PE Civil Breadth (AM) Practice Problems

Practice Problems

Topic Areas

Actual Exam Questions

Exam Duration

Project Planning (4 problems)

ID	Problem	Difficulty
CB-PP-001	A contractor is estimating the concrete quantity for a rectangular mat foundation. The foundation is...	Easy
CB-PP-002	A project network has five activities: A (duration 4 days), B (duration 6 days), C (duration 3 days)...	Easy
CB-PP-003	Using the project network from cb-pp-002, the total float for Activity C is most nearly:	Medium
CB-PP-004	A construction project has a Budget at Completion (BAC) of $2,400,000. At month 8, the Planned Value...	Medium

Means and Methods (3 problems)

ID	Problem	Difficulty
CB-MM-001	A temporary shoring system for a 14-ft-deep excavation in Type B soil is being designed. According t...	Easy
CB-MM-002	An excavator has a bucket capacity of 1.25 cy (heaped) and operates at 4 cycles per minute. The buck...	Medium
CB-MM-003	According to OSHA construction safety standards, a guardrail system on a construction site must have...	Easy

Soil Mechanics (6 problems)

ID	Problem	Difficulty
CB-SM-001	A soil sample has the following grain size distribution: 8% gravel, 55% sand, 25% silt, and 12% clay...	Medium
CB-SM-002	A soil profile consists of 10 ft of sand (saturated unit weight = 120 pcf) overlying a clay layer. T...	Easy
CB-SM-003	A normally consolidated clay layer is 8 ft thick with an initial void ratio e_0 = 0.85 and a compres...	Medium
CB-SM-004	A consolidated-drained triaxial test is performed on a sand specimen. At failure, the minor principa...	Medium
CB-SM-005	A 20-ft-high retaining wall supports a cohesionless backfill with a unit weight of 115 pcf and a fri...	Medium
CB-SM-006	A Standard Proctor test yields a maximum dry density of 118 pcf at an optimum moisture content of 14...	Easy

Structural Mechanics (6 problems)

ID	Problem	Difficulty
CB-ST-001	A simply supported beam has a span of 24 ft and carries a uniformly distributed load of 2.5 kip/ft o...	Easy
CB-ST-002	A simply supported W16x40 steel beam (I_x = 518 in^4, E = 29,000 ksi) spans 18 ft and carries a unif...	Medium
CB-ST-003	A steel column has a W8x31 section (A = 9.12 in^2, r_y = 2.02 in) with E = 29,000 ksi. The column ha...	Hard
CB-ST-004	A planar truss has joints A, B, and C. At joint A, two members meet: a horizontal member AB and a di...	Medium
CB-ST-005	A short circular steel rod (diameter = 2 in) is subjected to an axial tensile load of 15 kips and a ...	Hard
CB-ST-006	A rectangular reinforced concrete beam has b = 12 in, d = 20 in, f'c = 4,000 psi, and f_y = 60,000 p...	Medium

Hydraulics and Hydrology (7 problems)

ID	Problem	Difficulty
CB-HH-001	A rectangular open channel is 5 ft wide with a flow depth of 2.5 ft, Manning's n = 0.013, and a chan...	Medium
CB-HH-002	Water flows through a horizontal pipe that narrows from a 12-inch diameter to a 6-inch diameter. The...	Medium
CB-HH-003	A 10-inch diameter cast iron water main (Hazen-Williams C = 130) is 2,000 ft long and carries a flow...	Medium
CB-HH-004	A pump must deliver 800 gpm against a total dynamic head of 120 ft. The pump efficiency is 82%. The ...	Easy
CB-HH-005	A 45-acre drainage area has a runoff coefficient C = 0.65 and a time of concentration of 25 minutes....	Easy
CB-HH-006	A 120-acre watershed has a Curve Number (CN) of 78. A storm produces 5.2 inches of rainfall. Using t...	Medium
CB-HH-007	Water flows in a rectangular channel 8 ft wide at a depth of 1.5 ft with a velocity of 18 ft/s. The ...	Easy

Geometrics (3 problems)

ID	Problem	Difficulty
CB-GE-001	A horizontal curve has a radius of 1,200 ft and a central deflection angle of 32 degrees. The length...	Easy
CB-GE-002	A crest vertical curve connects a +3.5% grade to a -2.5% grade. The design speed is 55 mph and the r...	Medium
CB-GE-003	A highway curve has a design speed of 50 mph and uses a maximum superelevation rate of 8% (e = 0.08)...	Medium

Materials (6 problems)

ID	Problem	Difficulty
CB-MA-001	A concrete batch contains 564 lb of cement, 282 lb of mixing water, 1,410 lb of coarse aggregate, an...	Easy
CB-MA-002	A simply supported reinforced concrete beam has b = 14 in, d = 22 in, f'c = 5,000 psi, and f_y = 60,...	Medium
CB-MA-003	A steel tension member made of A992 steel (F_y = 50 ksi, F_u = 65 ksi) has a gross area A_g = 8.25 i...	Medium
CB-MA-004	A hot mix asphalt (HMA) specimen has a bulk specific gravity (G_mb) of 2.350 and a theoretical maxim...	Easy
CB-MA-005	A Select Structural grade Douglas Fir-Larch timber beam has a reference bending design value F_b = 1...	Medium
CB-MA-006	A concrete slump test is performed on ready-mix concrete specified for a bridge deck. The specificat...	Easy

Site Development (5 problems)

ID	Problem	Difficulty
CB-SD-001	An earthwork grading project has two cross sections 200 ft apart. The cut areas at each cross sectio...	Easy
CB-SD-002	A square spread footing (B = 6 ft) is founded at a depth of 4 ft in a cohesive soil with c = 1,200 p...	Medium
CB-SD-003	A concrete gravity retaining wall is 12 ft tall, has a base width of 7 ft, and weighs 8,400 lb per l...	Medium
CB-SD-004	A cohesionless slope (c = 0) has a slope angle of 35 degrees and the soil has a friction angle of 40...	Easy
CB-SD-005	A stormwater detention basin receives a post-development peak inflow of 85 cfs that must be attenuat...	Hard

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Disclaimer: These are original practice problems created for educational purposes. They are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sourced from NCEES. Problem difficulty and topic distribution are designed to reflect the PE exam specification.