table of contents - learn civil engineering...aci sp-4 formwork for concrete, 7th ed., 2005,...

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Table of Contents

Introduction…………………………………………….1

How to use this Practice Exam and Guide Book….…...2

Understanding your PE Exam….………………………3

The 9 Construction Depth Design Standards…………..4

Construction Depth Exam Breakdown ………………..5

Exam Answer Sheet …………………………………...7

Questions: Construction Depth…………..…………..8-48

Answer Key…………………………………………….49

Detailed Solutions: Construction Depth ……………50-90

Assessment Guide………………………………...…91-92

ii


Introduction

The Construction Depth Practice Exam and Assessment Guide includes

the top 40 questions that will be on the Construction depth portion of the

PE Exam. This practice exam also includes an assessment section for you

to quickly evaluate your strengths and weaknesses in the different topics

and subtopics. All the questions and solutions are clearly labeled as to

what topics they are concentrated on. This allows you to clearly

understand what subject matter you are having trouble with or already

fully comprehend, this allows you to studying smarter by focusing your

efforts on the areas that you really need to.

It is important to note that this practice exam only assesses your ability

with quantitative type questions. The actual exam is made up of 70% (+/-

10%) quantitative questions and 30% (+/- 10%) qualitative “word

problems” type questions. The word problems are too extensive to

anticipate given that any problem in any topic could be asked about any

minor detail. These problems you really can’t study for, you prepare for

those just by understanding your design standards and understanding the

concepts behind and tabbing the quantitative problems.

Several of the qualitative questions and solutions are longer than on the

actual exam, since I incorporated more than one key concept into many of

the questions. The difficulty level will be about the same as you will

encounter on test day. So don’t worry about solving these problems in

6 minutes, just try to understand the concepts.

If you follow the Learn Civil Engineering (LCE) advice and go through

all the topics while doing multiple practice problems you will be ready for

the real PE exam and become a Licensed Professional Engineer.

1


You should at least take one practice exam before taking the real PE Exam. Many students do not use

This practice exam and assessment guide should be use as a final practice

exam or before you start studying. You should at least take one full practice

exam before sitting for the real PE Exam. Many students do not use practice

exams well. For example, many students will look at the solutions and think to

themselves, “I understand”, or “I could do that, let me look at the solution to

confirm”. These students make the mistake of not using the practice exams to

actually practice for the exam. Do not make that mistake!

Please use this Practice Exam and Assessment Guide the following way:

• Do not look at the practice exam questions before you take the practice

exam.

• Take the practice exam in a quiet environment. As close to the actual

test day conditions as possible, a library would be ideal. Also practice

your practice you test taking strategy (ex. 3 passes, easy-medium-hard)

• Have a special study-only notepad or sheet of paper. During the exam

when you encounter a topic that you don’t understand, write a quick note

on the study-only notepad. Use this notepad later to prepare additional

studying.

• Take a break immediately after completing the practice exam. Resist

the urge to start working through the solutions as soon as you finish the

practice exam.

• After taking a break, compare your answers to the solutions and fill out

the assessment guide.

• Resume studying by consulting your study-only notepad and the

assessment guide .

The basic idea is to practice both the material and the self-management that

will help you do your best on the real exam. Your study-only notepad is the

exception. The study-only notepad allows you to have the experience of “If

only I had understood that before the exam” before you actually take the exam.

How to use this practice exam

and guide book

2


A big piece of passing the PE Exam is to fully understanding the test you are

going to be taking. A lot of students take this for granted and really lose time

studying the wrong material. If you make sure you are studying the correct

material for the exam you start to understand there is not that much material to

learn.

The following pages have the full breakdown of the construction depth exam and

the required nine design standards you need for the test.

Below is the breakdown of the full PE Exam. Where do you think you should

spend most of your time studying? There has been some big changes to the PE

Exam in 2015. Construction Engineering topics became a very large piece of the

exam, especially if you are taking Construction engineering depth.

• Construction Engineering (52/80) = 65.00%

• Structural Engineering (8/80) = 10.0%

• Transportation Engineering (3/80) = 3.75%

• Geotechncial Engineering (9/80) = 11.25%

• Water Resources and Env Engineering (8/80) = 10.0%

A few key things to understand;

1. Usually 56/57 out of 80 correct answers are required to pass the

civil engineering, construction depth PE Exam.

2. Focus your studying on your depth section. 65% of the exam is in

your depth section. If you ace your depth section you will pass the

exam.

