# Planning on taking CBT, studying advice



## mnsee

Hello everyone,

I've been lurking this site a few months now, I'm applying to take the CBT (don't have a date yet, or even confirmation from my state board) and I am currently still preparing for the power CBT.

So far I have:
1) obtained the ncees practice exam booklet and have done about 3 passes through, I am comfortable doing about 78/80 problems 
2) obtained the Engineering Pro Guide Full and Final exams and the Zach Stone electrical PE review and have done about (at least) 2 passes through on each, I am comfortable with about 60/80 problems on each exam (in the sense I can answer the questions confidently) the remaining 20ish I am working on refining my understanding by practicing and repracticing. Also have the pro guide Textbook and also the exam on the code and have done about two-thirds of the questions within.
3) While I haven't recorded how long I have studied, it is at the least 200 hours over the past year (the estimates I've seen have been 300-500 hours to have reasonable confidence of preparation)

For those of you who have passed, is there anything I should add, modify, etc. to my study plan? Thanks!


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## DLD PE

My personal opinion:

If you are scoring around the following percentages for the practice exams listed:

85% on NCEES practice exam
65-75% on Eng Pro Guides and Zach Stone's practice exams

85-90% on code type of problems, since this is your biggest section and you want to be very strong in this area.

You should be in good shape and well-prepared for the power CBT. If you can swing it, I would invest in the Complex Imaginary 1-4 practice exams and maybe even the Cram for Exam books. Complex Imaginary has shorter, more "drill" type problems, which I found very helpful.


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## mnsee

DuranDuran PE said:


> My personal opinion:
> 
> If you are scoring around the following percentages for the practice exams listed:
> 
> 85% on NCEES practice exam
> 65-75% on Eng Pro Guides and Zach Stone's practice exams
> 
> 85-90% on code type of problems, since this is your biggest section and you want to be very strong in this area.
> 
> You should be in good shape and well-prepared for the power CBT. If you can swing it, I would invest in the Complex Imaginary 1-4 practice exams and maybe even the Cram for Exam books. Complex Imaginary has shorter, more "drill" type problems, which I found very helpful.


Awesome- thank you for the feedback. Aside from time invested and scores on practice exams, I'm not sure what other performance indicators are worth checking. I'm also doing a minimum of 10 practice problems a day (either from practice exams or example questions) or up to 30-40 a day.


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## Dothracki PE

Welcome and good luck on your journey. Everyone is different on their study prep, but I think you have a good plan thus far. I myself spent over a year studying, gradually increasing the amount of time spent each week studying. Your study sources are very good. The NCEES practice Exams, Engineer Proguides, and Electrical PE Review are the top 3 references that I used and reccomend.

If you haven't already, you should print our the NCEES refence sheet that they will give you on the exam. That is essential to know that document forwards and backwards. On the NCEES dashboard, you should be able to download it under "Useful References".

You should take a look at the engineer pro guides code question exam that covers questions on the NEC, NFPA 99, and NESC. These make up a good portion of the and are much easier points to earn with less chance of error compared to other problems. Many of these are available online for free but the NEC handbook and NFPA 70E would be a good recommended purchase. if you don't have these. The NESC is a bit pricey but you may be able to find used ones, many of the NESC questions you might see are similar to the questions you will see in the NEC but does deal with a different subject matter at times. At minimum you should have a good knowledge of NEC articles 110, 210, 220, 240, 250, and 310, 430, and Chapter 9.


