6MS Thermal Difficulty in comparison to actual exam

Hello,

Recently I took the new NCEES practice exam and scored 88% first time under timed exam conditions (really boosted my confidence).

This weekend I have been working on the 6MS under exam conditions (timed 20 question segments of 2 hours) and am unable to finish the problems in time (confidence=deboosted).

Any thoughts on how these 6MS problems compare to exam problems?

I suspect they are a little more involved than the NCEES problems as a whole and there are less "filler" freebies like there were on the practice exam so perhaps I should allot more time to complete a segment.

Thanks,

It's known that the 6MS and other PPI material are more difficult than the actual exam.  On one hand these problems challenge you and may help you better learn the theory.  However, I agree they can hurt morale and for me motivation to do the problems as a lot of them  are way out in left field.  6MS uses equations you can't find anywhere and often make assumptions that IMO are not practical for a test taker to assume.  I've been using my judgement on which problems to take more seriously and many of them are helpful.  However, I don't plan to approach 6MS as an actual exam and time myself given the difficulty.  Many of the people on here that have completed 6MS in exam time have done so after going threw the problems and likely using memorization rather than problem solving.

If you took the practice exam under timed conditions and scored 88% then you are in excellent shape.  The "magic number" in the past has been about 70%.  If I were you I wouldn't treat the 6MS as "timed" and just complete the problems just for more practice.  Also, maybe look at why you got the 12% wrong?  Was it in one area (fluids, thermo, etc)? If so maybe focus your studies there.  Or did you run low on time? Maybe focus on familiarity with MERM and other resources you plan to use on exam day to increase speed.

Thanks for the feedback. I've been doing more today and there are definitely some left-field 6MS questions that I don't think would apply on a test.

spacebanjo said:

Hello,

Recently I took the new NCEES practice exam and scored 88% first time under timed exam conditions (really boosted my confidence).

This weekend I have been working on the 6MS under exam conditions (timed 20 question segments of 2 hours) and am unable to finish the problems in time (confidence=deboosted).

Any thoughts on how these 6MS problems compare to exam problems?

I suspect they are a little more involved than the NCEES problems as a whole and there are less "filler" freebies like there were on the practice exam so perhaps I should allot more time to complete a segment.

Thanks,

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I've posted about the TMS SMS book in the past.   Don't use it as a practice exam.  I was also demoralized after doing so.   The best thing you can do is burn the **** thing like I did.   There's a picture somewhere here.  Search for "SMS burn".   Happy burning. 

@P-E and I disagree on how helpful the 6MS can be.  I think it's good practice as some of the T&FS questions are in-depth and provide a good review opportunity.  I agree the questions may be too in-depth sometimes but I was working the entire book in around 4 hours by the time I was done studying for the exam.

I can only speak for the MD exam but I felt the 6MS problems were representable to what was seen in the exam.   On my first past thru the book (which I did first per Ramnares' recommended study guide), I remember a specific problem taking upwards of two and a half hours to correctly solve.   I recall thinking that a problem like that could never be on the exam, especially not the extent of computation that it required.   Well guess what? There was a problem almost identical to it on the test!  

Take Ramnares' advice and master those 6MS problems!   After your third pass thru, you should be completing all 80 or so questions in well under 8 hours.  

The TFS SMS was more difficult.   Don't waste time studying them.   Just use the book as additional problems.  Then burn it. 

I was going to sell it and then thought it would be cruel to the next guy.  BTW it took more than 6 min to burn, even with camp fuel. 

P-E said:

The TFS SMS was more difficult.   Don't waste time studying them.   Just use the book as additional problems.  Then burn it. 

I was going to sell it and then thought it would be cruel to the next guy.  BTW it took more than 6 min to burn, even with camp fuel. 

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I absolutely agree with you

I never looked at the 6MS problems but the NCEES practice test was easier than the real TF test last fall so I would have liked more difficult practice problems to study. 

For the Mechanical Systems and Materials test there were problems straight from the 6MS book. The NCEES exam just gave you more information which made it faster to solve. I would use it as a tool to practice more problems but know that the PE exam questions won't be as hard.

Good points. Some of the problems are definitely very similar to test questions. Other problems are a curveball. For example, one of the questions requires having a Strouhal vs Reynolds number vortex shedding chart handy to solve. Another one I got incorrectly because I did not use 'Petroleum Barrels' instead of regular old Barrels --the only indication petroleum barrels applied was the working fluid was a light hydrocarbon. I can understand why this book is frustrating. 

spacebanjo said:

Good points. Some of the problems are definitely very similar to test questions. Other problems are a curveball. For example, one of the questions requires having a Strouhal vs Reynolds number vortex shedding chart handy to solve. Another one I got incorrectly because I did not use 'Petroleum Barrels' instead of regular old Barrels --the only indication petroleum barrels applied was the working fluid was a light hydrocarbon. I can understand why this book is frustrating. 

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See.  Burn it!