MERM 12 vs 13 - MD PM exam

Hello - I am planning on taking the MD afternoon session this October - I meant to take the exam a while back (long story) and I have the MERM 12 which I plan on using - is there a need to get the MERM 13 for the exam?

Thanks!

I took the exam in April 2015 and bought the MERM12 not too long after graduating college (2009). When I was faced with the same issue, I decided to just stick with the MERM12.

From PPI's website on MERM13: What’s New in This Edition

• 36 chapters with new material, and 46 chapters with revisions to existing material
• 300 new equations, and 128 updated equations
• 27 new tables, and 31 updated tables
• 7 new examples, and 34 updated examples
• 10 new appendices, and 27 updated appendices
• 35 new figures, and 28 updated figures
• 1,094 new index entries, and 108 updated index entries

The MERM13 index is more substantial than the MERM12 index (68 pages vs 49 pages) other than that I have not personally compared the two, I have heard that most of the MERM13 changes are really focused on rearrangement of the book for better organization. I believe a lot of the "new" tables and appendices were the result of splitting up the reference tables into SI and English entries. Additionally a number of the chapters where split up into two different chapters.

In the review course I took the instructor was using the MERM13 and pretty much said the MERM13 was more of a maintenance and reorganization revision. When referring us to sections of the book for equations / appendices he would first identify the MERM13 page number then the MERM12 page number...most of the time the chapter number was different and there was never a time when he said MERM13 page XX-Y and sorry MERM12 people this equation is not in your book.

I decided not to shell out the cash to buy and new book and decided to stay with the revision I was more familiar with.

EDIT: As a note I took T/F depth and not Mech Systems.

Thank you MechE_in_PA - this is really good to know.

I agree. Either version of the holy merm will work just the same. If you are planning on getting the practice problems, it may be beneficial to get the accompanying version.

denver1000, I posted the same post earlier this year while I was studying for the April 2015 exam. I also had a MERM 12 that I bought right after I graduated that I was using to study. About 4 weeks before the exam during my prep course the professor mentioned that the majority of the changes differences in 12 vs 13 were in the HVAC section...Since I was taking the HVAC exam, I panicked and bought the 13th edition. The results were good so I guess it was worth shelling out the money. I had to go back and re-highlight every section again. While I was doing that, I didn't notice too many differences in the M&M portion. Hope this helps a little and good luck.

Thank you power-engineer and allanford86.

You can currently sell your 12th edition to amazon for a $97 gift card which would bring the cost of the new edition down to about $160 (new).

IlliniWood said:

You can currently sell your 12th edition to amazon for a $97 gift card which would bring the cost of the new edition down to about $160 (new).

Click to expand...

ppi is selling MERM13 on Amazon for $205 + $3.99 shipping. Amazon's price is a lot higher.

Thanks everyone for this post.  I am signed up to take the April 2018 version and, as of right now plan on going with the "Machine Design," exam.  Again, I picked up the 12th edition right after school, but "Life happened," and now I am back to the point of being able to sit for it again.  

I have an old Shigley and Mitchell "Machine Design," book and plan on rolling with those two.

Any thoughts? 

Thanks for the input everyone!

Wdy

With those two you should be fine.  Just practice problems, tab your books and make sure you know your appendix.  You don't want to take a book you've never used before!

I started my studying with a V12 that a buddy loaned me and decided to by V13 ONLY because I wanted to mark up the book.