# How I passed TFS October 2013 with a 96



## uzairsyedahmed (Dec 11, 2013)

Considering how much I had relied and gone through people's experiences, I think I owe this forum and community my two cents. First off, no I did not go through testmasters or any other prep course. They are not a guarantee despite what you say and you still have to do the same amount of study that someone studying on their own. Plus, you end up saving 1000s and can follow your own pace.

Firstly, skip the maths. I regret the week of my life I lost doing the math section. Unless you have forgotten all basics in math I wouldnt do it. but if you still want to skim through all 13 chapters but do in in less than a day. I was an honor student in my undergrad and did it in Pakistan which believe me was ten times tougher than my doing a masters in the US. (thats another long story). So despite being confident on the concepts there was quite a few things that I didnt know or know that well which the MERM covered. So this was my plan. and this is how I did it.

Started in August. went through all the chapters 14-56. I did a chapter, took notes on it (take notes in pen! I wasted two days rubbing pencil marks and overwriting with pen!!) and then did the problems. I would like to emphasize that you need to work on a concept, not just problem solving. you wont see the same question but would see the same concept. if your stuck on a problem, its worthwhile to dig into it. google on it and make sure you get your concepts as right as you can. for instance, I was stuck on when to use Air gas tables and when to use prop relations. compressible fluid flow(chapter 26?) was giving me trouble so I did google it and spent an extra day on it. I didnt do any of the 1 hour questions EXCEPT the ones in my discipline. I initially intended to do SMS but couldnt, since i didnt have the time. First week of October I was nearly done with my plan. Dont stick to a "chapter a day" some chapters take 10 minutes. Others would take three days. I spend the next three days revising the ones i did first,. just giving it a quick look to refresh those concepts. The following saturday I took the Lindeburg sample, got a little demoralized and stopped timing it. I just did it for practice. I would recommend doing this since those questions are really tough but you can revise concepts. I think I maybe got like 45/80 if I had timed it. I spent the next week going over those questions and re arranging my tabs. next weekend I took NCEES 2010 and got a 68/80. felt pretty happy and all 12 were pretty much mistakes. I revised a bit, and then went about arranging my references. Took the last day and a half off to relax.

Books I used other than mentioned above: ASME Steam tables (they have plenty of gradations and saves you from interpolating). Unit Conversion book by lindeburg ( I would recommend this highly).

Let me know if I can be of any help! Thanks to all Oct 2013 takers who supported each other and othres who answered our questions. Thanks a bunch!


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## uzairsyedahmed (Dec 11, 2013)

I forgot to add. Follow the lindeburg schedule. I think it is paced well. I did however spent more than a week on some "weekly topics" and less. yu can vary the timing as you want. I had spent alot of time on my sections so when I started Machine Design and HVAC, I had to rush through it a bit. Ideally you woudl want to start in July and make sure your done by end of Sept. so you can revise for a week or two, get organized and tab efficiently and then do sample exams. LSE is demoralizing but good practice. NCEES is close to what the actual thing was.


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## center*ice (Dec 11, 2013)

Agreed about the Lindeburg Engineering Unit Conversion book. Unit conversions must be done quickly and seamlessly during the exam to stay on time. Of course, working problems over and over when studying (particularly in your selected discipline) will cause many of the unit conversions to become second nature. Working the NCEES sample exam is obviously recommended, but I believe that mastering the Lindeburg sample exam is also very worthwhile, since it is more difficult than the NCEES version. Most of the 1 hour long problems can be broken down into individual mini problems. If a person can do well on both sample exams, he'll be much better perpared for the real thing.


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## SNAPE/SMOTT PE (Dec 11, 2013)

Awesome uzairsyedahmed! That was my study plan in the beginning too, and I know you put a lot into preparing. I knew you would do well. Congrats!


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## uzairsyedahmed (Dec 12, 2013)

Thanks!!


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## slug85 (Jan 19, 2014)

very good information..thanks for that

quick question for you: you say you studied chapters 14-56. Did you not encounter any problems from chapters 56-76 on the exam? in MERM they are dynamics and vibrations, plant engineering, economics, and ethics.

