# # of Hours of study & prep



## cdcengineer

There may be a post like this out there, but I didn't find it...

Anyway:

How many hours did you study - 275

# of times you've taken the test - 1

Let's see if hours studied relates to success...


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## MWC PE

i didn't really keep track but I think it was around 200 hours.

1st time taking it.

Honestly after taking the test, 200 hours seemed excessive, but I was well prepared so thats good.


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## schmidty99

About 200 hours not counting sitting/sleeping through some Dr. Blanks DVD's.

To be honest, I could have used another couple weeks. That was my problem though, due to bad scheduling, etc.

First time taking it, Electrical/Electronics.


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## MNEnvEPETstee

I took the FE last year, about 12 or 13 years out of college (ChemE). I started studying in January for the April exam, I would guess I put in 250-300 hours. I had to relearn a lot of stuff. Passed first try. I just took the Enviro PE, and started studying in February. Definitely put in less time. I'll call it 150-200 hours.


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## Santiagj

My total was about 170 hours. Including a prep course that I forced myself to take. The prep course was 80 hours long.

Took the test once and passed.

One thing to note though was that I recently finished my masters degree in engineering. The classes I took were mostly in the field that I was tested on so I am sure they helped.


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## MWC PE

Santiagj said:


> My total was about 170 hours. Including a prep course that I forced myself to take. The prep course was 80 hours long.
> Took the test once and passed.
> 
> One thing to note though was that I recently finished my masters degree in engineering. The classes I took were mostly in the field that I was tested on so I am sure they helped.



+1, my MS classes were definitely a help for me also.


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## yatkins

About 80 hrs self study.

Took and passed first attempt.


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## PowElec

170+ hours!?!?! That would be 17 straight weeks of studying at 10 hours per week... or 8.5 weeks at 20 hours per week... or 1 full month of 40 hours per week... Is it just me or does this sound exaggerated?

Maybe I am on the low side here but I spent 2 hours each Sunday afternoon for about 1 month prior to the exam... so I spent maybe 10 hours tops.


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## MWC PE

I started studying for it as soon as I graduated with my MS(which I only got so as to take the exam earlier) in December. I did an hour a night Sun-Thu for about 16 weeks. I also spent lunch hour/down time at work(The recessions was good for my studying) probably 5-10 hours a week for about 14 weeks. I think 200 hours was fairly close to what I actually did. The biggest problem was I ran out of stuff to look at. (3 Civil FE books, 6 min solutions for PE, Lindburg practice PE, NCEES Practice PE, CERM practice problem book) I ended up doing most of the practice exams twice.

Yes it was overkill, but I figure it was important enough for me to spend the time to do it.


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## jmbeck

30 hours


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## jldavis2

1st try (and 1st use of 90% of the subject matter in 12yrs out of college) so....

200+ hrs of actual review/problem solving with more for misc stuff like reading these forums


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## Shanks

After reading how many hrs others have spent, I feel dumber...spent about 100hrs in first attempt, missed by 3points, second attempt with 200-250hrs, result awaited (I am not very hopeful though)


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## jmbeck

Shanks said:


> After reading how many hrs others have spent, I feel dumber...spent about 100hrs in first attempt, missed by 3points, second attempt with 200-250hrs, result awaited (I am not very hopeful though)



It really depends on your industry.

Luckily, as I took the HVAC depth, there was little on there that I hadn't seen in my work experience. So, technically, I guess you could say I studied for 5 years.

For others, it's not quite like that.

So, don't let anyone's study time, or lack thereof, have any bearing on your thoughts. Everyone's situation is different.


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## MNEnvEPETstee

PowElec said:


> 170+ hours!?!?! That would be 17 straight weeks of studying at 10 hours per week... or 8.5 weeks at 20 hours per week... or 1 full month of 40 hours per week... Is it just me or does this sound exaggerated?
> Maybe I am on the low side here but I spent 2 hours each Sunday afternoon for about 1 month prior to the exam... so I spent maybe 10 hours tops.


Not exaggerated at all. For me, pretty much every weekend from the middle of February through the test was spent at the library studying. Also did some on weeknights. After taking that test, I know I spent hours on things that weren't on there, but I had no way of knowing that in advance.


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## Dleg

I was about 16 years out of school and taking the exam in a field different than my degree, so I spent a full 300 hours or more, and walked away from the exam feeling like I had passed, which I did. For the enviro exam, I can't see studying for only 10 or 50 hours at all. It covers so much ground there is no way to prepare other than by spending a lot of time studying and practicing.


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## indeng

In addition to the above two posts, the point of the PE exam or SE exam, or any specific exam, is not to try to see if you can "pass" a test. Obviously you can, or you wouldnt be in a position to take the test. The point of the test is to force you to brush up on knowledge you havent used in a while, restudy the most up-to-date codes, and just become a smarter engineer.

I easily stuided 500 hours for the PE, and then 500 hours again for the SE1 &amp; SE2. Walking out of the PE I felt I got a 100%. Maybe I didn't need to study so many topics in depth, but it did make me a smarter engineer. The same goes for the SE. I havent got my results back yet, but I feel great about it.

I would strongly encourage to study as much as you can. Statistically, the more you study, the better you'll do. At this point in your career, there is no wasted time studying... even if that question doesnt appear on your test.


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## Santiagj

PowElec said:


> 170+ hours!?!?! That would be 17 straight weeks of studying at 10 hours per week... or 8.5 weeks at 20 hours per week... or 1 full month of 40 hours per week... Is it just me or does this sound exaggerated?
> Maybe I am on the low side here but I spent 2 hours each Sunday afternoon for about 1 month prior to the exam... so I spent maybe 10 hours tops.



