# MERM Practice Problems vs 6 MS Problems



## SNAPE/SMOTT PE (Sep 3, 2013)

It's a little late for me for the October exam, but I fugure its a good question to ask (for future exam takers and for if I do not pass in October). I'm staying with the MERM practice problems for studying for October.

For those of you who have already taken the exam, which problems do you think most helped you to prepare for the exam, the MERM companion problems or the 6 MS problems? Would you recommend one over the other? And if you could only choose one set of problems to study from, which would it be?


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## ikesdsu (Sep 3, 2013)

I am afraid you are going to get people recommending both but I would recommend the 6 MS problems. I found that they are the closest to the actual test questions. The MERM questions are good but they are much harder and more detailed than the ones on the test.


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## uzairsyedahmed (Sep 3, 2013)

I heard that the 6MS had too many errors and people discouraged from that. I guess i didnt have the time so only sticking with MERM but my colleagues practiced the NCEES Sample problem (2011) quite thoroughly and said it was good prep.


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## SNAPE/SMOTT PE (Sep 3, 2013)

I'm planning to do the 2001 and 2008 NCEES practice exams about two weeks before the exam. I have the 2011 test too, but was told its the same as the 2008. I'm going to use them to see where I could use some more studying.


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## Power63 (Sep 4, 2013)

I don't know what the 6MS is, but the problems in the MERM are harder than test, and the NCEES practice exams were a little easier than the test. I am speaking of the Mechanical/Fluids Thermal test.


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## sycamore PE (Sep 5, 2013)

I found 6MS very helpful. Similar to the "hard" exam problems. Probably less important than the MERM, but I'd recommend doing both as well as a practice exam to ensure that you go into the exam confident.


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## nsgoldberg (Sep 17, 2013)

I decided not to study the 6MS based on all the negative reviews. Apparently the MD section is chock full of errors, and you're going to spend your time correcting errors rather than solving problems.

Can anyone attest to this?


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## FatherTime (Sep 18, 2013)

I checked the PPI Errata website -

*Six-Minute Solutions for Mechanical PE Exam Mechanical Systems and Materials Problems *is in its 2nd edition, 5th printing. While there are 2-4 errors listed for each printing of the 1st edition, the 4th and 5th printings of the 2nd edition have no errors listed at all. So, if you purchase from current PPI stock, based on what's listed on the errata website, you won't have any complaints.

I personally wouldn't trust old editions of any review book (including MERM) for something as important as my professional license, since they are obsolete for one reason or the other. However, even if you are using an old borrowed 6-Minute book, there aren't many corrections to make. PPI's errata website lists them all, and there are only a few typos to change.


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## nsgoldberg (Sep 28, 2013)

But are you sure they list them all?

I've found numerous errors in MERM (12e, 4th printing) that are not on the errata webpage. Of course, I didn't report them, so they will probably continue on until someone does...


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## NerdHerd (Oct 9, 2013)

I passed the ME-Thermal &amp; Fluids Exam last Oct.

NCEES sample problems have a mix of easy and hard problems. The easy problems you can solve with 1 minute, but the hard problems can take up to 10 min. The averaging out of time hopefully works out, therefore you should know exactly what you are doing and how to solve each problem without wasting any time or making errors.

6MS was great because they tell you exactly what type of errors to look out for - "this incorrect answer results if you neglected to include ......", and the PE will anticipate all of the common mistakes test takers make.

MERM does have hard problems, but so does the PE exam. If you can do the MERM problems, you will have confidence in taking the PE Exam.

If possible, I recommend studying them all, use the easy problems to build your confidence, and become an expert at solving the difficult problems, this way, you will be able to recognize the methods on exam day. Even if there are errors in any of the books, if you know what you are doing, you should be able to identify the errors, and use this as a test to your engineering skills. If you only have time for one, I recommend doing the hard problems = MERM.

- Train easy, fight hard; train hard, fight easy.


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## r_mojo1 (Oct 10, 2013)

6MS and the NCEES are the key to pass the exam. Of course you have to put the time to solve the problems in the alloted time. 5 min average.


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## Capt Worley PE (Oct 10, 2013)

I would use the MERM to study and use the 6MS for your practice exam the Friday before the PE.

&lt;--passed first try using this method.


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## JoeyPinoy (Feb 11, 2014)

> It's a little late for me for the October exam, but I fugure its a good question to ask (for future exam takers and for if I do not pass in October). I'm staying with the MERM practice problems for studying for October.
> 
> For those of you who have already taken the exam, which problems do you think most helped you to prepare for the exam, the MERM companion problems or the 6 MS problems? Would you recommend one over the other? And if you could only choose one set of problems to study from, which would it be?


It's a subtle difference, but the primary objective of the MERM practice problems is to teach and reinforce concepts. The 6 MS problems have the primary objective of simulating the actual test. The "6 minute" in 6MS is given this name since this is the average amount of time you'll have to solve each problem (8 hr * 60 mins / hr) / 80 questions


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