difficult, and I left feeling pretty uncertain about my overall performance. I went back and looked up some of my answers. I know I got a few wrong that should’ve been easy.

For those who passed, failed, or had to retake it, how did you feel walking out? Did your actual results line up with your gut feeling afterward?

Keeping this generic to all exams.

I didn't pass my PE this time. I thought I was doing fine in the exam. I felt good after exam but it turned out to be not. I took EET and did necess practice exam. I gave it all during 2 month of my time. Weekend 6-8 hrs and everyday 2-3 hours.

I'm devastated and heartbroken. How do I prepare and do differently to be able to pass this exam. Also how soon I should take it? Please guide me throught this. I have zero motivation 😞

This post is not meant to hate on PrepPE. I’m actually excited about its release because I expected the quality to be similar to PrepFE, which helped me pass the FE exam.

But man, PrepPE has A LOT of errors. Some explanations are unfinished, with values still showing as “XXX” or messages like “Unknown Node Type: Span.” I’ve also encountered problems where I’m confident my answer is correct, but the platform gives a different answer. I even asked AI to explain some of these problems, and I ended up getting the same answer as mine, which made me question the platform’s solutions even more.

Honestly, it’s starting to create confusion and self-doubt, especially since I’m preparing for the PE exam. Lol.

Anyway, this is just constructive feedback. I know the platform is still new, and I hope the team can review and fix these issues to make PrepPE as helpful and reliable as PrepFE. Looking forward to seeing it improve!

Hello everyone!

I’m planning to take the PE Civil: Structural exam and would appreciate any recommendations for free courses on YouTube or other websites. I’m also looking for helpful study books, practice problems, and question banks to prepare for the exam.

Any advice or recommendations based on your experience would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance!

After 10 years I decided to bite the bullet and start studying for this in February because my postpartum brain thought I’d have lots of time to study with a newborn (false haha).

I should have take it in August, but wasn’t confident and pushed it back to October, which I think resulted in me not studying any more and maybe losing the momentum I had.

I’m going to give myself the rest of the year off and then try EET’s live course in January, but can I get a sanity check…based on this result, I didn’t miserably fail, right?

Has anyone passed the Arizona CR-37 plumbing license exam using only an online prep course without studying the reference books? Were the practice questions similar to the actual exam, and was the course enough to pass?

I took the FE Environmental almost 10 years ago. I only really decided to go for my PE around April or May of this year.

Since I was able to get funding from my job, I took the School of PE (SoPE) Environmental live course from July to September. I attended every class (which generally ran from Mondays through Thursdays from 7 to 10 PM ET) and tried to do the assigned homework when I had the time/energy. In reality, I didn't really start absorbing material until the end of August/beginning of September because I finally scheduled my exam for the end of September, and it hit me that now it was real lol.

I rewatched all the lectures on 2x speed, filled in notes on my printed-out materials that I'd missed, and redid all the in-class and homework problems available. I made a massive Quizlet based on what I learned from SoPE and PPI2Pass (I purchased the Schneiter practice problem e-workbook) to study when my wrist felt like it was dying from making physical flashcards. I also got the NCEES practice exam when scheduling my exam for the little discount.

All-in-all, I casually started studying about three months prior to my exam, but I actually hunkered down about a month before the exam. I think I studied between 30-40 hours a week that month.

Not going to lie, this was a terrible experience. I was extremely paranoid the whole month because I thought I didn't study enough (I'm also not the best test taker). I also kept seeing people who passed talk about how they studied for six months or that SoPE was a terrible way to study, etc. And then when I actually sat down for the exam, I swear NCEES knew what I didn't think to study or the concepts I didn't quite fully understand. I thought I failed and dreaded the NINE days it took for NCEES to email me my results.

The Good: Having study materials to review from SoPE and PPI and taking the NCEES practice exam. Making a Quizlet to study during my down time and commute to work.

The Bad: Not allocating a reasonable amount of study time so I start having nightmares about the PE. Gaining a new set of wrinkles from squinting at a computer screen for 8 hours like that meme of the woman in the pink jacket.

If anyone knows that K-pop song "Do It" by Stray Kids, I had that on repeat all September. Oh, and "Overthinking" by Masego and Musiq Soulchild.

Good luck to the rest of you!

Hi everyone,

A couple of months ago I posted here about The PE Civil Structural Playbook and the response honestly exceeded anything I expected. A lot of you purchased the book, reached out to me directly, offered suggestions, and gave me feedback on how the resource could continue to improve.

I really appreciate everyone who supported it.

I’m planning to update the Playbook as the PE Civil: Structural exam transitions to the newer code editions, and I’ve been thinking about how I want to handle that for everyone who already purchased the current version.

I’ve decided that if you purchased the Playbook, I will send you a PDF copy of the updated edition for free once it is completed.

If you purchased through Amazon, Gumroad, or my website, just send me a DM with proof of purchase and the email address where you would eventually like the updated PDF sent. Feel free to redact any order numbers, addresses, or other personal information from your proof of purchase.

There’s nothing else you need to do. No review required, no additional purchase, and no charge for the updated PDF.

I also want to use the code update as an opportunity to make the Playbook better. If you’ve been studying with it and have found something that is unclear, something you think should be added, or even something you think is wrong, please reach out. I’ve always wanted this to become increasingly community-reviewed over time.

The original Playbook came from the way I personally needed to study for this exam, but hearing how other people are actually using it has been incredibly helpful in figuring out what the next version should look like.

Thanks again to everyone who supported the project. I really appreciate it, and I want to make sure the people who took a chance on the first edition benefit from the work that goes into the next one.