SE Exam study guide
SE Exam · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Structural Engineering (SE) examination is the NCEES-developed licensure exam for engineers who want to be recognized as structural engineers. It is aimed at experienced practitioners who have already completed the Fundamentals of Engineering step and accumulated structural design experience under a licensed engineer, and who now need to demonstrate competence at the level expected of an independent structural professional. The exam tests the judgment behind real structural practice: selecting and tracing load paths, analyzing framing systems, and proportioning members and connections in steel, concrete, timber, and masonry for both gravity and lateral demands, including seismic and wind effects on buildings and bridges. Preparation is best treated as a design project rather than a memorization exercise. Topics on this exam: Vertical Forces and Lateral Forces. The SE Exam study guide has 2 sections and about 666 words.
01Vertical Forces: Gravity Load Path, Analysis, and Serviceability
Start every gravity problem by tracing the path: slab or deck → beams → girders → columns/walls → foundation. Dead load includes self-weight of every element plus superimposed MEP and partitions; live load comes from the occupancy table, reduced only where the code permits. Know the difference between tributary area (area of floor carried by one member, used for load takeoff) and influence area (area that contributes to the effect being studied, often roughly 2× tributary for a column, used for live-load reduction). For simple spans, wL²/8 and wL/2 are routine; for continuous members remember that maximum positive moment occurs under pattern loading (live load on alternating spans), not full loading, while maximum negative moment at a support occurs with live load on the adjacent spans.
335 words, about 2 min02Lateral Forces: Wind, Seismic, and the Lateral Force-Resisting System
Lateral load starts at the cladding or diaphragm, moves through collectors and chords into the vertical lateral force-resisting system (shear walls, braced frames, moment frames), and down to the foundation. Identify the diaphragm as rigid or flexible first: rigid diaphragms distribute lateral force in proportion to element stiffness (V i = V·k i/Σk), while flexible diaphragms distribute by tributary length. Most wood and metal-deck diaphragms are treated as flexible; concrete slabs are typically rigid. Wind pressure scales with height and exposure and is applied as a pressure on the projected area; seismic base shear scales with mass and spectral acceleration, V = C s W with C s = S DS/(R/I e) for the equivalent lateral force procedure.
331 words, about 2 min