So how do you feel?

[jco0518]

what I found out is don't believe anyone who tries to tell you what references you need. If NCEES says you need a reference...you better get it, and bring it with you.

the reference you dont have is one that you will need.

Goswami's All In One Book came in quite handy, IMO, for mostly the AM but also for some of the PM problems. Never bought the CERM.

I had Goswami's Book....didn't bring it....CERM was plenty. I dont think i missed anything by not having the Goswami book.

Goswami's book was good for quick look-ups if you knew where to look. I studied knowing the strengths and weaknesses of both the CERM and the All-In-One. I felt that the Civil am portion was fairly straightforward, but the qualitative questions were the hardest. PM Transportation was reasonable and, had I been a bit stronger in knowing exactly where to look for some answers, I would feel more confident. Unfortunately I think I will be back for a second round in April. It's all good, though. I know how I will approach the exam this time.

I feel that Goswami's book is great, but it's index needs a major makeover....

 

[eselcen]

Guys,

I attempted Machine Design mechanical PE from Texas. I had worked on studying HT, fluid mechanics and Machine Design for last 4-5 months. I did solve 6MS and NCEES practise exam 2X times. If there was a third party person looking over me even he would testify that yes I did it all.

Said so not trying to be pessimistic, I know that I did not crack the exam. Here are couple of mistakes which I think I have done.

1) underestimated HVAC. Many questions were asked on complex HVAC problems in morning session which require moderate to high skill of understanding of subject. Since I have never studied HVAC not even in my Bachelor's I had no clue except simple COP problems.

2) Low skill level in problems of conduction, convection and radiation. Should have worked on more complex problems for better understanding on subject.

I was at impression from start that ME PE is designed for HVAC and Thermal guys but exam was pretty fair and square. They gave equal emphasis on understanding of three breadth modules.

Afternoon session was of moderate level for MD. After my first glance I was releived that they did not ask any thermal or economics problems in MD. Still I did not fair well towards the end and was only able to complete 25/40 problems with surety towards end. Completely guessed 12-15 porblems due to lack of time.

In all I feel that I will get total score of 47-48/80 two sessions combined, and I know with surety that I will have to fight another battle in hot summer of Texas.

Lessons learned: I will study HVAC in more depth this time. @ "thwlruss" I know you are a HVAC guy, please recommend me a book that you used for studying HVAC so that I can prepare well next time. I will study basic concepts of convection and radiation good next time.

Many board members have indicated earlier to practise problems. I did practise but also read a lot. The jist is by practising make concepts clear. Read minimal but practise hard "make walmart aisle empty of notebooks".

HVAC&R

I had the same impression about the AM portion. I felt that there were too many MD problems in the AM section.

After reading your post it seems like the exam was fair in AM section.

I now regret that I did not work on MD subjects

for your AM portion Lindeburg will be fine if you can solve the first 5-6 end of chapter practice problems without any hesitation

if you can find a HVAC guy to teach you you only need a couple of hours to catch 5-6 questions that is it.

Lastly Kaplan Problems and Solutions has two chapters dedicated to HVAC&R

it is full mistakes but it makes you learn

 

[gaurav0323]

Did you spend time to read thru the MERM or mainly just do practice problems? I plan on taking the ME MD depth exam in April and am trying to decide whether I should take the time to read thru the MERM. I've already read thru most of the T/F chapters.

I read a lot but feel that practice was not adequate. I will suggest practise from lindeburgs sample problems, though complex they give great understanding. Do not discount HVAC to my dismay they asked them a lot.

 

[Jazzymania]

this is not my first time. This time I felt that exam was easier. But I think it because I was prepared better, not because NCEES decided to throw something light on us. I had 4 "blanks" and about 4 "not sure" in the morning and 4 "blanks" and 2 not sure in the afternoon. I was able to find answers in the reference material from the first try of opening the book. Only one question I spend more than a minute searching for an answer in Green Book. Before, I spend much more time searching Green Book or other references. I took Dr. Goswami prep class and few days before the test he sent us revisions for one of our reference book in Transp. I had it, but didn't pay attention. This time, night before the exam, I marked each revised page "see revisions". I had 3 questions out of these revisions! It was so awesome - I knew where to find them in a seconds. I finish afternoon after little over than in 3 hrs and had time to work out 4 mystery problems (didn’t make it). Oh, well, two month and get back to the books again or to the bar and have my life back.

