What does everyone wish they would have done differently?

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Sparky Bill PE

Senior, Master, Professional, Licensed Electrical
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Hey guys! Help someone out with advice that is taking the test April 2020. Regardless if you pass or not, I think it would be fun to get feedback from everyone on what they wish they would have done differently. Now that you've taken it, subjects you wish you would have focused on harder,  the time frame you studied, things you wish you would have done different with your "binder" we all create?

I'd love to hear feedback guys!

 
If I don’t pass, I am taking a class.  I studied a lot and not sure what I could have done differently.  I’m curious what others have to say.

 
If I don’t pass, I am taking a class.  I studied a lot and not sure what I could have done differently.  I’m curious what others have to say.
When you say you studied alot, can you please tell me how many months you studied and about how many practice test you took leading up to the actual test? 

 
I took the exam twice in October of 2018 and April of 2019. Without giving too much away, I feel as if the first time I took it the difficulty was very hard. The material was what I had studied but it was 2-3x the difficulty. I felt more comfortable the second time around.

In terms of prep, I know a lot of people stress personal notes and binders but I didn't have any of that. I just read through my reference material prior to the exam. During the exam when a question was asked I would know where to find information required since I had read through all of the references. Also, for the math problems I would just do them over and over again so I wouldn't have to memorize any formulas and spend time looking things up. For example, voltage drop and power factor correction. I would do these practice questions endlessly so it becomes like a second language. Hope this helps. I know everyone studies differently. It all depends on how comfortable you are.

 
When you say you studied alot, can you please tell me how many months you studied and about how many practice test you took leading up to the actual test? 
6 months 

500 hours

not sure if I passed 

I used the following:

graffeo

engineer pro guides practice test

electrical pe review practice test

2 complex imaginary practice tests

complex imaginary code drills

some of the problems in the motor chapters of wildi

The official practice test they offer when you sign up for the test from ncees 

youtube 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
6 months 

500 hours

not sure if I passed 

I used the following:

graffeo

engineer pro guides practice test

electrical pe review practice test

2 complex imaginary practice tests

complex imaginary code drills

some of the problems in the motor chapters of wildi

The official practice test they offer when you sign up for the test.. can’t remember what it’s called

youtube 
This is the closest I've seen someone say that my exact approach will be like. This is 100% exactly my plan of passing. (Except I did sign up for ElectricalPEReview with Zach Stone). 

 
This is the closest I've seen someone say that my exact approach will be like. This is 100% exactly my plan of passing. (Except I did sign up for ElectricalPEReview with Zach Stone). 
Sounds really good. Wish you the best 👍

 
Buy/Rent and Bring NFPA 497-2017, 499-2017, and 30B-2015 to the exam.
Thanks for the feedback, but I assumed this would be a no brainer. This and the 2 NEC books are the only 5 MUST references that the NCEES tells us as electrical engineers to bring. Do people really roll the dice and not bring the only 5 references NCEES tells us to bring? 

 
Buy/Rent and Bring NFPA 497-2017, 499-2017, and 30B-2015 to the exam.
This illustrates that they can literally ask you anything within the specifications so I would absolutely bring all of these.

 
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