Power PE Pass/fail

46/80 fail

Does anyone else seem to think this test was particurally hard? I felt what I studied was not what was tested. 

It was my first time taking it, passed, but i know not by a giant margin. I thought some questions were rather hard and vague on details that would change the answer. Left the exam with very mixed feelings.

I jumped into the 'PPI' class midway through. It helped. They brought stuff to my attention to study (instrumentation, fault analysis, much more) that was NOT on my radar to study.

My work is very NEC code heavy... I think that is what may have helped me get over the cut score because i am confident in the code question/answers.

If you didn't take a prep class (school of pe/ppi/whatever else)... do it this time.

47/80 fail.

First time taker, kind of knew I would fail when I left the exam hall. Still feels like **** when you see the "fail" in red.

I studied Graffeo's guide and did C&I problems only. I certainly could have done more.

For those who passed on second take, please share your experience and what worked for you.

I used graffeo as my go to during the exam.  I opted out of PPI and self studied.  I worked extensively in the field my first 3 years after graduating and then shifted to code heavy commercial retail design. In my opinion this was what helped me the most.  

I was familiar with PF correction and protective relays/arc flash calcs but NEC code for commercial MEP as well. I did use probably 6-7 of the 11 references I brought.  I studied approx 250-300 hours starting at the beginning of January.  

For me, the afternoon was very similar to questions from sample exam and graffeo. The afternoon was a lot harder for me.  

kzaoaai said:

47/80 fail.

First time taker, kind of knew I would fail when I left the exam hall. Still feels like **** when you see the "fail" in red.

I studied Graffeo's guide and did C&I problems only. I certainly could have done more.

For those who passed on second take, please share your experience and what worked for you.

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I've mentioned this on another thread but I feel CI is deceptively easier than the exam.  I went through the 4 volumes without much difficulty then graded myself on the sample exam and only got half right first run.  (Ran out of time).  

Good luck on the next attempt.  My only advice is to nail down the gimmees (code, voltage drop, etc).

Fail 48/80, first attempt. 

I studied power as an undergraduate and am soon taking more classes in graduate school. Not much industry experience -- a marginally relevant government job for 7 months. Code probably was the hardest topic unlike what I've seen from survey results. PM was harder than AM (left the AM early)-- felt everything on the exam was fair game. Except I didn't print out my copy of the NESC from IEEE or buy one but it would've been 2 free points -- not fair. The NCEES practice exam really helped me identify weaknesses 2 weeks before to get myself up to certainty. I might've actually failed the practice exam by one question but I rushed it in under 6 hours due to impatience -- it helped me find topics I needed to study / do some problems I would've gotten wrong test day had I not worked through the practice.

My main reference was School of PE notes. The first time around I failed to use it enough, but it has great direct references for a lot of problems so if you organize it properly to your needs with tabs then its very usable. The second time i took the live course they had 4 different PE guys teaching each subject so that helped more than Dr. Nieves.  Check who will be the instructors. I guess that goes with all courses, its only as good as the instructor

I know theres already a lot of info on the forum on what books to use so I'll just emphasize that i made my own cheatsheet - any formulas I used a lot during the practice tests went here. I had 4-5 pages of these, some organized by topic, some were not, so if i were to do it again I would organize by topic for easier referencing

The most important thing is, if you ever come across a practice problem with a concept you dont know, LOOK IT UP. Read and Print out everything about that topic and put it in your binder or a separate binder. never know when you'll need it. Atleast youll have an understanding of the topic. This is unlike any exam you'll ever take. It requires real learning and understanding of a topic and not just regurgitation of memorized facts.

I highly recommend the Complex Imaginary practice tests, I went through that twice with a few months gap in between tries so I could test the efficiency of my references. the first time i took the practice test I took my time and didnt time myself. The second time I took the practice test, i timed myself and sat for 8 hours straight the week before the actual exam whcih helps to prep the body and mind to sit that long . the NEC code drill book was very good as well.

Goodluck all.

