How did you study for the PE Exam?

Hey Guys, Just passed FE exam and will be testing for POWER PE in April 2019. Reference material contains 5-6 text books, 2-3 practice exam books and 2-3 code books. I have read experience of those who have passed PE. They are saying they have studied for 3-5 months on average , some even mentioned the hours, I believe it is anywhere from 120-150 hours. You are not going to go read word by word from 5-6 different books in that many hours and then do the practice problems as well. That brings a question , as to how did you use reference material?     

I passed my PE (Electrical and Computer: Computer Engineering) in October 2018. Here's a brief look at how I studied for that exam.

I started 6 months before exam day. To start, I looked at the exam specification, then purchased PPI's study bundle for the exam I was taking. I studied for about 1-2 hours at night after work, and anywhere from 4 to 8 hours per day on weekends. I read through each of the chapters in the book (including the introductory subjects, since I hadn't done stuff like calculus in at least 5 years) and did the accompanying practice problems at the end of each one.

I was expecting to finish going through these materials late into my study period, but surprisingly it only took 1 and 1/2 months for the whole thing (the CompERM is much thinner than the power one). I felt uneasy about how fast I went through it, so I sought out other materials. I had some useful books already on hand from college, so I started with those, and purchased some supplementary material based on the exam spec and other bloggers' recommendations.

While I was waiting for my other material to arrive, I took my first practice exam (PPI's version) and simulated the actual 8 hour day with 2 4-hour sessions. I used only the reference materials I had with me to gauge whether or not they would be sufficient. After completing the test, I graded the exam and discovered where I needed to focus my attention.

When my other materials arrived, I picked two specific books that were to be my "core" references, and read each chapter and did each of the practice problems that they provided. I ultimately spent about 2 and 1/2 months doing this, and during this period kept the same schedule (give or take) as when I was going through the PPI materials. I had other books on hand as well, but I didn't review them in detail; I just kept them on hand as miscellaneous references.

Near the end of this period, I took my second practice exam (NCEES' version) and did the same 8-hour day simulation and used my results to figure out how I needed to spend the remainder of my time.

At this point, it was 8 weeks until the exam, and I spent the last part of it collecting other material that I thought would be useful for exam day. This material was combined into my "binder".

One week before the exam, I basically took the time to relax and wind down. I've always operated under the philosophy that, by this point, I know what I know, and no amount of cramming is going to change the results, so it's not helpful to exert unnecessary brain power. So, I got a massage, caught up on social life a little bit, and did some other fun things with the family.

The night before the exam, I checked in to a hotel nearest to the exam site I could find (the nearest exam site was a 3-hour drive one way), and watched football. I did no studying this day.

On the day of the exam, I got up early, took the exam, and drove 3 hours home.

In total, I spent about 180 hours studying over that 6-month period. In hindsight, I probably could have put this same amount of hours in had I started one or two months later; by the time the last 8 weeks rolled around I was getting tired of studying and feeling like I wasn't gaining much out of it. Then again, I'm the kind of person that likes to leave myself as much time as possible, and I would rather be over-prepared than under-prepared.

Take my experience with a grain of salt; every person is different in how they need to prepare for exams like the PE, so just because the above worked for me doesn't mean it will work for everyone. But I do hope it helps.

Good luck on your exam!

Hello! I studied for 9 weeks. I passed. I focused on doing problems, which resulted in reading relevant sections of reference. I didn't approach it from a 'read stuff cover to cover' approach.

I wrote up my entire, detailed study method including all references, videos, etc and my week by week activity. I also wrote up my in-exam strategy.

Best of luck!

I studied for 9 months, 18 hours per week.

I worked hundreds of problems over 300 hrs with the FE review manual as my main reference.  

Your time is best spent working problems and understanding how to efficiently manipulate the calculator,  not reading or watching videos.  

Creating a game day scinerio may also be helpful. When working problems, hold yourself to a time limit,  learn to move on to another problem, and come to terms with the sections/problems/concepts that you dont understand and never will. 

Stay the night before in a hotel near the testing location, and go to bed early.  

Work enough problems (a ton) to get similar ones right on the exam and educate guess for the long/unsimilar questions.

invu said:

I worked hundreds of problems over 300 hrs with the FE review manual as my main reference.  

Your time is best spent working problems and understanding how to efficiently manipulate the calculator,  not reading or watching videos.  

Creating a game day scinerio may also be helpful. When working problems, hold yourself to a time limit,  learn to move on to another problem, and come to terms with the sections/problems/concepts that you dont understand and never will. 

Stay the night before in a hotel near the testing location, and go to bed early.  

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while i agree that working problems is the best way to understand different concepts, I still tend to believe watching EET breath and demand videos is quite helpful and gives you a starting point to understand the concept.