# PPI sample exam killed me!



## Matt-NM (Mar 17, 2008)

(I already posted this deep in another thread but would really like to hear some input. Because exam time is near i'm starting another post with this. Sorry. Good luck to everybody!)

Took "The other board" ME PE sample exam today (Machine Design depth). Man, I feel like I need to see a doctor. I simulated it as much as possible (4 hour morning, 1 hour lunch, 4 hour afternoon). Just graded it and it came in around 50%, including guesses, of which there were quite a few. I am not really disappointed, as I knew that this test was really difficult, and knew I probably wouldn't do well. I am just worried that this may not scale up enough for a passing score on the real thing. Some of the questions I had no idea, while others I probably could have solved, but not in the allotted time. The SI units didn't help either.

How much value is everybody placing in this exam? I know quite a few people have taken it. What was everybody's score, including guesses? How did you score compare to your score on the real thing?

Some observations from this first simulated exam...

1. I really didn't use anything but MERM. I realized that with the time crunch, there is just not enough time to be flipping through numerous references. I glanced at my equation sheets a few times. This also

helped me because I now realize that indexing hundreds of solved problems probably won't do me any good, and thus won't spend the time doing it. A few template problems will help though.

2. Having to skip over so many problems, I began losing track of time. It's very different doing 40 problems in 4 hours as opposed to doing 4 problems in 24 minutes and then thinking that it will scale exactly,

which is what I kind of do when I am studying.

3. Information from multiple chapters will be needed to solve some problems. i.e., vibrations combined with helical springs.

4. When I would struggle with multiple problems in a row, my mind would sort of trick me into thinking that every problem thereafter was just getting harder and harder. It became discouraging and I lost

motivation.

I'm sure there are others but I think I am going to take the rest of the night off and hit it again tomorrow.


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## BluSkyy (Mar 17, 2008)

I'm not sure its helpful at this point to be worrying about your scores scaling up enough to make it. Whatever happens, you need to go through the door prepared to do the work to get your pass. So don't worry about whether your score is good enough or not, worry about improving it.


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## Dark Knight (Mar 17, 2008)

I am not a ME and should probably stay out of this but regarding the sample test. well, here we go:

As BSk said, do not worry about the score you got on the practice. If it is some sort of consolation, that would be your lowest score. Get over that and move on. Work on improving your weak areas and keep digging. You are doing great. The real test is in April, not March. You still have time.

Say :bio: mate


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## Dleg (Mar 17, 2008)

I didn't take the ME test, either. But I will say that the whole purpose of doign the practice exam is to test yourself so that you know what to expect on the real thing, and what to focus on in the final weeks prior to the exam. So I'd say you're right on track. Figure out what it is that you need to do to improve your performance, and do it! Absolutely, do NOT focus on the panicky feelings you felt. Now that you've gone through this exercize, you should be able to file away the experience, and use it to calm yourself while taking the real thing.


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## MRDPE (Mar 17, 2008)

Yes - don't panic. You will probably find the practice test to be harder than the real thing.


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## NCcarguy (Mar 18, 2008)

I agree with what others have already said. I would use this test to recognize weaknesses, and study appropriately. These tests almost always seem to be more difficult than the actual exam, so just keep studying, keep organizing, and be confident when you walk through the door to take the exam. History on this has proven those that prepare, pass.


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## cocoloco (Mar 18, 2008)

I didnt even bother with doing the practice test as an 8 hour exam. I just went through the problems as additional practice. From what I hear/understand it is not very representative and so I took that at face value and just practiced the problems in it.


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## TouchDown (Mar 18, 2008)

> Took "The other board" ME PE sample exam today (Machine Design depth). Man, I feel like I need to see a doctor.


Just as everyone else has said - no need to have the wheels come off right now.

I did the exact thing - The "the other board" exam was exhaustive and much more in depth. I would recommend doing a NCEES practice exam to give you an idea on the depth level of the questions. They are much more straight forward. The thing that you have to be careful of, with the shorter questions, making sure you're giving yourself adequate time and not making silly mistakes.

Just breathe...


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## WR/ENV_Instructor (Mar 19, 2008)

cocoloco said:


> I didnt even bother with doing the practice test as an 8 hour exam.


I disagree. If you haven't practiced sitting for an 8-hour exam, than you may underestimating the level of stress experienced and and patience needed for the exam. I am sure many would agree that the exam is a marathon, not a sprint. Most will benefit from working problems for 4-hours, take a 1-hour break and then do problems for another 4-hours. If not, you might be amazed as to how much concentration is needed during the final hour where you are facing the depth (harder) problems and need to get as many right as you can.

However, regarding your statement that "the other board" is not representative of the true exam, I completely agree. The NCEES exam is more representative.


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## ChrisCT (Mar 19, 2008)

I'm a CE so I can't speak for the ME material. However, I also took this practice exam(CE version) as a simulation of the Big Day...let's just say it's the closest I came to quitting the whole thing! After studying 250+ hours, I sit down and find that I'm scoring less than half of the problems correctly? Instead of panicing, I took the lessons I did learn from the whole process and moved on with a list of "weak" areas that I needed to work on. I also, took the NCEES practice exam, which seemed to be much more representative of the real thing. I ended up passing the Oct07 exam. Bottom line...take what you can from it and move on.


