# 4 weeks to go; How is everyone doing?



## starquest (Mar 17, 2016)

Been quiet here this go around, but I'm sure there are many that have been living in the books nightly like myself.   

How is everyone doing?   What have you been focusing on?

Myself; I have been following Ram's approach but for the MD specific exam.   I'm currently grinding away on the 1st pass MERM PP, just finishing up on the HVAC section.   Wow, these MERM problems are grueling.   I heard the warnings, but I didn't think they would be this bad.   In specific, the fluids and heat transfer problems are kicking my butt.   I cannot wait until I start on MD sections this weekend.   I don't know about you, but I'm worried on running out of time.    I had wanted to go thru these PP problems twice and then recap on 6MS and the practice tests.  At my current rate, I doubt that I'll be able to do anything but a skim over on the PP problems.   

I actually enjoyed the 6MS and practice tests.  I didn't drive them to mastery, I did each three times..at that point, I could complete them in under 8 hours each but still was getting a few wrong (all stupid mistakes).  I simply flagged these and moved on with my studying. 

Hope everyone is doing well. 

Regards,

Kevin


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## Audi Driver P.E. (Mar 17, 2016)

The key to most of the heat transfer problems is to determine what they're truly asking for.  Most heat transfer books separate specific problem types into sections that address each one.  And of course, you need to be adept at using the resistance equivalent model to master a lot of these problems.


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## matt267 PE (Mar 17, 2016)

Audi driver said:


> determine what they're truly asking for


That's an awesome strategy for answering all types of problems.


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## Phenomenon083 (Mar 18, 2016)

Thank you for opening this thread starquest.

My depth is TF. It takes me around 9-10 minutes to solve a problem, I need to work on my pacing. And of course I'm making a lot of embarrassing mistakes, which needs to be taken care off as well.

I went through MERM chapters 14-60 once but I do not know how fruitful is it since I forgot mostly all of these problems. The only good thing came out from this is now I know where to look for a content.

I've found SMS problems are more exam like problems than MERM, but haven't mastered those SMS problems yet.

I worked through NCEES 2008 a couple of times and feeling pretty comfortable with those problems. Currently working on NCEES 2001, too bad half of these problems are repeated from NCEES 2008. I wish there were more NCESS practice exams available to practice.


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## starquest (Mar 18, 2016)

Sounds very similar, but I 'was' very efficient with the 6MS problems...but it has been 4-5 weeks now.. We'll see how it goes when I get to the point of review.       I'm in a similar spot with the PP's, they aren't sinking in as well as they should.   I keep making dumb mistakes like entering the pipe material properties into the Nu number to find the convective heat transfer coefficient, etc.    Of course I don't figure it out until I drive down to the solution and realize I am way off.   It's pretty frustrating especially when the problem takes an hour to solve.    When this happens, I tend to start muscling thru the subsequent problems to pick up time, of which I rely too much on the solutions and I'm not comprehending the problem.  

About half way thru the thermo/hvac sections of the MERM, I figured out a process that really helps me.   Upon starting a new chapter;  I look over the MERM chapter for a few minutes, then I read every PP problem and go directly to the solutions, I skim over the solutions and compare the approach to the equations in the MERM chapter.   Then I start on the first problem trying to solve it without the aide of the solution.    When I complete a chapter, or in same cases a certain key problem, I update my notes recording any key formulas and tricks/tips that helped with the problem.    This process takes more time but I feel that I actually retained some knowledge in the end and have good notes.   Sometimes I choose to 'skip' a problem based on the complexity (at least in areas not in my depth).   I'd rather really understand and be able to compute 50% of the problems than power thru 90-100% without retention.  

Have a good weekend!  Best of luck with your studies.

Regards,

Kevin


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## Phenomenon083 (Mar 18, 2016)

Your approach to work thru the MERM problems sounds effective to me. I wish I could do something similar when I was going through the MERM. But now I am more focusing on SMS, NCEES and I don't think I have enough time to go back on the MERM problems again. Maybe on my depth section I will work some. On my breadth section (HVAC, MD), I did something similar like you are doing, which was avoiding the long and complicated problems. I mostly went through the basics and which is all I need I hope for the breadth section.

Before I have started to work on the NCEES problems I took those as a simulated test. I did not do well but it helped me understand my shortcomings. Some findings are, need to do a better job understanding the questions, speed up and avoiding stupid mistakes. I hope I can make some improvement on these areas by April 15th. And best of luck with your studies too.


