Don’t Change Your Civil PE Exam Before This! ?

After a series of failed attempts at the same Civil PE Exam, I know how much you just want to run to another depth discipline.

Especially to the Water Resources or Transportation exam, whose pass rates always seem a little “friendlier.”

Believe me, I’ve been there. ??

I failed the Geotech PE Exam twice and considered making this move myself after the first two times.

But the question is…

Should you? ??

Today, I want to share my honest (and for some, controversial) take on this topic as a repeat taker myself, and 10+ years helping repeat takers pass this thing after multiple attempts. ??

My Hot Take on Changing Your Exam…and Why ??

When you're discouraged and the wound is still fresh after seeing that red rectangle with the dreaded “FAIL” in all caps and bold red, you just want to run.

But here’s the thing… ??

Switching to a different depth exam isn’t the answer. ?

Why? ??

For your next try, you’ll not be starting from scratch with your current exam choice…but you will if you switch.

Just by prepping for and taking the real exam, even if the ultimate goal was not achieved (yet!), you gained a lot of knowledge and experience that can help you pass on your next try.

Just think about it. ??

From your exam prep:

• You’ve learned where the equations, graphs, and charts for your discipline can be found in the handbook
• You've poured over the codes and standards for your particular exam and know them so well that you can recite all the chapters from the top of your head.
• You got a good grasp of the technical content after hours of studying it — even those topics you struggle with the most.
• You’ve solved a variety of practice problems, meaning you know the different ways in which different concepts can be tested (including as theory questions!)

Now, from taking the exam itself:

• You know the look and feel of the real deal and everything related to taking it. This can’t be understated!
• You’ve experienced the CBT format and all its functions — flagging questions, searching the handbook and codes, working with figures and tables, etc.
• You’ve become familiar with how alternative item type (AIT) questions work…and how many of them you can anticipate to be on your exam.
• You’ve seen how the NCEES weaves in the “tricks” into the exam questions — and you can spot them now.
• If you stick with the same exam, sometimes, you may even see the same problem pop up again asking for the same thing, just the givens are different.
• You’ve experienced how long it takes and the pressure involved

Do you see why switching exams is not the best move, most of the time?

If you switch exams, all this hard-earned knowledge that you gained after hundreds of hours and a ton of effort sort of goes out the window (ok, maybe not ALL of it). ??

With the latest depth-focused PE exam specifications rolled out in April 2024, there’s very little overlap between topics across all five civil PE exam disciplines.

In other words…

Now, more than ever, changing your exam means you’ll lose…pretty much…everything! ??

So, here’s what I think is the best move, and what I did myself: stick with the momentum you’ve built. Don’t throw it away.

The 5 Downsides of Switching That Makes It 10x Harder ??

Now you know my opinion on why changing to a different civil PE exam after failing is not the “shortcut” it seems. But how did I come to that conclusion? ??

When thinking about this topic, here are a few things that came to my mind that can cost you big time if you go that route. ??

1?? Wasted Months

You’ve already spent a lot of late nights, early mornings, and entire weekends studying for your exam.

Switching to a different depth discipline would make much of this study time and effort go down the drain.

While you’ll still have the experience of taking the exam itself, the time you spent learning and practicing the technical content for your particular depth discipline would have been “wasted.”

(At least for the exam itself. For your career, though, it’s a whole nother story.)

2?? Additional Effort

If you switch over to a different civil PE exam, you have to start the learning process from the very beginning…again.

You’ll need to learn a whole new set of technical content, get familiar with a brand new set of codes and standards, and get used to the problems for the other exam discipline.

This is overwhelming and takes time, which leads me to the next con… ??

3?? License Delay

Learning new content takes more time than improving on the material you already know.

Because you’ll probably be starting at ground zero if you decide to switch exams, it’ll take time to learn the new stuff and get used to the new codes.

This delays getting your license for quite some time...at least until you get the hang of the new depth discipline and are able to pass the exam.

4?? Financial Cost (The worst. ??)

New prep materials, study resources, and exam fees can add up really fast.

And especially now with the removal of the breadth topics back in April 2024, all the study materials out there for the Civil PE Exam have become separate resources, one for each exam.

So, if you got resources for Construction and then decide to switch to Water Resources, for example, you’ll have to buy brand-new books, review manuals, practice exams, and a review course for the Water Resources exam specifically.

5?? No Guarantees

This is the last thing, but one of the most important things in my opinion.

Just because you switched to a depth discipline that, statistically, seems “easier,” there’s no guarantee of passing just because the pass rates are higher. Got it? ??

Also, after April 2024, each of the five civil PE exams tests their respective depth stuff a lot heavier! For example…??

If you’ve failed the Construction PE exam but did well on the Hydraulics questions on that exam, assuming you’ll do well on the Water Resources exam because of it is not a valid assumption.

The Hydraulics questions you got on the Construction PE exam are a lot easier and more basic than the Hydraulics questions on the Water Resources exam…which was created specifically for Water Resources Engineers who are experts on it.

What Can You Do to Pass as a Repeat Taker Then? ??

“Ok. You convinced me to stick with the same exam I’ve been retaking multiple times. What do you suggest I do to pass then?!”

Don’t worry, I got you. ??

Instead of stressing about which PE exam to switch to in order to pass, here are a few other variables to focus your energy on to make sure your next try is your last try:

1?? Study Approach and Methods

This is where most PE test-takers go wrong, and there are various pitfalls that go into this.

Most of the time, they focus too much on the theory but don’t do enough practice problems and take enough practice exams.?

Remember this: covering the theory in detail is good for a college course, but not for passing the PE!

And I’m not the only one saying that… ??

2?? Study Resources and Prep Materials

The other thing you can change for your next try is the resources you use.

What did you miss and struggle with the most when prepping for your past failed attempts? ??

If you took the self-study route, maybe you lacked a streamlined curriculum that would give you structure, which caused you to go off track and get lost.

In that case, you should consider a PE Review Course that helps you do the work. ??

On the other hand, if you’ve taken a review course for your past failed attempts, what was lacking in the course’s materials?

Did you miss a community of civil engineers just like you prepping for this thing as well to bounce ideas off and help each other out?

Or, maybe, did you struggle to get fast student support from instructors to answer your questions?

3?? Psychological Aspects

If you have a good grasp of the technical content and have done well on practice problems and exams, the last thing to consider is your test-taking itself.

Are you struggling with the time management aspect of taking this thing?

Are you spending too much time on the complex exam questions instead of focusing on the easy ones first?

Are you rushing through the exam, skipping steps in the problem-solving process trying to meet the six-minute mark per question…and making basic math errors because of it? ??

In that case, you can be making basic math errors when skipping steps in the problem-solving process in order to go fast.

So, Does That Mean You Cannot Switch Exams? ??

Absolutely not!

There are 6 ways in which you can pivot that are very nice moves to get you passed. But…

This is just my overall opinion that applies to, frankly, most cases...most of the time. Why?

Because you chose your original depth discipline for a reason: it aligns with your experience, your career, and your interests. So it should be it!

No matter how many times you’ve taken this thing before, you can do it!

We’ve helped many repeat takers pass their PE exam over our 10+ years in this game. Some on their third, fourth, and fifth try….and others on their seventh try! ? ??

If you want to be the next, then follow Civil Engineering Academy to say tuned on everything we produce and publish to help you pass your exam. ??