Yup, I'm serious. I started studying months in advance. Plus I took the week off prior to the exam and used that time to study a minimum of 10 hours a day. I wanted to get the exam over with. One shot, one kill style. My goal was to give the exam my 100% the first time and not bother taking it a second. I think alot of people fail because they do not put the time that is required and they go in unprepared.


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## MechGuy

I tried studying for about 30-40 hours the first time, and I missed by one point (69). After that I put in over 300 hours easily (4 months of studying every day), and passed the HVAC depth.


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## TXCoogPE

Santiagj said:


> Yup, I'm serious. I started studying months in advance. Plus I took the week off prior to the exam and used that time to study a minimum of 10 hours a day. I wanted to get the exam over with. One shot, one kill style. My goal was to give the exam my 100% the first time and not bother taking it a second. I think alot of people fail because they do not put the time that is required and they go in unprepared.


+1, plus taking TestMasters in addition to self-study. I only wanted to take that test one time.


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## bta15

I studied for approximately 16 hours. 2 hours each weekend for a month prior to the test, then 8 hours the day before the test, no review course. I took the Civil Transportation exam and passed the first try.

6 minute solution FTW.


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## sac_engineer

bta15 said:


> I studied for approximately 16 hours. 2 hours each weekend for a month prior to the test, then 8 hours the day before the test, no review course. I took the Civil Transportation exam and passed the first try.
> 6 minute solution FTW.


Nice! 16 hours is not typical of the average amount of time to study for the PE and I think most people can agree to that. I studied about 100 hours for the PE and a total of about 60 hours for the state-specific exams for California (seismic, surveying) and started studying about 3 months before the exam. Passed everything on the first try... phew!

The more you want to pass the exam on the first try, the more you would study for it. This is why first-time takers have a higher passing rate than repeaters. When you don't know what to expect, you'd study as much as possible to cover as many topics in the test plan as possible.


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## hawkinjc

I studied any where between 200-300 hours. I started my studying about 8 months before the test, but I really didn't buckle down until the last few months. That being said I thought the test was very easy and felt like I smoked through it. I had a few errors that i realized later, but I got an 85 score (70 is passing). They give your scores in Texas. I took the Civil/Structural.

Basically if you study with the mindset to get 100%, the test will be pretty easy.


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## NEED2009

Studying for a very very long time....

Took it twice and passed........


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## archeng1

I just took the exam in April 10 and awaiting results

Started studying about 4-5 weeks prior and totaled about 80-100 hours. 5-10 hours per week the first 4 weeks and then cram like hell the last week and a half for about 40 - 50 hours.

I felt ok coming out, time will tell


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## Somerset

200 hours

It includeded the quiz, sample exam time, about 1 hour per day from Monday to Friday.

1st time, passed.

I think after you take some sample, you know how many hours you needed, I add 1.3 multiplier on mine.


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## bbrams

I studied 150 to 200 hours and passed on the first try on the Civil: Water Resources depth. I have very little experience in the construction, transportation and structures. I spend a lot of time on structures (~30-40 hours). Maybe 4 hours on construction and probably 16 hours on transportation. I focused on Water Resources since it was my depth. I studied over a sixth month period, but there was a 6 week period in the last eight weeks where I was totally wiped out from studying and I simply didn't study. It was a brain recharge. I pushed hard the last two weeks. Sample test, exam cafe. Probably averaged 4 hours a night.


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## gujjubhai

1st try - 40 hours - score 67

2nd try - 50 hours - score 66

3rd try - &gt;200 hours - score 83


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## jmbeck

1st try - Flipped through the MERM for 6 minutes waiting for them to open the doors on the day of the exam - score 99.8


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## txguy

more number of hours of study is not always a positive result in exam. I studied my ass off last time i failed. I did not study much this time, studied veryy selective and passed. Not trying to give an impression to anyone that study less is good option. Just that i did not sweat lot this time as i already studied last time, just kind of a refresher. I did not try to study covering more topic this time too. I took a review and workshop class and just tried to hit hard on some selective topic and it worked for me


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## Jay

I passed the civil structural, the first time, by studying the NCEES practice problems for the civil exam and the structural I exam - I found the structural I practice problems to be extremely good practice for the structural depth of the civil PE. (not only does it help you with the difficulty regime and scope, but the problems can be very good practice. by very good practice, I mean they were *very good practice*.)

I did the 6-minute solutions for the structural I (which I heard were similar to the 6 minute solutions for the structural depth) and they did refresh some concepts and code checks in my mind, but were in no way similar to the exam problems. NCEES practice problems were much more on target.

I started studying in January, and tried to hit the books at least every week, mostly on the weekends. Maybe 3 to 5 hours during the work week - more intense during the weekend.

The amount of studying you do will be directly dependent upon how much you remember from school and what you actually do in practice at your job. Being a blast engineer, I'm not as familiar with IBC, AASHTO, etc - but I have an extremely strong grasp of the key principles of structural engineering and design. So, I took the Civil PE with structural depth, learned all the easy general Civil stuff (general civil morning can't be hard - it's not in-depth enough to be hard) and focused on honing my structures knowledge for the afternoon into a razor-sharp tool of engineering knowledge destruction. it worked


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## J4S0NI2ICE

I took the CE test last spring (2009) and if I had to guess... I probably studied for around 300 hours. I didn't pass. But what I learned was I spent way too much time reviewing EVERYTHING in the CERM. I did every problem in the supplemental questions book which was probably a mistake. When I got the breakdown of my failed test I aced the morning but bombed the afternoon (got a 65% overall).

Soooo, for the spring 2010 exam I spent an additional 60-80 hours or so reviewing everything I could get my hands on related to Transportation. I should have realized this before because my degree is in Forestry Engineering (no highway design classes) and I am not a Transportation Engineer.

If I had to do it all over I probably whould have touched on main topics is the CERM but really devoted more time to my afternoon focus. All in all I left the test this year with a ton more confidence and can't wait to get my results!