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## DETLTU (Mar 23, 2016)

Going back and forth from feeling prepared to not prepared at all.  Haven't even started working six minute solutions yet.  That's the next big thing on my agenda.  Unfortunately I will be traveling this weekend which is really going to cut into my study time.  I am taking the testmasters course which has been pretty good.  Between the PPI practice test, 2008 NCEES, and 6MS I have a ton of problems I haven't gotten to yet, and starting to run out of time.


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## starquest (Mar 23, 2016)

I think we are all feeling the same pain.    The Easter holiday does through a monkey wrench into the equation.    I guess it is good if you don't have any plans to visit family for the holiday, it would be a benefit with the extra day off work to study....but that isn't an option for me.   I learned the hard way when I traveled consistently for a living...family has to come first above everything else!  

But I'll still be hitting the books in the evenings this weekend.   

To top it off, I have to travel for business all next week....I'll be dragging the backpack full of huge books onto the plane.


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## SK82 P.E. (Apr 5, 2016)

I'm taking T/F and I'm starting to feel a little anxiety, so I need to lament!

I feel the pressures of running out of time.  This week I'm hoping to go through the NCEES T/F 2011 and 2001, but I'm a snail in working the problems so I'm worried that I will run out of time before I can work the SMS T/F.  

Projects at work are really starting to burden me and my wife has been very supportive but as the exam day nears, the less she thinks I need to study.  I hope it's that woman's intuition telling her I'm ready.  

I'm taking the week of the exam off to work the practice exams under exam-like conditions, but I have to say, so far my weakest topics are electrical, recognizing certain Heat transfer types, and the econ prob #106 in NCEES 2011.


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## P-E (Apr 5, 2016)

Skip the SMS and go back and review fluids, thermo, power cycles instead.


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## Audi Driver P.E. (Apr 5, 2016)

SK82 said:


> I'm taking T/F and I'm starting to feel a little anxiety, so I need to lament!
> 
> I feel the pressures of running out of time.  This week I'm hoping to go through the NCEES T/F 2011 and 2001, but I'm a snail in working the problems so I'm worried that I will run out of time before I can work the SMS T/F.
> 
> ...


It's time to stop trying to learn anything new and delve deeper into what you know already.  Doing those practice exams should reveal what you know.


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## starquest (Apr 5, 2016)

I'm in a similar place...same story with my wife..she feels I'm ready and has had enough of this lifestyle.   As the exam nears, I feel everything but 'ready'.  

I finally finished going thru all of the MERM practice problems.  No new problems from here on out for me, only reflecting on what I have done.   I'll be going back thru the SMS problems (will be the fourth time in total) starting tonight, then back to the 2011 ncees practice test (3rd pass).   Most of next week will be devoted to updating notes, tabbing my reference books, and glancing thru the problems I did in the MERM PP book.   

Kevin


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## Def (Apr 7, 2016)

I'm very drained at this point... I'm unlucky enough to be in Oil and Gas right now, so a colleague of mine was fired and they gave me 100% of his job responsibilities and said, "be thankful you still have a job." So after grueling 11+ hr days I find it's useless for me to study on weekdays. The 30-45 mins of time I fit in while dead tired only keeps me from being able to sleep, and I find I don't really get much out of it because my brain is so fried after being up for 15-16 hrs at that point. 

So I've been trying to cram in as much as possible during the weekend, but it's starting to wear me out since I can't remember the last time I had a little breather. I scheduled a couple of days off before the exam to review a few key problems/topics I've identified, but have already been told "you should come in the day before your exam for this or that reason." Ugh... It's not easy preparing for this exam when you get zero support for that preparation in certain parts of your life, that's for sure...


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## starquest (Apr 8, 2016)

Def,

My hat's off to you.   I worked in the energy industry (nuclear) for 15 years.  I fully understand how intense and demanding that industry is.  That was the reason why I haven't attempted to take this exam over the years (even though my registration was submitted and approved back in 2007).   I worked 60-80 hours a week consistently and still had to field 2am phone-calls, travel for emergent projects, etc.    It came to the point where I had to make the decision on what was more important; my career or my family and life in general.   Seems like a pretty easy decision to make looking back but for some reason it took many years to get up and leave my comfort zone.   I do miss my former job description, miss the rewording feeling of making things happen in a very expedited fashion, definitely miss the money...but I love being able to go home at 5pm everyday, not work weekends, spend time with my family, and simply take on other opportunities in life (such as taking this exam).  

