Using Engineering Economics by Besavilla as a Board Exam Reference
Engineering Economics Besavilla Pdf Philippines
The book is standard reading for the Philippine engineering board exam, specifically for the Engineering Economics portion of the exams. It covers present worth, future worth, annual worth, depreciation, inflation, and replacement analysis. Most people find it because they need it for the upcoming May or October licensure test. I downloaded a PDF version years ago when I was reviewing for my own boards. What I found was that the Besavilla editions tend to have answers in the back, which is useful, but the real value is in the problem-solving format. It walks you through worked examples step by step, which matters more than the theory chapters if your goal is passing the board exam. One thing I noticed right away is that different editions vary. The 2011 edition has different problems than the 2002 edition. If you are using this for review, check which edition your classmates are using so your answer keys line up. The numbers change between editions and that causes confusion when you are checking work.
Here is how I actually used the book during review season. I did not read it cover to cover. I went straight to the chapters on depreciation and replacement analysis because those showed up most frequently on the exam. I would do five to ten problems per topic, then check the answers. If I got more than two wrong, I went back and actually worked through the example problems before trying again. For finding a PDF, you will run into sites like Scribd, StuDocu, and various Filipino study groups on Facebook. The file is usually around 15 to 25 MB depending on the edition. Some of the free PDFs floating around are scanned poorly and the formulas come out blurry. Make sure you can read the mathematical notation before you commit to studying from a copy. I once spent two hours trying to figure out a problem where the PDF had turned a superscript into plain text and I thought I was going crazy. The formula was just mangled by the scan. One practical issue people miss is that the book assumes familiarity with basic algebra and financial notation. If you are weak on annuities and compound interest fundamentals, the later chapters on cash flow diagrams and breakeven analysis will hit hard. I would recommend going through a few YouTube tutorials on time value of money concepts first, then opening the book. It saves time during review.
Another edge case I ran into was with the depreciation problems. Besavilla uses both the declining balance and sum-of-years-digits methods, and the board exam sometimes asks for half-year conventions that the book does not emphasize. I found myself working extra practice problems from other sources to fill that gap. The Civil Engineering board exam in particular tends to push this topic further than what is covered in the text alone. Also worth noting is that some of the older editions have answers that do not always match newer board exam standards. The Philippine regulations and tax rates referenced in the book can be outdated. I checked the copyright year before buying or downloading. If it is older than 2015, cross-reference any tax-related problems with current BIR regulations. A couple of the depreciation schedules in the 2002 edition use tax rates that no longer apply. If you want to get the most out of this material, set aside about three to four weeks dedicated to Engineering Economics during your review period. That means roughly two hours a day, five days a week. The topic is not the hardest on the exam but it is also not something you can cram in two days and expect to score well. It builds on itself and missing the foundation makes everything downstream painful.
Get the Full Details
There are alternative books like Gillesania and Omar for the same topic. Some reviewers prefer Gillesania for having more diverse problem sets. I personally found Besavilla clearer for beginners because the steps are more explicit, but Gillesania gives you more exposure to tricky variations. If you have time, working through both is not a bad move. The main bottleneck with using the PDF version is that you cannot easily annotate it during review. I ended up printing key chapters and writing directly on the pages. Highlighting formulas and circling common mistake patterns took about an hour of prep but cut my review time significantly. Digital notes do not replace the muscle memory you build by writing out the full solution by hand. Bottom line, the Besavilla Engineering Economics text is a solid foundation for board exam prep in the Philippines. It is not exhaustive on its own but it covers the core topics well enough if you pair it with additional practice problems and stay current on any regulatory updates it might miss.
