Electrical PE Exam - Apr. 2017

[Opisthenar PE]

Failed, but not surprised. I worked instead of studied ahead of this exam...So I'm an AE (consulting engineer) and i took the power exam because the prep materials for the AE test are terrible. Below are my diagnostics....

Not being an EE and not practicing circuit analysis, no shock there. 

What would be the best resources for measurement and instrumentation and Transmission system analysis?

The few code questions I did not get i'm sure are related to the transmission code. 

View attachment 9588

I can't see the diagnostic report. It shows up as a broken link. I passed the A-17 EE Power Exam and I can give you some tips if I could see the diagnostic.

Thanks

 

[mvsapre]

Passed. Thanks everyone here who helped me. 

 

[Millerific]

I passed too! So happy and relieved!  Thank you to everyone on this site, your support was a huge help!

 

[ysj88]

Passed from Wa. State. Frequent observer here, but I thought I'd share my story.

I started studying in December, spending about 1-2 hours 3 times a day, and taking 8 hour blocks on the weekends (Graffeo, CI were my main source). I felt confident until I took the official NCEES practice exam towards the end of March and failed. Spent most of April making the reference binder and not really studying (was getting tired of studying and waiting til April 21). Came out of the exam thinking I probably failed because my reference binder, which I spent a lot of time on, ended up being useless. There were lots of my strong suits that did not appear at all, while a lot of topic questions I had not covered well did. I still don't know how I feel about the exam even after passing. Thinking about the way I started giving up on studying as it came close, I probably didn't deserve to pass. But I am glad nonetheless. There's a nice local wine bottle I've been saving for this occasion, and I think I will celebrate with my fiancee tonight. 

To end this, I am very glad to have found this site, as many references and problem solutions here helped me along the way. This was the first source I ever found (and the best) since I decided to register in December. Curiously enough, I went to reddit to link up to this website. Couldn't have done without everyone's help here!!

P.S. Since I passed... I'm selling all my shit! CI, official practice exam, textbooks, etc. PM if you want! (I'll keep my 2017 NEC)

 

[Don 3.0]

Congratulations to everyone who passed! To those that didn't, take a few weeks to get rid of all the negative energy, reflect on what you can improve, and then start again with confidence!!

 

[justin-hawaii]

Hi Everyone, I made a google survey form to track the results of the Power PE. If you have some time, can you please take the survey? 

https://goo.gl/forms/3yzarlz0IaQu63cu1

 

[Math]

I passed too for Electrical PE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[BigWheel]

Passed.  Studied about 2 hours total with the NCEES practice exam and didn't even go over PM practice problems (completed half of AM practice problems).  I am not a genius in any way but in my opinion, someone who didn't study the material should not pass this exam.  I took the NEC code book with me and the NCEES practice exam with me to the test and that's basically it.  I'm not here to make anyone feel bad about this accomplishment but it makes me wonder the validity of the exam.  I've only been in power engineering for about 2 years.

I want to congratulate all of us who passed the Power PE.

A guy with one single post claims to have passed with a copy of the NEC and one other reference. I call BS on that. 

 

[JamesTX]

I want to congratulate all of us who passed the Power PE.

A guy with one single post claims to have passed with a copy of the NEC and one other reference. I call BS on that. 

I smell bullshit as well.  Is it possible?  Yes, I suppose it is possible to guess your way to a passing result or get a string of questions that you know the correct answer to each and every one.  Is it probable?  No.

 

[jorary]

fail the april 2017

View attachment 9669

 

[jorary]

fail the april 2017

View attachment 2017 April.pdf

I need help to pass this PE. Any other study material to explain transmission and distribution?

 

[BigWheel]

Passed from Wa. State. Frequent observer here, but I thought I'd share my story.

I started studying in December, spending about 1-2 hours 3 times a day, and taking 8 hour blocks on the weekends (Graffeo, CI were my main source). I felt confident until I took the official NCEES practice exam towards the end of March and failed. 

I feel you. Your summary is a perfect description of mine.

I felt confident until I took the official NCEES practice exam towards the end of March and failed. Spent most of April making the reference binder and not really studying (was getting tired of studying and waiting til April 21). 

Yup; your experience copied my experience here, too!

Spent most of April making the reference binder and not really studying (was getting tired of studying and waiting til April 21). Came out of the exam thinking I probably failed because my reference binder, which I spent a lot of time on, ended up being useless.

I bet your study binder was more useful than you give it credit for. Actually creating a study binder yourself lends you a better understanding of the material you wrote down in that study binder than copying, highlighting, or otherwise notating information in other reference materials. 

I hardly used my study binder as well, but making my own study binder forced me to understand the underlying principles that I attempted to capture in the study binder I wrote out with my own hand. 

 

[knight1fox3]

Congrats to all those who passed. Those who didn't, keep at it! Focus and determination! You'll get there! :thumbs:

 

[Limamike]

I need help to pass this PE. Any other study material to explain transmission and distribution?

Jorary, PM and I will send you some solid links to download on TD.

 

[Zach Stone P.E.]

I feel you. Your summary is a perfect description of mine.

Yup; your experience copied my experience here, too!

I bet your study binder was more useful than you give it credit for. Actually creating a study binder yourself lends you a better understanding of the material you wrote down in that study binder than copying, highlighting, or otherwise notating information in other reference materials. 

I hardly used my study binder as well, but making my own study binder forced me to understand the underlying principles that I attempted to capture in the study binder I wrote out with my own hand. 

What's interesting is that creating a study binder is almost like writing out a grocery list then realizing that you don't need it once you get to the store. 

I find that writing things down and organizing a study binder helps you retain about 80% of it since you are stopping and focusing deeply on what you are doing. 

Then, the other 20% is there when you need it in a binder organized to suit your needs. 

Big fan of the study binder approach!

 

[jrodmonaco]

Hi all,

I am following this forum since last year, when I decided to start with the PE Process. For me, getting to the point to be approved by the Board to take the exam was the worst part as I am an expat that came for work to the US so no EIT for me, had to collect references and a large etc. After all, I was accepted (I got the FE waived) for the PE Exam last October. This forum helped me so much that I decided to sign up and leave my experience.

I used for preparing the exam:

• Graffeo Book (The Electrical Engineer's Guide to Passing the Power PE Exam)
  
• Complex Imaginary Test Books (all of them, even though the NEC drill wasn't used that much)
  
• NCEES Practice Exam
  
• Chaya PDFs on a binder
  

I took to the exam:

• All the above list (except the Complex Imaginary Books that I had on ebook format).
  
• NEC 2017
  
• Ugly's Electrical Reference
  
• A binder with all the problems from Complex Imaginary solved
  

With a family of 4 and working, it was really difficult to find a time (and quiet time!) to study. I read the Graffeo book once and started to do problems. I think that was the key for me, for this exam and during college... doing problems. I wrote down every problem on a different sheet of paper that later on I organized by the subjects that appear on the NCEES index for the exam. And I barely used the binder, as I had lots of problems and how to solve them really fresh on my mind.

The exam itself was fine, I don't think that the morning and afternoon sessions were so different in difficulty. In the first pass the amount of answered questions were more or less the same (more than the half of them). Truth is that experience helped to answer some questions without the need to have reference books. Common sense helps a lot as well.

I regret I didn't take with me the NESC. There were two questions I could deduct with the help of the NEC, but I went home with the doubt if I replied correct or not. I don't think I could go through chapter books of hundreds of pages with the given amount of time, that literally was gone quickly. Other Electrical PE guys I was talking to before the exam were surprised of the amount of material I took with me (I was able to fit everything on a diapers box!).

... and I passed! That's it! I was doubtful all these past weeks but now I'm really happy! About to order my stamp today!

I want to thank everybody for the posts and the reference material I could get as well as everyone's experience.

See you around!

 

[Apothe]

I regret I didn't take with me the NESC. There were two questions I could deduct with the help of the NEC, but I went home with the doubt if I replied correct or not. I don't think I could go through chapter books of hundreds of pages with the given amount of time, that literally was gone quickly. Other Electrical PE guys I was talking to before the exam were surprised of the amount of material I took with me (I was able to fit everything on a diapers box!).

You and me both, I'm glad I passed but I kicked myself around for not adequately preparing for nesc questions.  People in forum kept saying its going to be solvable by the index, so I printed one from amazon preview, so much help that was.  Glad I had the NEC because that helped me out.