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## New_England_Jacket

I took chem e the first time in april '10.

I studied for about 200 hours, literally until I couldn't think of any other material to cover. I'd say, which was probably way more than I needed (I hope, right?)

Here's what I did:

I took the practice test untimed and I got more than half right.

My first order of business was to work on the weak parts that the test identified (in my case, distillation, adsorption, mass transfer, and indexing "trivia" sections in the ChERM 5th ed.) until they were strong parts, using the Lindeburg supplemental problems*.

I remembered from the FE that there would be some questions in the practice exam that were almost exactly like what appeared on the real test but that the practice test is a lot harder...it wasn't quite like that this time. The practice test was only a little harder, but not as much of a copy of the real test. It was still waay closer than any of the ppi problems.

My second order of business was to get to where I could do any of the sample test problems in under two minutes without using any published references (unless it was a steam table, TEMA table, or a "trivia" section). I made a single page crib sheet that contained the most common constants in different unit systems, hard to find conversion factors, and common mistakes (ie how to spot where they are trying to trip me up on a unit conversion, wt% vs fraction, etc.), and other notes to myself.

Anything that required an involved method (such as the NTU for heat exchangers) got a separate crib sheet that explained the fastest way to group terms to get it done in under two minutes. I went through the practice test a third time to verify that I could recognize everything in it and solve it from memory in under two minutes.

My third order of business was to go through the exam topic specifications line-by-line and read textbook chapters on them. I would also do a couple fundamentals problems out of the relevant textbooks' relevant chapters if I got the feeling that was necessary (did a lot of extra work on VLE, for instance).

I also took a lot of notes that simplified the concepts in the textbooks in the ways that I thought NCEES could actually formulate a test question about them. I feel like this was where I made most of my key breakthroughs in preparation. I also indexed Perry's for the trivia sections around this point.

My fourth order of business, the last thing I did, was read through the practice test problems a fourth time. This time, I read it really close, in order to see into the mind of NCEES, if you'll pardon the expression. My main purpose was to try and visualize what other NCEES problems might look like, what could they change about the questions over these topics without making them prohibitively difficult, what did I see in the textbooks that these problems demonstrate, what "trivia" do the solutions of the problems infer. Stuff like that.

Now, I haven't gotten my results yet, but I did finish an 8 hour test in under 5:30.

*supplemental problems were for the 6th ed, so it was kinda confusing at first because I had the 5th ed. ChERM. I read here that the 5th ed. is superior to the 6th ed for chemical, so I guess I got lucky.


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## jsrogers

I took the Civil/Geotech in April of this year - Still don't have results back. I took a PE review class which I actually found to be pretty worthless other than one of the sessions. Was out of town for work so only went to four of the sessions (8 hours a pop for 32 hrs) and then studied for about 2.5 days before the test (so 25 hours there) for a total of about 60 hours. I felt pretty comfortable and thought that I had more than enough time on the test. In retrospect I should have just not taken the review class and spent that time doing my own review.


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## kuby83

cdcengineer said:


> There may be a post like this out there, but I didn't find it...
> Anyway:
> 
> How many hours did you study - 275
> 
> # of times you've taken the test - 1
> 
> Let's see if hours studied relates to success...


Study time - &lt;12 hours. I reviewed the sample test twice and made sure I fully understood the concepts and solutions to each problem. I also made sure I knew how to quickly find information in all of the ASHRAE books and MERM.

# of times taken the test -1

Took mechanical exam with HVAC in the afternoon. I was lucky enough to have passed on the first time.


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## txaggie04PE

Studied maybe 80-100 hours. All of it was studying the NCEES sample exam for mechanical. I worked the whole thing twice through and made sure I understood every question.

Mechanical Thermal Fluids.

Took it once and passed. Got an 88, but I only felt like I got 55 out of 80 questions correct.


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## Mapes

Studied on my own for a total of about 200 hours. Took Civil Construction PM and passed first try. Actually spent the majority of my time (75% or more) studying for AM portion. After taking the test, I feel like I definitely spent too much time on studying Stuctures for AM as the structural questions on test weren't as involved as I thought they would be.


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## PK72

Took the Mechanical PE Exam for the first time in April 2010. 5 yrs out of college. Took the testmasters review course. About 100 Hours of class. Spent about 60 hours studying outside of class, practice problems, tabbing ASHRAE manuals, MERM, etc. Took HVAC depth, passed with 87.


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## loki

I probably studied around 150 - 200 hours. Passed on the first time, so it was well worth it.


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## Phalanx

I spent around 200 hours studying and passed the Civil-Structural on the first attempt.

It took about 50 hours of studying before I gained confidence in transpo, geotech, and water. That's roughly 16 hours per subject. Out of the 200 hours, I spent 25% or so studying for the afternoon portion.


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## cdcengineer

I spent 275 hours studying for the Electrical Power exam. Some of that time was spent prepping materials and organizing, but all time counts.

Power Systems Analysis was key and so was Intro to Electric Power Systems (Goetze)

Passed 1st attempt.