3. Make sure to bring all the 9 design standards into the exam. Also I

recommend you bring in all your practice problem books, some of

the questions you will find to be very similar.

Understanding Your PE Exam

3


These standards have been specified by NCEES effective April 2015 to use for

the morning portion and the afternoon depth. Make sure before you purchase

the following books, review the NCEES website to see if the standard have

been updated at www.ncees.org/exams/pe-exam/ or at

http://www.learncivilengineering.com/study-material/

1. ASCE 37-02 Design Loads on Structures During Construction, 2002,

American Society of Civil Engineers

2. ACI SP-4 Formwork for Concrete, 7th ed., 2005, American Concrete

Institute

3. ACI 318 Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete,

2011, American Concrete Institute

4. ACI 347 Guide to Formwork for Concrete, 2004, American

Concrete Institute, (in ACI SP-4, 7th edition appendix). DO NOT BUY in the

#2 book

5. AISC Steel Construction Manual, 14th ed.,2011, American Institute

of Steel Construction

6. NDS National Design Specification for Wood Construction, 2012,

American Forest & Paper Association/American Wood Council

7. OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Standards for the

Construction Industry, 29 CFR Part 1926 (US federal version), US Department

of Labor : AVAILABLE FOR FREE ON WEB

8. MUTCD-Part 6 Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices—Part 6

Temporary Traffic Control, 2009, US Federal Highway Administration

AVAILABLE FOR FREE ON WEB

9. CMWB Standard Practice for Bracing Masonry Walls During

Construction, 2012, Council for Masonry Wall Bracing, MCAA

9 Construction depth

Design Standards

4


Earthwork Construction and Layout

A. Excavation and embankment

B. Borrow pit volumes

C. Site layout and control

D. Earthwork mass diagrams

E. Site and Subsurface investigations

Estimating Quantities and Costs

A. Quantity take-off methods

B. Cost estimating

C. Cost analysis for resource selection

D. Work measurement and productivity

Construction Operations and Methods

A. Lifting and rigging

B. Crane stability

C. Dewatering and pumping

D. Equipment operations

E. Deep foundation installation

Scheduling

A. Construction sequencing

B. Activity time analysis

C. CPM network analysis

D. Resource scheduling and leveling

E. Time-cost trade-off

Construction DEPTH

exam breakdown

Material Quality Control and

Production

A. Material properties and testing

B. Weld and bolt installation

C. Quality control process

(QA/QC)

D. Concrete proportioning and

placement

E. Concrete maturity and early

strength evalution

Temporary Structures

A. Construction loads, codes, standards

B. Formwork

C. Falsework and scaffolding

D. Shoring and reshoring

E. Bracing and anchorage stability

F. Temporary support of excavation

Health and Safety

A. OSHA regulations

B. Safety management and statistics

C. Work Zone and public safety

5


START OF CONSTRUCTION DEPTH

PRACTICE EXAM

6


EXAM answer sheet

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

31.

32.

33.

34.

35.

36.

37.

38.

39.

40.

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

A B C D

7


Earthwork construction and layout

Borrow Pit volumes

Question #2: After surveying a borrow pit, the surveyor produced the borrow pit grid

below. If the 0.0 elevation is the allowable cut elevation and the swell factor for the soil in

the borrow pit is 12%. What is the total loose cut volume (LCY) available to haul?

Answer #2

a. 261 LCY

b. 232 LCY

c. 201 LCY

d. 343 LCY

AB

C D E

GF

2.4

2.8

3.2

3.5

3.3

3.1

2.1

2.4

2.8

1.8

1.6

1.3

20 feet

20 feet

20 feet

20 feet

20 feet

9


Question #28: You are told as the project engineer by the designer of

record to remove the formwork on a structure when the concrete reaches the

compressive strength of 4000 psi. Using the Concrete Maturity Method and

given the charts below what day would be acceptable to remove the

formwork? Assume the temperature where hydration ceases is 10 degrees

Celsius.

Answer # 28

a. Day 7

b. Day 10

c. Day 14

d. Day 28

Material Quality control and production

Concrete maturity and early strength eval

35

y = 1114.3ln(x) - 5701.5

R² = 0.9782

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000

CO

MP

RE

SS

IVE

ST

RE

NG

TH

(P

SI)

MATURITY INDEX, TTF (OC-HR)

Strength-Maturity Relationship

Time period (hr) Average Temperature (oC)

0 -

24 35

48 39

72 42

96 40

120 38

144 37

168 36

192 35

216 36

240 36

264 37

288 36

312 36

336 36


Question #29: The following data is from the 28 day tests performed on concrete

samples. According to the specifications, the compressive strength is required to be

4000 psi and modulus of rupture should be 600 psi. Do these samples pass the tests?