Then again, I didn't see it wise to invest 100-200$ in a textbook that'll only help me in 2-3 problems.

 

[jrodmonaco]

You and me both, I'm glad I passed but I kicked myself around for not adequately preparing for nesc questions.  People in forum kept saying its going to be solvable by the index, so I printed one from amazon preview, so much help that was.  Glad I had the NEC because that helped me out.

Then again, I didn't see it wise to invest 100-200$ in a textbook that'll only help me in 2-3 problems.

Fully agree...

 

[Mobius]

This is my first post, sorry if it's long.  I kind of did my exam prep in a vacuum.  I read a lot of advice on-line and spent a lot of time researching what to study, but honestly I didn't really talk to anyone even though I know several power PE's.  I've been out of school for over 20 years now, so I'm an "old timer" I guess.  On top of that my degree is in Physics, not EE.  So I have some hurdles already.  I decided to get back into the test taking mindset I would take a prep course.  I landed on School of PE.  I have some general comments about the course, but overall it was very good.  In some cases it was very hard to follow the instructors either due to language barrier (not PC, but it's a sad truth) or due to the instructor being so focused on covering the prescribed material that they didn't really explain it well.  I chalked the latter up to it being a refresher course not an instruction course.  If I had a EE instead of physics, I might have had fewer questions.  In some case, the instructor was just flat wrong.  Mainly on the relaying areas, not on the technical aspects of electrical systems.  In one case the instructor explained the way an analog/digital PLC is wired.  But that's not a huge deal.

Also, I do not test well.  If you ask me a question in person, I'll answer it without a problem.  But on a test?  That's when my brain checks out and I can't remember simple math.  So I kind of overdid the prep work, if that's possible.  I did the workshop problems from the course, but I also found other problems to work out.  3 weeks before the test I went through my first practice exam.  I ended up doing well according to others, but I felt disheartened.  I ended up getting a 75% which I was convinced was a failing grade.  The weekend before the test, I literally practiced taking the exam.  I borrowed a conference room from work for a Saturday.  Took my materials and the NCEES practice exam.  My wife "proctored" and I took the test.  I ended up doing even worse.  I think I got a 70% on that one.  Believe me, I knew I was going to fail.

On test day, I had my plan.  I was going to read every question in the book.  Answer the easy ones and then start over and answer the medium ones and finally go back and dig into the tough ones.  If there were any I couldn't answer I made the best educated guess I could.  Then I would go back and check every single answer.  I had also decided that at the 2 hour mark no matter where I was in the process I was taking a bathroom break if for no other reason than to clear my head and splash water on my face.

for the AM session, at the 2 hour mark I had answered all but 3 questions.  I took my break and came back and worked the next hour on those.  I went back and checked every answer and had finished completely with 20 mins remaining.  Felt pretty good about it.

For the PM session, at the 2 hour mark I had 6 questions unanswered.  I was shocked at the similarity between the 2 because I was expecting the PM session to be very different.  There were some questions that were out of left field.  Things on the NESC (wish I had taken that book to the exam).  I made my guesses and checked my answers.  I found that in both the am and pm I found errors on maybe 5 questions each.  So I'm glad I checked.

I left thinking I had maybe a 60-70% on the full exam.  I felt I did better on the AM than the PM.  I had nagging doubts about at least 6 questions that I literally could not find the answer and hoped I had guess with some form of intelligence.  My wife told me I passed.  I told her I didn't think I did well enough.

When I got the result I was in the middle of a conference call with clients and didn't register it was the result e-mail.  I clicked on the link and it sent me to the NCEES dashboard.  The page was 90% blank and I had no idea what I was supposed to be reading.  Finally it dawned on my.  The status said pass.  I passed the test.  It was hard to contain myself, but I was in the middle of an hour long meeting.

Just thought I'd share my story, and to a small extent my excitement about passing.

 

[Omar Hadid]

Hello All,

I need a help to pass my next PE Exam, i did this exam twice at last October and this last April, i feel i did better at April comparing to last October but still did not pass, i used as much as i can from the above mentioned references but now i am disappointed and need help to get properly prepared to the exam by organizing the references and books and some extra drills, both exams i did poor at 35/80 for October 2016 and 34/80 for April 2017 which surprised me!

Your help highly appreciated.