# OCTOBER 2017 PE EXAM



## M.HILFI

Good morning 

I have taken HVAC exam last Friday, can you tell me how was it if anyone took it

from point of view the exam was more complicated 

please write your opinion here and score the exam from 1 to 10 how was hard


----------



## enfinity

I took the TFS exam on friday.

Obviously we can't go into specifics, but I felt that I did way poorer than I thought I would.  I had a false sense of security from the NCEES official practice exam for TFS, which I was able to smoke easily and finished super early in my practice runs.  Maybe I had just gotten used to those types of problems, that's probably my fault.

For the actual exam, again not being specific, but I felt there were a decent number of problems that were unexpected to show up.  They seemed more "peripheral" to TFS to me, and instead popped up a decent amount.  Even the easy "gimme" questions weren't as gimme as the practice exams.

I probably answered 52 questions with confidence (probably got 90% of those correct, the ones being wrong being something stupid).  I did "educated guessing" on about 10 questions (probably hit 40-50% of those), and then complete random guessing on 18 questions due to time constraints (25% by standard chance).  That is really not good.  I'm hoping for a low cut score.


----------



## ezzieyguywuf

I took the MDM exam last friday. Not sure if anyone else on here took that exam, but my thoughts are that I felt pretty well prepared, though there were a few questions that caught me off guard. More specifically (while not being too specific) there were two questions on the morning exam (is the morning exam common to all mech exams?) which I felt were altogether too ambiguous. I wasn't feeling so bad about the morning exam. On the afternoon exam, though, I felt there were a number of questions (at least two) that either did not have sufficient information or where the information provided was misleading - what I mean by this is that the question seemed straightforward enough, I solved the problem and found that my solution would be off my an order of magnitude from what was presented. This means that either I solved the problem completely wrong (which is possible, but I literally solved some of these 5 times) or that something is amiss with the answers provided.

Overall I would say I feel goodish about the exam, but I'm a bit concerned regarding the afternoon exam due to the number of problems I had "issues" with, only a handful of which I would attribute to my own shortcomings.


----------



## namod65

I took HVAC and I think I did pretty well. Skipped one question in the morning, and skipped one in the afternoon. Answered all the "general knowledge" questions that didn't require any calculation, but circled a few to come back and revisit. Finished both sessions with over an hour left and had plenty of time to revisit the ones I circled. Only 2 questions out of the 80 I didn't arrive at an answer that was one of the four choices. So here's to hoping I didn't get "tricked" 15 to 20 times lol.

I thought the NCEES practice tests were a good representation of the exam. Now of course the questions didn't ask you the same exact things the practice exam did, but if you actually knew the topics well, and not just memorize how to solve the practice exam, then you could easy figure out that they're asking you something slightly different and you need this variable instead of this one, etc...

I'll post a lengthy review of my study process and what were the best review materials in the main thread once I get confirmation that I passed. Fingers still crossed until then lol.


----------



## andy10889

namod65 said:


> I took HVAC and I think I did pretty well. Skipped one question in the morning, and skipped one in the afternoon. Answered all the "general knowledge" questions that didn't require any calculation, but circled a few to come back and revisit. Finished both sessions with over an hour left and had plenty of time to revisit the ones I circled. Only 2 questions out of the 80 I didn't arrive at an answer that was one of the four choices. So here's to hoping I didn't get "tricked" 15 to 20 times lol.
> 
> I thought the NCEES practice tests were a good representation of the exam. Now of course the questions didn't ask you the same exact things the practice exam did, but if you actually knew the topics well, and not just memorize how to solve the practice exam, then you could easy figure out that they're asking you something slightly different and you need this variable instead of this one, etc...
> 
> I'll post a lengthy review of my study process and what were the best review materials in the main thread once I get confirmation that I passed. Fingers still crossed until then lol.


I had the same experience. Guessed on two questions total. Got answers on all the rest. I felt it was easier than the SMS practice test and about on par with the NCEES test.


----------



## Feras

enfinity said:


> I took the TFS exam on friday.
> 
> Obviously we can't go into specifics, but I felt that I did way poorer than I thought I would.  I had a false sense of security from the NCEES official practice exam for TFS, which I was able to smoke easily and finished super early in my practice runs.  Maybe I had just gotten used to those types of problems, that's probably my fault.
> 
> For the actual exam, again not being specific, but I felt there were a decent number of problems that were unexpected to show up.  They seemed more "peripheral" to TFS to me, and instead popped up a decent amount.  Even the easy "gimme" questions weren't as gimme as the practice exams.
> 
> I probably answered 52 questions with confidence (probably got 90% of those correct, the ones being wrong being something stupid).  I did "educated guessing" on about 10 questions (probably hit 40-50% of those), and then complete random guessing on 18 questions due to time constraints (25% by standard chance).  That is really not good.  I'm hoping for a low cut score.


I had a very similar experience, the exam had couple of questions that you didn't expect to see in TFS.  The morning session was easier than the afternoon one.  A good part of the exam was something relatively similar to the NCEES newest practice exam (with a bit of tweaking).  

