PE test - Electronics or Power?

Hello! Starting to get ready to take my PE test, and was hoping to get some idea on which test I should take.

I studied Electronics in college, and passed the Electronics EIT test. I graduated in 2005 and been practicing Power engineering at my job the last 10 years. I work for an electrical testing and maintenance company, mostly doing electrical testing/maintenance (xfmrs, brkrs, relays, switches, cables), arc flash/coordination studies and power quality monitoring.

I'm not sure if my knowledge from working in the industry is going to be enough, and feel like I would have to study a lot of the theory (especially rotating machine and PLCs). I haven't done much electronics in awhile, but studied for and passed my EIT about 4 years ago. I know I'm weak in digital systems and control system theory.

Any ideas on which test I should study for? Ideally I'd like to get materials to study both and see which topics I grasp better, but that will be costly. I feel studying for the power would help me in my job which is a bonus, but passing it is my priority.

Can't really do much in answering your question as I only took the test in power. I guess the answer you need is which section are you going to be better at. For me, college did not give me a lot of insight for what was on the test. Sorry I can't provide any better insight for you.

Ah I see, thanks for the reply either way! While in college, it was always a running joke that the power engineers had it easy compared to the electronics people.

i guess if you view the exam as test of your experience also you should go with Power. You mentioned that you might have to study a lot of theory but there are those of us who had to study theory even though we concentrated in power while in college and worked in the area on the job. Just my thoughts.

Yeah, for sure that was my thought too. I think eithre way I might have to do a decent amount of studying on topics that I don't know well, so might as well make it useful for my job too. Thanks for the input!

Ans by decent, you mean a LOT

I know! So not looking forward to it. Been looking at online review courses....anyone have experience with those? I've done a review class at my college for the EIT, but failed that time around, and passed the next time when I studied the material myself. The online classess look interesting, but pricey.

Everything about the pe is pricey

Their seems to be many more power resources.

KatyLied P.E. said:

i guess if you view the exam as test of your experience also you should go with Power. You mentioned that you might have to study a lot of theory but there are those of us who had to study theory even though we concentrated in power while in college and worked in the area on the job. Just my thoughts.

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I'd go with Power. The experience may end up helping you on the job.

Ken 3.0 said:

Everything about the pe is pricey

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for serious! hopefully I get a pricey raise out of it

Ship Wreck PE said:

Their seems to be many more power resources.

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cool. also from NCEES website, the covered topics for electronics go 3 pages, power only go 2 pages. that counts for something right..?

power-engineer said:

KatyLied P.E. said:

i guess if you view the exam as test of your experience also you should go with Power. You mentioned that you might have to study a lot of theory but there are those of us who had to study theory even though we concentrated in power while in college and worked in the area on the job. Just my thoughts.

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I'd go with Power. The experience may end up helping you on the job.

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yeah, the more I think about it the more I'm leaning towards that. It's messed up a little bit, but i'm kinda excited to study, heh....in a masochistic kinda way

In my honest opinion, the PE test isn't based on practical experience, but rather one that tests your ability to locate and utilize information from your library of textbooks and material in a quick and efficient manner. With this being said, the amount of available material and practice tests for the electronics exam are not readily accessible. You'll find the power exam resources and practice material are more plentiful as Shipwreck mentioned above, but also the threads on this site answer many of the difficult practice questions and give great advice on what resources to take to the test. I really believe until the electronics exam gets more available resources, it's gonna be a straight up crap shoot. Good luck on the test, no matter what you decide to test on!

There are several posts, including some of mine, that address more thoroughly but here are some good resources for the Power PE:

Complex Imaginary sample tests

Complex Imaginary NEC Drill Book

Spin-Up sample tests

The Elec. Engineer's Guide to passing the Power PE Exam

Georgia Tech's prep course for the Power PE

The internet and YouTube

Judowolf PE said:

In my honest opinion, the PE test isn't based on practical experience, but rather one that tests your ability to locate and utilize information from your library of textbooks and material in a quick and efficient manner. With this being said, the amount of available material and practice tests for the electronics exam are not readily accessible. You'll find the power exam resources and practice material are more plentiful as Shipwreck mentioned above, but also the threads on this site answer many of the difficult practice questions and give great advice on what resources to take to the test. I really believe until the electronics exam gets more available resources, it's gonna be a straight up crap shoot. Good luck on the test, no matter what you decide to test on!

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Wow, that's really good to know, thanks so much for that information! Helping to make my decision more concrete for sure. When I took my EIT, I studied for the general test, but then ended up having to take the electronics (the sign up process changed, used to be able to pick the test when you got on site) and ended up passing. lol. And thank you! Tricky part is finding other PE references right now. I'm in a small company.

KatyLied P.E. said:

There are several posts, including some of mine, that address more thoroughly but here are some good resources for the Power PE:

Complex Imaginary sample tests

Complex Imaginary NEC Drill Book

Spin-Up sample tests

The Elec. Engineer's Guide to passing the Power PE Exam

Georgia Tech's prep course for the Power PE

The internet and YouTube

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Awesome! I'll look into those for sure! Going to order a review book for sure, prolly from the same company I got my EIT review book from. Thanks again, for sure helps a ton!!

Pufferphish said:

Awesome! I'll look into those for sure! Going to order a review book for sure, prolly from the same company I got my EIT review book from. Thanks again, for sure helps a ton!!

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If by same company you mean PPI... the PE review manual from PPI (written by Camara) is a terrible book. Granted it was worth having for maybe 2 questions on the exam, but definitely do not rely on that being your go-to reference.

I think they use this book to make the questions, but they put a little twist on the question so that you cannot use this book to answer any questions.

Kovz said:

Pufferphish said:

Awesome! I'll look into those for sure! Going to order a review book for sure, prolly from the same company I got my EIT review book from. Thanks again, for sure helps a ton!!

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If by same company you mean PPI... the PE review manual from PPI (written by Camara) is a terrible book. Granted it was worth having for maybe 2 questions on the exam, but definitely do not rely on that being your go-to reference.

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I agree. it's good to have for moral support but if you can borrow it as opposed to buying that would be the best choice. it's not useful enough to spend money on it.

Always seemed like they focused on explaining how they derived the formulas more than how to use them.

I think PE Power is harder than the electronics. And I notice that Electronics had a higher passing rate.

Power is a cake walk. I passed