First post of 2018

Hey all, Happy New Year!!

Just a shout out to everybody out there prepping for April 2018 Mech Eng PE exam. Good luck!

Looking forward to all the great interactions.

Good luck to all!  There will be some lows, but you will persevere and make it to the end goal and pass the PE!

Does anyone have experience with Dr. Tom's review course? I signed up for the fast track TFS for the April 2018 exam. Took and passed the Mechanical FE exam back in September, despite having been out of school for 2.5 years, so not too rusty. I can't help but feel like I am solely memorizing practice problems.

@SNAPE/SMOTT PE might have some input.

ME_VT said:

Does anyone have experience with Dr. Tom's review course? I signed up for the fast track TFS for the April 2018 exam. Took and passed the Mechanical FE exam back in September, despite having been out of school for 2.5 years, so not too rusty. I can't help but feel like I am solely memorizing practice problems.

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He didn’t have the fast track course when I took it. But he is amazing at explaining material in an easy to understand way. Definitely recommend his courses. I took the PE exam 10 years after graduating (I took FE my sr year in college). It is a fantastic course for those who have been out of school a while. Follow everything exactly as he lined out. My only deviation was that I read the material in the MERM first before watching the videos or working any problems. That way I had an idea of what was being covered in the videos that week. 

GL!

Did you follow his strategy during the exam using similar problems he provided? I'm starting to really stack up reference material and worry I wont have time to locate similar problems unless I REALLY dedicate myself to that strategy.

ME_VT said:

Did you follow his strategy during the exam using similar problems he provided? I'm starting to really stack up reference material and worry I wont have time to locate similar problems unless I REALLY dedicate myself to that strategy.

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I used binders that I filled in while working the course. These binders, the reference manual he provided, and the MERM are what I used during the exam. I’d like to note I failed machine design (can’t remember the exact name) depth twice, before switching to TFS. Advanced machine design is what I took as my sr year elective. I only passed after switching depth to TFS and taking the Dr Tom course. I can’t believe I still have these, but here they are:

View attachment 10759

Oh, and I copied the practice problems from 6MS, cut them out individually, and glued each problem on its own page so that I could hole punch and put in the binder.

Hello, Mr. Slayer, 

when are you posting questions of HVAC? I really enjoyed your practice questions for TFS. 

Thank you.

GR8 PLUMENG said:

Hello, Mr. Slayer, 

when are you posting questions of HVAC? I really enjoyed your practice questions for TFS. 

Thank you.

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@Slay the P.E.

GR8 PLUMENG said:

Hello, Mr. Slayer, 

when are you posting questions of HVAC? I really enjoyed your practice questions for TFS. 

Thank you.

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Hi GR8,

Thanks for your question.

We don't have a full practice test for HVAC&R yet. We do have a new e-book titled "Psychrometrics and Basic HVAC System Calculations for the HVAC&R Exam." which contains a lot of practice problems for those topics only. We recommend you head over to our website to check it out.

I'm taking the Thermal/Fluids exam in April. Definitely picking up some good tips on this forum. I tried reading through MERM, but after I few chapters I just couldn't do it any more. I've been through the practice exam a couple times and feel pretty comfortable with most of the question types.

I was REALLY happy to find my old college thermo properties book. It has by far the most detailed tables I have seen which saves from almost all interpolation. Also been compiling this one page quick reference sheet of some of the things I've found helpful to have quickly available. Of course this is based on the practice exam, so I guess I'll find out come April how useful it really is.

View attachment 10887

View attachment 10888

Your one-sheet cheat-sheet for thermo looks pretty good. I would add the expressions for Carnot thermal efficiency and Carnot COP (for refrigerators and heat pumps) as well as a sketch of a vapor compression refrigeration cycle on a P-h schematic.

Thanks for the tips! I will definitely work those in. Might have to go to a second sheet.

I would also consider adding these "time saver" versions of the equations for hydraulics: