# April 2009 Mech PE exam



## steven_0078 (Apr 27, 2009)

What did you guys think about the Mechanical Exam. The morning was a little easier than i thought it would be. At lunch i thought i had it made, but then came the afternoon portion. It was more difficult (I took Thermal and Fluids) than the morning i thought. This was my first time taking the exam and i have a feeling that I'm right on the fence, i.e. a couple questions above or below the Cut Score. I'm guessing i got 30-35 right on the morning portion and approximately 20-25 right during the afternoon portion. Have any previous Mech PE takers had the same feeling after leaving the exam and how did it end up turning out for you??? And I know people speculate alot on Cut Scores, what would be a fair guess of the range for the cut score: 53-56 correct out of 80?


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## Johnny (Apr 27, 2009)

After taking the PPI practice exam, I thought both portions were easier than I had expected. I took the Machine Design depth. Even though it wasn't as bad as it could have been, I still had issues concentrating during the afternoon session. I don't know why, but I struggled with the easiest problems on the entire exam. I think it was burnout. It was to the point that I couldn't find the buttons on my calculator anymore. It was a weird feeling and I panicked when it happened. I think I am on the bubble because of it. :angry:

It could go either way for me. It'll definitely be a long 12 weeks. :smileyballs:


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## benbo (Apr 27, 2009)

steven_0078 said:


> And I know people speculate alot on Cut Scores, what would be a fair guess of the range for the cut score: 53-56 correct out of 80?


I think that's a reasonable range.


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## bph (Apr 28, 2009)

steven_0078 said:


> What did you guys think about the Mechanical Exam. The morning was a little easier than i thought it would be. At lunch i thought i had it made, but then came the afternoon portion. It was more difficult (I took Thermal and Fluids) than the morning i thought. This was my first time taking the exam and i have a feeling that I'm right on the fence, i.e. a couple questions above or below the Cut Score. I'm guessing i got 30-35 right on the morning portion and approximately 20-25 right during the afternoon portion. Have any previous Mech PE takers had the same feeling after leaving the exam and how did it end up turning out for you??? And I know people speculate alot on Cut Scores, what would be a fair guess of the range for the cut score: 53-56 correct out of 80?


I think I'm in the same boat, did very well on the morning MD questions and fair on the rest of the morning, likely got 30/40 maybe better (or maybe worse?). In the afternoon, I got off to a bad start and got a bit of tunnel vision, and became sloppy, maybe 25/40, or so. I'm guessing a total of 55/80 or so, which will be close. I only studied for 5 weeks, but studied extremely hard during that time (the most studying I've ever done in 5 weeks!). I don't know how people find the energy to take this exam multiple times, my hats off those that can.

-BPH


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## steven_0078 (Apr 28, 2009)

bph said:


> I think I'm in the same boat, did very well on the morning MD questions and fair on the rest of the morning, likely got 30/40 maybe better (or maybe worse?). In the afternoon, I got off to a bad start and got a bit of tunnel vision, and became sloppy, maybe 25/40, or so. I'm guessing a total of 55/80 or so, which will be close. I only studied for 5 weeks, but studied extremely hard during that time (the most studying I've ever done in 5 weeks!). I don't know how people find the energy to take this exam multiple times, my hats off those that can.-BPH


I don't know how people find the energy to keep taking it over either. It really drained me. I think part of the battle was that i was extremely psyched up being this was my first time to sit for it. Being that i think i scored right around the Cut score, I came this far, so a little additional studying for the next exam will seem like 25% of the work that i put in for the first time. As for those who take it 3+ times, i think i would give up. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Hopefully i will be in the group of high percentage first time takers who pass (70% or so).


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## jragg (Apr 28, 2009)

I finished up the morning session in about the same amount of time that it took me to take the 2008 NCEES practice exam, and I feel pretty comfortable with that section. There were only a couple that I didn't feel "sure" of (which really doesn't mean too much since I usually miss ones that I feel "sure" of anyways).

The afternoon Thermal/Fluids section seemed really easy compared to the sample exam. It took me a solid 4 hours to finish the sample exam, and even then I did some quick guessing to finish in time. I finished the actual exam about 50 minutes early. Did anyone else take the Thermal/Fluids section? How did you feel about it?


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## rynodawg (Apr 28, 2009)

I also did the thermal and fluids afternoon portion. For both sessions, I marked problems that I wasn't 100% percent on with an asterik. Most of these, I had a general idea of how to do the problem, but couldn't get an answer that exactly matched the choices. There was only one where I didn't know what the h&amp;^&amp; it was asking or where I would search for it.