The exam was harder than I was looking for.  Wating for the results 

All the best to you all!


----------



## EngineerGirlPE

Feras said:


> I also felt almost exactly the same way about TFS.  I did not feel good about the afternoon session at all and thought it was just me.  Thank you all for sharing your stories!  Hope we all pass!  Wishing everyone all the best!


----------



## csievers915

enfinity said:


> I took the TFS exam on friday.
> 
> Obviously we can't go into specifics, but I felt that I did way poorer than I thought I would.  I had a false sense of security from the NCEES official practice exam for TFS, which I was able to smoke easily and finished super early in my practice runs.  Maybe I had just gotten used to those types of problems, that's probably my fault.
> 
> For the actual exam, again not being specific, but I felt there were a decent number of problems that were unexpected to show up.  They seemed more "peripheral" to TFS to me, and instead popped up a decent amount.  Even the easy "gimme" questions weren't as gimme as the practice exams.
> 
> I probably answered 52 questions with confidence (probably got 90% of those correct, the ones being wrong being something stupid).  I did "educated guessing" on about 10 questions (probably hit 40-50% of those), and then complete random guessing on 18 questions due to time constraints (25% by standard chance).  That is really not good.  I'm hoping for a low cut score.


I also took TFS and also did a lot poorer than I expected.  I felt confident going into the exam based on my studying and having taken a review course (Dr. Toms), but the test really caught me of guard with the level of difficulty. Based on the number I answered with confidence, and the number I guessed on, there is no way I passed. I'm very disappointed.


----------



## enfinity

Feras said:


> I had a very similar experience, the exam had couple of questions that you didn't expect to see in TFS.  The morning session was easier than the afternoon one.  A good part of the exam was something relatively similar to the NCEES newest practice exam (with a bit of tweaking).
> 
> The exam was harder than I was looking for.  Wating for the results
> 
> All the best to you all!






EngineerGirlPE said:


> I also felt almost exactly the same way about TFS.  I did not feel good about the afternoon session at all and thought it was just me.  Thank you all for sharing your stories!  Hope we all pass!  Wishing everyone all the best!




I'm glad to hear this... not that I"m glad that you guys did "poorly", but that others also thought the test was hard as well.  I was afraid I'd be the only one.

I found the exam to be definitely (not slightly, but much) harder than the practice NCEES exam. Did anyone else feel the same way?


----------



## sbrookef

This past Friday, I took MDM. Morning for me was easier than afternoon (blindly guessed on about 3-4 questions). Afternoon exam I think I had more time management issues, or perhaps the questions were harder, and I wound up guessing on about 5 of the problems (some were educated guesses). Even though the pass rate for the exam is 75%, for instance, I was not under the impression you needed a 75% of the questions right to pass. I thought that proctors or PEs of some sort took the PE exam and then questions that were "unfair" got thrown out. I thought I also read on this forum that people that got around 50 or 55 questions right had passed, and that is certainly not a raw score of 75%. In any case, no matter how the grading is, we all won't find out for another 8-10 weeks about our passing score and I'm going to try to forget about it as much as possible so I don't stress myself out waiting for the results that are no longer in my control. Best of luck!


----------



## goast55

sbrookef said:


> This past Friday, I took MDM. Morning for me was easier than afternoon (blindly guessed on about 3-4 questions). Afternoon exam I think I had more time management issues, or perhaps the questions were harder, and I wound up guessing on about 5 of the problems (some were educated guesses). Even though the pass rate for the exam is 75%, for instance, I was not under the impression you needed a 75% of the questions right to pass. I thought that proctors or PEs of some sort took the PE exam and then questions that were "unfair" got thrown out. I thought I also read on this forum that people that got around 50 or 55 questions right had passed, and that is certainly not a raw score of 75%. In any case, no matter how the grading is, we all won't find out for another 8-10 weeks about our passing score and I'm going to try to forget about it as much as possible so I don't stress myself out waiting for the results that are no longer in my control. Best of luck!






ezzieyguywuf said:


> I took the MDM exam last friday. Not sure if anyone else on here took that exam, but my thoughts are that I felt pretty well prepared, though there were a few questions that caught me off guard. More specifically (while not being too specific) there were two questions on the morning exam (is the morning exam common to all mech exams?) which I felt were altogether too ambiguous. I wasn't feeling so bad about the morning exam. On the afternoon exam, though, I felt there were a number of questions (at least two) that either did not have sufficient information or where the information provided was misleading - what I mean by this is that the question seemed straightforward enough, I solved the problem and found that my solution would be off my an order of magnitude from what was presented. This means that either I solved the problem completely wrong (which is possible, but I literally solved some of these 5 times) or that something is amiss with the answers provided.
> 
> Overall I would say I feel goodish about the exam, but I'm a bit concerned regarding the afternoon exam due to the number of problems I had "issues" with, only a handful of which I would attribute to my own shortcomings.


