# The morning seemed more difficult (Electrical and Electronics)



## Angstrom (Apr 19, 2010)

Maybe I just wasn't fully awake yet for the start of the morning session, but for whatever reason, I found the morning session to be more difficult. Is one of the sessions supposed to be more difficult than the other? If yes, I would have much preferred the more difficult session to be later in the day.


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## pelaw (Apr 19, 2010)

I think it's subjective. But in my experience, it took me longer to complete the morning session than the afternoon. So if time is a gauge of difficulty, I could agree with you.


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## benbo (Apr 19, 2010)

Angstrom said:


> Maybe I just wasn't fully awake yet for the start of the morning session, but for whatever reason, I found the morning session to be more difficult. Is one of the sessions supposed to be more difficult than the other? If yes, I would have much preferred the more difficult session to be later in the day.


It used to be the AM and PM sessions were different - one was general and another was specific. But now I think the two are the same.

Ben


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## Angstrom (Apr 19, 2010)

benbo said:


> It used to be the AM and PM sessions were different - one was general and another was specific. But now I think the two are the same.
> Ben


Ben,

That's true, the electrical tests are no longer split into breadth and depth sessions. The morning and afternoon sessions covered the same material. I just felt that some of the problems in the morning were trickier and required more time to solve.


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## benbo (Apr 19, 2010)

Angstrom said:


> benbo said:
> 
> 
> > It used to be the AM and PM sessions were different - one was general and another was specific. But now I think the two are the same.
> ...


That could very well be true.


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## Sanych (Apr 20, 2010)

It's funny but I have a completely different impression. I made the morning session in two hours, and the afternoon - 3.5 hours, nearly short of time.


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## knight1fox3 (Apr 20, 2010)

I took the power PE, and I also thought the morning session was more difficult than the afternoon session. I found myself arriving at a seemingly correct solution to almost every problem in the afternoon session.


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## MSEE (Apr 26, 2010)

Angstrom said:


> Maybe I just wasn't fully awake yet for the start of the morning session, but for whatever reason, I found the morning session to be more difficult. Is one of the sessions supposed to be more difficult than the other? If yes, I would have much preferred the more difficult session to be later in the day.


Hello All

I will be taking the exam in October. Can anyone comment on the difference between the morning and the afternoon session? where they similar subject wise just harder in the afternoon? were some subjects covered in the morning that were not covered in the afternoon session?

what reference material should one take to the exam/

responses are greatly appreciated.

Thanks


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## jassiinpublic (Apr 28, 2010)

MSEE said:


> Angstrom said:
> 
> 
> > Maybe I just wasn't fully awake yet for the start of the morning session, but for whatever reason, I found the morning session to be more difficult. Is one of the sessions supposed to be more difficult than the other? If yes, I would have much preferred the more difficult session to be later in the day.
> ...


Are you Civil or EE?

As far as the answer to your questions, I felt that for the Electrical and Electronics exam, the afternoon portion was trickier. I think the guide to the exam makes it clear that the same material pool is used for both morning and afternoon section. That's all I'm going to say on the topic lest the wrath of the NCEES shall rain upon my soul.

As for reference material, a properly tabbed EERM was one of my best friends. College textbooks (Circuits 1&amp;2, Intro to Signal Processing, Intro to Microelectronics and Intro to Control Systems) were the best things to take in to the exam. Also, the NCEES sample exam (which I went through twice - once when I started studying and then again near the end of my studies) was a big help.


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## Angstrom (Apr 28, 2010)

jassiinpublic said:


> As for reference material, a properly tabbed EERM was one of my best friends. College textbooks (Circuits 1&amp;2, Intro to Signal Processing, Intro to Microelectronics and Intro to Control Systems) were the best things to take in to the exam. Also, the NCEES sample exam (which I went through twice - once when I started studying and then again near the end of my studies) was a big help.


I agree, with regards to the EERM. I know some people have complained about the EERM for the Power exam, but for the Electrical and Electronics exam, I found the EERM to be a great resource. I do think the EERM falls quite a bit short in its treatment of antennas, so I would suggest acquiring a good textbook on antennas if you don't already have one. Personally, I think the John D. Kraus textbook is a wonderful reference.

Get your hands on all the practice exams you can. In addition to the NCEES, there is the free Kaiser practice exam that you can find here:

www.klkaiser.com/pe.pdf

Note that Kaiser's exam is older so it's a "breadth" test, but it's still a good resource and the price is right.


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## BryGuy (May 6, 2010)

So I used the PPI book and brought along a controls (rohrs, melsa, schultz), circuit analysis (Neamen), and E&amp;M notes from college. I really wished I had an antenna book because April's exam seemed to have a lot of questions.

The morning session seemed trickier and took my about 2.5 hours the first pass and then about an hour when I worked all the problems over again. The afternoon on the other hand took about about 1.5 with an hour to rework everything.

Now lets hope I pass.

Oh and the PPI book doesn't have Friis formula for cascaded amplifiers. Sure glad I remembered it.


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## Angstrom (May 7, 2010)

BryGuy said:


> The morning session seemed trickier and took my about 2.5 hours the first pass and then about an hour when I worked all the problems over again. The afternoon on the other hand took about about 1.5 with an hour to rework everything.


I'm surprised that everybody claims to have finished this test with time to spare. I used every precious minute to try to solve every question, to avoid guessing as much as possible. Yeah, my first pass probably took about 2 hours (each session) to solve the easiest questions, then I used the second pass to solve the more time-consuming problems (the ones I knew how to solve but took more time). So that left me with between 45 (morning) and 90 (afternoon) minutes for the third pass that I used to try to solve the remaining problems and double-check my earlier work. And I know that I increased my score at least a bit with that third pass, because I was able to use that time to figure out a few problems that I didn't initially know how to solve. In the morning I wish I'd had about 10 more minutes because I figured out how to solve one problem just as time ran out.

And during the test, maybe 10% of the test takers, max, left the exam early, and I doubt they all took the electrical &amp; electronics test. (Granted, fewer than 10% of the test takers even took the elecrical &amp; electronics test.  )


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## cinnica (Aug 13, 2010)

I am taking exam this Oct. I am little concern about the digital part and E&amp;M part. Are there going to be lots of tough questions on both fields? I am so bad on E&amp;M filed, digital I could handle some easy state machines question, further that, I think I might need more time to bring those knowledge back.

I am using Kaplan "Electrical Engineering 360 Problems &amp; Solutions for the PE Exam, 2nd Edition " now for my practice (just skip computer and power questions)

Anyone has suggestion for better electrical and electronic practice material?


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## jassiinpublic (Aug 14, 2010)

cinnica said:


> I am taking exam this Oct. I am little concern about the digital part and E&amp;M part. Are there going to be lots of tough questions on both fields? I am so bad on E&amp;M filed, digital I could handle some easy state machines question, further that, I think I might need more time to bring those knowledge back.
> I am using Kaplan "Electrical Engineering 360 Problems &amp; Solutions for the PE Exam, 2nd Edition " now for my practice (just skip computer and power questions)
> 
> Anyone has suggestion for better electrical and electronic practice material?


Wait, that's all you are using (the Kaplan book)? I hope I'm wrong because that would be suicide. The NCEES sample exam is the best test for difficulty. The PPI book is a good reference for studying and for the exam.


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