Anyway, I ended up with 10 'asteriks' on the morning session, and 13 'asteriks' on the afternoon (which was definitely more challenging). I'm sure I missed at least a few that I was confident on, so hopefully I narrowed down the choices enough to make educated guesses.

Also, I started each session at the end and worked backwards. It seems to me like more of the 'look-up' definition questions end up towards the beginning. I'd rather work on those at the end when I am drained.


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## wiggy56 (Apr 28, 2009)

I thought overall the exam seemed much easier than the practice exam and the practice problems in any books that i used to review. i felt really good about all of my answers, but sometimes its more nerve racking when things come a little too easy.

I took the HVAC in he afternoon and thought it was much more basic than a lot of the review problems as well.

all in all i felt really good about 29 of the problems in the morning and 30 in the afternoon. now its just time to sit and wait...hopefully this was a one time deal! i was totally spent after that test.


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## goodal (Apr 28, 2009)

I took the HVAC depth. The test was very similar to the 2008 practice test. I found the problems I had trouble with were the ones you didnt need a calulator for. There were 5-6 with an asterisk in the morning and about 8-9 in the afternoon. Several of those were probably right, i just wasnt 100% sure about them. Took way too many books in. All i needed was MERM, ASHRAE and Marks for one or two problems.

I feel good enough about it to say I am pretty sure I passed, but im not getting cocky about it (because you never know)!!


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## TheKnack (Apr 28, 2009)

I thought the morning section was great. They weren't too easy, but easy enough that I felt really good about it. My biggest problem on practice tests had been missing the "hiccups" they throw in there, and I re-read every problem and caught 3 or 4 where I would have had an incorrect answer. (that's not too much to say right? don't want to get in trouble)

Thermo/Fluids in the afternoon was more difficult than the morning but not as bad as PPI practice test (which is essentially impossible in 4 hours) My biggest issue was lack of focus as the day wore on. I started having problems reading the questions with about an hour left which meant going back to the harder problems didn't do much for me. I finished a half hour early and after 15 minutes of brain melt going back through hard problems I decided to just turn it in and go have a beer.

I won't be suprised if I pass and I won't be suprised if I'm just under the cut score. I'll only be suprised if I bombed the morning section.


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## buick455 (Apr 28, 2009)

I took the afternoon Machine design depth.

When I left the morning I felt that I did ok. I am not real sure about the afternoon maybe 25/40 or better. I just lost focus in the afternoon as I was beat. I also worked the afternoon back wards which interestingly enough worked to my benefit.

Looking back at the entire exam I know I missed three for sure and maybe 12 were maybe. I only remember guessing on 4 total, but that is what I remember. Note: I went home and did three problems I had difficulty with in about 5 minutes which bothers me allot.

I believe I studied enough and I just made some stupid mistakes on some. A few areas I know I need to brush up on but I hope I do not have to do this again. The entire afternoon I kept telling myself to keep pushing so I would not be doing this again and it helped. I hope it was enough.


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## Kephart P.E. (Apr 28, 2009)

buick455 said:


> I took the afternoon Machine design depth.
> When I left the morning I felt that I did ok. I am not real sure about the afternoon maybe 25/40 or better. I just lost focus in the afternoon as I was beat. I also worked the afternoon back wards which interestingly enough worked to my benefit.
> 
> Looking back at the entire exam I know I missed three for sure and maybe 12 were maybe. I only remember guessing on 4 total, but that is what I remember. Note: I went home and did three problems I had difficulty with in about 5 minutes which bothers me allot.
> ...



Gotta say, I feel really similiar to a lot of folks on here. Took the T &amp; F depth. Thought the morning was pretty standard, finished early only took a guess on a couple.

The afternoon was a challenge for me had about 10-12 that I was unsure about. Also seemed to hit that wall everyone is describing about 6 1/2 hours in.

Again, I would only be surprised if I do poorly on the morning as for pass/no pass I am feeling 50/50.


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## chekkmate (Jun 8, 2009)

I will preface this post with "I am an idiot"

I took T&amp;F in the afternoon and I was sitting in the front of the testing center right in front of a big analog clock. I did the same thing with the asterisks. When I got to about the 30th problem I looked up and saw that i only had an hour left. I started to panic because i had questions I hadn't answered (the asterisks) plus the 10 I didn't even look at yet. I busted butt and finished the test in the hour but I couldn't understand why no one gave the 15 minute warning. This is when I figured out that I read the clock wrong and was actually up to problem 30 with 2 hours left, not 1!! Talk about burn out!!

