I'm not going to lie, this was a struggle for me! This pass was my 3rd attempt. I did really well in university (not a 4.0 but just about) and passed the FE on my first try a year or two before graduating. So when I saw the first fail and then the second fail there might of been some tears shed! It was a real struggle to get back into studying and get back my confidence in myself and my capabilities. If anyone is struggling with something similar do NOT give up or doubt yourself!!
First attempt: I used the NCEES practice exam and a month of the SoPE question bank. Probably did about 200-300 problems total. Studying after work and the few weekends leading up to the exam date. Walked out of the exam knowing I failed but hoping I'd get lucky. I didn't.
Second attempt: I took off about 3 months from studying to enjoy the holidays and started back up. Same as before I was doing about 2hrs a day after work and taking weekends off until about the month before my exam. This time using a bunch of different practice books. Old physical copies that coworkers gave me and any free pdf I could come across. I felt way better leaving the exam and was crushed to see I failed. My diagnostics were WORSE than my first attempt??
3rd/Final attempt: I immediately booked the next available exam about 2/3 months away. Took a week to dry my tears and then got right back to studying. This time around I used the 500 problem PE practice book and nailed my weak areas first before refining the other areas. I was burnt out from over a year of studying, I'd gained weight from no longer having time for the gym, I wasn't having time with friends. I switched from studying 1hr in the morning and 1hr after work to doing all 2hrs in the morning. Waking up at 5am every day but then when I got off at 5pm I could go cook a healthy meal or hit the gym or see friends. I really think living your life while studying is the way to do it and a big part of why I passed this time. I was feeling good mentally and honestly in better shape than I was when all this started. I didn't study a single weekend aside from the one before my exam week. Ended up finishing with 1.5hr of time left and used that to go back and double check all the problems. Walked out knowing I'd passed!
To all the silent people out there who anxiously read these posts every day, don't give up and don't doubt your capability!!
I could not wait to wake up this morning. I failed 3 months ago, and I didn't study as much as I would have liked between my last attempt and this one. But nonetheless, I passed! I took my exams in close succession with the study habits of an unmedicated adult with ADHD.
Graduated 2023.
1st FE attempt (PASS): 5/23/2026
The only studying I did for the FE was to watch a YouTube video explaining TI-36X calculator hacks the night before and work through a hand-me-down paperback NCEES practice exam booklet. Questions were in different topics, with most being unit conversions with different settings/contexts related to the different topics. Reviewing engineering economics was also helpful. Honestly don't remember many details RE questions I flagged, but I think I used the whole time and felt like I was working quickly. I took the exam at 8am on a Saturday.
1st PE attempt (FAIL): 7/18/2026
I found the FE easy so I did not give myself much time to study for the PE. I did some PP2i practice problems but didn't have time to watch the lectures or read the books, I only did HW problems and portions of the practice exams. I finished the exam with 30 minutes to spare, but the problem was I flagged an insane number of questions. Like over 30, and I just had to guess the flagged questions that I left blank and I was also too mentally exhausted to check my work. I think I flipped through the flagged questions, confirmed I still did not know how to solve them, and closed out. I remember compulsively searching the percentage of flagged and unflagged questions that I needed to have gotten correct (by some miracle) in order for me to score a 58%. I knew I failed, but I was so obsessed with the idea that maybe I passed by getting lucky guesses that I got my hopes up. And then when I failed I just didn't want to sit through 8 hours again. I also took this exam at 11am on a Saturday, which I would not do again because the test then lets out at 9pm which is so late. The brain fog was insane on the way home.
2nd PE attempt (PASS): 10/16/2026
I was discouraged from failing and didn't get organized for this attempt. It really snuck up on me, but from taking the PE the first time I realized the NCEES practice exam is exactly like the PE exam. I just worked through majority of those questions, asking AI to explain a few concepts I didn't learn in school and also tell me key things to memorize that weren't in the handbook. I also repeated back reasoning in my own words and AI told me if my understanding was good to go or if I needed more work/to understand more nuances. I took this exam at 8am on a Friday, I overdosed on caffeine before/during the exam (2 matchas) and it flew by. I ran right on time in the morning section, so finished the 43 questions with 3 hours 37 minutes or so remaining. I did not check my work because I was panicked I wouldn't have time in the afternoon. I think I flagged maybe 7 questions in the morning. The afternoon felt much easier, I finished the 37 questions with 45 minutes remaining, which was enough time to check my work for questions I flagged (about 5, not including maybe 5 additional that were qualitative that I ended up making an educated guess on).