Also what was your depth module??


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## Jonhnny123 (Jan 28, 2014)

slug85 said:


> very good information..thanks for that
> 
> quick question for you: you say you studied chapters 14-56. Did you not encounter any problems from chapters 56-76 on the exam? in MERM they are dynamics and vibrations, plant engineering, economics, and ethics.
> 
> Also what was your depth module??




I took the Thermo-Fluid exam a few years ago.

There was very little, if anything, on Control Systems of Plant Engineering. There were a couple on Vibration and Machine Design, but they were relatively simple. I just looked up the formula for what they were asking for and plugged in the numbers.

There were a bunch of questions on Economics, so I was very glad that I reviewed the tables and understood how to use the formulas. If you don't understand how those formulas work, you'll be missing out on a few quick, easy right answers.

With that said, each test will be different. You may get one with more focus on vibrations or dynamics and none on economics. That's part of the challenge. You have to be prepared and comfortable for as much of the material as possible. Take a look at the topics on WWW.NCEES.ORG to get an idea of where you should focus your studying.


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## uzairsyedahmed (Jul 24, 2014)

no slug85. I didn't encounter any problems from those chapters. I did encounter a few problems that were related to industrial standards not covered by the book. However, it wasn't something you couldn't sit there and figure out. They usually provide the part of the industrial code they are referring to in the question. kinda like the questions where they provide graphs.


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## P-E (Jul 24, 2014)

I used the MERM and Practice Problems almost exclusively. I made the mistake of spending too much time on Chapters 1 - 13. I went in order through chapter 62 skipping chapter 30 (Nuke). In the last week before the exam, I reviewed Chapters 14 - 37, redoing some parts of some problems. I took that week off to study - I think that made all the difference.

If I had to do it over, I would have gone through the MERM in reverse order starting with Ch 62, skipped mathematics and reviewed some plant engineering chapters, if time allowed.

Beware of the TFS six min solutions. I worked a few problems and ditched it (terrible book) - use the NCEES practice exam instead.


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## Ramnares P.E. (Jul 28, 2014)

Can you explain what's wrong with the SMS TFS? I've used it as part of my prep for the Oct exam and didn't see any major errors or questions that seemed unreasonably difficult etc. Just want to get your opinion to gauge how much potential time I wasted.


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## SNAPE/SMOTT PE (Jul 29, 2014)

I think it depends on the person, IMO. The review class I'm taking does use the SMS, but not all of it. Some questions are thrown out by the instructor.


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## Ramnares P.E. (Jul 29, 2014)

Would you mind listing the questions that were thrown out and the reasoning behind it? A few of the afternoon questions seemed a bit too involved but I've worked under the assumption that it would be representative of the actual exam.


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## SNAPE/SMOTT PE (Jul 29, 2014)

I signed an agreement when I signed up for the class, and believe it would be in violation to do that. You can contact the instructor, if you like, and see if he will give you the info, maybe for a price. I know people are able to purchase his exam day companion, without taking any classes.


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## Ramnares P.E. (Jul 29, 2014)

Oh, didn't realize it violated the class agreement. Sorry about that!


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## P-E (Jul 29, 2014)

ramnares,

I wouldn't say working the SMS problems are a waste of time. The more problems you can do the better. However, I couldn't finish the Practice Problems book which I think is a better use of study time because you get a general review of everything.

I tried to use the SMS as a practice exam the on Sat before the real exam and bombed the SMS morning problems. I went into panic mode and nearly quit right there. I took the next week off and reviewed all the TFS MERM chapters and passed.

I thought overall, the SMS problems are more challenging and require more than six minutes on average. At the time, I wanted to take the SMS on my next camping trip and throw it on top of the bonfire - of course after calculating its heat content. I'd betting it would achieve complete combustion in less than six minutes.


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## SNAPE/SMOTT PE (Jul 29, 2014)

Seriously, his exam day companion is $95. If you email him and ask what he would charge for the SMS problems guide, no way can it be more than that. And it might help you to see. He has them marked out by what to study for am, pm, and what to skip. All he can do is tell you he won't sell it to you and your out nothing.


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