I feel the same way.  Not really sure what to expect, but I guess all we can do is enjoy life and see how it turns out.


----------



## glowe

namod65 said:


> I took HVAC and I think I did pretty well. Skipped one question in the morning, and skipped one in the afternoon. Answered all the "general knowledge" questions that didn't require any calculation, but circled a few to come back and revisit. Finished both sessions with over an hour left and had plenty of time to revisit the ones I circled. Only 2 questions out of the 80 I didn't arrive at an answer that was one of the four choices. So here's to hoping I didn't get "tricked" 15 to 20 times lol.
> 
> I thought the NCEES practice tests were a good representation of the exam. Now of course the questions didn't ask you the same exact things the practice exam did, but if you actually knew the topics well, and not just memorize how to solve the practice exam, then you could easy figure out that they're asking you something slightly different and you need this variable instead of this one, etc...
> 
> I'll post a lengthy review of my study process and what were the best review materials in the main thread once I get confirmation that I passed. Fingers still crossed until then lol.


I also took the HVAC exam. I thought the morning was very straightforward, and  the afternoon was more challenging but not too hard. The last two problems of the afternoon session seemed like the same problem, just different numbers and a slightly different description. I thought it was odd to have almost the exact same problem twice...


----------



## andy10889

sbrookef said:


> This past Friday, I took MDM. Morning for me was easier than afternoon (blindly guessed on about 3-4 questions). Afternoon exam I think I had more time management issues, or perhaps the questions were harder, and I wound up guessing on about 5 of the problems (some were educated guesses). Even though the pass rate for the exam is 75%, for instance, I was not under the impression you needed a 75% of the questions right to pass. I thought that proctors or PEs of some sort took the PE exam and then questions that were "unfair" got thrown out. I thought I also read on this forum that people that got around 50 or 55 questions right had passed, and that is certainly not a raw score of 75%. In any case, no matter how the grading is, we all won't find out for another 8-10 weeks about our passing score and I'm going to try to forget about it as much as possible so I don't stress myself out waiting for the results that are no longer in my control. Best of luck!


To add some insight.  I failed at 49 correct this April.


----------



## sayed

Ok! so the consensus is: hvac was the easy one and everyone should have taken that one

the only difficult thing about the exam was the chart look ups. I killed so much time because of them. When i was half way done in the morning i felt good and was about to use the restroom, except the proctor told me we had an hour left :blink: . i rushed and ended up guessing at least 5 questions

afternoon was easier. maybe guessed 3 and had about 25 minutes extra.

i'm glad i brought my ashrae handbook set. i needed them for about 5 question look ups


----------



## cetavion

I left my post on general PE thread and copy it to here:

I took thermal and fluid. I also looked through and solved every problem on NCEES sample exams -2001,2008,2011, and 2016, but I felt the actual exam is pretty harder than the sample problem sets. I am not sure I am able to make 70% mark... The morning session was okay compared to the afternoon. I think I guestimated 5 problems, but there should be some mistakes other 35 questions. For the afternoon session, that's just an OMG. After going through all problems in the afternoon, I have left 14 problems which I did not have a good clue at all. I was able to find answers to 5 problems by looking at RM, but overall I left random answers on 9 problems. Of course, there should be some mistakes on other 31 problems in the afternoon. I am leaning toward more pessimistic on my result.... 

Thermo fluid was so hard... Some of the problems are no clue to take an engineering guess...


----------



## namod65

glowe said:


> I also took the HVAC exam. I thought the morning was very straightforward, and  the afternoon was more challenging but not too hard. The last two problems of the afternoon session seemed like the same problem, just different numbers and a slightly different description. I thought it was odd to have almost the exact same problem twice...


I will agree with you about those last problems. I felt like there were a few more repeats as well. A few other times I was reading the question and thinking to myself, "this can't be right, they already asked me this question before?" Maybe it's just the luck of the draw with how they randomly select 80 questions from their archive of exam questions?


----------



## justdoitNG

glowe said:


> I also took the HVAC exam. I thought the morning was very straightforward, and  the afternoon was more challenging but not too hard. The last two problems of the afternoon session seemed like the same problem, just different numbers and a slightly different description. I thought it was odd to have almost the exact same problem twice...


I agree, AM section was easier than the afternoon section in HVAC test. Overall I think I guessed on about 5-6 problems total..I am sure I will make few other mistakes..this was my 2nd time around..I did feel better this time come out..I hope I pass..ASHRAE handbooks were super helpful..this was one of the ref material I did not take last time (Apri)!!..keeping my fingers crossed.


----------



## namod65

justdoitNG said:


> I agree, AM section was easier than the afternoon section in HVAC test. Overall I think I guessed on about 5-6 problems total..I am sure I will make few other mistakes..this was my 2nd time around..I did feel better this time come out..I hope I pass..ASHRAE handbooks were super helpful..this was one of the ref material I did not take last time (Apri)!!..keeping my fingers crossed.


