16-Civ-A2 Elementary Structural Design
The design half of the civil structures pair. You size and check members and connections in timber, steel and reinforced concrete with limit states design, working from the Canadian design handbooks.
Study 16-Civ-A2 on your phone: the topics past sittings asked most, a few minutes at a time.
In production now, in our first wave.
Also written 16 Civ A2; papers set before 2017 use the older code 98-Civ-A2.
By the CertNova team. Updated .
Question 3. A simply supported reinforced concrete beam spans 7.2 m and carries a factored load of 46 kN/m. Choose the bottom reinforcement and check the bar spacing to CSA A23.3.
What it covers
- Limit states design concepts
- Loads: use and occupancy, snow, wind and earthquake
- Timber and steel tension members, beams and columns
- Timber connections and simple welded and bolted steel connections
- Determinate reinforced concrete beams and columns
On exam day
- Handbooks and textbooks are allowed; notes and loose sheets are not (EGBC Fall 2026 schedule).
- Steel, concrete and timber answers are expected to follow the latest editions of the design manuals.
- Any non-communicating, non-programmable calculator; write its name and model inside the front cover of the exam book.
- Written online and remotely proctored. EGBC's candidate guide describes a 15-minute grace period at the start and up to 30 minutes after the exam to upload your written solutions.
Texts the syllabus names
- G. Y. Grondin and G. L. Kulak, Limit States Design in Structural Steel
- S. Brzev and J. Pao, Reinforced Concrete Design: A Practical Approach
- CISC Handbook of Steel Construction, current edition
- Cement Association of Canada (formerly CPCA), Concrete Design Handbook, current edition
- Canadian Wood Council Wood Design Manual, current edition
What we are building
- Lessons that walk through each handbook table you will lean on
- Original design problems for timber, steel and concrete, with full checks
- Two timed mocks set the way the exam allows: handbooks open, notes closed
Most tested, 2013 to 2019
The layout held for the whole period: a steel part (answer two of three), a reinforced concrete part (two of three) and a compulsory timber question. Reinforced concrete beams alone carried 30% of the marks. The two 2019 papers changed style, so they weigh most in our plan.
From 14 sittings and 98 questions of the papers EGBC published. Statistics only: we do not reproduce the questions.
| Topic | Sittings | Share of marks |
|---|---|---|
| Reinforced concrete beams (flexure and shear) | 14 of 14 | 30.2% |
| Steel beams | 13 of 14 | 14.1% |
| Steel columns and beam-columns | 14 of 14 | 13.9% |
| Bolted and welded steel connections | 13 of 14 | 11.6% |
| Reinforced concrete columns | 14 of 14 | 11.0% |
| Timber beams and joists | 10 of 14 | 9.2% |
| Timber columns and tension members | 5 of 14 | 3.3% |
| Steel tension members | 4 of 14 | 2.2% |
| Wind loads | 5 of 14 | 1.8% |
| Composite steel-concrete beams | 1 of 14 | 1.0% |
More civil exams
- 16-Civ-A1 Elementary Structural Analysis
- 16-Civ-A3 Municipal and Environmental Engineering
- 16-Civ-A4 Geotechnical Materials and Analysis
- 16-Civ-A5 Hydraulic Engineering
- 16-Civ-A6 Highway Design, Construction, and Maintenance
- 16-Civ-B1 Advanced Structural Analysis
- 16-Civ-B2 Advanced Structural Design
- 16-Civ-B3 Geotechnical Design