How to prepare for a technical exam

Every exam has a short syllabus and a list of recommended texts on the PEO and Engineers Canada sites. Turn the syllabus into a checklist of topics and tick them off as you can solve problems on each, not as you finish reading about them.

Book rules are set per exam. In EGBC's Fall 2026 schedule, 11-CS-1 Engineering Economics is open book (printed books and notes, no digital copies, and you bring your own interest tables), 16-Civ-A1 is closed book, and 16-Civ-A2 allows handbooks and textbooks but no notes. Calculators must be non-communicating and non-programmable.

If your exam is open book, build a short index of the formulas and tables you use most, so you find them in seconds rather than minutes.

Markers read your working. Write every solution in full, with a sketch, the method, units and a sentence of conclusion. Time yourself from the second week onward.

EGBC publishes past academic exams from 2013 to 2019 on its website. They show the style and the length of real questions. Use them for timing practice, and use original problem sets for the topics you still find hard.

• Weeks 1 and 2: map the syllabus, gather the texts, do one easy problem per topic to find your weak areas
• Weeks 3 to 5: one topic every two or three days, about an hour a day, ending each topic with timed problems
• Week 6: a full mock exam under real rules, then a review of every lost mark by topic
• Week 7: rework your three weakest topics; second full mock at the end of the week
• Week 8: light review, your formula index, the exam-day setup and an early night

EGBC's guide for its online exams describes a 15-minute grace period at the start, no extensions, and up to 30 minutes after the exam to upload your written solutions. Test your computer, camera and scanner app before the day.