Unless you are very experienced HVAC consulting engineer (like my bosses who can pull random design facts out of their ass since they've been doing it 40 years), there's no way you would do well on many of the questions without all 4 ASHRAE books. I took it for the first time Friday and now I can absolutely understand how hard of a time you had the first time without them.


----------



## enfinity

cetavion said:


> I left my post on general PE thread and copy it to here:
> 
> I took thermal and fluid. I also looked through and solved every problem on NCEES sample exams -2001,2008,2011, and 2016, but I felt the actual exam is pretty harder than the sample problem sets. I am not sure I am able to make 70% mark... The morning session was okay compared to the afternoon. I think I guestimated 5 problems, but there should be some mistakes other 35 questions. For the afternoon session, that's just an OMG. After going through all problems in the afternoon, I have left 14 problems which I did not have a good clue at all. I was able to find answers to 5 problems by looking at RM, but overall I left random answers on 9 problems. Of course, there should be some mistakes on other 31 problems in the afternoon. I am leaning toward more pessimistic on my result....
> 
> Thermo fluid was so hard... Some of the problems are no clue to take an engineering guess...


Honestly it sounds like you passed.  From your description, you confidently answered 61 questions well, guesstimated on about 10, and random guessed on 9? That should clearly take you over the 70% mark (56 questions correct) in my opinion.  For comparison, I answered 52 questions confidently, guesstimated 10, and random guessed on 18.

I am relieved to hear everyone has thought that TFS exam was tough, and it's not just me.  Maybe the cut score will be lower. 

So, since you took the 4 NCEES sample exams, you would confirm that you thought this exam was more difficult than any of those sample exams???


----------



## sayed

namod65 said:


> Unless you are very experienced HVAC consulting engineer (like my bosses who can pull random design facts out of their ass since they've been doing it 40 years), there's no way you would do well on many of the questions without all 4 ASHRAE books. I took it for the first time Friday and now I can absolutely understand how hard of a time you had the first time without them.


there were only a handful of ashrae questions. 90% of the test was number crunching and conceptual.

One may still do well without the handbooks... at least this time around


----------



## enfinity

I should also mention that I found the TFS afternoon to be wayyyy harder than the morning.

In the morning, I answered 29 questions very confidently.  3 questions were "educated guesses", but I had an inkling I was correct.  8 questions were total random guesses due to time limits.

In the afternoon, I was surprised by how hard the questions were.  I'd say 23 questions were very confident answers, followed by 7 "educated guesses".  These educated guesses I had a little more confidence in, but still unsure.  Then 10 or so totally random guesses.


----------



## glowe

justdoitNG said:


> I agree, AM section was easier than the afternoon section in HVAC test. Overall I think I guessed on about 5-6 problems total..I am sure I will make few other mistakes..this was my 2nd time around..I did feel better this time come out..I hope I pass..ASHRAE handbooks were super helpful..this was one of the ref material I did not take last time (Apri)!!..keeping my fingers crossed.


Oh man, I used the ASHRAE books on at least 6 or 7 questions that I can remember. Not bringing those would totally be bringing a knife to a gunfight...


----------



## Sheshtawy

I took the TFS exam and I too think that the AM one was much better than the PM. I also agree that NCEES practice exam was way easier than the real thing. Anybody took the exam in Houston?


----------



## sbrookef

Sheshtawy said:


> I took the TFS exam and I too think that the AM one was much better than the PM. I also agree that NCEES practice exam was way easier than the real thing. Anybody took the exam in Houston?


I took MDM in Houston


----------



## Sheshtawy

sbrookef said:


> I took MDM in Houston


Cool! The head proctor was the least fun person with a bow tie I've ever seen


----------



## jtparker

Reading how everyone felt about the TFS exam is a great relief. I too felt that there were some questions that were not expected to be on the exam. I took School of PE which helped incredibly, however, there were multiple questions that were said to have a "very low chance" of showing up on the exam. With that being said I feel that the morning exam was a little difficult and I am glad I did the thermo problems the way I did. I feel that there was around 7 questions that I had no clue on and guessed in the morning and 3 with some sort of clue what the answer was and the other 30 were pretty confident answers. The PM session was much more difficult leaving me with around 14 questions that I had to guess and/or redo. 7 or 8 of which no clue and the other 6 or 7 were just redone with 70% confidence. The other 26, I felt confident on. I am anxious to see the results since I tend to work fast and screw my units up sometime. This test had tons and tons of conversions it seemed like to me. I really hope that they bring the cut score down from 70%. It sounds like everyone is in the same boat. 

MODERATOR NOTE:

1.  Per your NCEES policy, you are not allowed to discuss or disclose exam specific content.  Please do NOT post questions on here.