Answer # 29

a. Yes Acceptable

b. No – Rejected

c. Unknown

d. Do the test one more time

Material quality control and production

Material properties and testing

Diameter of cylinder = 6in

Length of cylinder = 12in

Test 1: lbs at failure = 120,200lbs

Test 2: lbs at failure = 122,775lbs

Length of beam = 21in

Length of span = 18”

Width of beam = 6 in

Depth of beam = 6 in

Test 1: lbs at failure = 7614 lbs

Test 2: lbs at failure = 8015 lbs

Fracture plane

Flexure strength Test Compressive Strength Test

36


50’ tall and

24” thick

concrete wall

face

Question #30: Your contractor has finished placing a 50 foot tall wall which is 24”

thick. You are the project engineer who is responsible for accepting the work. You go

out to inspect and measure in a couple spots and notice that the wall is measuring not

exactly 24” thick. One spot on the wall is only 23 ¾ inches thick. Also you notice that it

is .5 inch off plumb. You look in the specification and there is not clear acceptance

criteria except the note that all work is in compliance with ACI 347. What do you do?

Answer # 30

a. Have the contractor knock down the wall and replace

b. Accept wall; this is within acceptable limits

c. Pretend you didn’t measure and ask QC rep for decision

d. Have contractor develop a work plan to fix the discrepancy

Material Quality control and production

Quality control process (QA/QC)

37

www.learncivilengineering.com 90

Earthwork construction and layout

Excavation and Embankment

Stations Cut Vol (ft3) Cut Vol (yd3) Fill Vol (ft3) Fill Vol (yd3)

0+00-1+00 25000 926 0 0

1+00-1+50 20000 741 0 0

1+50-2+00 22500 833 750 28

2+00-3+00 22500 833 6500 241

3+00-4+00 2500 93 20000 741

4+00-5+00 0 0 40000 1481

5+00-6+00 0 0 25000 926

Station Cut Area (ft2) Fill Area (ft2)

0+00 200 0

1+00 300 0

1+50 500 0

2+00 400 30

3+00 50 100

4+00 0 300

5+00 0 500

6+00 0 0

Stations Cut Vol (ft3) Cut Vol (yd3) Fill Vol (ft3) Fill Vol (yd3) Sum Cut/Fill (yd3) Cumulative

0+00-1+00 25000 926 0 0 926 926

1+00-1+50 20000 741 0 0 741 1667

1+50-2+00 22500 833 750 28 806 2472

2+00-3+00 22500 833 6500 241 593 3065

3+00-4+00 2500 93 20000 741 -648 2417

4+00-5+00 0 0 40000 1481 -1481 935

5+00-6+00 0 0 25000 926 -926 9

Answer #40: d = 9 BCY Cut


This Assessment Guide is intended to provide a quick assessment of

your understanding in each area. In the real exam, if you fail,

NCEES will send you a breakdown on how you did. That

assessment is similar to what is provided in this guide.

After you take this Practice Exam use the answer key to figure out

which problems you answered right and wrong. Then go to the

assessment guide and using the answer key fill out the guide.

Filling in the blank space with how many you answered correct.

Once the page is all fill out

65% or lower : Poor Understanding: You need additional

studying and work many more practice problems

65%- 80%: Moderate Understanding: You may need additional

studying and should do a few more practice problems in this area.

80- 100% : High Understanding: You understand this area – only

do more practice if time available.

How to use the Assessment Guide

91


Construction Depth

Assessment GUIDE

Earthwork Construction and Layout

Question #1, #2, #8, #17, #38, #40

Estimating Quantities and Costs

Question #6, #7, #18, #19, #20, #36

Construction Operations and Methods

Question #9, #15, #16, #21, #22, #32, #33

Scheduling

Question #3, #4, #23, #26, #35

Material Quality Control and Production

Question #12, #24, #27, #28, #29, #30

Temporary Structures

Question #5, #10, #11, #13, #31, #37, #39

Health and Safety

Question #14, #25, #34

OVERALL

____ / 6 = ____%

____ / 6 = ____%

____ / 7 = ____%

____ / 5 = ____%

____ / 6 = ____%

____ / 7 = ____%

____ / 3 = ____%

____ / 40 = ____%

92

**Congratulations if scored 32 or greater**

table of contents - learn civil engineering...aci sp-4 formwork for concrete, 7th ed., 2005,...

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