# Mechanical PE Mechanical Systems and Materials



## JGG (Jul 12, 2009)

I have a buddy takin the Mechanical Systems and materials afternoon section for the Mechanical PE. Can anyone suggest what books are usefull for this exam? I took the HVAC afternoon section and the ASHRAE books were usefull to me, but obviously won't do him any good.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks and good luck to everyone taking the October PE.


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## JoeysVee (Jul 12, 2009)

The MERM would be good to have.


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## JGG (Jul 13, 2009)

Thanks. I gave him my copy of MERM, but that's really all he has. I'm thinking: what specific references for the Mechanical Systems and Materials afternoon section are helpful.? I took the HVAC&amp;R in April and Passed. Here's what I did. I skimmed MERM, took the NCEES sample exam, worked all the problems in the 6 minute solution for HVAC&amp;R, then took the Lindenburg sample exam. The online and published ppi questions were not representative of the types of questions that were on the actual test, so I stopped even looking at those after the frist three weeks of studying. The ppi sample exam was good practice as long as you realize it is a lot harder than the actual test. It can kill your confidence if you think you should be able to answer a high percentage of the questions.

Is anyone taking the systems and materials afternoon section?


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## JGG (Jul 13, 2009)

JoeysVee said:


> The MERM would be good to have.



PS: Good luck in October with that Thermo/Fluids. I just noticed you're in SC. Are you taking it in Columbia?


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## Agg97 (Jul 13, 2009)

JGG said:


> I have a buddy takin the Mechanical Systems and materials afternoon section for the Mechanical PE. Can anyone suggest what books are usefull for this exam? I took the HVAC afternoon section and the ASHRAE books were usefull to me, but obviously won't do him any good.
> Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks and good luck to everyone taking the October PE.


If you're good enough and cocky enough, MERM and Shigley's is all you need. Mark's is a good 3rd. There were a couple of those people when I took the test. I happened to take the HVAC depth, and brought along a boat load of references. There's no penalty for having too many references (except your ego if you're that fragile). Some people say don't take too many because they'll just confuse you. I say that's hogwash. You know how many questions there are, and what the time limit is. If you don't finish the test because you were digging through unfamiliar references the whole time, that's a test-taking strategy issue, not a "too many references" issue.


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## JGG (Jul 13, 2009)

Thanks. I took the HVAC depth too, and carried all of the ASHRAE books, MERM, Mark's, and a Trane HVAC manual. I used MERM, and 2 of the ASHRAE books and that's it, but if Ihad to take it again, I'd bring everything the same.


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## JoeysVee (Jul 13, 2009)

Yeah, I'm taking it in Columbia.

See this thread...

http://engineerboards.com/index.php?showtopic=9638

Some of the ME post are hid in the Mechanical subforum.


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## Agg97 (Jul 13, 2009)

JGG said:


> Thanks. I took the HVAC depth too, and carried all of the ASHRAE books, MERM, Mark's, and a Trane HVAC manual. I used MERM, and 2 of the ASHRAE books and that's it, but if Ihad to take it again, I'd bring everything the same.


I had all those and a whole lot more. I two others that I did use that weren't on your list are Cameron's Hydraulic Data and Keenan &amp; Keyes' Steam Tables. Sure that same information is in the MERM, but I like using smaller, one trick pony books when I can. It helps me speed up the process. Just a personal preference, of course.


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## JoeysVee (Jul 13, 2009)

JGG said:


> Thanks. I took the HVAC depth too, and carried all of the ASHRAE books, MERM, Mark's, and a Trane HVAC manual. I used MERM, and 2 of the ASHRAE books and that's it, but if Ihad to take it again, I'd bring everything the same.


I am contemplating taking the HVAC depth instead of the thermal/fluids. I have the 4 ASHREA books but I've never used them in practice so I do not know where anything is in them. How often did you need them during the exam? I'm not fluent with them at all but I'm pretty good with the HVAC and Refridge stuff in general.....ie when I took the PE exam I took the T&amp;F depth but got 71% correct in the HVAC portion of the morning part. If I brush up on HVAC an Refridge stuff I think I could do pretty well as long as I wouldn't need to quickly find things in the ASHRAE books frequently.


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## JGG (Jul 13, 2009)

From what I can remember, the only times that I used the ASHRAE books were...I think when I used the refrigerant tables in the Fundamentals book, and the heat capacity of various meats in the Refrigeration book. I never tabbed them, but I used the index anytime I found something that I didn't know real well where it was. The only book that I knew well was MERM. Even though they don't send scores out in SC, I'm farely confident that I did great on the morning section and worse in the HVAC. It could be a combination of my lack of knowledge about the ASHRAE books and the fact that 5 hours into the exam I my brain was fried. I also feel like i lucked out with the morning questions that I got and was unlucky with the depth section questions I got. Anyway, I'm a design/build engineer for a commericial HVAC construction company, so I actually deal with the HVAC topics in my career. I never looked at the depth questions in the other two areas, so I don't even know what they're like.


