# Hours put in to pass october 2013 exam



## Distant Thunder (Dec 18, 2013)

Just asking those who passed....

For posterity sake, how many hours did you put in for oct 2013 exam?

I did ~115 but I would estimate 30 of those were wasted on things that were not on the exam (basic calc, matrix theory, etc) would have been better off if I had watched a few of dr. Tom's YouTube videos beforehand to develop a strategy. Included in that time was taking two separate practice exams.


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## Ship Wreck PE (Dec 18, 2013)

I put in around 300 hrs. Started 6 months before test and took Ga Tech class.


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## PSU09Vet (Dec 19, 2013)

An hour per night starting in July, closer to two hours per night the first two weeks of October. Eased up the last week and didn't study the last two nights before the exam. I did nothing but go through the 2011 sample exam from NCEES. So all in all, maybe around 130-140 hours.


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## DarkChocolateNibs (Dec 19, 2013)

I would estimate about 25 hours for my first try (and fail) for october 2012, with another 75-100 hours put in before october 2013. For the October 12 exam I spent the time going over a friends notes and sample exams. For October 13 my primary study guide was the Camara PE Reference Guide and more sample exams.


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## jgusa (Dec 19, 2013)

Spent a bit over 200 hours studying, starting in August. Went through almost the entire Lindeburg text cover to cover with the associated practice problem book, along with an 8 week review class at the University of Washington. Three months of pain resulted in a pass!


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## NinjaPanther (Dec 19, 2013)

I probably studied around 150 hours in total. At least half of that was from the School of PE review course, which had an 8-hour refresher course and a 5-hour workshop for each breadth subject, along with a 8-hour refresher/workshop for the depth portion. I studied a fair bit on my own in the six weeks leading up to the exam. I started at a few hours per week, then increased to a couple hours every day in the final week. The review course may have been overkill, but it definitely helped me to pass on the first try, so no regrets.


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## ex nihilo (Dec 19, 2013)

~100 hours over 3 months. The Florida Board did not approve my application until July 30!

Those 3 months were pretty stressful as I made several business trips (plant commissioning) during that time. Spent lots of time doing practice problems (and getting funny looks) at 35,000 feet!


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## Baltimorean (Dec 19, 2013)

~150-175 over two months (okay maybe more like 1.5 months). School of PE on weeknights and then 8-12 hours every Sat/Sun. That includes the 20 or so hours it took me to organize my binders,


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## whalende (Dec 19, 2013)

~350 hours over 5 months. Did spend some time reading text in the Lindeburg book (which was a waste of time). Worked alot of practice problems


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## FLH20 (Dec 19, 2013)

~200 hours starting the week after the 4th of july. 3-4 nights during week and at least 10 hours every weekend while working full time. Plus a full week off the week of the exam


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## Dexman PE PMP (Dec 19, 2013)

0. Didn't study. At all.

I passed. But then again, I passed back in '08...


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Dec 19, 2013)

Dexman PE said:


> 0. Didn't study. At all.
> 
> I passed. But then again, I passed back in '08...




Beat me to it. I was just about to troll something snarky and I see you already stepped in.

Ah well, whatever. Neither of us studied this cycle! Let's go ban some noobs.


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## Distant Thunder (Dec 19, 2013)

Dexman PE said:


> 0. Didn't study. At all.
> 
> I passed. But then again, I passed back in '08...


HA HA


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## johnnyusma08 (Dec 20, 2013)

I studied about 110 hours and started roughly 40 days before the exam. I do not necessarily recommend waiting until the month before until starting because I essentially had to devote every free hour to studying. However, it did train me to sit and focus for long periods of time on engineer problems, which was certainly helpful in preparing for the test. Also because I procrastinated, it forced me to skip straight to the important stuff (i.e. not reading the CERM cover to cover and studying only what was in the NCEES outline.)


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## cupojoe PE PMP (Dec 20, 2013)

About 200+ including time spent with SoPE. I'd say 30-40 of those study hours I was probably screwing off. Time management fail.


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## Dexman PE PMP (Dec 20, 2013)

VTEnviro said:


> Dexman PE said:
> 
> 
> > 0. Didn't study. At all.
> ...


:banned:


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## Jdsmith PE (Dec 20, 2013)

I started studying the first week of June. I probably spent around 350 hours sitting in front of books (although I would probably only count 3/4 of that time).


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## Peele1 (Dec 20, 2013)

Way back in '11, I'd say I spent 300 hours in direct study and about 100 more in preparation (application, finding and organizing references mostly, plus prep of what to (not) take to the exam, and meticulously organizing reference materials.)

I knew that after that exam I'd have no time to study (baby on the way), so I made sure to have a "one and done" attitude.

Passed.


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## eXtra_sauce (Dec 20, 2013)

Took the week of the exam off and spent about ten hours a day for five days, so around fifty or so hours.


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## wizfan1984 (Dec 24, 2013)

I started at the beginning of August. I'd say I spent about 150 hours studying. I tried to make my way through the Mechanical Engineering Reference Manual for 75% of that time, with the rest focused on practice problems and practice tests. During the week before the exam, I reviewed practice problems that I had previously solved and briefly looked through chapters in the MERM that I didn't have time to read in detail.


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## floridamose (Dec 25, 2013)

Started studying July 5th. I had just passed the FE, and was already used to studying. After my little calculation, I figured out that I had spent almost 400 hours studying for the PE. I had the PPI material and I used the Complex Imaginary tests and the NCEES test. All in all, I had 7 practice tests. I started out by reading through the entire PPI book and doing all of the practice problems. Then I took a PPI practice test. I took a practice test every two weeks. I would take a test, check it, then go back another day and take the same test untuned to see if I was making stupid decisions because of time, or because I didn't know how to solve the problem. Then I would take the problems that I thought were difficult and work through the solutions. I spent an entire two weeks with each test I took. It paid off. I would say not to waste your time with the PPI tests. They are not very realistic. The Complex Imaginary tests were great! They were a little simplistic, but very close to the test. As usual, the best practice was from the NCEES. I will tell you, I thought this material helped me with the AM test, but Nit at all for the afternoon. I was on my own.


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## ptatohed (Jan 5, 2014)

Distant Thunder said:


> Just asking those who passed....
> 
> For posterity sake, how many hours did you put in for oct 2013 exam?
> 
> I did ~115 but I would estimate 30 of those were wasted on things that were not on the exam (basic calc, matrix theory, etc) would have been better off if I had watched a few of dr. Tom's YouTube videos beforehand to develop a strategy. Included in that time was taking two separate practice exams.


My advice to any candidate taking any administration (not just the Oct 2013 administration) would be as follows:

NCEES 8 Hr: 300 +/- 50 Hours

CA Survey: 200 +/- 50 Hours

CA Seismic: 200 +/- 50 Hours


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## benjaminb (Jan 6, 2014)

October 2012 - 175 hours - fail

April 2013 - 200 hours - fail

October 2013 - 8 hours - PASS!!!


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## crunchercrunch (Jan 12, 2014)

PSU09Vet said:


> An hour per night starting in July, closer to two hours per night the first two weeks of October. Eased up the last week and didn't study the last two nights before the exam. I did nothing but go through the 2011 sample exam from NCEES. So all in all, maybe around 130-140 hours.




How did you spend 140 hours doing nothing but go through the sample exam???


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