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## Dothracki PE

Also don't worry about the amount of hours you study. Just make sure you know the topics on the exam! There are many threads in here with plenty of advice such as this one:









Advice for NCEES power exam for first time timer


Hi All, I will be taking my first time NCEES exam on 6 days later. I am Zach student and I just finished Eng Pro practice and I only got about 50%. I still not enough confidence for the exam. Tomorrow I will try 1) Zach practice test and then 2) NCEES. 3) Then brand new Zach practice 40...




engineerboards.com


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## mnsee

Dothracki PE said:


> Welcome and good luck on your journey. Everyone is different on their study prep, but I think you have a good plan thus far. I myself spent over a year studying, gradually increasing the amount of time spent each week studying. Your study sources are very good. The NCEES practice Exams, Engineer Proguides, and Electrical PE Review are the top 3 references that I used and reccomend.
> 
> If you haven't already, you should print our the NCEES refence sheet that they will give you on the exam. That is essential to know that document forwards and backwards. On the NCEES dashboard, you should be able to download it under "Useful References".
> 
> You should take a look at the engineer pro guides code question exam that covers questions on the NEC, NFPA 99, and NESC. These make up a good portion of the and are much easier points to earn with less chance of error compared to other problems. Many of these are available online for free but the NEC handbook and NFPA 70E would be a good recommended purchase. if you don't have these. The NESC is a bit pricey but you may be able to find used ones, many of the NESC questions you might see are similar to the questions you will see in the NEC but does deal with a different subject matter at times. At minimum you should have a good knowledge of NEC articles 110, 210, 220, 240, 250, and 310, 430, and Chapter 9.


Good points about the code- I don't have the NESC, but I have the NEC (print and pdf) and NFPA-70E. I try to use the ctrl-f function on the PDF as much as I can in case it is in a more "obscure" section of the NEC. Same with the NCEES reference sheet- my pdf copy I have sections highlighted if I've memorized where specifically in the hierarchy a topic/formula is in index hierarchy. This is all super helpful!


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## Dothracki PE

mnsee said:


> Good points about the code- I don't have the NESC, but I have the NEC (print and pdf) and NFPA-70E. I try to use the ctrl-f function on the PDF as much as I can in case it is in a more "obscure" section of the NEC. Same with the NCEES reference sheet- my pdf copy I have sections highlighted if I've memorized where specifically in the hierarchy a topic/formula is in index hierarchy. This is all super helpful!


That's even better practice for the exam. I had everything in print because I was going to take the last pen and paper exam in October 2020 but we got the short end of the stick in the accomodations from NCEES trying to make the exams work amid the pandemic with an accelerated CBT exam.


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## mnsee

Dothracki PE said:


> That's even better practice for the exam. I had everything in print because I was going to take the last pen and paper exam in October 2020 but we got the short end of the stick in the accomodations from NCEES trying to make the exams work amid the pandemic with an accelerated CBT exam.


Well that's a bummer- glad to hear you passed though! I'm hoping to get confirmation from my state board to take the exam soon- getting that would make preparing for the exam much much easier I think.


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## akyip

Another thing I like to do is flag any questions you are having a tough time me. I flag the questions I have trouble with by marking them with a red asterisk (or sometimes a green asterisk if the question seems easy but I made a mistake that I should be aware of next time). Focus on the tougher questions that you have a harder time with, try to make sure you understand the solution, and re-do these tougher questions until you finally have an easier time with them.

I had about a whole year of studying due to CoViD pushing back my scheduled exam time twice. These are the practice exams I used to study.

-Cram for PE Power Exams Volumes 1-4
-Electrical PE Review Practice Exam... If you are enrolled in the course, there are also additional End-of-Course and AIT-style exams.
-Engineering Pro Guides Final Exam, Full Exam, and References Exam
-Complex Imaginary PE Power Exam
-NCEES PE Power Practice Exams
-A.S. Graffeo PE Power Exam Reference Book
-PPI Power PE Practice Exams
-Shorebrook PE Power Practice Exam
-Spin-Up PE Power Exams

From this list, I highly recommend getting Zach's Electrical PE Practice Exam and Engineering Pro Guides' Final and Full Exams.

I should also mention that when I first started studying, I used A.S. Graffeo's Reference Guide (which honestly seems a little outdated now), the NCEES PE Power practice exam, Complex Imaginary, and Spin-Up practice exams. Complex Imaginary and Spin-Up practice exams are designed to drill problems into your head and serve as a great starting study point for easier problems, but ultimately you will need to later deal with tougher problems such as those you can find in Electrical PE Review, Engineering Pro Guides, and Cram for Exam practice exams.