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## New_England_Jacket

New_England_Jacket said:


> I took chem e the first time in april '10.
> I studied for about 200 hours, literally until I couldn't think of any other material to cover. I'd say, which was probably way more than I needed (I hope, right?)
> 
> Here's what I did:
> 
> I took the practice test untimed and I got more than half right.
> 
> My first order of business was to work on the weak parts that the test identified (in my case, distillation, adsorption, mass transfer, and indexing "trivia" sections in the ChERM 5th ed.) until they were strong parts, using the Lindeburg supplemental problems*.
> 
> I remembered from the FE that there would be some questions in the practice exam that were almost exactly like what appeared on the real test but that the practice test is a lot harder...it wasn't quite like that this time. The practice test was only a little harder, but not as much of a copy of the real test. It was still waay closer than any of the ppi problems.
> 
> My second order of business was to get to where I could do any of the sample test problems in under two minutes without using any published references (unless it was a steam table, TEMA table, or a "trivia" section). I made a single page crib sheet that contained the most common constants in different unit systems, hard to find conversion factors, and common mistakes (ie how to spot where they are trying to trip me up on a unit conversion, wt% vs fraction, etc.), and other notes to myself.
> 
> Anything that required an involved method (such as the NTU for heat exchangers) got a separate crib sheet that explained the fastest way to group terms to get it done in under two minutes. I went through the practice test a third time to verify that I could recognize everything in it and solve it from memory in under two minutes.
> 
> My third order of business was to go through the exam topic specifications line-by-line and read textbook chapters on them. I would also do a couple fundamentals problems out of the relevant textbooks' relevant chapters if I got the feeling that was necessary (did a lot of extra work on VLE, for instance).
> 
> I also took a lot of notes that simplified the concepts in the textbooks in the ways that I thought NCEES could actually formulate a test question about them. I feel like this was where I made most of my key breakthroughs in preparation. I also indexed Perry's for the trivia sections around this point.
> 
> My fourth order of business, the last thing I did, was read through the practice test problems a fourth time. This time, I read it really close, in order to see into the mind of NCEES, if you'll pardon the expression. My main purpose was to try and visualize what other NCEES problems might look like, what could they change about the questions over these topics without making them prohibitively difficult, what did I see in the textbooks that these problems demonstrate, what "trivia" do the solutions of the problems infer. Stuff like that.
> 
> Now, I haven't gotten my results yet, but I did finish an 8 hour test in under 5:30.
> 
> *supplemental problems were for the 6th ed, so it was kinda confusing at first because I had the 5th ed. ChERM. I read here that the 5th ed. is superior to the 6th ed for chemical, so I guess I got lucky.


I passed, but RI only reports pass/fail. I will email the board and see if they can tell me what my score was.


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## tsumi

I started keeping track of my time, but there were too many hours and I gave up... I studied 8-10 hours Sat and Sun, and 3 hours as many weeknights I could manage. I started about 4 months before the exam-- Good luck!


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## twindadtodd

I probably put in 30-40 hours of useful studying...

I took the Environmental exam and bought one of the DVD prep courses...found it very useful to focus my efforts.


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## Waterboy

cdcengineer said:


> There may be a post like this out there, but I didn't find it...
> Anyway:
> 
> How many hours did you study - 275
> 
> # of times you've taken the test - 1
> 
> Let's see if hours studied relates to success...


I went overboard. I studied about 390 hours over 6 1/2 months.

It paid off because I took the Electrical Power Exam once and passed (received my results today)!

I have been out of college since 1991 but completed my masters in 2006. I felt I needed the extra study time just to get back in the groove.


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## Paul S

I did not plan on passing the first time, due to time constraints, and only truly studied for less than 15 hours. I also spend 5 hours one day correcting errata in all my code and ppi books. I did go all out on my Ultimate Book Cart and this helped since I have a talent of remembering where I saw something and in what book.

Passed first attempt.


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## archeng1

Studied about 80-90 hours total, began 2 month prior to the April exam

tried to study enough to pass due to busy family life and work life - worked out for me Passed on 1st attempt


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## Bman

I didn't keep track, but figured I studied about 250 hours total over about 3 1/2 months. I took the Mechanical-HVAC depth and passed first try.


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## Bluengineer

I just took the Mechanical PE Exam, Thermofluids module. I haven't received my results yet, (Wonderful state of Mass.), however I should find out any day?!?!

I started studying beginning of Feb. for April 16 exam. I spent every Saturday in library for 4-6 hours, (40-60 hrs.), I studied at home for 1-2 hours every Sunday (10-20 hrs.) and I studied at lunch at work for about 30-45 min. 2-3 times/week. (10-20 hrs.). So total study time was between 60-100 hours. Also, I took the FE Exam and passed the first try in April 2009 and I graduated with my BSME in May 2009. I went to school at night for 6 years and have 10+ years engineering-related working experience which is why I was able to sit for the exam so quick. I decided not to study as much as others for the PE exam since I was still pretty fresh from school and studying for the FE exam. In retrospect I would have liked to study more, however I also took the GMAT in beginning of Feb. and my wife and I have 11-mo. old twins. So I happy in that I studied as much as reasonable.

I think I passed, however I'd say that I'm between 60-70% confident, not as high as I would like. Hopefully I find out soon!!!


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## rockycro

Took Civil/Structural. Passed first attempt Studied about 70 hours including a review class. Important to review all the breadth but don't go crazy. Spend most of your time on depth questions.


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## Bluengineer

Bluengineer said:


> I just took the Mechanical PE Exam, Thermofluids module. I haven't received my results yet, (Wonderful state of Mass.), however I should find out any day?!?!
> I started studying beginning of Feb. for April 16 exam. I spent every Saturday in library for 4-6 hours, (40-60 hrs.), I studied at home for 1-2 hours every Sunday (10-20 hrs.) and I studied at lunch at work for about 30-45 min. 2-3 times/week. (10-20 hrs.). So total study time was between 60-100 hours. Also, I took the FE Exam and passed the first try in April 2009 and I graduated with my BSME in May 2009. I went to school at night for 6 years and have 10+ years engineering-related working experience which is why I was able to sit for the exam so quick. I decided not to study as much as others for the PE exam since I was still pretty fresh from school and studying for the FE exam. In retrospect I would have liked to study more, however I also took the GMAT in beginning of Feb. and my wife and I have 11-mo. old twins. So I happy in that I studied as much as reasonable.
> 
> I think I passed, however I'd say that I'm between 60-70% confident, not as high as I would like. Hopefully I find out soon!!!


