Matt Bentley, PhD, PE
Matt Bentley is a practicing environmental engineer, university instructor, and the author of every Confluence PE Prep study guide. He holds a PhD in environmental engineering and a Colorado Professional Engineer license, and he passed the NCEES Environmental PE exam on his first attempt in under 80 hours of focused study. He builds these guides from the materials he wished he had while preparing: targeted, high-yield, and written by an engineer who uses this material at work every day.
This is the work I do for a living.
I work full time as an environmental engineer and technical director at a water treatment chemical company in Colorado. The drinking water, wastewater, and water resources problems on the Environmental PE exam are the same problems I work through on real projects: scoping chemistries, evaluating water quality, recommending treatment options, and keeping plants in compliance with EPA and state regulations.
That practitioner perspective separates these guides from content assembled by people who have never run a jar test or sized a clarifier. The Field Notes sidebars in each guide come straight from my experience and include the real-world examples that textbooks often leave out.
I also teach environmental engineering at the university level, so I spend a lot of time turning dense technical material into explanations that land the first time.
- ◆PhD in environmental engineering
- ◆Licensed Professional Engineer (PE), Colorado
- ◆University instructor in environmental engineering
- ◆Technical director at a water treatment chemical company
- ◆Passed the NCEES Environmental PE exam, February 2026, first attempt
How I passed in under 80 hours.
I passed the Environmental PE on the first try with fewer than 80 hours of study by refusing to study everything. Most prep courses cover every topic at the same depth, whether it shows up on the exam or not. I did the opposite: I mapped the NCEES specification to find which topics carry the most questions, studied those to the level the exam tests, and practiced in the computer-based format against the NCEES reference handbook.
My day-to-day engineering work covered much of it already. Topics I use on the job needed almost no review, which freed up hours for the areas I do not touch. Confluence guides follow that same principle: cover what the exam rewards, skip what it does not, and respect that you are preparing while working full time.
Focused materials, written by a real engineer.
Confluence PE Prep exists because the study materials I wanted did not exist. The market splits into two extremes: comprehensive courses that cost well over a thousand dollars and bury the high-yield content in hundreds of hours of material, and cheap question dumps that no engineer reviewed.
I write and review every Confluence guide myself and cross-check it against the current NCEES reference handbook and the April 2026 exam specification, with no added filler. I've included just the content that matters, structured for how engineers study.
About the author and the guides.
Who writes the Confluence PE Prep study guides?
Every study guide is written by Matt Bentley, PhD, PE, a practicing environmental engineer and university instructor. There is no content farm and no anonymous team. One credentialed engineer writes and reviews the material and cross-checks it against the current NCEES reference handbook.
What are Matt's credentials?
Matt holds a PhD in environmental engineering and a Professional Engineer (PE) license in Colorado. He works as a technical director at a water treatment chemical company and teaches environmental engineering at the university level. He passed the NCEES Environmental PE exam on his first attempt in February 2026.
How did you pass the Environmental PE in under 80 hours?
By studying selectively instead of exhaustively. I mapped the NCEES exam specification to the highest-yield topics, studied them to the depth the exam tests, practiced in the computer-based format against the NCEES reference handbook, and relied on day-to-day engineering experience for the topics I already use at work. The Confluence guides package that same focused approach.
Is Confluence PE Prep affiliated with NCEES?
No. Confluence PE Prep is an independent study resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NCEES.
Study what you need. Skip what you don't.
Start with the free study plan, or browse the guides built from the same focused approach that got me through the exam in under 80 hours.