October 2016 exam

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I was surprised at how much material was on the test that wasn't really part of the study material I had purchased.  Lots of questions about things I didn't study for.  I kind of felt like I could have had half of my Summer back (put less time in to studying) and I would have done just as well on the test.  I felt like I spent over 200 hours studying the wrong material, or at least 100 hours on the wrong material.  Oh well, time to start preparing for April.

 
I felt like the morning was slightly more challenging than the afternoon. I too had in around 200 hours of studying and there were topics in the morning which I hadn't covered. For the afternoon, I'm pretty sure that there were a couple of problems that were accidentally in Latin lol.

 
I found the Thermal and Fluid Systems exam to be much more difficult than I expected. The AM section was not bad and I felt great afterwards. However, the PM section covered a lot of topics that I have never seen before and some topics that were not even mentioned in the MERM. I put several hundred hours of studying in as well as a course with Dr. Tom and I am really hoping I did well enough to pass (obviously). 

 
I too took the thermal/fluids. For the afternoon portion, I attempted every problem. I was unsure on perhaps 5 (educated guesses). I'm not sure that I got all of the ones you listed correct but there was information in the MERM that you could use to solve the problems. The major reservation I had about the PM exam as the fluids problems were not very practical/more about calculating obscure fluid properties from conversions etc.

 
CPY, you might want to edit your post, you're kind of giving away too much from the exam.  We're all wanting to know as much as possible, but it feels like your list is too informative where it skirts the line of what we share about the exam.  However, I too feel like I studied for a different test.

In the front of the exam book I made three columns.  In the first column I put a mark down for every answer I was certain was correct.  The next column was for answers that I did a decent job on and I pretty sure I got it right, but not positive.  The last column was for answers where I straight up guessed.  In the end, I tallied 44 "correct", 20 some-what sure, and 16 where I was not sure.  My super high level math gives me a gut feeling of 55/80, which is not likely enough to pass.  This is based on getting one or two right out what I guessed on, missing some in the "some-what sure" category, and missing one or two in the "correct" column.

I've heard that the test is not the same from one person to the next, and not the same from April to October.  However, I've been making a list of the problems and topics I can recall that stumped me and adding them to my study list for the next round.  Yesterday and Today is some of the most valuable time as I can recall the most about the test and what I need to work on.  If I passed, then this time spent right now is moot.  But if I failed, I won't be able to recall enough about what was covered come this December, so it's better to review now.

 
aakrusen said:
CPY, you might want to edit your post, you're kind of giving away too much from the exam.  We're all wanting to know as much as possible, but it feels like your list is too informative where it skirts the line of what we share about the exam.  However, I too feel like I studied for a different test.

In the front of the exam book I made three columns.  In the first column I put a mark down for every answer I was certain was correct.  The next column was for answers that I did a decent job on and I pretty sure I got it right, but not positive.  The last column was for answers where I straight up guessed.  In the end, I tallied 44 "correct", 20 some-what sure, and 16 where I was not sure.  My super high level math gives me a gut feeling of 55/80, which is not likely enough to pass.  This is based on getting one or two right out what I guessed on, missing some in the "some-what sure" category, and missing one or two in the "correct" column.

I've heard that the test is not the same from one person to the next, and not the same from April to October.  However, I've been making a list of the problems and topics I can recall that stumped me and adding them to my study list for the next round.  Yesterday and Today is some of the most valuable time as I can recall the most about the test and what I need to work on.  If I passed, then this time spent right now is moot.  But if I failed, I won't be able to recall enough about what was covered come this December, so it's better to review now.
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Yeah, looks like my post got reported.  Didn't know engineering problems were super secret in an engineering world ha. ha. 

 
cpy911 said:
30 minutes ago, aakrusen said: CPY, you might want to edit your post, you're kind of giving away too much from the exam.  We're all wanting to know as much as possible, but it feels like your list is too informative where it skirts the line of what we share about the exam.  However, I too feel like I studied for a different test.
In the front of the exam book I made three columns.  In the first column I put a mark down for every answer I was certain was correct.  The next column was for answers that I did a decent job on and I pretty sure I got it right, but not positive.  The last column was for answers where I straight up guessed.  In the end, I tallied 44 "correct", 20 some-what sure, and 16 where I was not sure.  My super high level math gives me a gut feeling of 55/80, which is not likely enough to pass.  This is based on getting one or two right out what I guessed on, missing some in the "some-what sure" category, and missing one or two in the "correct" column.