Just found out today that I passed! Woot!!


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## civilrobot PE etc etc

I would love to see an update on this thread. Anybody care to share how many hours they studied and their outcome?


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## LyceeFruit PE

civilrobot said:


> I would love to see an update on this thread. Anybody care to share how many hours they studied and their outcome?


Well April 2019 hasn't be released so you won't get an update from that group yet

But the Engineering Pro Guides has stats in the front of it. @justin-hawaii do you have those values handy? 

I think it's around 200-300 hours is the sweet spot.


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## Atf TX

I think I have spent more time on this forum, than studying for the exam


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## Ranger1316

Atf TX said:


> I think I have spent more time on this forum, than studying for the exam


First thing I thought of lol.

I quit counting after the first like 50 hours but I'd say around 200 taking into account 84 for School of PE.

Waiting on results for Civil: Transpo


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## LyceeFruit PE

148 hours for, waiting on Electrical: Power.

I tracked it, saved 1$ for every hour.


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## civilrobot PE etc etc

So perhaps I can dial back on my schedule. I'm sitting at 419 hours. My husband says it's too much but he's not an engineer. He's comp sci. I've been out of school for 15 years so I'm anxious, if you can't tell. I can definitely adjust it down to 250.


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## LyceeFruit PE

civilrobot said:


> So perhaps I can dial back on my schedule. I'm sitting at 419 hours. My husband says it's too much but he's not an engineer. He's comp sci. I've been out of school for 15 years so I'm anxious, if you can't tell. I can definitely adjust it down to 250.


How much of the text topics do you deal with often? If it's a lot of them, then 419 hours is likely overkill. If it's not a lot, 419 hours might still be overkill but 300 hours might not be...


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## ItsStudyTime!

I just did some approximate math (I didn't track study hours at the time). I signed up late in the game and had exactly 63 days to prep. I did 8 hour days on most weekends, and about an average of 2 hours per weekday (had a full time job). Adding that up I'm right around the 200 hour mark for studying. It was my first time taking it, power PE, and I passed. I was out of school ~4 years at the time. I wrote up a whole detailed report of my approach and methods on a website. Let me know if you have questions. Good luck!


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## MEPEPHD

Updated: Passed first try (ME TFS in CA)

ME TFS here:

I spent about ~30 hours and this might be less time than most of other exam takers. This is because

1. I had a chance to go over undergrad stuff about 10 years ago when I was in a grad school. I had to study for phd prelim exam, which covers wide range of topics in thermo, fluid, heat transfer, and others. Compared to what I studied for the prelim, PE exam questions were much easier.

2. I also did teaching assistant for undergrad thermodynamics courses at least for 2 years, which is a core subject of ME PE exam. In fact, I brought my own thermo summary that I made for undergrad kids for PE exam and it was really helpful.

So it was not because I am smart but because I already spent a lot more time than most of others on the topics even though it was long time ago. I just solved NCEES practice exam questions and few problems from MERM to refresh my memory. For me, MERM is overkill. It has lots of details that often beyond level of difficulties that I saw during exam. NCEES practice exam was very reasonable simulation of real exam in terms of difficulty and topics of questions


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## civilrobot PE etc etc

LyceeFruit said:


> How much of the text topics do you deal with often? If it's a lot of them, then 419 hours is likely overkill. If it's not a lot, 419 hours might still be overkill but 300 hours might not be...


I deal with scenarios involving Transportation, Construction Methods and Management, and Geotechnical on a daily basis. I am not a designer but I'm pretty comfortable with the math. It's like riding a bike. lol


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## EngMES

LyceeFruit said:


> Well April 2019 hasn't be released so you won't get an update from that group yet
> 
> But the Engineering Pro Guides has stats in the front of it. @justin-hawaii do you have those values handy?
> 
> I think it's around 200-300 hours is the sweet spot.


I Agree!!


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## NWGrown

I'm 14 years out of school took, took it last month, spent 250-300 hours studying, feeling confident I did well.


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## EngrPaper

ME-TFS.  Results still pending.  I did an hour a day for about 3 months.  Usually 2-4 hours on Saturdays.  That turns into just over 100 hours I think.  Overall, I feel comfortable with my performance on the exam.  Just waiting for validation.  Though I am only about 2 years out of university, so pretty much everything was still fresh in my head.


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## justin-hawaii

Here are some stats for the power exam. I had a very small sample size, so feel free to draw your own conclusions. I have other surveys for the mechanical exams. Just let me know if you want those too. 

https://www.engproguides.com/power-pe-survey.html


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## cvanwy02

ME TFS.  Studied around 300 hours.  Results TBD.


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## invu

9 years out, 300+, passed first time

People who put in 50 hrs and pass are called smart people.  I’m not smart enough to pass with only a few hours, but I’m not dumb enough to take that test twice. 

Regardless of what anyone tells you, there is no substitute for hard work and sacrifice.


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## LyceeFruit PE

148 hours is not enough.


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## Dirt Engineer

I studied prob ~100 hours for April 2018 exam, passed first try. I was 5 years out of undergrad and have a master's in CE as well.


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## NOLEng

13 years out; 12 years structural experience in a very niche market; studied close to 400 hrs (including School of PE, multiple practice exams, etc.). Took the PE Civil Structural depth last month in Alabama and received my results today: passed! All that studying paid off. Best of luck to everyone still waiting for their results.


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## Eye Hate Landscaping PE

Taken it 5x now across 2 disciplines and come up a few questions short every time. With my work and family schedule it's been impossible to squeeze in more than 60 hours, usually more in line with 30-40. I was counting on a cumulative effect, that hasn't proven accurate. Frustrating to spend so much time on topics that don't pertain to my job at all...but those are the topics I'm constantly short in so either I study them or I'm never going to be a PE.