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## Agg97 (Jul 13, 2009)

I'm a design/build engineer for a commercial HVAC construction company, too! I agree with all this except while studying there was a sound dissipation problem that there was a neat little formula inside in one of the other books (Applicatons?) . Also, there was a vibration isolation problem where there's a formula in one of the ASHRAE books for it. Otherwise, just looking up general information about refrigerants or R-values of various materials is about it. Easy, slam dunk questions if you have the references; throwing darts at a dartboard if you don't have them.



JGG said:


> From what I can remember, the only times that I used the ASHRAE books were...I think when I used the refrigerant tables in the Fundamentals book, and the heat capacity of various meats in the Refrigeration book. I never tabbed them, but I used the index anytime I found something that I didn't know real well where it was. The only book that I knew well was MERM. Even though they don't send scores out in SC, I'm farely confident that I did great on the morning section and worse in the HVAC. It could be a combination of my lack of knowledge about the ASHRAE books and the fact that 5 hours into the exam I my brain was fried. I also feel like i lucked out with the morning questions that I got and was unlucky with the depth section questions I got. Anyway, I'm a design/build engineer for a commericial HVAC construction company, so I actually deal with the HVAC topics in my career. I never looked at the depth questions in the other two areas, so I don't even know what they're like.


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## nashbmattPE (Jul 13, 2009)

JoeysVee said:


> I am contemplating taking the HVAC depth instead of the thermal/fluids. I have the 4 ASHREA books but I've never used them in practice so I do not know where anything is in them. How often did you need them during the exam? I'm not fluent with them at all but I'm pretty good with the HVAC and Refridge stuff in general.....ie when I took the PE exam I took the T&amp;F depth but got 71% correct in the HVAC portion of the morning part. If I brush up on HVAC an Refridge stuff I think I could do pretty well as long as I wouldn't need to quickly find things in the ASHRAE books frequently.


if you got the CD with your 2009 ASHRAE Fundamentals, load it on your computer and print out the index just like the MERM. easier to look thru this in a 3-ring binder than using the back of the book.


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## Ralph (Jul 14, 2009)

JGG said:


> I have a buddy takin the Mechanical Systems and materials afternoon section for the Mechanical PE. Can anyone suggest what books are usefull for this exam? I took the HVAC afternoon section and the ASHRAE books were usefull to me, but obviously won't do him any good.
> Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks and good luck to everyone taking the October PE.


For what it's worth I took exam with the Mechanical Systems and Materials depth section and passed this April. I probably over did the number of references I brought to the exam, but I figured if I brought a reference and didn't need it it was better than not having a reference that I did need. With that being my approach I had basically every reference listed in the front portion of MERM and a few other textbooks that I was comfortable with. Those listed below were the references that I used for the Mechanical Systems and Materials section. Good luck, and I hope it helps.

1. MERM

2. Shigley's Mechanical Engineering Design (5th edition)

3. Machinery's Handbook (26th edition)

4. Mark's Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers (10th edition)

5. Materials textbook (college textbook and I don't remember the title)

6. NCEES Sample Exam

7. 6-Minute Solutions - Machine Design


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## JGG (Jul 15, 2009)

Ralph said:


> For what it's worth I took exam with the Mechanical Systems and Materials depth section and passed this April. I probably over did the number of references I brought to the exam, but I figured if I brought a reference and didn't need it it was better than not having a reference that I did need. With that being my approach I had basically every reference listed in the front portion of MERM and a few other textbooks that I was comfortable with. Those listed below were the references that I used for the Mechanical Systems and Materials section. Good luck, and I hope it helps.1. MERM
> 
> 2. Shigley's Mechanical Engineering Design (5th edition)
> 
> ...



Thanks Ralph. That helps a lot.


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## bph (Jul 17, 2009)

Ralph said:


> For what it's worth I took exam with the Mechanical Systems and Materials depth section and passed this April. I probably over did the number of references I brought to the exam, but I figured if I brought a reference and didn't need it it was better than not having a reference that I did need. With that being my approach I had basically every reference listed in the front portion of MERM and a few other textbooks that I was comfortable with. Those listed below were the references that I used for the Mechanical Systems and Materials section. Good luck, and I hope it helps.1. MERM
> 
> 2. Shigley's Mechanical Engineering Design (5th edition)
> 
> ...


Ralph has got it just right, I think the above is the best set of references for the general and depth machine design.

I would make get both the old and new NCEES sample exams, they are really the best example problems you will find period.

I also found the ASHRAE psyc chart #1 (8.5" x 17") very useful and would definitely bring it (you can order direct from ASHRAE). I also purchase the 6 minute solutions for fluids/heat and HVAC, but only worked the morning problems, found it useful also, better than the MERM for morning fluid/heat and HVAC or at least as good for example problems. I really don't think you need anything else, and If I were to do it again, this is all I would take (no change from first time). I passed 1st attempt with the above references.


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