I've heard that the test is not the same from one person to the next, and not the same from April to October.  However, I've been making a list of the problems and topics I can recall that stumped me and adding them to my study list for the next round.  Yesterday and Today is some of the most valuable time as I can recall the most about the test and what I need to work on.  If I passed, then this time spent right now is moot.  But if I failed, I won't be able to recall enough about what was covered come this December, so it's better to review now.
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Yeah, looks like my post got reported.  Didn't know engineering problems were super secret in an engineering world ha. ha. 
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Pretty sure that everyone was informed, multiple times, not to discuss anything test related.

 
cpy911 said:
Yeah, looks like my post got reported.  Didn't know engineering problems were super secret in an engineering world ha. ha. 
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Don't confuse "engineering problems" with "NCEES problems." They are completely different.

 
The NCEES exam agreement clearly states that discussing the exam problems is not allowed.  Also, I'm confident that the EB board also warned members not to reveal the details of problems and to be very general about the problems. 

 
For the AM, I wished I had done better. I tallied about 30 that I felt good about. The rest were me just guessing "B".

The PM TFS, was rough for me.  I definitely wasted these past 6 months studying the wrong things. I tallied only about 20 that I felt good about.  The other 20 I either struggled to work the problem or I had no clue. 

I'm chilling out this weekend to recover and reset. Monday I will write down as many problems or topics I can remember so that I'll have that handy if I don't make the cut in December.   

This cut score thing is driving me crazy though. There's so many myths as to how they set it.  If you get 56/80 are you golden no matter the difficulty?  Do they lower or raise this based off difficulty?  Problems that may be thrown out, do they give us the point or lower the cut score?  Are the young hot shots right out of college that are taking this exam negatively affecting the cut score? But when it all boils down, Im the only one to blame. If I would have shredded this exam, I wouldn't have to feel this way.  

Regardless, I am hopeful that I didn't fall for the distractors and indeed held 30+ on the AM and I got 26+ on the PM. 

But at times I think it's a stretch to believe that I can get 6 out of those 20 correct by guessing "B". 

I'm thinking about turning my attention towards pursuing the PMP exam and retake the PE exam in October 2017 if I failed.

 
The passing score is apparently a closer guarded secret than the contents of the Clinton emails...

The majority of the people I have spoken with didn't feel very confident on the PM Thermal Fluids - so I am guessing that the cut-off score will be lower than say an exam that people were very confident on.

As far as my "estimation" I would say that perhaps 60 questions I felt very confident on. I assume that I scored around 90% of those correctly. There were the another 18 that were educated guesses (not super confident on but got one of the answers listed) - I assume that I got 50% of those correct. The final two were basically complete guesses - so probably got both of those incorrect.

That gives me a score of something like 60(0.9) + 18(0.5) = 63/80, which hopefully will be good enough to pass.

 
I will not worry much about passing score. Seems like the passing rate is more than 70% for any Mechanical depth if that makes anyone feel better.

 
aakrusen said:
I've heard that the test is not the same from one person to the next, and not the same from April to October.  However, I've been making a list of the problems and topics I can recall that stumped me and adding them to my study list for the next round.  Yesterday and Today is some of the most valuable time as I can recall the most about the test and what I need to work on.  If I passed, then this time spent right now is moot.  But if I failed, I won't be able to recall enough about what was covered come this December, so it's better to review now.
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Yes, can confirm this. I took the TF depth on April and this time around as well. Last cycle's afternoon depth was way easier, this one was very challenging.

I was feeling great after the morning section, expecting the afternoon to be similar (difficulty wise) to last cycle's, but it wasn't.

I also wrote a list like that back in April, and trust me.. it didn't help me at all this cycle.

 
I.ELKADY said:
Did anyone here take the HVAC AND REFRIGERATION DEPTH?
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I did. I think I nailed both sections, HVAC in particular. I was sure to have at least more than 80% score easily but as time goes by the confidence level is going down as well. Still pretty sure I will pass but nothing is for sure unless I see "Pass" in my results section from NCEES. 

Waiting for results in the worst part of PE exam.

 
Habib said:
I did. I think I nailed both sections, HVAC in particular. I was sure to have at least more than 80% score easily but as time goes by the confidence level is going down as well. Still pretty sure I will pass but nothing is for sure unless I see "Pass" in my results section from NCEES. 

Waiting for results in the worst part of PE exam.
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Waiting is the worst, but it's a little less terrible if you spam... Come hang out with us! 




 
Habib said:
I did. I think I nailed both sections, HVAC in particular. I was sure to have at least more than 80% score easily but as time goes by the confidence level is going down as well. Still pretty sure I will pass but nothing is for sure unless I see "Pass" in my results section from NCEES. 

Waiting for results in the worst part of PE exam.
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what about the management technology questions?, were they easy for you?,  because I lost a long time trying to solve them but in the end I wasn't sure if I picked the right answer

 

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