So I guess I got atleast 3 questions wrong for sure because I didn't use any of the revised pages at all. I thought coming out of the exam I was a sure pass, now I guess not.

How many problems do you think you guessed on? What was your score last April?

 

[jco0518]

which reference book was this?

 

[jco0518]

this is not my first time. This time I felt that exam was easier. But I think it because I was prepared better, not because NCEES decided to throw something light on us. I had 4 "blanks" and about 4 "not sure" in the morning and 4 "blanks" and 2 not sure in the afternoon. I was able to find answers in the reference material from the first try of opening the book. Only one question I spend more than a minute searching for an answer in Green Book. Before, I spend much more time searching Green Book or other references. I took Dr. Goswami prep class and few days before the test he sent us revisions for one of our reference book in Transp. I had it, but didn't pay attention. This time, night before the exam, I marked each revised page "see revisions". I had 3 questions out of these revisions! It was so awesome - I knew where to find them in a seconds. I finish afternoon after little over than in 3 hrs and had time to work out 4 mystery problems (didn’t make it). Oh, well, two month and get back to the books again or to the bar and have my life back.

So I guess I got atleast 3 questions wrong for sure because I didn't use any of the revised pages at all. I thought coming out of the exam I was a sure pass, now I guess not.

How many problems do you think you guessed on? What was your score last April?

which reference book was this?

 

[kenny911]

Roadside design. I just looked at mine and thankfully mine was already updated.

 

[Jazzymania]

this is not my first time. This time I felt that exam was easier. But I think it because I was prepared better, not because NCEES decided to throw something light on us. I had 4 "blanks" and about 4 "not sure" in the morning and 4 "blanks" and 2 not sure in the afternoon. I was able to find answers in the reference material from the first try of opening the book. Only one question I spend more than a minute searching for an answer in Green Book. Before, I spend much more time searching Green Book or other references. I took Dr. Goswami prep class and few days before the test he sent us revisions for one of our reference book in Transp. I had it, but didn't pay attention. This time, night before the exam, I marked each revised page "see revisions". I had 3 questions out of these revisions! It was so awesome - I knew where to find them in a seconds. I finish afternoon after little over than in 3 hrs and had time to work out 4 mystery problems (didn’t make it). Oh, well, two month and get back to the books again or to the bar and have my life back.

So I guess I got atleast 3 questions wrong for sure because I didn't use any of the revised pages at all. I thought coming out of the exam I was a sure pass, now I guess not.

How many problems do you think you guessed on? What was your score last April?

which reference book was this?

AASHTO Green Book

 

[CntrSnr2001]

I feel good and bad. I feel that the questions where I had a fighting chance, I did well percentage-wise. Or at least better than the last two times...

I guess that's all you can hope for - don't leave any money on the table and give yourself a chance (at least) on each and every question. Past two times I took it I had to fill in bubbles with a few minutes remaining. This time didn't have to. I hope that is a sign!

 

[jco0518]

this is not my first time. This time I felt that exam was easier. But I think it because I was prepared better, not because NCEES decided to throw something light on us. I had 4 "blanks" and about 4 "not sure" in the morning and 4 "blanks" and 2 not sure in the afternoon. I was able to find answers in the reference material from the first try of opening the book. Only one question I spend more than a minute searching for an answer in Green Book. Before, I spend much more time searching Green Book or other references. I took Dr. Goswami prep class and few days before the test he sent us revisions for one of our reference book in Transp. I had it, but didn't pay attention. This time, night before the exam, I marked each revised page "see revisions". I had 3 questions out of these revisions! It was so awesome - I knew where to find them in a seconds. I finish afternoon after little over than in 3 hrs and had time to work out 4 mystery problems (didn’t make it). Oh, well, two month and get back to the books again or to the bar and have my life back.

So I guess I got atleast 3 questions wrong for sure because I didn't use any of the revised pages at all. I thought coming out of the exam I was a sure pass, now I guess not.