I did Graffeo, CI, PPI and NCEES practice tests. I dug into each area in depth. I was getting 80+% onn my practice exams. So I feel a bit cheated here. I have organized notes in fact several friends have borrowed mine and passed. I am a bad test taker an that's how it is.

This was the 4th time for me, I don't really count first 2 times because I really did not prep for those. I actually did worse this time than fall 2016.

I think I am done trying. No point wasting months of time to be screwed by what I feel is a complete shift in the test. It felt way more qualitative (true/false) and less quantitative like all the practice materials out there. 

The code was a bit more tricky this time too mainly because most of the materials out there haven't caugt up with the types of questions/sections that have been added. Code wasn't what failed me. 

sparkeespud said:

I did Graffeo, CI, PPI and NCEES practice tests. I dug into each area in depth. I was getting 80+% onn my practice exams. So I feel a bit cheated here. I have organized notes in fact several friends have borrowed mine and passed. I am a bad test taker an that's how it is.

This was the 4th time for me, I don't really count first 2 times because I really did not prep for those. I actually did worse this time than fall 2016.

I think I am done trying. No point wasting months of time to be screwed by what I feel is a complete shift in the test. It felt way more qualitative (true/false) and less quantitative like all the practice materials out there. 

The code was a bit more tricky this time too mainly because most of the materials out there haven't caugt up with the types of questions/sections that have been added. Code wasn't what failed me. 

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I would highly suggest taking a course. I took school of PE, but that depends on the instructors so No Dr. Nieves

I passed, but who do we petition to have the NESC removed from the exam?  I bought the NESC Handbook which does not contain everything like the NEC handbook does and thought I was screwed.

It is basically pay $300 for the chance at getting one or maybe two questions right....

Owism said:

I would highly suggest taking a course. I took school of PE, but that depends on the instructors so No Dr. Nieves

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I took one the first 2 times I took the test. In anycase State of Nebraska requires I go back to school for min 2 credit hours per topic I failed. So in my case 12 hours of college courses. 

sparkeespud said:

I did Graffeo, CI, PPI and NCEES practice tests. I dug into each area in depth. I was getting 80+% onn my practice exams. So I feel a bit cheated here. I have organized notes in fact several friends have borrowed mine and passed. I am a bad test taker an that's how it is.

This was the 4th time for me, I don't really count first 2 times because I really did not prep for those. I actually did worse this time than fall 2016.

I think I am done trying. No point wasting months of time to be screwed by what I feel is a complete shift in the test. It felt way more qualitative (true/false) and less quantitative like all the practice materials out there. 

The code was a bit more tricky this time too mainly because most of the materials out there haven't caugt up with the types of questions/sections that have been added. Code wasn't what failed me. 

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I found that the practice exams come from the book that teaches you the material and therefore you will do much better than the actual exam. I got around 70/80 on Graffeo but later 55/80 at a first go on the NCEES practice exam. I think it's validating to have the qualitative questions instead of just plug in a formula and you're good...

Side note, thank you for the statistics of # of each type of question and interesting how the passing test takers have a pretty flat average for each type of question.

Passed with 70.

sparkeespud said:

I took one the first 2 times I took the test. In anycase State of Nebraska requires I go back to school for min 2 credit hours per topic I failed. So in my case 12 hours of college courses. 

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Oh wow thats intense

sparkeespud said:

I took one the first 2 times I took the test. In anycase State of Nebraska requires I go back to school for min 2 credit hours per topic I failed. So in my case 12 hours of college courses. 

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WOW

Passed.

Stuff I brought with me - 

NEC handbook, NESC, some printed excerpts from Chapmans machinery book, NCEES sample test, distribution transformer connection diagrams, Graffeo book, printouts from the FE review manual (math and the electrical stuff), and my custom study binder.  

Everything I listed, I used extensively especially the Graffeo book.  I did not bring anything to do with engineering economics and I wish I had because that was on there.  

I did not take a test prep course and I have done 4 years of building design engineering and 10+ years as a commercial electrician (journeyman) prior to my engineering experience.