PE Civil Geotechnical Exam Guide 2026
Video
Which source most directly helps verify the location and elevation of undocumented fill placed during a prior site development phase?
Pe Geotechnical Site Characterization
Question · Easy
How deep before you need a trench box?
Short
Current 2026 NCEES PE Civil Geotechnical guide with official specs, pass rates, handbook strategy, design standards, study plan, mistakes, source links, and free practice.
Blog
Standard Penetration Test (SPT) N-value: how is it counted, and why correct it?
Site Characterization
Flashcard
When reviewing a site for possible uncontrolled fills and former drainage features, which record is especially useful before any borings are drilled?
In-situ method that drives a split-spoon sampler with a 140-pound hammer falling 30 inches and sums the second and third 6-inch blow counts.
Site characterization
Guess the Term
Chapter 1: Site Characterization
1.1 Site Data Interpretation & Boring Plans
Study guide
A large site shows highly variable surficial deposits and several planned building pads. How should the boring layout generally change compared with a uniform site of the same size?
Question · Medium
Read the clue and guess the term in 6 tries.
Game
Cone Penetration Test (CPT): what it measures, and what it cannot give you
Which exploration method is commonly used to advance borings in soil while allowing standard penetration testing and monitoring-well installation through the auger stem?
Percentage of a core run made up of sound pieces over 4 inches long.
Which drilling method is generally better suited than hollow-stem augers for advancing through loose saturated granular soils at greater depth?
Rock Quality Designation (RQD)
If a project requires detailed information on rock quality, discontinuities, and weathering, which exploration technique is most appropriate?
In-situ method that hydraulically pushes a probe with a 60-degree tip and records tip resistance, sleeve friction, inclination and pore water pressure.
1.2 In Situ Testing & Field Exploration
Which in situ test provides nearly continuous resistance data and is especially valuable in soft clays and clean sands but is limited in gravelly soils?
Swap tiles to line up three of the same term.
Term Match
Where does the Unified Soil Classification System split coarse-grained from fine-grained soil?
What is a key advantage of test pits compared with small-diameter borings in near-surface investigations?
Value found by dividing a clay's maximum past vertical effective stress by its present vertical effective stress.
Soil mechanics
Which sampling method is preferred when an engineer wants a relatively undisturbed sample of soft clay for laboratory consolidation testing?
Thin-walled (Shelby) tube sampling versus split-barrel sampling
What is the primary geotechnical purpose of a split-spoon sampler during a standard penetration test?
Kind of strength that pore water cannot carry, so the soil grain structure must resist it.
1.3 Soil and Rock Classification Systems
Which field test is most appropriate for estimating undrained shear strength in very soft, sensitive clay where sample disturbance is a concern?
Flip two cards at a time to find matching terms.
Term Pairs
Why is the water level recorded during drilling not a design groundwater level?
A shallow mat foundation will bear on compacted granular fill placed near the surface. Which test is most directly useful for checking near-surface load response at the bearing level?
Federal agency whose construction rules require a cave-in protective system in any excavation 5 feet or deeper unless it is made entirely in stable rock.
Construction observation
In CPTu testing, why is pore-pressure dissipation monitoring useful after the cone is paused at depth?
Question · Hard
Terzaghi's principle of effective stress
Soil Mechanics and Lab Testing
What is a common reason to add geophysical methods to a conventional boring program?
Narrow cut below the ground surface whose depth is generally greater than its width and whose bottom width is at most 15 feet.
1.4 Groundwater Characterization & Hydrogeology
What is the main purpose of the Unified Soil Classification System in geotechnical work?
Find five hidden terms in a grid of letters.
Term Search
Which phase relationships convert field measurements into void ratio and saturation?
Compared with USCS, the AASHTO soil classification system is used more heavily for which type of work?
Largest change in velocity per unit time recorded at a station during an earthquake.
Earthquake engineering
What does rock quality designation represent?
Plasticity index and the A-line
Why is core recovery reported separately from RQD on rock borings?
Fill wall that is relatively flexible and uses closely spaced reinforcing elements embedded in the retained soil.
Ground improvement and pavement
Chapter 2: Soil Mechanics, Laboratory Testing, and Analysis
2.1 Weight-Volume Phase Relationships & Index Properties
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