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## mnsee

akyip said:


> Another thing I like to do is flag any questions you are having a tough time me. I flag the questions I have trouble with by marking them with a red asterisk (or sometimes a green asterisk if the question seems easy but I made a mistake that I should be aware of next time). Focus on the tougher questions that you have a harder time with, try to make sure you understand the solution, and re-do these tougher questions until you finally have an easier time with them.
> 
> I had about a whole year of studying due to CoViD pushing back my scheduled exam time twice. These are the practice exams I used to study.
> 
> -Cram for PE Power Exams Volumes 1-4
> -Electrical PE Review Practice Exam... If you are enrolled in the course, there are also additional End-of-Course and AIT-style exams.
> -Engineering Pro Guides Final Exam, Full Exam, and References Exam
> -Complex Imaginary PE Power Exam
> -NCEES PE Power Practice Exams
> -A.S. Graffeo PE Power Exam Reference Book
> -PPI Power PE Practice Exams
> -Shorebrook PE Power Practice Exam
> -Spin-Up PE Power Exams
> 
> From this list, I highly recommend getting Zach's Electrical PE Practice Exam and Engineering Pro Guides' Final and Full Exams.
> 
> I should also mention that when I first started studying, I used A.S. Graffeo's Reference Guide (which honestly seems a little outdated now), the NCEES PE Power practice exam, Complex Imaginary, and Spin-Up practice exams. Complex Imaginary and Spin-Up practice exams are designed to drill problems into your head and serve as a great starting study point for easier problems, but ultimately you will need to later deal with tougher problems such as those you can find in Electrical PE Review, Engineering Pro Guides, and Cram for Exam practice exams.


That seems like an effective method- I like the flagging technique. I also give myself about 48 hours before I'll try a practice problem I got wrong again just to ensure everything I collected "sticks"


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## Zach Stone P.E.

mnsee said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> I've been lurking this site a few months now, I'm applying to take the CBT (don't have a date yet, or even confirmation from my state board) and I am currently still preparing for the power CBT.
> 
> So far I have:
> 1) obtained the ncees practice exam booklet and have done about 3 passes through, I am comfortable doing about 78/80 problems
> 2) obtained the Engineering Pro Guide Full and Final exams and the Zach Stone electrical PE review and have done about (at least) 2 passes through on each, I am comfortable with about 60/80 problems on each exam (in the sense I can answer the questions confidently) the remaining 20ish I am working on refining my understanding by practicing and repracticing. Also have the pro guide Textbook and also the exam on the code and have done about two-thirds of the questions within.
> 3) While I haven't recorded how long I have studied, it is at the least 200 hours over the past year (the estimates I've seen have been 300-500 hours to have reasonable confidence of preparation)
> 
> For those of you who have passed, is there anything I should add, modify, etc. to my study plan? Thanks!


Hi @mnsee glad to see our practice exam in your list! 

If you're looking for advice and personal experience from other power engineers that have passed the new CBT format of the Power PE exam this year, take a look at the following youtube playlist:

Youtube - "How to Pass the CBT PE Exam"

That link is about a dozen or so hour-long interviews with former students of ours that have passed this year, and each one talks about what they did to prepare and pass. 

We just filmed one today that we will be adding to that playlist shortly. It's very helpful to get an inside look at what it takes to pass.


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## mnsee

Zach Stone P.E. said:


> Hi @mnsee glad to see our practice exam in your list!
> 
> If you're looking for advice and personal experience from other power engineers that have passed the new CBT format of the Power PE exam this year, take a look at the following youtube playlist:
> 
> Youtube - "How to Pass the CBT PE Exam"
> 
> That link is about a dozen or so hour-long interviews with former students of ours that have passed this year, and each one talks about what they did to prepare and pass.
> 
> We just filmed one today that we will be adding to that playlist shortly. It's very helpful to get an inside look at what it takes to pass.


Awesome- thanks Zach- looks like I'll be taking some notes!


