Math for the exam? (mech)

[mechgirl]

My "the other board" study manual was outside my door this morning. I have the Lindeburg manual, practice problems and sample exam. I'm taking the Oct 08 exam, probably with the HVAC depth. I'm a bit worried about the exam because my work has been limited (one field), and it seems like it's been SO long since school. I had intended to start studying a year in advance, and now I just have a lousy 6.5 months. I'm thinking that if I don't feel at least comfortable by mid June, I'll take the exam in Apr 09 instead.

Back to the point of the post... So, today's the first day studying, and I started at the beginning in the math section. How much time do I really need to spend studying the math? I've been working through the example questions, and I'm surprised at the amount I remember. Now, I'm working through the linear algebra section, and am wondering if I will need to use matrices on the exam. The manual introduction says there are "no pure mathematics questions on the exam."

I don't want to start out by wasting time. Any advice?

 

[Guest]

^^^ First of all, welcome to the board! You are definitely in the right place to get started. Secondly, don't be too hard on yourself - I think 6.5 months is ample time to get in thier and adequately prepare, even if you have been limited to a single area within the discipline.

As to your question, I wouldn't waste much time studying the pure math sections. If anything, see if there are problems that you come across that will require some of those advanced math techniques (e.g. linear algebra/matrices) and work on those techniques at THAT point.

:2cents:

Good luck!

JR

 

[Dleg]

Yeah, I second that. But, I did not take the ME exam, I took the enviro exam (but my degree is ME). I didn't do any of the math chapters, except for statistics. But only because it applied to many of the enviro problems. If I were you I would start right away reading and working problems in the actual ME chapters. If you run into a math blockage, then go back and study what you need to.

You've got plenty of time - don't postpone to 2009.

 

[mechgirl]

Thanks for the welcome

Ok, I'll just quickly skim through the rest of the math.

Yeah, I don't want to wait to Apr 09, because I already have trips planned in Nov & Dec 08 and March 09, so my studying would be more limited... and plus, I just want to get it over with. I am going to hit the books hard, so will see how I feel in a month or two.

 

[maryannette]

... and plus, I just want to get it over with.

You got that right. Sounds like you'll be fine. I agree with the guys on skipping the math section. Welcome to our place. Lots of good support here.

 

[rudy]

Hi mechgirl,

Welcome. I'd skip the math chapters if those are not on the ME NCEES exam topics. I didn't take the ME, but took the ChE. When I first got my ChE Lindberg book, I followed their recommended schedule and wasted too much time on the math, which wasn't even on the ChE exam. I'd recommend making a copy of the NCEES ME exam topics (on the right side of their homepage: Exams ==> Principles and Practice (PE/PS). then the left side of that web page: Detailed specifications for the Principles and Practice Exams). Sticking to the NCEES topics for the ChE and making notes under each topic was very beneficial during my studying and during the exam. You can check out my notes as an example, see link below:

http://engineerboards.com/index.php?showtopic=5458