How did you do in the AM & PM Electrical April, 2014 PE exam

Please share your exam experience. Thanks in advance.

am was good, but pm tricky and depth knowledge required ! didn't do well in pm

plus i was looking at the passing % u have to get 56/80 so no chance

Please don't lose your hopes for a good result. Mine was the other way around. AM shattered my confidence, but felt comparatively better for the pm.

ya true. was this your first time.

No it was my 2nd time.

PEoct said:

am was good, but pm tricky and depth knowledge required ! didn't do well in pm

plus i was looking at the passing % u have to get 56/80 so no chance

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where did you find out the passing %?

i was looking through old threads...... so some one was discussing failing %

PEoct said:

am was good, but pm tricky and depth knowledge required ! didn't do well in pm

plus i was looking at the passing % u have to get 56/80 so no chance

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Don't give up hope. I attached some old cut scores.

98statssmallpdf.com.pdf

Ship Wreck PE : thank you !

Ship Wreck PE said:

PEoct said:

am was good, but pm tricky and depth knowledge required ! didn't do well in pm

plus i was looking at the passing % u have to get 56/80 so no chance

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Don't give up hope. I attached some old cut scores.

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Ship Wreck PE I really appriciate it, but do you have this info for recent years?...

^^ I don't have any more.

New to the forum here. Took the Power PE earlier this month. Don't know if I passed but the test appeared to be reasonably fair in that I'd seen comparable problems in my studies. I used a combination of GA Tech, Graffeo, C&I, Spin-up, Camara and various info culled from the internet. The internet info came in handy for VFD and harmonic questions. Let me add this. I actually ordered a copy of Wildi's book after the exam and received it this weekend. I can use it as a general reference and just in case I have to take it again in October. Aafter a cursory read, it apppears to be very good source for the PE. Very straightforward and readable. In some of the material it was almost like they pulled questions straight from this book. I hope I won't have to take it again but I could see this book taking me over the hump. Finally, I have read postings in this forum for awhile. The info here was invaluable to me being as well prepared as I was. I took the PE almost 17 years ago and even though I had the years of experience did not hve the depth required. thanks to the tips from this forum I was much better prepared. if I didn't pass this time time I feel really confident about October.

Marcus Givan said:

New to the forum here. Took the Power PE earlier this month. Don't know if I passed but the test appeared to be reasonably fair in that I'd seen comparable problems in my studies. I used a combination of GA Tech, Graffeo, C&I, Spin-up, Camara and various info culled from the internet. The internet info came in handy for VFD and harmonic questions. Let me add this. I actually ordered a copy of Wildi's book after the exam and received it this weekend. I can use it as a general reference and just in case I have to take it again in October. Aafter a cursory read, it apppears to be very good source for the PE. Very straightforward and readable. In some of the material it was almost like they pulled questions straight from this book. I hope I won't have to take it again but I could see this book taking me over the hump. Finally, I have read postings in this forum for awhile. The info here was invaluable to me being as well prepared as I was. I took the PE almost 17 years ago and even though I had the years of experience did not hve the depth required. thanks to the tips from this forum I was much better prepared. if I didn't pass this time time I feel really confident about October.

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How many hours in total you have prepared for the exam?

Thank you,

Krishna

I averaged about 15 hours a week over a 4 month period. In the last 2 months I ramped up the number of weekly hours. I spent a lot of time during the first 2 months looking at GA Tech lectures. Great source. Last two months spent a lot of time working through 8-9 sample tests from C&I, spinup, and NCEES. I'd work through test on weekends and spent weeknights tryin to really understand the ins and outs of problems I'd worked the previous weekend. the last three weeks I spent a lot of time organizing material. I used two binders and had all material tabbed and divided in sections similiar to what GA had. In each section I also cross referenced where I could find sample test problems related to that material. I also prepared a very detailed note sheet. the cross referencing really helped in that I was able to locate some test solutions rather quickly. One more thing. C&I publishes an NEC drill book. I recommend it. It helps you get used to how the NEC book is organized. Apologies if that's more than what you wanted to know.

That's the approach I took this time around (2nd time). I worked sample exams on the weekend, then did my research on each through the following week. Last two weekends before, I timed the 2 exams, which helped with time management for test day. I felt the AM was a bit shakey, but PM felt solid.

omg cant wait for the results,,,,, yest i saw my books and was praying that i never have to touch them again :juggle:

some days i totally forget about PE and some days are so anxious thinking about it whole day.

Marcus Givan said:

I averaged about 15 hours a week over a 4 month period. In the last 2 months I ramped up the number of weekly hours. I spent a lot of time during the first 2 months looking at GA Tech lectures. Great source. Last two months spent a lot of time working through 8-9 sample tests from C&I, spinup, and NCEES. I'd work through test on weekends and spent weeknights tryin to really understand the ins and outs of problems I'd worked the previous weekend. the last three weeks I spent a lot of time organizing material. I used two binders and had all material tabbed and divided in sections similiar to what GA had. In each section I also cross referenced where I could find sample test problems related to that material. I also prepared a very detailed note sheet. the cross referencing really helped in that I was able to locate some test solutions rather quickly. One more thing. C&I publishes an NEC drill book. I recommend it. It helps you get used to how the NEC book is organized. Apologies if that's more than what you wanted to know.