2.  Your post has been edited to remove references to specific exam topics and questions.

3.  Please be mindful of your NDA.


----------



## enfinity

jtparker said:


> Reading how everyone felt about the TFS exam is a great relief. I too felt that there were some questions that were not expected to be on the exam. I took School of PE which helped incredibly, however, there were multiple questions that were said to have a "very low chance" of showing up on the exam. With that being said I feel that the morning exam was a little difficult and I am glad I did the thermo problems the way I did. I feel that there was around 7 questions that I had no clue on and guessed in the morning and 3 with some sort of clue what the answer was and the other 30 were pretty confident answers. The PM session was much more difficult leaving me with around 14 questions that I had to guess and/or redo. 7 or 8 of which no clue and the other 6 or 7 were just redone with 70% confidence. The other 26, I felt confident on. I am anxious to see the results since I tend to work fast and screw my units up sometime. This test had tons and tons of conversions it seemed like to me. I really hope that they bring the cut score down from 70%. It sounds like everyone is in the same boat.
> 
> MODERATOR NOTE:
> 
> 1.  Per your NCEES policy, you are not allowed to discuss or disclose exam specific content.  Please do NOT post questions on here.
> 
> 2.  Your post has been edited to remove references to specific exam topics and questions.
> 
> 3.  Please be mindful of your NDA.


Haha, the more people jump on this boat and confirm to me that the test was harder than we thought it would be, the better I feel.  I do think if this is a consistent feeling from test takers, the cut score _should_be lower than 70%. Let's cross our fingers.

The consistent themes seem to be:

- Afternoon session way harder than Morning session

- Overall test much harder than the official NCEES practice exams

- Several "unexpected" questions showed up on the exam


----------



## Philscrimp

I understand that unit conversions are crucial to engineering, but working through this test(TFS)  I felt like the test was more guided toward the ability to do unit conversions than your knowledge of engineering principles. Anyone else feel that way?


----------



## sbrookef

Sheshtawy said:


> Cool! The head proctor was the least fun person with a bow tie I've ever seen


I'm just thankful I wasn't kicked out for doing something like standing up too early. He must've had some sort of military background or something. Or if not, he should be in the military


----------



## casummerlin

TFS taker here.  I thought it was a little harder than the NCEES practice tests, but not a lot.  I studied the 2011 and 2016 tests, 6MS, and the eng pro guides study guide and test.  I thought the morning and afternoon were about the same difficulty.  Maybe I was just less nervous in the afternoon.  I did feel like I got in a rhythm in the afternoon and blazed through a bunch, so maybe that was it.  There were a few very specific things on the test that I hadn't seen at all in my studies, but I skipped them, came back to them at the end, and was able to locate most of them with the MERM index and figure them out (I think) on the fly.  

I've been out of school 7 years and haven't done a lot of engineering calculations in that time.  The first two years were in a coal-fired power plant and the past 5 have been in combined cycle.  I was worried that might be a hindrance, but I think there were a lot of problems where it was more helpful to have a knowledge of practical applications instead of having the theory and formulas memorized.


----------



## enfinity

Any repeat test-takers?

Wondering if the April exam was easier/harder than the October one (Especially for TFS)


----------



## Philscrimp

enfinity said:


> Any repeat test-takers?
> 
> Wondering if the April exam was easier/harder than the October one (Especially for TFS)


As i was taking the exam, I was telling myself that the April exam didn't seem this tough...But, i didn't get to all of the questions on the morning or afternoon session in April. I tried the whole take you time approach, but I was inefficient in looking up conversions and formulas and it hurt me in the long run


----------



## enfinity

Philscrimp said:


> As i was taking the exam, I was telling myself that the April exam didn't seem this tough...But, i didn't get to all of the questions on the morning or afternoon session in April. I tried the whole take you time approach, but I was inefficient in looking up conversions and formulas and it hurt me in the long run


TFS?

Lol, but it does seem like you're saying this October one was tougher at first glance.

I looked back on some old threads and it also seemed that October ones tended to seem harder than April ones for some reason.  Probably just a coincidence.


----------



## Philscrimp

enfinity said:


> TFS?
> 
> Lol, but it does seem like you're saying this October one was tougher at first glance.
> 
> I looked back on some old threads and it also seemed that October ones tended to seem harder than April ones for some reason.  Probably just a coincidence.


Yeah, TFS...First thought was that October was tougher than April. But, I think i did a lot better this time around...Maybe because I partially knew what to expect.


----------



## Slay the P.E.

Philscrimp said:


> I understand that unit conversions are crucial to engineering, but working through this test(TFS)  I felt like the test was more guided toward the ability to do unit conversions than your knowledge of engineering principles. Anyone else feel that way?


I am convinced that one of the biggest hindrances to success with the PE exam is indeed being sloppy with units (NEVER write a number down without its units) and also, not practicing unit conversions to become quick at it. 

Additionally, be mindful of the units you are required to answer in. Through your calculations, you might arrive at an answer of 0.5 feet, but the question might have been something like:

... the required thickness (inches) is most nearly:

(A) 0.5

(B) 4.0

(C) 6.0

(7) 8.0

If you’re not careful you might choose (A); 0.5 — because it’s the number you got in your calculations, however in this case the correct answer would be (C). This is unfortunate, but it happens. You might have the concept down cold, but can still get the answer “wrong”.


