Chapter 3 of 815% of exam

Earthwork and Surveying

Earthwork and Surveying is about 15% of the exam: surveying job sites, preparing sites, assessing soil conditions and assessing compaction and expansion. Many questions give a field number — a rod reading, a stake, a density test — and ask what it means. The PrepPass CSLB General Engineering (A) Study Guide covers this section in depth, with worked examples, named traps and a chapter quiz.

Surveying

Elevations come from benchmarks, carried by backsights (added) and foresights (subtracted). Stakes mark cuts and fills measured from their reference hubs.

Benchmarks

Stable, permanent and, where possible, outside the construction area.

Caltrans Surveys Manual, Ch. 8

Slope stakes

Reference points are offset from the catch point, generally 10 to 20 feet.

Caltrans Surveys Manual, Ch. 12

Site preparation and fills

Clear and grub before earthwork, place fill in thin lifts, and bench into existing slopes.

Lift thickness

Caltrans limits ordinary embankment lifts to 8 inches loose.

Caltrans Standard Specifications 2025, 19-6.03C

Relative compaction

95% in the structural zone under roadways; 90% in other embankment areas.

Caltrans Standard Specifications 2025, 19-5

Soils

Soil behavior is described by grain size, plasticity and density, and compaction is measured by dry unit weight against a laboratory maximum at optimum moisture.

Plasticity index

Liquid limit minus plastic limit.

FHWA NHI-06-088

SPT N-value

Blows for the second and third 6-inch increments of a 140-pound hammer falling 30 inches.

FHWA NHI-06-088

Expansive clay

Swells and shrinks with seasonal moisture, mostly in the upper 3 to 10 feet.

FHWA NHI-06-088

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