How many problems do you think you guessed on? What was your score last April?

which reference book was this?

AASHTO Green Book

did you have 2001 or 2004 (5th edition) ? I don't think there is any revisions to 5th edition???

 

[jco0518]

Roadside design. I just looked at mine and thankfully mine was already updated.

i just checked mine and it was up to date, thank god!

 

[WV_Boiler]

Took the ME-Machine Design.

I feel like I smoked the morning. There was a non-quantitative question where I easily eliminated two choices, but had an awful time selecting between the other 2 options. I wrote NCEES about it. As far as the rest of the AM, I got good answers on everything else. I feel like even if I made a few silly mistakes that I got somewhere in the high 30's in the AM.

The afternoon was a bit tougher for me. After an initial pass through the 40 Q's, I only had completed somewhere in the mid-20's. After a few more passes through, I had 3-4 left that I didn't get a good answer on. Of these, I feel like I had intelligent guesses on all but one. One question I completely punted and picked B. I knew I wasn't going to get anything resembling an answer and didn't want to waste any minutes.

I feel pretty good, but with all the pitfalls, I know it is likely that I made some stupid mistakes.

As for reference material. I used MERM almost exclusively. I used Mark's once, Machinery Handbook 2-3 times, Shigley 2-3 times and the rest was covered in MERM. The one book that I really enjoyed having was Lindeburg's conversion book. I found it very valuable and quick.

 

[AdamA]

Civil-Structural

I felt like I nailed the morning portion and felt good during lunch. Then did the afternoon portion and felt completely humbled. I'm on the bubble

 

[Krakosky]

WV_Boiler:

What was your study plan that you followed? Is there anything you would have done differently? Which practice tests did you use? NCEES, 6 Minute Solutions etc.

Thanks.

 

[Pratap]

Civil-Transportation

Felt good about the morning section… met up with a few friends who’d taken a review course together during the afternoon break….compared a few of my morning guesses with theirs …most of my answers matched theirs… felt good about it…then realized that it didn’t really mean anything coz all of us could have guessed wrong on the answers.

The PM was a bit trickier… I think there were 1 or 2 straightforward questions ….plug in the formula kinds… but the tricky part was selecting a correct answer for these questions since they weren’t asking for the direct result of the formula, but more of a design selection based on formula calculation.

Overall felt good about the exam… I think the approach of using the first few minutes to rank the difficulty level of questions into “easy” , “not so easy” and “no clue whatsoever/will take more than 6 minutes to solve” worked tremendously well for me. I had never tried this approach before… and was a bit skeptical about it. It scared the hell out of me in the AM session when I placed 10-12 questions into Type#3. After solving all of my Type#1s and Type#2s I felt like my mind was in the zone. I felt pretty confident about my Type#3 answers when I left the hall.

The part that I really screwed up was not wearing a watch. I usually have my cell phone on me all the time so it’s never a problem… but when I left my cell phone in the car as per NCEES instructions I shot myself in the foot. Luckily my pace was spot on and I finished the AM and PM sessions 15 minutes ahead of time…leaving plenty of time to re-check my answers. Had I fallen short of time I would be really pissed at myself

 

[WV_Boiler]

WV_Boiler:

What was your study plan that you followed? Is there anything you would have done differently? Which practice tests did you use? NCEES, 6 Minute Solutions etc.

Thanks.

I did the practice problems supplement to MERM. Chapters 14-59 & 69. NCEES Sample Exam & the MD Six Minute Solutions. It took about 300 hours starting at the begining of August and only taking 2-3 days off. As I have previously stated, Lindeburg's ME Sample Exam is impossible.

 

[StaciaZ]

I took the Civil/Geotechnical exam for the first time. I feel pretty good about it. The morning was easier than I was expecting, and I was feeling very confident at the lunch break.

The afternoon was much more difficult, but I still feel like I did well enough to pass. Won't know for sure for several weeks, though.

 

[ellebee2001]

Civil-Transportation

Felt good about the morning section… met up with a few friends who’d taken a review course together during the afternoon break….compared a few of my morning guesses with theirs …most of my answers matched theirs… felt good about it…then realized that it didn’t really mean anything coz all of us could have guessed wrong on the answers.

