Civil Engineering Reference Manual for the PE Exam

This book was my primary reference on the CE-WR and Enviro exam. I used it for every practice problem I did in advance of the exam and tabbed out a few equations I was sure to see.For basically every question on the exam that i didn't already know the answer to, I read the question, then went straight to the index of this book to look up the subject and I almost always found the formula or answer. Even many of the conceptual questions, would often be solved with the glossary of this book. Each section starts with a list of all of the variables used in every equation and a description. Make sure to check this. This was very helpful. Oh- and the unit conversions on the inside cover were indispensable. Seriously, this book was my best friend during the exam.This book is not a review book. Do not use this book to teach yourself concepts. Don't "study" this book. It's not written that way. You'll become overwhelmed and find yourself spinning in circles. Just use it for all of your practice problems, and rely on other sources for detailed explanation of the topics.Added bonus: I think I put on some new muscle lugging this thing around everywhere for two months!

If you're reading these review than you probably already know you need this book for the PE exam, but you are probably wondering if you can get away using an older edition as opposed to the newest (and much more expensive) edition. The answer is yes. The principals of science and engineering do not change every year. You do not need the newest edition, save yourself some money. This was my primary resource for my WRE PE exam, I passed.

Very comprehensive manual. Easy to find information and very well explained and organized. I would recommend spending lots of time with this book. On my PE exam, I pretty much only used this manual for the morning and probably 40% of the time in the afternoon (Structural Section). I spend hours organizing color coded tabs in this book in order to make finding equations and tables easier and quicker. Definitely a must for anyone taking the PE exam!

This book was very well organized and extremely useful. If you are using it for the PE exam, start using it well before the exam in order to become familiar with it. The only thing I didn't like, is that sometimes it's difficult to determine what units to use in each formula. They are not always consistent. i.e. the formula will use MGD and MG/L with conversion factors then not expilitly state what units to use within the formula. I think the formulas provided are what is typically used within the discipline though. I'm just not familiar enough with each discipline to

I'm glad I bought this manual. I used it for a good portion of the PE exam. I would suggest anyone taking the PE get this manual and make sure to tab as much as you can. The book is laid out very well and subjects are easy to find.

This is the only book you need to ace the morning session of the PE. Everything you need is here. Even about 50% of the transportation afternoon session is answerable with this book alone. If you only buy one book, this is it. But I recommend a specific book for the afternoon as well.

This is best book to have for PE exam and just as importantly: as a reference for daily engineering practice!I found that having an outdated edition was no big deal and worth the financial savings

This book was a lifesaver during the civil/structural PE exam, especially the morning civil portion of the exam which I was less familiar with. I continue to use it as a reference for my day-to-day design work after the exam.

very good quality book.