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Hi Marcus Givan,

Nothing you written is waste or unwanted by the future test takers. Thats really good. the more we read the stories on this forum, the more we will get familiar with what to expect and how to prepare for the test. Over all, what i am getting is you spent close to 300 hrs for the test.

is that right?

Thank you,

Krishna

Yes 300 hours is just about right. these were the books I took in with me:

Two three ring binders. Composed of GA Tech material, solved problems, and miscellaneous info I printed from the internet. One of the binders was the GA Tech one. By the time I included all the supplemental info I had to split it in two. GA Tech really gives you a good foundation. It also has a good section on code and NESC.

Camara reference manual along with the associated sample test and solved problems. the reference manual came in handy but I did not really use the other two books.

Graffeo book. Electrical Engineers Guide to Passing the PE Exam. Handy reference manual good and concise. Good lighting and wattmeter info. I recommend a good cursory reading of this book. A nice amount of miscellaneous info which could come in handy. Good section on CT's. also has helpful sample test.

Complex Imaginary sample tests. Good sections on ideal transformers, motors, and code problems. Some problems are on par with actual exam problems.

Spin Up exams. Problems are not as difficult as exam problems but they focus on details which come in handy during exam.

NEC handbook, as opposed to actual NEC book. The additional, clear explanations worked better for me.

Grainger and Stevenson's Power System Analysis. I used it more as moral support than an actual reference.

NESC book. Focus more on NEC as opposed to NESC. I would recommend becoming familiar with the basic goals of NESC and what it covers and doesn't cover. If you read through NESC introduction I think that will be sufficient.

Complex Imaginary NEC drill book. I highly recommend getting this. Time was tight so I only worked through about a third of the book. the drills helped me become familiar with where the topics were located. As I attempted each problem I would underline the nouns in each question. then go to the index, look up the nouns and go from there. You just have to grind it out but if you use that process you should be able to answer the drill problems in 6 minutes or less. I felt really good about the NEC test questions as a result of this book.

As I worked through each sample test, if I couldn't find the answer in my reference book I would google it. I'd then print that info out and add to my notebook. A lot of this included PLC's, VFD's, GFCI's, harmonics, voltage classifications, short circuit calc, generation prime movers, load flows/bus types and any other subject I couldn't find.

NCEES sample test. Good overall study guide. Know different ways that the problems can be asked. I only carried in the 2011 edition but also had 2009. Problems are exactly the same. 2009 contained a lot of general info which is now found on NCEES website. My guess is NCEES wanted to be able to quickly update any rule/guideline changes. If I have to do it again I will spend a little more time on this test.

Finally spin-Up suggested a good test day strategy.

1) Don't skip around the test but go through each problem in order. On first pass, work the ones that you know off the bat and don't necessarily have to dig deep to solve.

2) Mark the NEC/NESC problems with a "2" and work on the second pass. That way you don't have to worry about going back and forth between the code books and other reference matl's.

3) Mark all problems with a "3" that you think you can solve after digging deeper in your reference matl's. Also, any code problems that you couldn't work on the 2nd pass should also be marked with a "3".

4) Mark all problems with a "4" that you really don't know but maybe can use solid engineering reason to solve. Hopefully by this time you only have about 20% of test left. I'm not saying I was fortunate enough to have this happen to me I'm just telling you my strategy.

5) Mark all problems with a "5" that you have no idea how to work. Assuming the light bulb doesn't come on for these, I would recommend doing a quick scan on the rest of your answers, seeing what letter is trending and go with that.

On some of the "4" and "5" the light bulb did come on for me after a 2nd or 3rd look. Hopefully that made up for any careless errors I might have made on 1-3. I actually used that same strategy to pass the CEM (Certified Energy Manager) exam in 2013.

Hopefully all this translates into a passing score but nonetheless I felt really good about my test prep. As a result of my cross referencing and various tabs I was able to quickly access a good amount of info. How you organize your references and sticking to a test strategy are just as important as knowing the material.

Also if you can get your hands on a CEM textbook/formal class notes it has good sections on customer billing and metering , power factor correction and motors. There's actually a kVar chart which can save you time on PF calcs. Association of Energy Engineers has the textbook called Guide to Energy Management. One more thing. Complex Imaginary has YouTube videos on several subjects. Excellent stuff. In fact, Youtube in general has many videos - some good, some bad. Could be helpful. Man I'm tired. Time for bed.

Marcus Givan said:

Also if you can get your hands on a CEM textbook/formal class notes it has good sections on customer billing and metering , power factor correction and motors. There's actually a kVar chart which can save you time on PF calcs. Association of Energy Engineers has the textbook called Guide to Energy Management. One more thing. Complex Imaginary has YouTube videos on several subjects. Excellent stuff. In fact, Youtube in general has many videos - some good, some bad. Could be helpful. Man I'm tired. Time for bed.

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You are awesome Marcus.