----------



## Ramnares P.E.

One of the first things I learned in undergrad was never write down numbers without applicable units and to be careful to do units analysis.


----------



## enfinity

I recall when I took a practice exam I messed up 3 or so answers simply on unit conversions.  After that I beat it into my head to make sure I answer in the correct units.

For the actual test on friday, I would underline, box, triple underline (lol) the units that the question asked for.  I made sure to finish the problem and then check that it was the correct units, I didn't want to be burned on stupid stuff like that again for the real thing.


----------



## BeefyAmericanMachoMan

Dudes.  This test was definitely harder, but only in that the questions were different.  The concepts were the same.  It was annoying that you had to spend more time thinking about the problem to get a grasp on it.


----------



## BeefyAmericanMachoMan

casummerlin said:


> TFS taker here.  I thought it was a little harder than the NCEES practice tests, but not a lot.  I studied the 2011 and 2016 tests, 6MS, and the eng pro guides study guide and test.  I thought the morning and afternoon were about the same difficulty.  Maybe I was just less nervous in the afternoon.  I did feel like I got in a rhythm in the afternoon and blazed through a bunch, so maybe that was it.  There were a few very specific things on the test that I hadn't seen at all in my studies, but I skipped them, came back to them at the end, and was able to locate most of them with the MERM index and figure them out (I think) on the fly.
> 
> I've been out of school 7 years and haven't done a lot of engineering calculations in that time.  The first two years were in a coal-fired power plant and the past 5 have been in combined cycle.  I was worried that might be a hindrance, but I think there were a lot of problems where it was more helpful to have a knowledge of practical applications instead of having the theory and formulas memorized.


I agree with you.  It was harder, but concepts and theory was the same.  However, I don't like that so many questions were over XXXXX as much because most people in engineering jobs do not perform those calculations.  It's a very specific industry.  It would be like if I made a test over gas compression in the oil and gas industry for midstream and well head applications.  Most people would not get it event though we all learned the concepts in college.


----------



## BeefyAmericanMachoMan

Sheshtawy said:


> I took the TFS exam and I too think that the AM one was much better than the PM. I also agree that NCEES practice exam was way easier than the real thing. Anybody took the exam in Houston?


I did.  Proctor needed a xanex.


----------



## BeefyAmericanMachoMan

andy10889 said:


> I had the same experience. Guessed on two questions total. Got answers on all the rest. I felt it was easier than the SMS practice test and about on par with the NCEES test.


Y'all both failed.


----------



## BeefyAmericanMachoMan

Sheshtawy said:


> Cool! The head proctor was the least fun person with a bow tie I've ever seen


I think his name in the Army was Major McDouche.


----------



## Philscrimp

Slay the P.E. said:


> I am convinced that one of the biggest hindrances to success with the PE exam is indeed being sloppy with units (NEVER write a number down without its units) and also, not practicing unit conversions to become quick at it.
> 
> Additionally, be mindful of the units you are required to answer in. Through your calculations, you might arrive at an answer of 0.5 feet, but the question might have been something like:
> 
> ... the required thickness (inches) is most nearly:
> 
> (A) 0.5
> 
> (B) 4.0
> 
> (C) 6.0
> 
> (7) 8.0
> 
> If you’re not careful you might choose (A); 0.5 — because it’s the number you got in your calculations, however in this case the correct answer would be (C). This is unfortunate, but it happens. You might have the concept down cold, but can still get the answer “wrong”.


I understand the importance and I practiced for the exam by including units for every number. A number without a unit is meaningless.. I guess what I was trying to say is that some of it seemed excessive or unnecessary...


----------



## Ramnares P.E.

I found Lindeburg's Unit Conversion book to be very helpful during the exam.  At no point did I find the unit conversions to be overly excessive or unnecessary but to each his own...


----------



## Slay the P.E.

Here’s an oldie but really good story about a costly mistake because of a units mishap: 

http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9909/30/mars.metric.02/


----------



## GR8 PLUMENG

I took the TFS. The morning was very promising. I was able to complete all the questions with about an hour left to go over the ones I answered but wasn't too sure. I even went and had Chinese food during lunch, thinking this is the last time I will ever step foot at Pratt Institute.  Then came the afternoon. Question 1 was easy. So I answered with a smile. But from 2 thru 6 was just a bunch of WTF whispers to myself. Ended up spending too much time on questions i though i could answer if I tried a bit harder. With about an hour left, I still had about 8-9 questions I had't gotten to, and about 5-6 I left, thinking i could revisit. I ended up straight up guessing  ( ini, mini miny. moe type guessing) about 6 questions. Hopefully, the morning part carries me.


----------



## GR8 PLUMENG

The NCEES practice exams we too easy and very misleading. I did lots of SMS problems and also lindenburg questions. Additionally, I got a copy of SlayThePE questions, and did those.  I will say the complexity of the Slay questions are more representative of the actual test.