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## maryannette (Mar 19, 2008)

I think there is value in taking a practice exam to give an indication of the endurance factor. It's TOUGH to sit for 8 hours working problems. My experience with the practice exams I took was that they were harder than the real test. Don't get caught up on how you did. Just complete your preparation and take the exam. We're here for you.


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Mar 20, 2008)

> My experience with the practice exams I took was that they were harder than the real test. Don't get caught up on how you did.


Practice exams should be just a little more difficult and comprehensive than the real thing.


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## M.E. Nebraska (Mar 22, 2008)

I just got done taken the "other board" exam.

Morning 27/40

Afternoon 20/40

This does include some eductated guesses in their (But I also made some stupid mistakes). I am pretty disappointed, but I still have some time to review. It looks like I have a lot of work left to do in order to pass this test. I don't see how you could finish the afternoon portion of the "other board" exam in the 4 hours.

I noticed they had some problems of converyting from SI to English units. Is this going to be the case or will all the conversions be within the english system.


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## Matt-NM (Mar 23, 2008)

M.E. Nebraska

47/80 on "The Other Board" sample test is actually a good score, at least in my opinion. I scored the same as you on the afternoon (machine design) but lower than you on the morning. (I was about 50%). People have posted scores of 50% on the NCEES sample exam late in the game, which is definately easier than the other, and still passed the real thing. Did you do the sample exam as a timed 8 hour? I did, and was forced to blindly guess on quite a few.

After going back through the exam, I realized that many of the problems, especially on the morning section were not really that difficult. I just got stuck and overwhelmed right away, which put me way behind time-wise. I wasn't even able to attempt some problems, which may have been easier than ones I got stuck on. For this reason, I think I will take others suggestions of rating problems at the beginning of the exam as easy/hard and then working them in that order. I never did this back in school, so I am anxious to see how it works out. Of course, I have never taken a test like this before also.

I will be taking the NCEES sample exam this Friday as another 8-hour timed exam, even though I have worked the problems before. The time is near.

Things to remember (at least what I have been told)....

1. Know the depth behind the material, not just sample questions pertaining to the material. I plan on reading as many MERM chapters between now and the exam as I can. Now that I have worked problems

and have been exposed to the content, i'm sure it will make more sense.

2. Take your time on each question. Even though there is only an average of 6 minutes per question, silly mistakes due to rushing are a big reason people fail.

3. Work easy problems first. Knocking out several problems right away will build confidence. It also means that any blind guesses at the end will be on harder problems, problems that were less likely to have

been done correctly anyway.

Best of luck in April.


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## M.E. Nebraska (Mar 24, 2008)

Matt-NM said:


> M.E. Nebraska
> 47/80 on "The Other Board" sample test is actually a good score, at least in my opinion. I scored the same as you on the afternoon (machine design) but lower than you on the morning. (I was about 50%). People have posted scores of 50% on the NCEES sample exam late in the game, which is definately easier than the other, and still passed the real thing. Did you do the sample exam as a timed 8 hour? I did, and was forced to blindly guess on quite a few.
> 
> After going back through the exam, I realized that many of the problems, especially on the morning section were not really that difficult. I just got stuck and overwhelmed right away, which put me way behind time-wise. I wasn't even able to attempt some problems, which may have been easier than ones I got stuck on. For this reason, I think I will take others suggestions of rating problems at the beginning of the exam as easy/hard and then working them in that order. I never did this back in school, so I am anxious to see how it works out. Of course, I have never taken a test like this before also.
> ...


Matt-NM

I did take the "other board" in an 8-hour sitting (Thermo/Fluids Depth). I did have to guess on the afternoon section on almost half of them. The ones I did do, I tried to take my time and get the correct answer. With a 1/2 left on the afternoon I still had 10 problems left to go. I quickly skimmed these and ended being able to do 2 fairly quickly, but probably could have got a couple more correct if I would skipped early problems quicker.

I plan on taking the NCEES test this saturday or the next. Hopefully it will be a little easier. From other posts it looks like it is.

Good luck in April.


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## Casey (Mar 24, 2008)

Matt-NM said:


> I will be taking the NCEES sample exam this Friday as another 8-hour timed exam, even though I have worked the problems before. The time is near.


Is there a full NCEES practice exam? I bought the sample question pack for the new Civil exam, but it only has 20 questions for the morning and 20 questions for each of the afternoon section...

I have looked at the NCEES website and it appears some disciplines have full exams, but not the new civil guide... Unless I missed it somewhere...

I would have preferred a full practice exam....


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## M.E. Nebraska (Mar 29, 2008)

I just got done taking the NCEES Sample Test for MECH (Thermo/Fluids Depth).

34/40 - Morning

32/40 - Afternoon

I treated this like the actual exam. I never opened this exam until this morning. I did look at NCEES CD that came with it yesterday, just to get a feel of their terminology. I did notice that 2-3 were identical from the CD to the exam. So this could have helped the score. I also just barely got done with the afternoon section with only having to guest on 2-4 problems. If I would have time to review the afternoon, I would have caught 2 stupid mistakes. Forgot to convert from R to F for the solution and read the problem statement wrong on the other and gave the most pressure drop instead of the least on valve question.