The PM was a bit trickier… I think there were 1 or 2 straightforward questions ….plug in the formula kinds… but the tricky part was selecting a correct answer for these questions since they weren’t asking for the direct result of the formula, but more of a design selection based on formula calculation.

Overall felt good about the exam… I think the approach of using the first few minutes to rank the difficulty level of questions into “easy” , “not so easy” and “no clue whatsoever/will take more than 6 minutes to solve” worked tremendously well for me. I had never tried this approach before… and was a bit skeptical about it. It scared the hell out of me in the AM session when I placed 10-12 questions into Type#3. After solving all of my Type#1s and Type#2s I felt like my mind was in the zone. I felt pretty confident about my Type#3 answers when I left the hall.

The part that I really screwed up was not wearing a watch. I usually have my cell phone on me all the time so it’s never a problem… but when I left my cell phone in the car as per NCEES instructions I shot myself in the foot. Luckily my pace was spot on and I finished the AM and PM sessions 15 minutes ahead of time…leaving plenty of time to re-check my answers. Had I fallen short of time I would be really pissed at myself

I did something similar except I went thru the AM portion and separated the questions into the different modules. Figured I would save time by not flipping between the sections of the CERM (and other references) and keep my brain on the same wavelengths by going after the problems by module. Also, that extra time helped to calm my nerves and still feel productive. The PM portion (transportation) was straight thru, which I think worked for me. I did read through problems and if thought too difficult right away or had to spend time finding equations (not easily on-hand) I skipped and came back to later.

 

[Mike in Gastonia]

Civil-Transportation Felt good about the morning section… met up with a few friends who’d taken a review course together during the afternoon break….compared a few of my morning guesses with theirs …most of my answers matched theirs… felt good about it…then realized that it didn’t really mean anything coz all of us could have guessed wrong on the answers.

Remember you signed an agreement saying you weren't going to talk about the exam. I'm sure ncees isn't so naive as to think people won't talk with their buddies, but I don't think I admit it in writing on a forum that they monitor......

 

[treyjay]

Civil-Transportation

Felt good about the morning section… met up with a few friends who’d taken a review course together during the afternoon break….compared a few of my morning guesses with theirs …most of my answers matched theirs… felt good about it…then realized that it didn’t really mean anything coz all of us could have guessed wrong on the answers.

The PM was a bit trickier… I think there were 1 or 2 straightforward questions ….plug in the formula kinds… but the tricky part was selecting a correct answer for these questions since they weren’t asking for the direct result of the formula, but more of a design selection based on formula calculation.

Overall felt good about the exam… I think the approach of using the first few minutes to rank the difficulty level of questions into “easy” , “not so easy” and “no clue whatsoever/will take more than 6 minutes to solve” worked tremendously well for me. I had never tried this approach before… and was a bit skeptical about it. It scared the hell out of me in the AM session when I placed 10-12 questions into Type#3. After solving all of my Type#1s and Type#2s I felt like my mind was in the zone. I felt pretty confident about my Type#3 answers when I left the hall.

The part that I really screwed up was not wearing a watch. I usually have my cell phone on me all the time so it’s never a problem… but when I left my cell phone in the car as per NCEES instructions I shot myself in the foot. Luckily my pace was spot on and I finished the AM and PM sessions 15 minutes ahead of time…leaving plenty of time to re-check my answers. Had I fallen short of time I would be really pissed at myself

I did something similar except I went thru the AM portion and separated the questions into the different modules. Figured I would save time by not flipping between the sections of the CERM (and other references) and keep my brain on the same wavelengths by going after the problems by module. Also, that extra time helped to calm my nerves and still feel productive. The PM portion (transportation) was straight thru, which I think worked for me. I did read through problems and if thought too difficult right away or had to spend time finding equations (not easily on-hand) I skipped and came back to later.

I agree with your methodology.....that is what I did for the same reason....i just had a hard time before the exam with the "go through the whole thing and rank each question" advice...seemed like that would actually hurt, time wise, more than help.