What are the top books to use for the civil engineering PE breadth exam? If you want to know then look no further. Below is a list of the top 5 books that are purchased to use when studying for the breadth portion of the PE exam.
Each of you knows that the books that you buy are very important (and pricey!). Maybe you aren't sure which ones to buy. In either case, buying all the books you need can be expensive but it is imperative that you have the right resources to help you on your journey, so you might just have to suck it up and purchase these so that you can be better prepared for what is ahead. So let's get to it. Below are the top books that have been purchased and used by those that are going to be studying for the civil engineering PE examination that is coming up. You can find each of these on my resources page as well but I thought I would do a post about them. Here is a quick view of them:
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BOOK 1
BOOK 2
BOOK 3
BOOK 4
BOOK 5
Book 1: The Civil Engineering Reference Manual
The Civil Engineering Reference Manual is THE go to book when you start studying for the PE exam. It will be your life companion for the next few months. You will learn the ins and outs of this book so that when test time comes you will know right where to go without even thinking about it. You will have it marked up, tabbed up, and will have it well used. This is the book to get and I must admonish you to get it now. It will also become a pretty good reference book for you after the exam is over. It basically has all you need in one nice place and that's a great bonus for getting the book.
So I just gushed over the book and now I'm going to tell you some of the things I see wrong with it. This book is big. In fact, it is probably too big. It has sooo much material in it you probably will never see some of the chapters on the actual PE exam.
It is for that reason that you could get lost with where to start in studying with this behemoth. It is intimidating to just read through the chapters. If you do that you'll never make it to the test because you'd still be reading the book. You must practice problems and use the CERM as the reference for the problems, theory, charts, exhibits, etc. You will refer to it. That is why it is called a REFERENCE manual. Please don't study it like a text book. You will on the section you must but it was written to help guide you so let it be just that.
Another issue I have with this book is that it doesn't quite go into a lot of depth in some areas that you might want it to. I can recall taking the geotechnical depth exam and there were seismic questions that my CERM just didn't cover. I actually had to use the All in One Civil Engineering PE book to help in that area. So, all I'm saying here is that it won't cover your depth subjects very well. You'll need other sources for that and that's okay. Buy it for what it is. It is an absolute must!
Book 2: Practice Problems for the Civil Engineering PE Exam
These practice problems compliment the CERM in every way. They follow the chapters outlined and it just makes sense. I do have to say that they are much much harder than the actual exam and the author explicitly tells you that. You will be given problems that will have a suggested time of 1 hour when you are thinking, hey, on the actual exam they will only be giving me problems that I can solve in 6 minutes or less. What the heck? The theory here is that by asking you the tough questions you will hit all the parts of the question that could be broken down into a 6 minute problem. So you just work them. You probably don't have to work all of them. In fact, I have a suggested study schedule that I'm working on that can give you what you need without hitting every single problem in the book.
So there you have it. The plus is that this book is a great compliment to the CERM and the minus is that the problems can be really tough to solve but they will get you prepared. It is a must buy as a compliment to the CERM.
Book 3: All in One - Civil Engineering PE Breadth and Depth
If you thought the CERM was all you needed to pass the PE you might be wrong. I have found what the CERM lacks the ALL in ONE book picks up. I already told you that when I was struck with a seismic problem the CERM fell short and this book picked me up. It is another great REFERENCE manual and is a great compliment to the CERM. I didn't use it as much as the CERM but when I needed it it came through. I was glad I had it on the exam.
It basically is what it says it is. Because it is the ALL IN ONE it has more information regarding depth subjects that could come up. Some have said they don't like the format of the book because it goes quite a bit into the theory of the problems but I found that it was helpful anyway. If anything a theory question could magically pop up and this would be your saving grace for the problem. I figure it is a must buy as a great alternative to the CERM. It is a worthy companion.
Book 4: All in One - Civil Engineering PE Practice Exams
This bad boy is the spouse of the All in One reference manual. This book is well worth the price of admission. You get a couple of breadth practice exams followed by the depth exam of your choosing. The problems are challenging, but not so challenging that you think they would never ever put this thing on the PE exam. They aren't like that. I thought they were perfect and you get quite a few of them to help test you and you can't go wrong with that.
I actually don't have any constructive criticism of this book. It is worth the price, it holds its quality and it goes well with the CERM and the All in One manual. I highly recommend it.
Book 5: Four Sample Exams for the Civil PE Exam
The name of this book is so long it really doesn't need an explanation. You get four sample exams to help you prepare. I can't tell you however, that these problems are much more simple that the other exam books that I talked about, which isn't a bad thing. In fact, I really felt these problems were right up the PE alley. They really feel like the type of problems they ask on the PE exam.
You get four exams with this so it is worth the price to buy it. Dr.Ruwan Rajapakse has done a fabulous job putting this together. When I hit the books I used the first edition but I can imagine the second edition is just as good. I recommend this book too to round out what I think are the top 5 books that you should be buying for the breadth section of the civil engineering PE exam. I'll cover the depth sections in another post!
Thanks and good luck studying!!
Isaac
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P.P.S. Not to toot my own horn, but Civil Engineering Academy has some great practice exams right here on the site to help you out too. If you need them then check out the breadth exam section of the site or just click on the image of this fine book to purchase it. We currently offer 2 breadth exams and a couple of depth exams.
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