That being said, I too fee like I got 50-55 of the 80 questions correct and I definitely don't want to sit that test again!!


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## buick455 (Jun 10, 2009)

I hope you got a 56/80 (70) vs 55/80 (69). I am not counting on a curve. I hope I got the same or better.

I stopped beating myself up on the exam after about 2 weeks after I took it. I figure I will know one way or the other sometime before my vacation which is July 11th (Virgina).


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## Mike in Gastonia (Jun 10, 2009)

buick455 said:


> I hope you got a 56/80 (70) vs 55/80 (69). I am not counting on a curve. I hope I got the same or better.
> I stopped beating myself up on the exam after about 2 weeks after I took it. I figure I will know one way or the other sometime before my vacation which is July 11th (Virgina).


Here is this exam's PSA - 70% is an urban legend. Nowhere does NCEES say that 70% is the passing score. When they used to give out scores, the converted every exams cut off score was set to a scaled score of 70 - not 70% raw score but a converted score of 70. So if you barely passed Civil transportation, you got a 70 even though your raw score was 60. You got a 70 scaled score on MEC T/F you passed eventhough your raw score was 48. This has been discussed many, many times on this board.


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## buick455 (Jun 11, 2009)

When I received my October results and figured out my raw score is was around 48/80 which would be 60%. At least this is what I got when I figured it out based on the % correct in each area given the number of problems in that topic. I am not realy that concerned about it as I just wanted to know how I did in each area. My published score was 65% and as 70% was required to pass I took it again this past April. I just know this is allot of work to get basically a 0% if you fail. Good luck to all.


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## Kephart P.E. (Jun 11, 2009)

Mike in Gastonia said:


> Here is this exam's PSA - 70% is an urban legend. Nowhere does NCEES say that 70% is the passing score. When they used to give out scores, the converted every exams cut off score was set to a scaled score of 70 - not 70% raw score but a converted score of 70. So if you barely passed Civil transportation, you got a 70 even though your raw score was 60. You got a 70 scaled score on MEC T/F you passed eventhough your raw score was 48. This has been discussed many, many times on this board.


What you are saying makes sense, because I did not study for the FE at all. I reviewed the reference book they give you some, just to see where everything was located but that was about it.

I know I didn't get 70% on that test, but I somehow passed.


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## Mike in Gastonia (Jun 11, 2009)

buick455 said:


> When I received my October results and figured out my raw score is was around 48/80 which would be 60%. At least this is what I got when I figured it out based on the % correct in each area given the number of problems in that topic. I am not realy that concerned about it as I just wanted to know how I did in each area. My published score was 65% and as 70% was required to pass I took it again this past April. I just know this is allot of work to get basically a 0% if you fail. Good luck to all.


See the post directly above yours. 70% is not required to pass.


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## Mike in Gastonia (Jun 11, 2009)

D. Kephart said:


> What you are saying makes sense, because I did not study for the FE at all. I reviewed the reference book they give you some, just to see where everything was located but that was about it.
> I know I didn't get 70% on that test, but I somehow passed.


Because the infamous 70 is not percentage of raw score.......


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Jun 11, 2009)

> This has been discussed many, many times on this board.


It's not like there's a search function around here... :brickwall:


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## chaocl (Jun 11, 2009)

I know that 56/80 is a passing score but what should be the lowest score to pass the PE exam?

49,50,51,52,53,54,55???? Or 56 is the lowest passing score?


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## Mike in Gastonia (Jun 11, 2009)

chaocl said:


> I know that 56/80 is a passing score but what should be the lowest score to pass the PE exam?
> 49,50,51,52,53,54,55???? Or 56 is the lowest passing score?


56 is not necessarily the raw passing score. It changes every time. And every time they set the raw passing score equal to 70. It's a converted score. No one knows what the raw passing score is except for ncees and they're not telling. It varies from exam administration to administration and it's not the same for each discipline.


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## Road Guy (Jun 11, 2009)

ncees told me that if you get 78 out of 80 correct you will have a 99.9999% chance of passing, but i deleted that email by mistake...


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## jmbeck (Jun 18, 2009)

Road Guy said:


> ncees told me that if you get 78 out of 80 correct you will have a 99.9999% chance of passing, but i deleted that email by mistake...


That's what worked for me. Glad I wasn't in that .0001% of unlucky ones.

56/80. Psh, y'all are some low expectation having people, you know that!


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