# How I prepared for my Power PE



## sskh1212 (May 30, 2014)

Preparing for the PE was one of the hardest things I have done and I promised myself that if I pass, I would totally help out fellow engineers.

I started studying this January (in hindsight I should have started a little earlier).

Books I had:

1. Grainger- I only studied transmission lines from this

2. Wildi- I skipped a couple of chapters, but read most of them and highlighted important parts

3. Blackburn- relays

4. GT notes- worst was transmission lines part

5. Camara book- do not study illumination from this (a lot of people do)

6. 3 sets of 3 ring binders I made with my own handwritten notes (in pen, I didn't want to get into the pencil vs. pen debate)

7. Printouts for various topics from the net in a 3 ring binder

8. NCEES FE book

9. NEC 2011

10. Ugly's

11. NCEES PE sample exam

I bought international editions for Grainger and Wildi.

I studied 2 hours each night on weekdays (except Fri night) after I put my 2 year old son to bed and studied 6 hrs on Saturday and Sunday (12 hours total over the weekend). This was the toughest thing I have ever done, all you parents out there would hopefully understand. Over the weekend I went to work to study coz there is NO WAY I can study at home. I would highly recommend going to work or a library to study even if you don't have a little kid at home.

Print out the syllabus from the NCEES site and follow it. Like a lot of people have mentioned on other threads, look at the NCEES sample test first. I did not try to solve any questions until a month and a half before the exam. I would have done really bad initially and it wouldn't have helped my morale (that's just me). I looked at it page by page and marked up the syllabus and the books accordingly. Would not recommend the spin-up.- too easy and not worth the money. Complex imaginary is better, I just had volumes 3 &amp; 4.

Make your hand written notes, nothing can beat that. Punch holes in the sheets and put them in 3 ring binders. If you decide to use bound notebooks, tear off blank sheets before you take them to the test center. The proctors were making people tear blank pages off.

I took the GA tech online class. The class is pre-recorded and honestly I would have preferred Testmasters- only because of in-class interactions and the fact that you could solve problems in class. I did not have TM around me so GA Tech was the next best thing (I did my research, you can do yours). I would recommend the class. It helped me a LOT to clear up some basic stuff and Dr. Callen was always available over emails.

The worst book out there is Camara, I barely opened it, but I still took it to the test. It actually helped me in the exam. So even if you have a book and barely get a chance to open it-Take it with you!!

Start NEC early, I didn't and was freaking out towards the end. I kept one evening for NEC starting March, but it was not enough. I had the NEC 2011 book and if you search on the net there are free exams available, you just have to search real well. I also purchased the Mike holt book and barely got the time to open it. I was underprepared for the NEC but honestly it wasn't that bad on the test.

In conclusion, you can do it.....just be prepared for the sacrifices you will have to make till your exam. I will be glad to help out further.

HOPE THIS HELPS!


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## KatyLied P.E. (Jul 31, 2014)

Good advice. We had similar approaches.


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## majorever (Jun 3, 2016)

which book or source is good for illumination engineering topic?


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## TWJ PE (Jun 3, 2016)

majorever said:


> which book or source is good for illumination engineering topic?


In my opinion, The Electrical Engineer's Guide to Passing The Power PE Exam by Graffeo and School of PE's notes were perfect.


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## Kovz (Jun 6, 2016)

TWJ PE said:


> In my opinion, The Electrical Engineer's Guide to Passing The Power PE Exam by Graffeo and School of PE's notes were perfect.


+1    Loved that reference.  By far my go-to reference.

Good post by SSKH.  Solid advice all around.


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## rustyjvan (Jun 14, 2016)

Would one of you who too the exam be more specific why the Camara book was terrible? I am planning to take the test in October and beginning gathering my references. Our engineering company has a library of PE references and the Camara book (Old 7th edition - Electrical and Electronics Reference Manual for the Electrical and Computer Exam) is what I reserved thinking it would serve as a great studying tool. Maybe Not. What are your thoughts?


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## Ken PE 3.1 (Jun 14, 2016)

rustyjvan said:


> Would one of you who too the exam be more specific why the Camara book was terrible? I am planning to take the test in October and beginning gathering my references. Our engineering company has a library of PE references and the Camara book (Old 7th edition - Electrical and Electronics Reference Manual for the Electrical and Computer Exam) is what I reserved thinking it would serve as a great studying tool. Maybe Not. What are your thoughts?


I didn't care much for Camara's book. It is good to look through just to refresh your memory but as far as 'test readiness' goes, it's useless. Graffeo covers a lot of topics in non-academia language.

I hate tapatalk


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## DarbCU (Jun 21, 2016)

majorever said:


> which book or source is good for illumination engineering topic?


I used "Electrical Engineering Reference Manual" 5th edition by Yarbrough (can get it for $5 online).  I used it for all the illumination questions because all of my other reference books lacked in that subject.


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## iwire (Jul 1, 2016)

majorever said:


> which book or source is good for illumination engineering topic?


I used Illumination handbook and also quick reference from formula book/note book i made

I got mine for free online

p/s Camara book sucks ass...wasted money. Glad I managed to trade it back to Amazon for the same price i paid...


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## majorever (Jul 4, 2016)

Thank you so much......


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