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16-Civ-A4 Geotechnical Materials and Analysis

16-Civ-A4 Geotechnical Materials and Analysis is the soil mechanics exam in civil Group A. The syllabus has two parts. Materials treats soil as a material: where it comes from, how it is classified and how it behaves with water and load. Analysis puts that to work on settlement, seepage, earth pressure, bearing capacity and slopes.

Planned for wave 3.

Also written 16 Civ A4; papers set before 2017 use the older code 98-Civ-A4.

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By the CertNova team. Updated .

Engraved plate of the wooden bridge at Schaffhausen: a section and two plans of its truss.
Bridge, plate XC: the wooden bridge at Schaffhausen. Picture: Civil engineering: three views of the bridge at Schaffhausen by J. Moffat after W. A. Provis, Wellcome Collection, CC BY 4.0.

What it covers

  • Origin of soils, soil identification and soil classification
  • Compaction and frost action, with the laboratory tests behind each soil property
  • Permeability, pore water pressure and effective stress
  • Compressibility and consolidation: how much a soil settles, and how fast
  • Shear strength, stress paths and critical state concepts
  • Elastic stress distribution under loaded areas
  • Introductory lateral earth pressure, bearing capacity and slope stability
  • Seepage, flow to wells and confined two-dimensional flow problems

On exam day

  • Closed book, with no aids (EGBC Fall 2026 schedule).
  • Any non-communicating, non-programmable calculator.
  • 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

  • M. Budhu, Soil Mechanics and Foundations
  • R. F. Craig, Craig's Soil Mechanics
  • B. M. Das, Principles of Geotechnical Engineering

What we are building

  • Lessons that will build from soil classification to effective stress before any analysis
  • Original problems on consolidation, shear strength, seepage and the introductory stability topics, each with a worked solution
  • Two closed-book timed mocks that will be marked by topic

Most tested, 2013 to 2019

Every question was compulsory in all 14 sittings from May 2013 to December 2019: six questions in 12 papers and five in two, each worth 10 to 30 marks. Shear strength appeared in every sitting and carried 30% of the marks, followed by elastic stress distribution (20%) and consolidation (14%); bearing capacity and frost action never appeared.

From 14 sittings and 82 questions of the papers EGBC published. Statistics only: we do not reproduce the questions.

16-Civ-A4 topics by share of marks on offer, May 2013 to December 2019
TopicSittingsShare of marks
Shear strength, stress paths and critical state14 of 1430.0%
Elastic stress distribution under loads13 of 1420.3%
Compressibility, consolidation settlement and time rate12 of 1414.0%
Seepage, flow nets and well flow11 of 1411.7%
Pore water pressure and effective stress10 of 1410.0%
Compaction10 of 144.8%
Lateral earth pressure4 of 143.6%
Permeability9 of 143.1%
Soil origin, phase relations and classification4 of 142.1%
Slope stability1 of 140.3%

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  • 16-Civ-A4 Geotechnical Materials and Analysis: planned for wave 3.

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