Power Cutscore October 2018

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i don't think ncees does a curve. i believe they grade on a transient loop

 
I got my results, and I FAILED! Lol. I deserve it. I can’t blame anything or anyone but myself. Truly. Time to readjust my study form. 

power electronics and Protection were the topics that did me in.  

My score was 42/80. I am in Texas so my scaled score was 64.

it seems that 48/80 would have been a scaled score of 70 and a passing grade.

Everyone here that were in the mid to high 40’s you were close. So, there’s consolation in that.

thoughts moving forward:

Read Blackburn cover to cover. Search the internet for anything about protective relay basics. Get the pdf and print IEEE Buff book and IEEE Green book.

I’ll say this. This time around we have the advantage in that we won’t waste time studying from the official NCEES practice exam. What a joke that is, am I right?! Lol

Also search the internet and print articles from NCEES specifications topics such as insulation testing and Battery characteristics and ratings, etc....

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sorry to hear RadioBox, but I'm sure we'll pass it this time around.  We just need to keep plugging away and fill in the gap!

I'm hearing the most common denominator among those who have passed is:

1.  The sheer amount of hours studied.  I definitely put in my time, but I could have put in more.  The ones who passed left nothing to chance.

2.  I may have studied as much as those who passed, but (and this may be the biggest one) but the ones who passed seemed to have taken more practice exams than I did.  I did 3-4, while most who passed seemed to take anywhere between 6 and 12, and they used a good mix of Graffeo, NCEES, CI and ProGuides, among a few others.  Focusing more on practice exams seems to be a good formula.

3.  It doesn't make sense to do the same thing as before and expect a difference result.  This time I'm going to focus more heavily on practice problems and less on the theory.  That said, I will read the Blackburn book cover to cover and get that out of the way since protection was my worst score.  I'll look into the IEEE books you mentioned.  

If anyone else has suggestions or want to add your thoughts please feel free.

 
I owned 7 practice exams and did all of them at least 2-3 times. 

After I got my timing down I focused on theory and muscle memory. The giraffeo book has a nice equation section where I made notes to myself.

Also at lunch time at work there was an online practice pe exam with 50 questions that helped a lot.

I worked the complex imaginary code drill book cover to cover for NEC 2017. 

For protection you need to think in basic terms.

 
Also for Nec focus some effort on the changes from 2014 and new sections and motors/cap banks.

 
MEtoEE said:
Sorry to hear RadioBox, but I'm sure we'll pass it this time around.  We just need to keep plugging away and fill in the gap!

I'm hearing the most common denominator among those who have passed is:

1.  The sheer amount of hours studied.  I definitely put in my time, but I could have put in more.  The ones who passed left nothing to chance.

2.  I may have studied as much as those who passed, but (and this may be the biggest one) but the ones who passed seemed to have taken more practice exams than I did.  I did 3-4, while most who passed seemed to take anywhere between 6 and 12, and they used a good mix of Graffeo, NCEES, CI and ProGuides, among a few others.  Focusing more on practice exams seems to be a good formula.

3.  It doesn't make sense to do the same thing as before and expect a difference result.  This time I'm going to focus more heavily on practice problems and less on the theory.  That said, I will read the Blackburn book cover to cover and get that out of the way since protection was my worst score.  I'll look into the IEEE books you mentioned.  

If anyone else has suggestions or want to add your thoughts please feel free.
Click to expand...
I'll be the first to say School of PE lectures are hit or miss, but I don't think I would have passed without their notes.  Especially with regard to protection, since I know that is of particular concern.

 
justin-hawaii said:
The highest posted fail score on my survey was 47 out of 80.   There were 64 responses to the survey.

https://goo.gl/forms/5gBJ2aWY0KbYLEe83
Click to expand...
Justin I was one of the 47’s that answered in your survey.  Hard to stomach that I was 1 away from passing but it is what it is. Just gotta move on and start preparing for the April exam.  I thought your study guide and exams were very good.  I used your study guide I think the most during the exam.  What killed me was protection as I think most of the study guides/practice exams/material out there just doesn’t prepare you for the protection questions.  That’s something that I will have to work on for the April exam.

 
It's maddening to know that I was on the border of passing. No use complaining when it's over. I'm just afraid that if I take it again I won't be able to perform as well as I did in the sections that I did do good on, if that makes sense.

The **** power electronics and protection is what did me in. I thought protection was going to be worst but it wasn't as bad. Just those relays. Power electronics was my worst considering I never really had any material for that in the first place.

 
MEtoEE said:
Sorry to hear RadioBox, but I'm sure we'll pass it this time around.  We just need to keep plugging away and fill in the gap!

I'm hearing the most common denominator among those who have passed is:

1.  The sheer amount of hours studied.  I definitely put in my time, but I could have put in more.  The ones who passed left nothing to chance.

2.  I may have studied as much as those who passed, but (and this may be the biggest one) but the ones who passed seemed to have taken more practice exams than I did.  I did 3-4, while most who passed seemed to take anywhere between 6 and 12, and they used a good mix of Graffeo, NCEES, CI and ProGuides, among a few others.  Focusing more on practice exams seems to be a good formula.

3.  It doesn't make sense to do the same thing as before and expect a difference result.  This time I'm going to focus more heavily on practice problems and less on the theory.  That said, I will read the Blackburn book cover to cover and get that out of the way since protection was my worst score.  I'll look into the IEEE books you mentioned.  

If anyone else has suggestions or want to add your thoughts please feel free.
Click to expand...
In my opinion, Please try to do a lot of problems on fault analysis too, specially with per unit method. Looks like NCEES is very fond of per unit method. Also try doing problems on distant and differential protection relays. I also remember we had a numerical problem on Arc Flash Analysis, Although I remember I could not put the formulas right and the answer which I was getting was not to be found in the four choices. Definitely the questions you should practice should be a little more difficult than NCEES practice exam. One thing I did notice in the exam was that the problems are not very lengthy. There is a certain element of twist to each question. If you break open that twist , you will find the answer, Good Luck

 

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