----------



## enfinity

GR8 PLUMENG said:


> I took the TFS. The morning was very promising. I was able to complete all the questions with about an hour left to go over the ones I answered but wasn't too sure. I even went and had Chinese food during lunch, thinking this is the last time I will ever step foot at Pratt Institute.  Then came the afternoon. Question 1 was easy. So I answered with a smile. But from 2 thru 6 was just a bunch of WTF whispers to myself. Ended up spending too much time on questions i though i could answer if I tried a bit harder. With about an hour left, I still had about 8-9 questions I had't gotten to, and about 5-6 I left, thinking i could revisit. I ended up straight up guessing  ( ini, mini miny. moe type guessing) about 6 questions. Hopefully, the morning part carries me.


were you a repeat test taker? If so, did you find this test to be easier, harder, or the same as April 2017?


----------



## GR8 PLUMENG

Yes, this is my second time. The April test was harder in the morning than the afternoon. I will weight both tests about the same. There were more unit conversion problems now than in April.


----------



## jtparker

Has Everyone received the NCEES email that is asking you to fill out a survey of the exam? I was readying a thread from the April exam on this forum and it has me curious.


----------



## Sheshtawy

jtparker said:


> Has Everyone received the NCEES email that is asking you to fill out a survey of the exam? I was readying a thread from the April exam on this forum and it has me curious.


I have. They send it to everyone who took the exam in 7-10 days after the exam.


----------



## casummerlin

I was kinda worried because I hadn't received the survey, but then I found it in a spam folder.


----------



## chickenips

csievers915 said:


> I also took TFS and also did a lot poorer than I expected.  I felt confident going into the exam based on my studying and having taken a review course (Dr. Toms), but the test really caught me of guard with the level of difficulty. Based on the number I answered with confidence, and the number I guessed on, there is no way I passed. I'm very disappointed.


I took the Dr. Tom's course as well. After the exam, I felt that the course just didn't offer enough in the way of thermo/combined cycles practice problems. Maybe Dr. TOm should sign up for the next exam, if only to get a better idea of how to revamp the course.


----------



## sayed

reading through these posts, i'm getting worried.

either most of the questions on my exam completely went over my head (now i don't remember what they were) and i misread to completely answer in the wrong way

or

everyone gets a different set of questions.

i thought the hvac test was really simple. But since people are here saying they had many 'wtf moments' i'm thinking that maybe i oversimplified everything in my head.


----------



## Sheshtawy

sayed said:


> reading through these posts, i'm getting worried.
> 
> either most of the questions on my exam completely went over my head (now i don't remember what they were) and i misread to completely answer in the wrong way
> 
> or
> 
> everyone gets a different set of questions.
> 
> i thought the hvac test was really simple. But since people are here saying they had many 'wtf moments' i'm thinking that maybe i oversimplified everything in my head.


Comments here are by no means representative of everybody who took the exam. If you think you did alright, don't worry about it.


----------



## enfinity

sayed said:


> reading through these posts, i'm getting worried.
> 
> either most of the questions on my exam completely went over my head (now i don't remember what they were) and i misread to completely answer in the wrong way
> 
> or
> 
> everyone gets a different set of questions.
> 
> i thought the hvac test was really simple. But since people are here saying they had many 'wtf moments' i'm thinking that maybe i oversimplified everything in my head.






Sheshtawy said:


> Comments here are by no means representative of everybody who took the exam. If you think you did alright, don't worry about it.


also you're talking about the HVAC test, which i think other people also said was very simple.

The "wtf" moment club belongs to all us TFS test takers...


----------



## glowe

How could it possibly take 8-10 weeks in 2017 to grade the exams!!! The Pilgrims only took 66 days to cross the Atlantic in the Mayflower under the power of the wind. That was in 1620!!! This waiting is killing me!!!!


----------



## DoctorWho-PE

They have made huge improvements since my husband took the exam 11 years ago. And starting in 2018 with CBT, (for select exams of course) results will come even faster!


----------



## sayed

enfinity said:


> also you're talking about the HVAC test, which i think other people also said was very simple.
> 
> The "wtf" moment club belongs to all us TFS test takers...


lmao

and the people at the dr. tom company told me to take the TFS because it'll be easier since according to them i needed "more intense fundamentals courses to be successful"


----------



## enfinity

sayed said:


> lmao
> 
> and the people at the dr. tom company told me to take the TFS because it'll be easier since according to them i needed "more intense fundamentals courses to be successful"


lol choosing TFS professionally has always resulted in a harder path for me. For my PhD quals, it was well known that Thermal and Fluids quals were the hardest in Mechanical Engineering, and rumored to be the hardest throughout the entire university.  Now I take the PE exam, and it's one of the harder exams (though I don't know the comparisons that well)


----------



## Slay the P.E.

vhab49 said:


> They have made huge improvements since my husband took the exam 11 years ago. And starting in 2018 with CBT, (for select exams of course) results will come even faster!