I wish you the best of luck .  Hang in there, only one week away!    Turn that cellphone off, go to a local (or maybe even distant) library next week and study away.    They can and will survive without you for a few days...

Regards,

Kevin


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## Phenomenon083 (Apr 8, 2016)

Def,

I salute your determination. Just focus on NCEES and SMS, which is what I am aiming to do for the last couple days.


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## Def (Apr 8, 2016)

Thanks for the encouragement guys! I took this afternoon off to study. I was really beat down and overwhelmed last night since I wanted to study but my brain didn't have enough oomph in it to do much. 

Regarding the energy industry - I don't really mind the hard work when things are booming and projects are getting done (one reason I delayed getting my PE a while after switching over from aerospace). It's personally rewarding to accomplish big projects from start to finish, and the engineering challenges are enough to keep me motivated on a daily basis.

But when things bust and 60%+ of the engineers are laid off and you're being pushed to do more more MORE! and get thinly veiled threats of losing your job as a consequence to not delivering that ever increasing MORE MORE MORE! - well, it's not something that really gives me much professional (or personal) motivation. In fact, it more just burns me out and makes me dread the increasingly nasty political side of things that tends to become prevalent when people feel their back is against the wall. I try to shield my team from it as much as possible, so keeping them as motivated as possible is what keeps me coming in and doing the long hours most days now.

Side note - anybody else feels the MERM kinda stinks in the vibrations chapter (60 in 13th ed)? Just doesn't feel very well laid out, and when I overthink vibes problems from previous work experience, it's hard to get clear direction on some of the problem types.


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## Audi Driver P.E. (Apr 8, 2016)

Def said:


> Side note - anybody else feels the MERM kinda stinks in the vibrations chapter (60 in 13th ed)? Just doesn't feel very well laid out, and when I overthink vibes problems from previous work experience, it's hard to get clear direction on some of the problem types.


Yes.  That is why I went and bought an old school text on the subject.  If you didn't have one, it might not be too late to get a copy of the one I used.  It's called Introduction to Dynamic Systems Analysis, by TD Burton.  I think I paid less than $2 for it.  http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-To-Dynamic-Systems-Analysis/dp/0070092907


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## JHW 3d (Apr 9, 2016)

Def said:


> Side note - anybody else feels the MERM kinda stinks in the vibrations chapter (60 in 13th ed)? Just doesn't feel very well laid out, and when I overthink vibes problems from previous work experience, it's hard to get clear direction on some of the problem types.


I thought it was acceptable. Not enough to be a subject matter expert but probably enough for the exam. I actually thought the coverage on transmissibility was pretty decent!


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## starquest (Apr 11, 2016)

Def said:


> Regarding the energy industry - I don't really mind the hard work when things are booming and projects are getting done (one reason I delayed getting my PE a while after switching over from aerospace). It's personally rewarding to accomplish big projects from start to finish, and the engineering challenges are enough to keep me motivated on a daily basis.
> 
> But when things bust and 60%+ of the engineers are laid off and you're being pushed to do more more MORE! and get thinly veiled threats of losing your job as a consequence to not delivering that ever increasing MORE MORE MORE! - well, it's not something that really gives me much professional (or personal) motivation. In fact, it more just burns me out and makes me dread the increasingly nasty political side of things that tends to become prevalent when people feel their back is against the wall. I try to shield my team from it as much as possible, so keeping them as motivated as possible is what keeps me coming in and doing the long hours most days now


Reading this is like deja-vu, even down to the threats.


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## JayhawkerME (Apr 12, 2016)

starquest said:


> Reading this is like deja-vu, even down to the threats.


Yep. Sitting in a similar situation here. If nothing else, the long days ensure we can go the distance on test day. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

In all seriousness-- I'm sorry to hear that. There are lots of good, and competent folks on tough times right now.

With a few days to go, I'm just reviewing some past stumbling points on the afternoon tests and wrapping up the tabbing &amp; cheat sheet. Best of luck to everyone.


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## Def (Apr 12, 2016)

JHW 3d said:


> I thought it was acceptable. Not enough to be a subject matter expert but probably enough for the exam. I actually thought the coverage on transmissibility was pretty decent!


