# Second thoughts on PM Session



## navyasw02 (Aug 21, 2010)

I signed up for Machine Design, but after I started studying I realized that I have to be more comfortable with a lot more material in order to take the PM session of Machine Design. If I just do the thermo/fluids, I can just study those areas and save a lot of time. The bad thing is I dont particularly like Thermo and I do enjoy Machine Design. I'd say I'm good as good with Heat Xfer and Fluids as I am with Machine Design, but not as great on Thermo. I still have a few weeks to change my mind, any thoughts from past takers out there?


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## benbo (Aug 21, 2010)

navyasw02 said:


> I signed up for Machine Design, but after I started studying I realized that I have to be more comfortable with a lot more material in order to take the PM session of Machine Design. If I just do the thermo/fluids, I can just study those areas and save a lot of time. The bad thing is I dont particularly like Thermo and I do enjoy Machine Design. I'd say I'm good as good with Heat Xfer and Fluids as I am with Machine Design, but not as great on Thermo. I still have a few weeks to change my mind, any thoughts from past takers out there?


I don't know much about ME, but if I had been in the same boat in EE I think I would have just looked carefully at all the percentages for the "subtopics" in the exam specifications and picked what I thought I was best at and required the least study. Sometimes the questions overlap a little anyway, and don't exactly match the specification from what I hear.

In my case for EE it was easy. I am horrible in power, and the computer section looked like Greek to me. So I picked the Electronics section.


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## navyasw02 (Aug 21, 2010)

benbo said:


> navyasw02 said:
> 
> 
> > I signed up for Machine Design, but after I started studying I realized that I have to be more comfortable with a lot more material in order to take the PM session of Machine Design. If I just do the thermo/fluids, I can just study those areas and save a lot of time. The bad thing is I dont particularly like Thermo and I do enjoy Machine Design. I'd say I'm good as good with Heat Xfer and Fluids as I am with Machine Design, but not as great on Thermo. I still have a few weeks to change my mind, any thoughts from past takers out there?
> ...


Thanks for the advice. I actually went and tried a random sampling of problems from the 2001 sample exam and did far better on the Machine Design without having studied for that section at all yet. I guess that settles it.


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## jldavis2 (Sep 13, 2010)

navyasw02 said:


> benbo said:
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> 
> > navyasw02 said:
> ...



I was in the same situation myself. I took senior coursework in Design and hated Thermo 2 and Heat Transfer. But I ended up picking T&amp;F anyway because I was so out of practice with it that it didn't much matter at that point. If you are stronger in MD, just put your head down and go with it and don't look back. I think NCEES does it's takers a service by not allowing you to select your P.M. session on test day, as was the case in April. If you haven't picked your subject by then, you've got PROBLEMS!


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