I still feel I could have done better and need to continue to study in my weak areas. The exam this april could be completly different from this sample exam. If it were to increase problems in my weaker areas I would be in trouble. Hopefully I can get the same results when it is the real thing.

How is everybody else doing?


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## maryannette (Mar 29, 2008)

M.E. Nebraska said:


> 34/40 - Morning32/40 - Afternoon


You are in good shape. If there are weak areas, spend a little time on them, but don't burn yourself out before the exam. Good luck.


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## Matt-NM (Mar 29, 2008)

ME Nebraska

Looks like you are doing well. Yes, keep working on the weaker areas, but also stay fresh on areas you know as well. I don't know about your memory, but mine seems to go rather quickly.

Did you find that you used any reference besides MERM? You may have, since you did the Thermo/Fluids depth. I'm hoping for the MD depth I can use MERM for a vast majority of it.

Did you work the problems in order or did you go through and rate them and then work them in that order? Anything you learned from the sample exam that you may want to share with the rest of us as far as any surprises/things you may change before the real thing?

The time is near and soon all of this will be over! Stay strong here toward the end and hopefully all of this will pay off. Good luck.


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## M.E. Nebraska (Mar 31, 2008)

Matt-NM

I used the MERM almost exclusively (MERM Reference Manual, MERM Quick Reference Guide, MERM Practice Problems Book). I did use separte Steam, Air, and Gas Tables. Other than that I think I used a Cameron Hydraulic book once, Heat Transfer book once, and Engineering Unit Conversion Book. I will still probably bring Shigley and Mischke (Mech Design), Moran Shapiro - Thermo from college, Heat Transfer book from college, and a few other books that I used to study with the practice problems. I will probably never use them on the exam, but will feel more comfortable knowing that I have them.

I worked each problem in order, but if I started to get stuck I would mark it and go on to the next one. I think I ended up going back to 4-6 problems after going through the exam.

I made copies of the index of the MERM and put it in a separte binder and used the Quick Reference Quide (MERM) to find equations quickly. Then if I need more informatoin I used the MERM.

I will underline the units in each problem statement, as recommended on this board. This was a big help for me. I still made two mistakes even though I had them underlined.

How much time have you spent on Economics? That is one area, I really haven't spent any time. I was going to do that this week. Does anybody know in the past how many economics problems they had on the exam?

I still feel my score was inflated since I looked at the NCEES CD to try and understand the NCEES terminology. I will continue to focus on my weak areas and review practice problems throughout. I don't want to forget the stuff I know fairly well either.

Good Luck, time is getting close. Can't wait for this to be done.


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## snickerd3 (Mar 31, 2008)

M.E. Nebraska said:


> How much time have you spent on Economics? That is one area, I really haven't spent any time. I was going to do that this week. Does anybody know in the past how many economics problems they had on the exam?


The ChE test only had like one or two economic questions both qualitative. I don't think any of the exams have a heavy emphasis on the econ anymore.


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## Matt-NM (Mar 31, 2008)

ME Nebraska

I haven't put any time into Economics. I'm still debating whether it is even worth it, considering all the other subjects on the exam that I am still reviewing for. I have worked a few on the sample exams that seem like they can be worked without any specific "economic" knowledge. The MERM chapter on econ. is rather lengthy. I will likely decide to skip econ. all together and then just hope that the 2-3 problems that appear are simple enough to solve without any specific knowledge.

Does anybody have an opinion on the difficulty of the economics problems that have appeared in the past?

Good luck to everybody next week. (I can't believe the test is already next week!)

Thanks


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## rudy (Mar 31, 2008)

snickerd3 said:


> The ChE test only had like one or two economic questions both qualitative. I don't think any of the exams have a heavy emphasis on the econ anymore.


Agree. Each time (3 times) I took the ChE test, there were only one or two economic questions. For the ChE economics portion, I'd recommend a plant design book. The ChE Reference Manual (ChERM -- from the other site) was little to no use for the economics portion. My plant design book had useful economics topics, that the ChERM did not have. I wish I had taken my plant design book my first two times. I did take it for my third time and it came in very handy.


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## Dleg (Apr 1, 2008)

I made the mistake of spending several days working through the whole Economics chapter. You only need to concentrate on the most basic enginering econ subjects, basically just finding present values and future values, etc. There will likely be a handful or less of economic problems, or at least, engineering problems with economic aspects to them. But I would highly doubt you would ever find an economics problem requiring any skills beyond those basics, based on what everyone here has ever said. Just stick to the basics and be prepared to use the econ tables at the back of your MERM/CERM.


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## Brentum (Apr 2, 2008)

VTEnviro said:


> Practice exams should be just a little more difficult and comprehensive than the real thing.


I'm taking the full 8 hour practice exam next friday, April 11th. I'll let you all know if it's anything like the real exam I'll be taking in October!

:brickwall:


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