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## mnsee

Thank you again everyone for the sound advice and encouragement. I received approval from my state board to take the power PE exam (october 28th). Now for a steady five week diet of practice questions and praying lol!


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## akyip

mnsee said:


> Thank you again everyone for the sound advice and encouragement. I received approval from my state board to take the power PE exam (october 28th). Now for a steady five week diet of practice questions and praying lol!


Good luck! Feel free to browse this forum and ask for help when you need it.


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## mnsee

Well it's finally time- the day after tomorrow is my exam- after more than a year of studying, it's actually happening. I've gone through all my practice exams at least 4 times- and while I am not burnt out, I do feel like I've hit a "limit" if that makes sense and really just want to spend the next 48 spending time at other tasks. I'll be sure to let you know how I did (hopefully well! lol).


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## Zach Stone P.E.

mnsee said:


> Well it's finally time- the day after tomorrow is my exam- after more than a year of studying, it's actually happening. I've gone through all my practice exams at least 4 times- and while I am not burnt out, I do feel like I've hit a "limit" if that makes sense and really just want to spend the next 48 spending time at other tasks. I'll be sure to let you know how I did (hopefully well! lol).


Good luck!

Friendly reminder to try your best not to cram too hard the night before as tempting as it may be. 

You're likely not going to learn anything so significant in the last night leading up to the exam that it could be the difference between passing and failing, but you are more likely to stress, negatively impact your sleep quality and performance the next day.

Try to take a half-day off, reward yourself for all of your hard work so far, and just relax with the best sleep possible!


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## mnsee

Well- it's done- as of now I feel about 90% certain on about 48 problems, 65% certain on about 12, and I know I got about at least 6 wrong. Not sure how my experience against everyone elses- or if I'm being too optimistic or pessimistic, but I will say its not the most pleasant of feelings.


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## mnsee

Well everyone, thanks again for the help and advice- I really appreciate it. It wasn't in vain- I have in fact passed!


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## DLD PE

Congrats!


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## Pra4surf1

mnsee said:


> Well everyone, thanks again for the help and advice- I really appreciate it. It wasn't in vain- I have in fact passed!


Man that’s awesome! Do you have any idea how well you did. I heard if you pass you only get passed and that’s it.


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## mnsee

Pra4surf1 said:


> Man that’s awesome! Do you have any idea how well you did. I heard if you pass you only get passed and that’s it.


Thanks!- They don't give me a score (I think Texas does give a score, and there may be other states that do but I'm not sure)- only a "passed" in a green box.


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## no_concentrate

CONGRATULATIONS!!!


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## Pra4surf1

Zach Stone P.E. said:


> Hi @mnsee glad to see our practice exam in your list!
> 
> If you're looking for advice and personal experience from other power engineers that have passed the new CBT format of the Power PE exam this year, take a look at the following youtube playlist:
> 
> Youtube - "How to Pass the CBT PE Exam"
> 
> That link is about a dozen or so hour-long interviews with former students of ours that have passed this year, and each one talks about what they did to prepare and pass.
> 
> We just filmed one today that we will be adding to that playlist shortly. It's very helpful to get an inside look at what it takes to pass.


Zack I watched your video about CBT repeat taker and was curious if you offer anything for Civil?


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## Zach Stone P.E.

Pra4surf1 said:


> Zack I watched your video about CBT repeat taker and was curious if you offer anything for Civil?


Hi @Pra4surf1, unfortunately, we offer online help exclusively for electrical power.