I'm thinking I'm going to take a break on the exam until I can dedicate closer to 200 hours.


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## JayUn PE

Little over 200 hours for April 2011 exam.  Plowed through the morning in about 2 hours, afternoon took 3.5.  Afterwards went straight to the bar for a couple shots of Jameson and several bottles of Killian's as chasers.


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## Koz332

Took it Texas- machine design passed it first time

hit around 300 hours of studying and reading every tips/thread on this damn forum lol


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## eNgINeER93_PE

I feel like this is kind of a silly question, because it varies per person. In my opinion, study your ass off. Study as many hours as it takes to feel confident about all of the subjects. I took EET and would highly recommend it. They get you on the right path and give you the tools necessary to study the right material, as well as hundreds of practice problems and quizzes. Im not sure how many hours i studied, but I can one thing, say coming out of the exam feeling confident was worth every minute I set at the dining room table with my head in the books.


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## J. Jones PE (Shengineer)

civilrobot said:


> So perhaps I can dial back on my schedule. I'm sitting at 419 hours. My husband says it's too much but he's not an engineer. He's comp sci. I've been out of school for 15 years so I'm anxious, if you can't tell. I can definitely adjust it down to 250.


Did you take it this time around? If so,  how did you do?


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## mlavigne

9 years out of school, studied (read the MERM and watched youtube videos of problems being solved) 20 hrs and took the 8hr practice exam.  passed HVAC first try.  buy/rent/barrow/steal ALL 4 ASHRAE books.


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## EI_EI_OH

Passed. First try. Civil:WRE

I studied about 50-60 hours total. I used reference materials, practice problems and practice exams. No prep classes.

I started strong in mid-January by using the CERM and working through the morning topics. I got through Construction, Geotech, and the Materials topics before I got swamped by work in mid-February. I didn't really have a chance to study again until close to the end of March. I was very panicked and was convinced I was screwed. I ended up taking the week off work leading up to the exam. Best decision ever. I spent that weekend quickly going through all the remaining morning topics. Monday I took off and just relaxed. Tuesday I took a practice exam. I worked through it untimed with my reference materials, but not looking at the solutions until I was completely done. I used this time to tab my references as I went. Wednesday and Thursday I took two more practice exams. I timed these just like the real exam. One hour lunch break and all.

I think doing the timed exams and getting a feel for the speed with which I needed to work was crucial to exam day. It also got me comfortable with using the references. The other big piece of advice that I can give is to split the exam questions into three groups. Questions you read and you absolutely know you can solve, questions that seem solvable with a little search through your reference materials, and finally questions you must make a sacrifice to the engineering gods to be able to solve. Work through those three groups in that order on exam day and you will be better off for it.


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## Fisherman504

4 Times

First 3 times were in Transportation PE Civil. 

Last time was in WRE.

1st time - Winged it to see what was on the test. Total 25 hours.

2nd time - Wasn't prepared cause my house flooded. Total 50 hours.

3rd time - Thought I really passed. Took Testmaster and all. 125 hours.

4th time - Tired of the game and went full head on ballistic style. 450 hours. I've solved over 600 problems. I came to the test with 7 binders of my problems, and 3 reference book (CERM, a civil engineering dictionary and Eddy and Metcalf Book) Passed April 2019.


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## ZW_Pub_Power

First time Power.

210ish hours

Worked probably 450ish problems.


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## tiffintexas

Took civil - water resources. I didn’t take a class, just studied on my own. I started studying mid February, every hour on my lunch break I would work some problems and would study about 2 hours in Saturdays and Sundays. By March I was up to 4-6 hours every Saturday and Sunday. Two weeks before the exam I took a Friday off work and set up a mock test. Then spent Saturday and Sunday going over what I missed the weekend before the exam I took another mock practice exam, then Monday and Tuesday before the exam studied both nights, then took Wednesday and Thursday off from studying. I think in all I was around 100 to 150 hours? 

I used NCEES practice exam and Goswhami practice exam I got off Amazon. I had all of the 6 minute solution books from a coworker and the CERM. Just worked a ton of problems. Passed on my first try.


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## as_botd

Passed Civil:WRE first time with probably ~100 hours.

I took the on-demand EET course for both breadth and depth. I watched the lectures after work and weekends starting in early January, took a four week break in February for a trip, and continued prepping up until the exam. I hardly did any practice problems until I did a couple practice exams the week prior to the exam. I was incredibly nervous until that point, as I studied Environmental Engineering in undergrad and didn't have a lot of the background for about 60% of the breadth section but very confident in water related topics.


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## TheLostChemE

~150 - 200 hours. Took Dr. Tom's Classroom since my degree is in Chemical and I was taking Mechanical TFS. A lot of similarities shared between the disciplines but there were things I thought Dr. Tom's Classroom helped me prepare for.

Pass on first attempt.


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## john813_PE

Took WRE:

Didn't get seriously into studying until the end of January. 

Started light on the hours to not overwhelm myself at first.

In February probably studied 5-7 hours during the week and 8-10 hours on S&amp;S. Focusing more on the AM.

In March probably studied 7-10 hours during the week and 12-16 hours on S&amp;S. Main focus was PM.

I think in April it was 8 hours a day on the 1st-4th lol. 

Bought a ton of practice tests. Did them multiple times, switching them up so I wouldn't get the correct answer due to memory. Definitely helped me seeing a wide range of questions that could be asked on both AM/PM. 

A week before the exam I bought 3 more AM tests and 2 more PM tests. I'm confident without buying those books and working them out, I may not of passed. 

Read the CERM on topics I knew I needed more help than others. The rest was skimming and highlighting sections that I thought could be relevant. 

