PE Exam Prep – Plan your Study Schedule
By Spencer Baker, PE
I started seriously studying about 10 weeks before the test (which admittedly was later than I wanted). My goal was to study at least six hours each Saturday, four hours each Sunday, and one hour each weekday. The weekdays didn’t always happen, but the weekends were critical. Saturdays were mostly studying theory, and Sundays were mostly practice problems for the same topic.
The first week was dedicated to creating a study schedule (in excel of course) and gathering/tabbing my resources. The remaining nine weekends gave me enough time to dedicate an entire weekend to each of the five major exam topics (for the morning portion of the exam). Then, I spent one to two weeks studying the afternoon portion (structures). About three weeks before the exam, I took an official practice test. Based on the practice results, I dedicated the remaining time accordingly (studying my weaknesses and reviewing my strengths). I know everyone prepares a little differently, but overall this worked for me!
BONUS: Throughout the studying process, I also prepared a reference guide (or cheat sheet) that references every exam topic to a reference (with chapters and subsections). This was super helpful for quickly knowing where to look for each question. Good luck!