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## EE_transformer

Dothracki PE said:


> Welcome and good luck on your journey. Everyone is different on their study prep, but I think you have a good plan thus far. I myself spent over a year studying, gradually increasing the amount of time spent each week studying. Your study sources are very good. The NCEES practice Exams, Engineer Proguides, and Electrical PE Review are the top 3 references that I used and reccomend.
> 
> If you haven't already, you should print our the NCEES refence sheet that they will give you on the exam. That is essential to know that document forwards and backwards. On the NCEES dashboard, you should be able to download it under "Useful References".
> 
> You should take a look at the engineer pro guides code question exam that covers questions on the NEC, NFPA 99, and NESC. These make up a good portion of the and are much easier points to earn with less chance of error compared to other problems. Many of these are available online for free but the NEC handbook and NFPA 70E would be a good recommended purchase. if you don't have these. The NESC is a bit pricey but you may be able to find used ones, many of the NESC questions you might see are similar to the questions you will see in the NEC but does deal with a different subject matter at times. At minimum you should have a good knowledge of NEC articles 110, 210, 220, 240, 250, and 310, 430, and Chapter 9.


Hello,

I am planning on taking the exam in a couple months as well and I have a question about the reference material (and I can't seem to get a good/clear answer from NCEES or anywhere else so I figured someone who has recently taken the CBT exam would know). I have the PDF version of the reference handbook, but for the code questions on the exam I can't seem to find any reference material. My question is, how is this information provided when taking the exam? Do they give you full PDF versions of the codes needed that you can search, or do they give just a portion that is needed to answer the question? NCEES told me "the information needed to answer and code questions will be provided within or along with the question it is referencing" - but that doesn't seem right... Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Also, for studying purposes, does anyone know where I can find PDF versions of the codes? I'd like to study as similar fashion to the exam as possible (i.e. being able to search within the PDF). Thanks again!


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## Dothracki PE

EE_transformer said:


> Hello,
> 
> I am planning on taking the exam in a couple months as well and I have a question about the reference material (and I can't seem to get a good/clear answer from NCEES or anywhere else so I figured someone who has recently taken the CBT exam would know). I have the PDF version of the reference handbook, but for the code questions on the exam I can't seem to find any reference material. My question is, how is this information provided when taking the exam? Do they give you full PDF versions of the codes needed that you can search, or do they give just a portion that is needed to answer the question? NCEES told me "the information needed to answer and code questions will be provided within or along with the question it is referencing" - but that doesn't seem right... Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Also, for studying purposes, does anyone know where I can find PDF versions of the codes? I'd like to study as similar fashion to the exam as possible (i.e. being able to search within the PDF). Thanks again!


That is correct. You will be given a PDF reader program that is split screen with the exam. In the program you will have tabs for the reference guide, NFPA 70, NESC, and NFPA 70E. The PDF reader has the ability to search for keywords or sections and zoom if you need it, but I was able to see the text at the standard zoom.

I know you can view the NFPA versions for free online here: https://www.nfpa.org/Codes-and-Standards/All-Codes-and-Standards/Free-accessFree-access. You might be able to find downloadable PDFs of NFPA codes from a simple Google search since these versions used on the exams are not the latest issued versions. The NESC would definitely require you to purchase it. Unfortunately it doesn't come cheap either. You can always look into used versions of these books to study from. It is not that much different.


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## EE_transformer

Dothracki PE said:


> That is correct. You will be given a PDF reader program that is split screen with the exam. In the program you will have tabs for the reference guide, NFPA 70, NESC, and NFPA 70E. The PDF reader has the ability to search for keywords or sections and zoom if you need it, but I was able to see the text at the standard zoom.
> 
> I know you can view the NFPA versions for free online here: https://www.nfpa.org/Codes-and-Standards/All-Codes-and-Standards/Free-accessFree-access. You might be able to find downloadable PDFs of NFPA codes from a simple Google search since these versions used on the exams are not the latest issued versions. The NESC would definitely require you to purchase it. Unfortunately it doesn't come cheap either. You can always look into used versions of these books to study from. It is not that much different.


Great, thank you so much for the reply. That makes me feel a bit better, I was really concerned how/if this information would be available during the exam. I took the FE test awhile back and that was also CBT version so I am familiar with the split screen set-up, and as long as the codes/standards are provided in the same format that will be good. Again, thank you so much for taking the time to reply, this is the only place I have come where I could get a definitive answer.


