# References available for practice problems



## Anutka2 (Sep 10, 2012)

Hello, I'm wondering who has used the following references:

What did you think of the difficulty (compared to actual exam, if you took it)?

How useful was it overall?

- NCEES PE Mechanical (I have just the MD one)

- 6-Minute Solutions for Mechanical PE (again, I just have the MD one)

- 101 Solved Mechanical Engineering Problems (I read reviews saying these problems are much more difficult than on the exam, I'm wondering if it's worth my time going through them)

- Mechanical PE Sample Examination by Lindeburg (worth taking in an "exam" format or just going through the problems?)


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## Jonhnny123 (Sep 10, 2012)

Anutka2 said:


> Hello, I'm wondering who has used the following references: What did you think of the difficulty (compared to actual exam, if you took it)? How useful was it overall?
> - NCEES PE Mechanical (I have just the MD one)
> 
> - Mechanical PE Sample Examination by Lindeburg (worth taking in an "exam" format or just going through the problems?)


Out of those listed, these are the two I used (I took T/F exam).

The NCEES sample exam was the most similar to the actual exam. I definitely recommend taking this in an exam format a couple of weeks prior to the real deal.

The Lindeburg sample exam has many questions that take far more effort than what you will find on the exam. Some answers make assumptions that you'd never think to make and some can take close to 30 minutes just to solve! It's good to go through them because they'll strengthen your fundamentals, but don't try and take it in a 4/8 hour time frame.


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## Anutka2 (Sep 10, 2012)

Thanks, Jonhnny! I've been going through all of your group's previous threads... wish we had an active community this time around too 

How did you do on the NCEES practice when you took it?


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## Jonhnny123 (Sep 10, 2012)

Anutka2 said:


> How did you do on the NCEES practice when you took it?


I took the 2001 and 2008 NCEES after I had completed all of my studying and did well on them. It was a nice little confidence booster after slugging it through the Lindeburg problems! After that, I just went over the problems I got wrong and spent the rest of the time tabbing the MERM and putting together a couple of pages of handwritten notes.


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## MetsFan (Sep 11, 2012)

I went through the 2001 and 2008 NCEES exams (HVAC), the Lindeburg exam, and the 6 minute solutions for HVAC. Out of all those, the NCEES was definitely the most like the exam. The SMS was pretty good too and I went through all the problems twice to get a good feel for the material. Like Johnny said, the Lindeburg exam is tough. I got so frustrated with it that I ended up just solving the problems using the solutions as a guideline.


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## Anutka2 (Sep 11, 2012)

I think I will end up doing the same for the Lindeburg exam.

MetsFan - did your go through the breadth of the other 2 SMS?

By the way, what's with all the very negative reviews for SMS on amazon? I've only gone through the MD one (half way done) and I agree that some problems are very obscure, some take longer than 6 min, and some solutions use methods that I would never use on the exam (like drawing Mohr's circle)... but majority of the questions are good - no?

Has anyone found the 101 Solved Problems to be useful? Or just difficult and frustrating?


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## MetsFan (Sep 12, 2012)

No, I only bought the HVAC one. I don't know what the reviews are like for that one, but I thought it was very helpful.


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