Mechanical PE Exam Advice & Review Materials

Professional Engineer & PE Exam Forum

Help Support Professional Engineer & PE Exam Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

saloms

Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2009
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
I took the Mechanical PE Exam for the first time this past October and was able to pass on my first attempt. I took both the PE and FE exam after graduating from college and there were two very similar studying strategies that were the key to my success. For both exams I focused my studying on doing practice problems over and over again instead of just reading reference materials and re-reading college textbooks.

I have used the EB forums throughout the past years a source to ask questions and understand what others are doing in our common goal for engineering licensure. I understand that people learn and study differently, however I believe the method I used to prepare for the exam works perfect for the PE and FE exam formats. By constantly doing practice problems you are not only exposed to the different material and concepts tested on the exam, but it also does the following:

1. Trains you to read the question in its entirety, then identify what is being asked.

2. Forces you to open the MERM (or other references) and identify the location of different topics, equations, and appendix charts/tables. Throughout time you will have reference materials that are not only tabbed with the key items, but navigating them during the test will be that much easier.

3. Trains yourself to only spend the 6 minutes per problem or if you are lost to move on and come back. I can not stress this enough. Sometimes you get to a problem where you think you know how to solve it, but then it doesn't work out or you struggle. You must learn to move on and not waste time, by doing so you will get to all of the problems on the test and then have time to go back to any unanswered problems.

I hope that some of this insight into my study methods will help anyone who is preparing for upcoming exams. I would also like to share that I am selling some of the materials that led to my success on the Mechanical PE exam this past fall. All of the materials are brand new and cheaper than what I paid for them on the PPI and NCEES websites. Let me know if you have any questions and/or interested in the materials.

Mechanical PE Exam Study Material:

1. Practice Problems for the Mechanical Engineering PE Exam (MEPP13), 13th Edition – PPI, Lindeburg (more info)

Condition: Brand New

Price: $85

2. Mechanical PE Practice Examination (MEPE3), 3rd Edition – PPI, Lindeburg (more info)

Condition: Brand New

Price: $85

3. Six-Minute Solutions for Mechanical PE Exam HVAC and Refrigeration Problems (SXMH2), 2nd Edition – PPI, Elder (more info)

Condition: Brand New

Price: $75

4. NCEES PE Mechanical: HVAC and Refrigeration Sample Questions & Solutions (NCPEMH) – NCEES (more info)

Condition: Brand New

Price: $30

Please note that all of the prices listed do not include the cost of shipping. Please contact me for more information on the books and I can supply the shipping costs.

 
I concur completely with the method of working practice exam problems over and over again (as many as you can), even the problems you are very familiar with. Your ability to instantly recognize how to work a problem on the real exam increases tremendously by doing this. Many things become second nature, particularly the unit conversions. I can't emphasize enough the importance of being able to perform unit conversions seamlessly. I used PE exam study materials 1, 2, and 4 (Thermal/Fluids Systems) listed above. I also highly recommend getting Engineering Unit Conversions by Lindeburg.

 
I agree with the emphasis on unit conversion ability importance as stated by the post above.

 
MERM, ASHRAE books (HVAC), Practice Exams...

Really didn't use anything but the ASHRAE books.

 
I used all 4 ASHRAE books, MERM, MERM quick reference, and a binder I created with key formulas I collected throughout my studying. I also brought a copy of ASHRAE 62.1.

Besides those I did bring all my books including 6-Minute solutions and NCEES practice exam just in case I wanted to look back through.

Being familiar with locations of material and having pages tabbed in the MERM is key.

 
There are plenty of used Lindeburg exams available on Amazon. The used price is a fraction of a new text. That's what I did!

 
Back
Top