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## Dothracki PE

EE_transformer said:


> Great, thank you so much for the reply. That makes me feel a bit better, I was really concerned how/if this information would be available during the exam. I took the FE test awhile back and that was also CBT version so I am familiar with the split screen set-up, and as long as the codes/standards are provided in the same format that will be good. Again, thank you so much for taking the time to reply, this is the only place I have come where I could get a definitive answer.


No better place to find help or advice on the exams. We all have either been there or are currently in the same place as you. Good luck and keep up the good work!


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## EE_transformer

I have another question if you could help (without divulging too much information of course) - the NCEES exam specifications lists approx. 10-15 questions on "Codes and Standards", however, during my studying I am finding that I am using the NEC/ANSI/NESC standards for several questions for things such as Overcurrent protection, relaying, devices, etc. My question is, based on your experience (or anyone's) did you only use the codes/standards for those 10-15 questions in section 1, or did you find that you were expected to use them for questions throughout the exam? Many of the sample problems I am working near the end of the exam specification start by saying something along the lines of "according to NEC..." That being said, should I expect 10-15 questions where I need to use the codes/standards, or should I expect 10-15 questions in THAT section, and then also expect to use them on later problems (maybe I will need to use them for something like 20-30 problems? Again, I don't expect anyone to give away any secrets or too much information, but if anyone could answer this in such a way without doing so that would be great! Thanks again!


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## Dothracki PE

EE_transformer said:


> I have another question if you could help (without divulging too much information of course) - the NCEES exam specifications lists approx. 10-15 questions on "Codes and Standards", however, during my studying I am finding that I am using the NEC/ANSI/NESC standards for several questions for things such as Overcurrent protection, relaying, devices, etc. My question is, based on your experience (or anyone's) did you only use the codes/standards for those 10-15 questions in section 1, or did you find that you were expected to use them for questions throughout the exam? Many of the sample problems I am working near the end of the exam specification start by saying something along the lines of "according to NEC..." That being said, should I expect 10-15 questions where I need to use the codes/standards, or should I expect 10-15 questions in THAT section, and then also expect to use them on later problems (maybe I will need to use them for something like 20-30 problems? Again, I don't expect anyone to give away any secrets or too much information, but if anyone could answer this in such a way without doing so that would be great! Thanks again!


I definitely was not keeping track, but from what I can recall, a majority of the code problem statements did cite the code that you would be able to direct you to an answer. Not specific sections, obviously. That being said, there is not a lot of information on protection devices in the reference guide so you might be able to find something that might help in the code sections for certain questions on that subject.


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## EE_transformer

HI Again,

I have scheduled my PE Power test for end of next month and thus far I have spent the majority of my time going through the Practice exam from NCEES and I also use the Wasim Study Guide for PE (over 500 problems) - this book helped me alot during the FE exam as well. I have went thru both several times and was wondering if anyone has another reference book/practice exam recommendation? I have about a good 3 weeks left to study so if there was any one book or study guide that helped you let me know where I can purchase it. As always, appreciate the feedback on here! 
Thanks!


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## akyip

EE_transformer said:


> HI Again,
> 
> I have scheduled my PE Power test for end of next month and thus far I have spent the majority of my time going through the Practice exam from NCEES and I also use the Wasim Study Guide for PE (over 500 problems) - this book helped me alot during the FE exam as well. I have went thru both several times and was wondering if anyone has another reference book/practice exam recommendation? I have about a good 3 weeks left to study so if there was any one book or study guide that helped you let me know where I can purchase it. As always, appreciate the feedback on here!
> Thanks!


2 highly recommended practice exam sets:

-Zach Stone's Electrical PE Review
-Justin Kauwale's Engineering Pro Guides, PE Power


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## EE_transformer

Maybe a silly question, but does the PE Power Exam follow the same layout as the NCEES? As in, is the morning session 1) General Power Engineering & 2) Circuits and the then afternoon session 3) Rotating Machines and Electric Power Devices & 4) Transmission and Distribution? Just curious because some of the practice tests I have follow this, and then other practice tests jump all over the place. Any input would be much appreciated. Thank you!


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