Who is taking the Test in April

I am Planning on taking the test in April (in Cali). I am actually mailing my application today, so hopefully I will be accepted!

I finished my bachelors degree (and my EIT) in 2002, and aside from at my job, Have rarely opened a engineering book since... Until I decided to take the test this Sept. since then I have (almost religously) studied two hours per night, and plan on doing so up to the week of the test.

Among people planning on testing in April... How prepared do you feel you are, and what is your preparation strategy?

The best tip I have picked up so far, was from someone in this forum who said not to just read through MERM... but to work the problems... seems like a no-brainer but until I saw that I was just reading away like the thing is a novel. :true: (right now I am in the Hydraulic Machines chapter, but according to my schedule I should be to Thermo by now)

what other tips you got???

I took the ME thermal in Oct. '06, so we'll see if my advice is worth anything in a few weeks.

I set up a schedule based on the suggested teaching schedule in the front of the MERM (each meeting was one week) and then allowed two weeks for review and sample tests. Some of the subjects took longer than one week and some took one day. Based on that schedule, you're starting early. I read each chapter as a refresher and worked all the problems (minus a few one hour problems). Working the sample problems in the chapters helps, too. Reading through everything helps in case there's something your not familiar with you might be able to recall where you saw it in the book. I also reviewed the thermal and fluid subject areas a little more in text books since that was the section I planned on taking.

At the end, I worked the "the other board" sample test, studied what I missed (which was a lot), and then swapped with a friend who had the NCEES test.

Did the math practice problems (particularly calc and diff. eqns) help at all on the test. While studying It occurs to me that I have not used any of these things since freshman year... I know it is good backgroud knowlege, but I sort of skimmed over the questions. Am I going to regret that?

Did ME Machine design in April '06. I passed. What I did was read through and work both in-chapter and end-of-chapter exercises of many (not all) of the chapters of the MERM. I also worked through the entire NCEES sample problem booklet. I did this several times.

These were essntially my entire study materials.

I think I put in 250 to 300 hours over about 3 to 3-1/2 months.

If you do this, you shoud be fine. Oh, in addition, I made a killer index that was comprised of all the important things I thought would be relevant from the MERM.

If interested, maybe I could email the index to you, but I can tell you that the most important part of that was probably creating the index and having it sink in over time. Just sending it to you and letting you use it probably won't do you as much good as taking notes within the chapters and then creating the index did for me.

Let me know if I can help.

Ed

i skipped all the math chapters. there were some problems in the "the other board" books that required some calculus but are there to over-prepare you, i think.

i also skipped the chemistry section as one to cover if i had time. i only glanced at the economics section. my hours ended up just over 100 hrs. this doesn't include the time i took to take two practice exams. working problems and becoming familiar with resources worked the best for my preparation.

thanks guys,

Goldnwhite-thats what I thought... it seems a bit too indepth to be useful on an engineering test

ed-

If interested, maybe I could email the index to you, but I can tell you that the most important part of that was probably creating the index and having it sink in over time. Just sending it to you and letting you use it probably won't do you as much good as taking notes within the chapters and then creating the index did for me.

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thanks, but i agree compiling it in my own brain-language will probably help me more than copying yours!

I also took the test this past October, HVAC Depth. I studied about 300 hours for three to four months. I would skip all of the Math and Chemistry. The math on the test is very straight forward. I hardly used the index in the MERM during the test. By the time the test came I pretty much had the book memorized. You'll be over prepared if you study 300 hours, but it is definitely worth all of the studying.

EdinNo,

About your index. Can you explain how it helped and what exactly you put on your index. I have found the MERM almost daunting interms of the amount of material. If you include appendices type items in your index it could be huge and almost as difficult to use. I would appreciate a little insight.

Thanks,

EdinNO said:

Did ME Machine design in April '06. I passed. What I did was read through and work both in-chapter and end-of-chapter exercises of many (not all) of the chapters of the MERM. I also worked through the entire NCEES sample problem booklet. I did this several times.
These were essntially my entire study materials.

I think I put in 250 to 300 hours over about 3 to 3-1/2 months.

If you do this, you shoud be fine. Oh, in addition, I made a killer index that was comprised of all the important things I thought would be relevant from the MERM.

If interested, maybe I could email the index to you, but I can tell you that the most important part of that was probably creating the index and having it sink in over time. Just sending it to you and letting you use it probably won't do you as much good as taking notes within the chapters and then creating the index did for me.

Let me know if I can help.

Ed

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I'm getting ready to take the ME test in April 07. I have no idea which depth to take. I don't particularly work in any of the depths. I'm a little nervous because I am finding it hard to spend alot of time studying when I don't really know what to study. Any suggestions would help.

I also heard from another PE that just past his test last April that depending on which depth section you choose, alot of the depth section is focused on a certain topic (ex. machine design depth could be focused on springs or gears) did anyone notice that to be true? (Sorry if that is a questionable topic... If so just disregard)

Thanks

jroyce

jroyce said:

I'm getting ready to take the ME test in April 07. I have no idea which depth to take. I don't particularly work in any of the depths. I'm a little nervous because I am finding it hard to spend alot of time studying when I don't really know what to study. Any suggestions would help.
I also heard from another PE that just past his test last April that depending on which depth section you choose, alot of the depth section is focused on a certain topic (ex. machine design depth could be focused on springs or gears) did anyone notice that to be true? (Sorry if that is a questionable topic... If so just disregard)

Thanks

jroyce

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jroyce,

In school, did you find any of the depth areas easier to grasp and/or more interesting than the others? That was how I decided on Thermal/Fluids for my depth area for the April '07 exam. I'm in the same boat as you in that I don't work in any of the depth areas, so I had to base my decision on my experience in school.

Another approach is to wait and go through the NCEES Sample Questions for the morning section of the exam, and determine from that which area you feel that you will be the most successful in. Then focus on that area by working alot of practice problems.

Good luck, and see you there in April!

-Randy

RVincent said:

jroyce,
In school, did you find any of the depth areas easier to grasp and/or more interesting than the others? That was how I decided on Thermal/Fluids for my depth area for the April '07 exam. I'm in the same boat as you in that I don't work in any of the depth areas, so I had to base my decision on my experience in school.

Another approach is to wait and go through the NCEES Sample Questions for the morning section of the exam, and determine from that which area you feel that you will be the most successful in. Then focus on that area by working alot of practice problems.

Good luck, and see you there in April!

-Randy

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I agree. I'd suggest you work some problems in each of the three depth modules from the NCEES Sample Questions and use that to gauge your comfort level. I took the HVAC depth in October and passed on my first try. I don't work in HVAC at all and only had one HVAC class in college so it can be done. I'd recommend an overall study strategy of working through the chapters in the MERM to get a firm grasp on the morning session topics, and then focus on your chosen afternoon depth area for 3 weeks or so before the exam. As far as your question about specific subjects within the depth areas being focused on, I found that to be the case on October's HVAC depth. That's why I recommend getting familiar with everything that COULD be on the exam, because you're likely to see certain things over and over again on the exam. If you gambled that that one thing wouldn't be on the exam, you're in trouble. Good luck! Don't hesitate to post specific questions as you work problems in the Mechanical area of the board. There are a lot of us that would be glad to help.