How to Take Practice Exams Like a Pro ???

We’ve already mentioned it here before and we'll say it again. ??

Those who score big on the FE and PE Civil Exams don’t do it because of innate genius, IQ, or any other “special” ability they were born with that you weren’t.

Believe us, that’s far from the truth. ?

The game-changer for those top-performing test-takers is simple: practice exams.

Why? ??

Because practice exams get you familiar with the real deal (and the pressure of taking it) beforehand.

So we’ve decided to give you a complete, step-by-step guide on the right way to take practice exams to score big on the real deal — just like the pros do. ??

If you give this a read and apply the seven steps we’ll cover here, you’ll be on your way to crushing your civil FE or PE exam. ??

Ready? Then let’s do this! ??

1. Add Them to Your Study Schedule

When creating your study plan for the FE or PE by laying out the topics you’re going to study every week, you should also include “Take a Practice Exam” into that plan.

That is, specify the moments in your exam prep when you’ll sit down to take practice exams, and schedule them to happen.

Most people go with the flow and take them when they “feel like it.” But just as with your study time, if you don’t see it, it won’t happen.

So we always suggest taking at least two complete practice exams, one in the middle of your prep period and one close to your exam day.

Just pick the weeks in your study plan in which you’ll take a practice exam, and then block off time on your calendar to do it.

That will probably be on either Saturday, Sunday, or both, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

2. Take It in Life-Like Conditions

That one is simple: try to simulate the real FE or PE exam as much as possible when taking practice exams.

Take it in the format of the real exam, during the time of the day it’ll take place, with the time restrictions you’ll have, with the things you’ll have in the exam room with room (e.g., NCEES-approved calculator), the break you’re allowed to take, etc.

This will not be perfect since you’ll probably be in your comfy room, with family in other rooms, noise coming from the streets, etc. Also, most of the practice exams out there are in PDF format, so it’s not exactly as you’ll have on exam day.

But don’t let this stop you. Do your best to simulate the experience of sitting for the real deal with what you’ve got, and you’ll be on the right track.

3. Only Use The Resources You’ll Have on Exam Day

While you can (and should) use reference manuals and books like the CERM in your exam prep to really learn what you’re studying, they won’t be there with you on exam day.

So, use them to learn the topics, but when taking practice exams, you should be using the NCEES handbook, plus the codes and standards for your exam if you’re taking the PE.

And going back to No. 2 above, use them as PDF files on your computer. That way, you’ll learn how to use the handbook and search the codes and standards for solving problems, just like you’ll have to do on exam day.

Pro tip: Do the same thing of only using the handbook and the codes and standards when solving practice problems for each topic you study. Why? On the real exam, you can't CTRL+F the entire codes and standards. You have to search by chapter first! So you need to know your codes, back to front.

4. No Need to Take It in One Sitting

Let’s be real: both the FE and PE Exam are a “mental marathon.”

You have to sit still and maintain focus and consistent mental effort for 6-8 hours, essentially frying your brain. ??

Odds are you don’t have this kind of “exam endurance” just yet. If you try to sit for the entire duration of the exam, you’ll lose focus before you even get halfway through it.

Also, you have a life and responsibilities as well. You probably do not have a full six or eight hours on a Saturday to take a practice exam.

So, break it down into smaller chunks. You can complete individual sections separately, and on different days.

For example, you could tackle the 40-question, AM portion of a PE practice exam on a Saturday morning, and then the remaining 40 questions for the PM portion on Sunday morning.

That’s a lot more realistic given your busy life as a civil engineer, father, mother, husband, wife, volunteer, church member…you name it.

5. Go Through the Problems Like Homework

After completing a practice exam, you don’t simply calculate your score, put it aside, and never go back to it again. That’s wrong! ?

You need to treat the questions in the practice exams you take as you treat homework problems.

That is, you need to go back to the beginning and go through the problems, one by one, to look at what you did on each, and compare that with the official solutions (if any). ??

This not only lets you see what you’re doing right, but it’s even more important for the questions you got wrong.

You can look at what you did, look at what you should’ve done, and then see where you went wrong — and why.

Pro tip: For the questions you get wrong, work them out again on your own as many times as possible before looking at the solutions. Then, if you keep getting the wrong answer, look at the official solutions and work them out again based on what you saw. (Also, think how the same questions could be worded as a theory question!)

6. Use The Results to Guide Your Study Plan

By going through the problems again after taking the exam, you’ll notice the topics you did well on, and the ones you need to improve on. This is incredibly valuable information!

Use this information to plan your studies moving forward.

For the topics you nailed on the practice exam, you can reduce how often you work out problems related to it so you have time to focus on your weak spots.

(Just don’t completely put them aside. Go back to them with practice problems so you don’t forget it. ??)

Now, for your weak spots, focus on doing more problems related to them, and even going back to the theory if needed. Hammer on those much more often than before, simply because you need to have them covered before your exam day.

7. Take Multiple Practice Exams

You cannot really go wrong with taking lots of practice exams; just the opposite.

So, in addition to the two “checkpoints” in your study schedule, which is a minimum, take as many practice exams as your busy life allows you to.

That’s especially important as your exam day gets closer.

You’ve already covered the theory and practiced problems on each topic individually. Now it’s time to put all this together in the form of an exam.

So grab additional practice exams — there’s a ton out there! — and focus on taking them in the final weeks of your FE or PE exam prep.

Guess what? This is exactly what those top-performing students did in the week prior to their exams that allowed them to score big — and it can do the same for you on the FE or PE! ??

What You Should Do next

Now that you know how to take practice exams effectively, your next step is to, well, take them. ??

We have our very own practice exams for the FE and PE exams here at CEA. If you need more practice for your “last mile” before your official exam, click here to check them out .

We’ve also got a complete CBT Simulator for both the FE and PE as well.

They are realistic CBT practice exams that are just like the real deal — questions on the right, handbook on the left, AIT questions, etc. Everything you'll see on the official exam. ??

You’ll love all of them, but don’t take our word for it. ??

Here’s Cameron McLaurin, PE , one of our PE review course students, on how helpful the PE CBT Exam Simulator was for him. ??

If you're taking your exam soon, go check out the FE CBT Exam Simulator here , and the PE CBT Exam Simulator here .

As always, don't forget to follow Civil Engineering Academy for more tips, tools, and resources to crush your professional civil engineering exams!