Took PPI, and while the teacher was helpful in Q&amp;A sessions, I had a hunch that it was a waste of time to watch the entire session. And in hindsight it was. 

Passed on the first try.


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## txjennah PE

Fisherman504 said:


> 4 Times
> 
> First 3 times were in Transportation PE Civil.
> 
> Last time was in WRE.
> 
> 1st time - Winged it to see what was on the test. Total 25 hours.
> 
> 2nd time - Wasn't prepared cause my house flooded. Total 50 hours.
> 
> 3rd time - Thought I really passed. Took Testmaster and all. 125 hours.
> 
> 4th time - Tired of the game and went full head on ballistic style. 450 hours. I've solved over 600 problems. I came to the test with 7 binders of my problems, and 3 reference book (CERM, a civil engineering dictionary and Eddy and Metcalf Book) Passed April 2019.


Congratulations! You must be elated.


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## engineerme1

About 190 hours of study. However I did a lot of problems and took  the NCEES, GOSWAMI, and Civil PE practice tests.


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## OSU_Gamerr

Passed Civil: Structural first attempt. ~150 hours total.


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## adavi248

eNgINeEr_93 said:


> I feel like this is kind of a silly question, because it varies per person. In my opinion, study your ass off. Study as many hours as it takes to feel confident about all of the subjects. I took EET and would highly recommend it. They get you on the right path and give you the tools necessary to study the right material, as well as hundreds of practice problems and quizzes. Im not sure how many hours i studied, but I can one thing, say coming out of the exam feeling confident was worth every minute I set at the dining room table with my head in the books.


I 100% agree!!


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## engineerme1

bta15 said:


> I studied for approximately 16 hours. 2 hours each weekend for a month prior to the test, then 8 hours the day before the test, no review course. I took the Civil Transportation exam and passed the first try.
> 
> 6 minute solution FTW.






bta15 said:


> I studied for approximately 16 hours. 2 hours each weekend for a month prior to the test, then 8 hours the day before the test, no review course. I took the Civil Transportation exam and passed the first try.
> 
> 6 minute solution FTW.


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## txjennah PE

Hahaha I remember this was one of the first threads I ever read on EB...back when I was googling, "Is 60 hrs enough to pass PE exam?" (SPOILER ALERT - not for me!!!)

It differs for everyone, but I finally passed the October 2018 exam after putting in a solid 200 hrs of study.


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## aspiringWRE_PE

john813 said:


> Took WRE:
> 
> Didn't get seriously into studying until the end of January.
> 
> Started light on the hours to not overwhelm myself at first.
> 
> In February probably studied 5-7 hours during the week and 8-10 hours on S&amp;S. Focusing more on the AM.
> 
> In March probably studied 7-10 hours during the week and 12-16 hours on S&amp;S. Main focus was PM.
> 
> I think in April it was 8 hours a day on the 1st-4th lol.
> 
> Bought a ton of practice tests. Did them multiple times, switching them up so I wouldn't get the correct answer due to memory. Definitely helped me seeing a wide range of questions that could be asked on both AM/PM.
> 
> A week before the exam I bought 3 more AM tests and 2 more PM tests. I'm confident without buying those books and working them out, I may not of passed.
> 
> Read the CERM on topics I knew I needed more help than others. The rest was skimming and highlighting sections that I thought could be relevant.
> 
> Took PPI, and while the teacher was helpful in Q&amp;A sessions, I had a hunch that it was a waste of time to watch the entire session. And in hindsight it was.
> 
> Passed on the first try.


Which exams did you purchase for your simulated exams?


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## fyrfytr310

250 hours.  500-600 problems.  

Engineering Pro Guides as primary guiding document.


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## MspSdf

mine was around 190 hours but only for 7 weeks. I started late in mid-February.

not to steal any thunder but I have summarized my whole study journey here:


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## Sirian

200-ish hours? Took and passed Civil PE Transportation on the first try. I started studying in late December in order to spread out the overall burden, since I already knew there were several weeks when I wouldn't be able to study at all.

I wanted to put everything I had into passing, so I went with EET AM / PM and took every listed reference to the test except Pedestrian Facilities (someone had 'walked off' with it ...). I thought EET prepared me very well for the test, but I also picked it because of the excellent reference binders that came with the course.

Unlike others on the board, I took exactly *zero practice tests*. All of my time was spent on reviewing concepts, navigating references, and working a few practice problems using reference tables and other resources. I spent a few hours tabbing things to quickly get my bearings in the actual test, but only marked significant chapters or indices rather than specific concepts. My situation is unique, since I have a lot of experience in research, reading, and looking up code trivia.

When you think about it, I believe something like 50-60% of the PE is conceptual questions rather than calculations?

I was already very confident in my ability to quickly solve problems, so I worked mostly on understanding the fastest route to solutions, practicing a few key or confusing concepts, and recognizing/categorizing problems in terms of what reference they were likely to use.

My first pass in each section was solely writing notes about what equation/concept/reference each problem was citing. A few I knew from memory, so I marked those (about five in the AM and five in the PM), then did the next easiest (i.e., simple lookups) another five in the AM and five in the PM, and then did the ones I needed to solve (10 AM and 10 PM), which got me up to roughly 40 correct overall. The remainder were more challenging code trivia with exotic locations and calculations with "traps" (another 10 in the AM and PM). This got me to about 60/80. The last 10 remaining to solve in the AM and PM I felt were more "reaching" or guessing questions, or those with so many steps that they were inefficient to attempt to solve with 100% certainty. I attempted to solve these with at least educated guesses or by eliminating between 1-2 answers.

After the test, I felt no worse than I had during the FE, which I also passed on the first try.

From what I've seen, focusing on understanding easy questions and getting as many of those right as possible is a key to substantially improving scores without unwarranted effort.

