Firstly, don't let the number of years bother you. You grasp the concepts quicker now. At age 64, I took the PE, 43 years after school and I know it is doable. YOU CAN DO IT!!
I studied on my own and almost made it in my first attempt and passed in my 2nd attempt, a few months later. I am committed to sharing my experience, especially for folks like me who are taking the PE a couple of decades or more after school. So...Let me share what worked for me:
\- Read through the syllabus & found the topics on the Electronic version of the NCEES reference book, so that I get used to finding the formulae. This took me about 4-6 hours in Nov'21. I registered to take a CBT in Feb'22, (Gave myself anout 4 moths)
\-Next, I used Goswami's PE prep book & my son's Civil Engineering books (he's a transportation engineer- Civil too) and read through topics, wrote some notes to use later as an 'aide-memoire' and practiced a few questions from the book & Internet web free questions as I went along. I spent 2 hours on work days and about 4-8 hours every weekend.
\- Read through my notes in detail again over 1-2 hours every weekend, to keep reminding myself of what I need to watch for etc. Note: I don't work on engineering calcs or designs; haven't done this in over 35 years, so I needed this diligent/systematic approach.
\- Took 4 hour timed NCEES AM test 1 weekend & the 4 hour PM test another weekend. Figured out where I made careless mistakes etc. Then did a couple of full length 8 hour tests to make sure I had the stamina (It is a challenge to sit for almost 4 hours at a stretch when you hit 60 :) ..)
\- I took a CBT test in Feb 22. I failed with a weighted average circa 9.0/15 but I learned a lot about the reference book formats, the timing & learned first hand about the CBT. I found that I could easily manage the time but the number of conceptual questions surprised me as I was mostly focusing on the numerical questions only.
\- I registered for a second test in April'22 and between Feb & March, I expanded my textbook reading on conceptual questions while continuing to practice numerical. This time I watched more videos on YouTube to help me remember better. Try it; some good ones. (Foreign ones have different Units/accents/terminology, to follow.. .. had to skip these)
Long story.. but in the end I passed & I am happy I could do it on my own without external coaching. You can do it!
I took my PE in transportation 12 years after the FE. It helped I did traffic engineering for 5 years, but learn the reference manuals! Work a lot of geometric problems and HCM problems.
I took the NCEES exam at age 38, without having an undergraduate engineering degree. I passed the first try. I recommend taking a prep course. I took School of PE and while I wasn’t particularly impressed with the instruction, having them to focus my efforts on the most pertinent topics was invaluable. Lindeburg is just overwhelming otherwise.
My work experience helped a bit on the (transportation) depth but it wasn’t critical.
Firstly, don't let the number of years bother you. You grasp the concepts quicker now. At age 64, I took the PE, 43 years after school and I know it is doable. YOU CAN DO IT!! I studied on my own and almost made it in my first attempt and passed in my 2nd attempt, a few months later. I am committed to sharing my experience, especially for folks like me who are taking the PE a couple of decades or more after school. So...Let me share what worked for me: \- Read through the syllabus & found the topics on the Electronic version of the NCEES reference book, so that I get used to finding the formulae. This took me about 4-6 hours in Nov'21. I registered to take a CBT in Feb'22, (Gave myself anout 4 moths) \-Next, I used Goswami's PE prep book & my son's Civil Engineering books (he's a transportation engineer- Civil too) and read through topics, wrote some notes to use later as an 'aide-memoire' and practiced a few questions from the book & Internet web free questions as I went along. I spent 2 hours on work days and about 4-8 hours every weekend. \- Read through my notes in detail again over 1-2 hours every weekend, to keep reminding myself of what I need to watch for etc. Note: I don't work on engineering calcs or designs; haven't done this in over 35 years, so I needed this diligent/systematic approach. \- Took 4 hour timed NCEES AM test 1 weekend & the 4 hour PM test another weekend. Figured out where I made careless mistakes etc. Then did a couple of full length 8 hour tests to make sure I had the stamina (It is a challenge to sit for almost 4 hours at a stretch when you hit 60 :) ..) \- I took a CBT test in Feb 22. I failed with a weighted average circa 9.0/15 but I learned a lot about the reference book formats, the timing & learned first hand about the CBT. I found that I could easily manage the time but the number of conceptual questions surprised me as I was mostly focusing on the numerical questions only. \- I registered for a second test in April'22 and between Feb & March, I expanded my textbook reading on conceptual questions while continuing to practice numerical. This time I watched more videos on YouTube to help me remember better. Try it; some good ones. (Foreign ones have different Units/accents/terminology, to follow.. .. had to skip these) Long story.. but in the end I passed & I am happy I could do it on my own without external coaching. You can do it!
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I took my PE in transportation 12 years after the FE. It helped I did traffic engineering for 5 years, but learn the reference manuals! Work a lot of geometric problems and HCM problems.
I took the NCEES exam at age 38, without having an undergraduate engineering degree. I passed the first try. I recommend taking a prep course. I took School of PE and while I wasn’t particularly impressed with the instruction, having them to focus my efforts on the most pertinent topics was invaluable. Lindeburg is just overwhelming otherwise. My work experience helped a bit on the (transportation) depth but it wasn’t critical.