Thanks to All The Help From the ME Board

[Clydeman]

You guys were a great help! I attribute a large portion of my passing to the help and insight from you guys.

For those just starting to study for the PE, listen to these guys! They know what they are talking about. There is definitely a right way and a wrong way to study for this test.

At first I did not listen, wanting to read systematically through MERMs. But I ended up following the advice found here.

 

[Kephart P.E.]

Glad to hear you were successful!

I know I followed much of the advice posted here a few years ago and did the same.

We also had 2 ME's here in our office that took the exam, 1 followed pretty much exactly the path I took and passed in fact he said he was done 1 hour early in the morning and about 20 minutes early in the afternoon; the other guy "went Rogue" citing that he passed the EIT studying his way.

He will be retaking it next year.

 

[James3AE]

The board is most definitely very helpful. The wealth of test taking experience is incredible. I will definitely be sending people preparing to take the exam this way, and most definitely will not be recommending my studying technique to anyone else. I can probably say I went rogue too, with some better success, but probably not the best way to go.

 

[jamiecta]

The board is most definitely very helpful. The wealth of test taking experience is incredible. I will definitely be sending people preparing to take the exam this way, and most definitely will not be recommending my studying technique to anyone else. I can probably say I went rogue too, with some better success, but probably not the best way to go.

What was your studying technique?

And can you all elaborate?

Sorry, not trying to be difficult, but to a newbie you all are talking in cryptic broad terms. "there is a right way to study" and don't "go rogue" and "i don't recommend my study technique" don't mean much to me right now

I will definitely be digging around the boards more, but any elaboration on your testing experiences would be greatly appreciated.

 

[tmacier]

Here is the secret for guys who are not all that smart (like me):

1 - work as many problems as you can find - MERM, NCEES Sample Problems, SMS, Online courses (I did PPI), actual courses at local school (I did this also)

2 - Know your referances - dont bother bringing a book you havnt worn out the binder while studying.

3 - Tab your referances and know how to find critical information fast

4 - balance all units - no matter how simple

5 - read the question and really understand what they are asking ( are they asking for btu's or btu/lbm, ect)

6 - take practice exams

7 - take more practice exams

8 - take practice exams again

You should be eating, drinking and sleeping with this material.

You should have worked your conversions so many times you have many of them memorized, and many formulas you are only "Checking" to make sure you did not make a mistake.

Good luck

Tim

 

[Clydeman]

tmacier summed it up well.

To further summarize what going rogue means. It means to spend excessive amounts of time going off on tangents. Reading and going over subject matter which will not be on the test. Reading MERMs cover to cover is not necessary!

At first when I started studying I was reading MERMs chapter by chapter. Luckily I had time to correct and focus on solving problems. Obviously there are portions of MERMs which must be read through. But you do not need to read the entire book!

Solve all the problems you can - especially problems representative of what is on the test!