EET helped a lot in this case by teaching and reviewing the fundamentals of each section, with an emphasis on problems that were almost certain to appear on the test. Their classes certainly helped me be very efficient in my studying!


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## john813_PE

aspiringWRE_PE said:


> Which exams did you purchase for your simulated exams?




I know I have a few more not listed but looking at my Amazon orders:

Pe Prepared (All AM and PM tests offered for WRE) 

Gruttadauria ref manual/ practice exam

Civil Engineering PE Practice Exams: By Civil PE Practice (AM only) 

Goswami exam books. 3 in total I believe. 

Older NCEES Exam prep books. 2004 and I think 2010(2004 only had 20 questions for AM IIRC) 

2014 NCEES practice exam


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## CharlieHotel47_CE_WER

john813 said:


> Took WRE:
> 
> Didn't get seriously into studying until the end of January.
> 
> Started light on the hours to not overwhelm myself at first.
> 
> In February probably studied 5-7 hours during the week and 8-10 hours on S&amp;S. Focusing more on the AM.
> 
> In March probably studied 7-10 hours during the week and 12-16 hours on S&amp;S. Main focus was PM.
> 
> I think in April it was 8 hours a day on the 1st-4th lol.
> 
> Bought a ton of practice tests. Did them multiple times, switching them up so I wouldn't get the correct answer due to memory. Definitely helped me seeing a wide range of questions that could be asked on both AM/PM.
> 
> A week before the exam I bought 3 more AM tests and 2 more PM tests. I'm confident without buying those books and working them out, I may not of passed.
> 
> Read the CERM on topics I knew I needed more help than others. The rest was skimming and highlighting sections that I thought could be relevant.
> 
> Took PPI, and while the teacher was helpful in Q&amp;A sessions, I had a hunch that it was a waste of time to watch the entire session. And in hindsight it was.
> 
> Passed on the first try.


Where did you purchase the practice test? I did the NCEES and six min solutions but I feel they didn't really help. Failed WRE April 19


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## CharlieHotel47_CE_WER

aspiringWRE_PE said:


> Which exams did you purchase for your simulated exams?


I am trying to figure out what practice test helped the folks out there the most. I did school of PE but not enough practice test I guess. I am WRE as well  maybe October will be our time


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## CharlieHotel47_CE_WER

Fisherman504 said:


> 4 Times
> 
> First 3 times were in Transportation PE Civil.
> 
> Last time was in WRE.
> 
> 1st time - Winged it to see what was on the test. Total 25 hours.
> 
> 2nd time - Wasn't prepared cause my house flooded. Total 50 hours.
> 
> 3rd time - Thought I really passed. Took Testmaster and all. 125 hours.
> 
> 4th time - Tired of the game and went full head on ballistic style. 450 hours. I've solved over 600 problems. I came to the test with 7 binders of my problems, and 3 reference book (CERM, a civil engineering dictionary and Eddy and Metcalf Book) Passed April 2019.


What problems did you use to study? practice test online?


----------



## Fisherman504

CharlieHotel47_CE_WER said:


> What problems did you use to study? practice test online?


I've used the following to study. I also took Testmasters 2018 classroom based course so I used all of their problems. What I did was I rewrote the problems and solve them twice. First time I would put little notes in different color ink telling me to convert or to go to certain equations. 

1. NCEES Practice Exam 1999, 2000, 2011, 2013.

2. Six minute solutions from PPI

3. Handbook of Civil Engineering Calculations by Tyler G. Hicks.

4. CERM 15th edition

I didn't bother taking the first three to the test. If I didn't pull it from the books while studying, it wouldn't be of any help to me in the test as I needed to quickly reference and find them. My own personal binders has a Table of Contents on how to solve the same problems multiple ways. 

After all the studying I had approximately 600 or so problems. After taking this test 4 times, I can honestly say that you have to anticipate studying materials you haven't seen every single time. You would set yourself up for failure if you study what you thought was your weakness and didn't go beyond that. Even though I knew I was strong in Geotechnical morning type questions. I went back and study more for it and found problems I haven't encountered. 

Just make sure you weed out the problems that aren't relevant or up to codes such as Transportation questions from the 1999 NCEES. Don't assume the Depth would carry you. You should load up as much as you can studying for the morning session.

You will get it in the Fall. I promise you.


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## Wow_PE!

civilrobot said:


> So perhaps I can dial back on my schedule. I'm sitting at 419 hours. My husband says it's too much but he's not an engineer. He's comp sci. I've been out of school for 15 years so I'm anxious, if you can't tell. I can definitely adjust it down to 250.


It’s not too much.  Do what you gotta do!!  I’m at 200 hours, want to get to about 400 at least.  I think I enjoy studying or I tell myself that I do so it feels less of a drag.


----------



## civilrobot PE etc etc

Wow! said:


> It’s not too much.  Do what you gotta do!!  I’m at 200 hours, want to get to about 400 at least.  I think I enjoy studying or I tell myself that I do so it feels less of a drag.


I'm 100 hours into my studying and I wander between feeling like I'm on target or ahead of schedule and feeling completely hopeless. I think the latter is just a side effect of overall exhaustion. I really push it at night when the house is quiet and everyone is asleep. Gotta stay positive!


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## Wow_PE!

civilrobot said:


> I'm 100 hours into my studying and I wander between feeling like I'm on target or ahead of schedule and feeling completely hopeless. I think the latter is just a side effect of overall exhaustion. I really push it at night when the house is quiet and everyone is asleep. Gotta stay positive!


Either way, you are learning which is a very good thing.  Definitely stay positive!  You got this.


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## robmcmichael

I actually neglected to study for either the FE or PE and thankfully passed both on the first attempt.  However, my current job has been a good prep (being in the boiler rental business and having to design the equipment and advise customers on their needs).  I don't think my experience is normal or should be used as an example, haha.


----------