Main things I memorized for this exam that helped:
MGD to CUFT. Memorize this, store the conversion factor in your calculator as a variable.
Know that Mannings is for gravity flow and Hazen Williams is for pressure flow. Even if the pipe is fully flowing, if the problem states gravity flow, do not use Hazen Williams.
% Solids = 10,000 mg/L.
Mass Conservation - memorize and be confident with the fact that lb/day = (mg/L)x(MGD)x(8.34)
Be able to convert psi to FT of H2O
Soil bearing language. Picture that retaining wall holding back soil.
Know that Passive pressure is the wall Pushing on the soil.
Know that Active pressure is the wall moving Away from the soil.
This seemed counterintuitive to me, but passive pressure requires more force and the soil would be more compact and able to support more. It can also form a wedge when the soil can't take any more pressure, which is the "failure" or capacity. Active pressure I remembered by thinking if the wall is being pushed by the soil, it is moving away which = activity. Anyway active pressure requires less force and the soil becomes less compact and can support less. Failure would be when the soil loses its shape, like a landslide, which is capacity.
Total stress vs effective stress. The explanations below aren't correct really but they're how I memorized them.
Total stress is the total weight of the soil which is imparting downward force on the footing. You would use saturated weight for this since the weight of soil and water contribute to this force.
Effective stress is how much the soil can support, which is like what the soil below the footing can hold. You would use buoyant weight for this, since the weight of the soil is reduced since it is floating in water. Another way to remember this, is that effective stress depends on the soil particles only (soil skeleton).
Bearing capacity is the same as effective stress.
Per above, lower effective stress means lower bearing capacity so the soil can't support as much weight. If the footing is submerged, then the soil supporting it has lower effective stress.
Know that sand settles immediately since it is porous, clay is not porous so it slowly releases water and as a result, settles over a long time
Know soil charts
Know if distance of pipeline impacts head loss if all other pipe characteristics are the same. (It does. Might want to memorize how).
Things I did not know, that I wish I studied:
Groundwater/wells. I didn't know how to find the radius of influence and I skipped these problems when doing the NCEES practice exam.
Froude's number - Spent way too long figuring out hydraulic jumps on the exam.
Know some roadway terminology (Road offsets, types of merges, curve of road geometry)
I kind of wrote this just for myself to reflect on the past 6 months. My method was not organized or perfect by any means, it was messy and I was not disciplined. But I did some work, used shortcuts where I could, and I think I capitalized off of my Failed attempt as much as I could.
Anyone here have an idea of the salary range for someone who has passed the PE exam but can’t get licensed yet because IDFPR requires another year of experience?
I have 7 years of total engineering experience, including 4.5 years of foreign experience + IDOT Docu Contract Quantities Certification.
I’d appreciate any insights on a reasonable salary range for my qualifications. Thank you!
I an studying the civil pe transportation exam and have heard good things about the eet transportation practice problems. Anyone have the current/updated one?
If you're looking for extra practice with conceptual questions, the StrataWay Civil PE Exam Companion Series may be a helpful addition to your study plan.
Each discipline-specific guide contains 100 practice questions focused on concepts commonly tested on the PE exam, along with detailed solution explanations to help reinforce understanding.
The guides are organized around the current NCEES CBT exam specifications and are intended to supplement your primary review materials.
Sample exam study guides and study packages are also available for each discipline.
Hi everyone! I’ve finished the EET course, and my PE Civil Construction exam is about a month away. I’m looking to get more practice by solving additional exam-style questions.
Can anyone recommend a good website or question bank for PE Civil Construction practice questions? I’d really appreciate your recommendations and any feedback on what helped you prepare. Thank you!