Maybe I'm just having slight issues because my previous vibes exposure (externally excited, higher order bending and torsion modes of complex structures) doesn't really have much representation in the exam because it's not a very "hand calc" friendly domain.

The transmissibility portion of MERM is ok, but outside of that I think it glosses over too much, and doesn't do a good job of explaining some key points. Same thing on some of the machine design subjects vs. Shigley. I just use them very often so I know exactly where the MERM is failing (IMO).


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## Def (Apr 12, 2016)

JayhawkerME said:


> Yep. Sitting in a similar situation here. If nothing else, the long days ensure we can go the distance on test day. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> In all seriousness-- I'm sorry to hear that. There are lots of good, and competent folks on tough times right now.
> 
> With a few days to go, I'm just reviewing some past stumbling points on the afternoon tests and wrapping up the tabbing &amp; cheat sheet. Best of luck to everyone.


Yep, I'm in a similar mode. I've got a little bit of time tonight (jeez I'm tired after putting the kiddo to sleep and a full day of work), and some tomorrow. Then it's just glancing over a few topics Thursday morning and verifying I'm good to go on Friday then relaxing the whole day. The good thing is I normally leave my house at 5:20-5:30 AM for work, so leaving then will easily get me to the test center on time! Silver linings guys, always pick out the silver linings!


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## srimps (Apr 13, 2016)

I haven't studied since Sunday. I've glanced and organized a bit this week at and after work, but I was pretty burnt after Sunday evening. I think some mental refresh time will be pretty beneficial at this point. I've also been going to bed at 900 all week which is also paying dividends on how I feel physically. I took tomorrow off from work to travel up to the testing center (2.5 hours away). I'm going to head early and either study in the hotel lobby or find a library nearby until my room is ready. I'll hit the books a bit to just stay warmed up but nothing crazy. I've gone through the NCEES practice exam a few times recently and the breadth hasn't been an issue. I was able to complete in ~2 hours or so. Stupid mistakes were made that I need to watch out for on the test (e.g. dividing by 144 versus multiplying, even if I set it up to be divided by. Not converting in to ft... yup, that should not be happening at this point....). I'd say the stupid mistakes made caused me to get more wrong than not having an idea on how to solve. These mistakes are typical for me when I'm trying to rush, so I need to slow it down slightly and do some double checking. MD is my main weakness in the Breadth sections. Hopefully these questions will be straight forward and limited to what I do understand and can solve within an appropriate amount of time. The Depth will give me a run for my money too. Not on difficulty per se, but on time. With complex questions, it takes me a little while to digest what is given. With most of the questions I understand what they are asking for and a decent idea on a success path to solve... just completing some of these in the 6 minute allotment has been tough. I'll probably utilize the entire 4 hours for the Depth. With how I feel right now, I think I will end up near the cut off score... either right below or right above.


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## starquest (Apr 13, 2016)

I'm in the phase of "I forgot everything I did" in regards to my 'non-depth' area studying.     The past two days have been in panic mode trying to recap on Fluids, Thermo, and HVAC.   I think I calmed myself down after running back thru a few problems...staying up way too late as a result. 

Trying to get out of work early today and am taking tomorrow off.    My focus has to be on collecting my reference books, fixing up my tabs, and organizing my notes (originally this was my plan for this entire week!).   I also have to run out and get a backup set of batteries for my HP35s tomorrow (would be my luck).


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## Karissa (Apr 13, 2016)

I too have been screwing up the smallest of things or completely drawing a blank on a problem I was easily able to do a week or so ago. The last 2 days I've been trying to keep myself calm and just browse through the reference materials, adding to my "cheat sheet", and organizing the material that I have. I burned myself out like this just before the FE too but was lucky to pass the first time. I also feel like I will be on the boarder of passing, just hoping for the best.


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## Def (Apr 13, 2016)

I took off today and reworked all problems that I missed on both 2001 and 2011 NCEES practice tests first time through, glanced through some select SMS problems, then spent some time beefing up my tabs in Shigley and MERM. Then added a few formulas to my "commonly used/hard to find formula sheet." 

That's about all I'm going to do. I was going to glance over some things tomorrow, but I think I'll get more of a benefit out of being mentally fresh and alert over any cramming I can possibly do at this point.

I made up a checklist for things to bring, so all I have to do tomorrow is pack and relax the whole day.


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