CBT exam will not be open book. Reference material will be provided onscreen. Looks like NCEES will write a reference handbook like for the FE.

The ME PE exam will transition to CBT somewhere in the 2019-2021 timeframe.


----------



## DoctorWho-PE

Yep.  This could be good, could be bad.  I don't plan to find out.  The chem reference manual is over 900 pages, can't imagine how long the civil- structural one would be With all the codes.


----------



## jtparker

It looks as if the April examinees received their exam results on the 25th of May which would be the day right before the week 5 mark. Hopefully NCEES will continue the trend and do the same for the October exam. If that's the case we could possibly expect to see exam grades around November 30th-31st. If not, I am sure we will be able to see results the following week. 

I am just ready to know if I passed or failed the exam already!


----------



## glowe

jtparker said:


> It looks as if the April examinees received their exam results on the 25th of May which would be the day right before the week 5 mark. Hopefully NCEES will continue the trend and do the same for the October exam. If that's the case we could possibly expect to see exam grades around November 30th-31st. If not, I am sure we will be able to see results the following week.
> 
> I am just ready to know if I passed or failed the exam already!


Ok, well 5 weeks ain't too bad. That's pretty reasonable actually. I guess they just say 8-10 weeks to do the classic "set the bar low and then over-perform". That's my go-to strategy all the time at work....


----------



## enfinity

jtparker said:


> It looks as if the April examinees received their exam results on the 25th of May which would be the day right before the week 5 mark. Hopefully NCEES will continue the trend and do the same for the October exam. If that's the case we could possibly expect to see exam grades around November 30th-31st. If not, I am sure we will be able to see results the following week.
> 
> I am just ready to know if I passed or failed the exam already!


if you look back at the last few years of october tests, though, they tend to release EARLIEST on a day before the 6 week mark.... so it's more likely we get something on December 7th.


----------



## DoctorWho-PE

jtparker said:


> It looks as if the April examinees received their exam results on the 25th of May which would be the day right before the week 5 mark. Hopefully NCEES will continue the trend and do the same for the October exam. If that's the case we could possibly expect to see exam grades around November 30th-31st. If not, I am sure we will be able to see results the following week.
> 
> I am just ready to know if I passed or failed the exam already!






enfinity said:


> if you look back at the last few years of october tests, though, they tend to release EARLIEST on a day before the 6 week mark.... so it's more likely we get something on December 7th.


There is no holiday in the spring that causes a delay, Thanksgiving adds a week in the fall.


----------



## casummerlin

Got notification in NC this morning.  I passed TFS.  Appreciate the help from the forum.


----------



## cetavion

casummerlin said:


> Got notification in NC this morning.  I passed TFS.  Appreciate the help from the forum.


Great, I also got a notification from MI at around noon. I passed TFS. I thought I failed. Appreciate information and encouragement in this forum.


----------



## ezzieyguywuf

Passed machine design! WOOHOO!!


----------



## andy10889

Passed HVAC. Thanks to everyone here.


----------



## sbrookef

Passed machine design and materials!! For everyone in tx you can see your score even if you passed. I passed with a 79

https://engineers.texas.gov/exam_check_grades.php


----------



## enfinity

Passed TFS! Thanks to everyone for the support and encouragement!


----------



## pleasePassPE

namod65 said:


> I took HVAC and I think I did pretty well. Skipped one question in the morning, and skipped one in the afternoon. Answered all the "general knowledge" questions that didn't require any calculation, but circled a few to come back and revisit. Finished both sessions with over an hour left and had plenty of time to revisit the ones I circled. Only 2 questions out of the 80 I didn't arrive at an answer that was one of the four choices. So here's to hoping I didn't get "tricked" 15 to 20 times lol.
> 
> I thought the NCEES practice tests were a good representation of the exam. Now of course the questions didn't ask you the same exact things the practice exam did, but if you actually knew the topics well, and not just memorize how to solve the practice exam, then you could easy figure out that they're asking you something slightly different and you need this variable instead of this one, etc...
> 
> I'll post a lengthy review of my study process and what were the best review materials in the main thread once I get confirmation that I passed. Fingers still crossed until then lol.


I found it to be very difficult, due to lots of grammar errors as well as lots of application questions that resulting in spending time in all 4 ASHRAE books. I'm wondering did we take the same test.   Did you pass??


----------



## pleasePassPE

andy10889 said:


> Passed HVAC. Thanks to everyone here.


Congrads.. I did not have such look and I studied quite a bit. I didn't do well on the application portion. Any tips?

I don't want to make the same mistakes twice ;-(  Feeling very low..


----------



## pleasePassPE

sayed said:


> reading through these posts, i'm getting worried.
> 
> either most of the questions on my exam completely went over my head (now i don't remember what they were) and i misread to completely answer in the wrong way
> 
> or
> 
> everyone gets a different set of questions.
> 
> i thought the hvac test was really simple. But since people are here saying they had many 'wtf moments' i'm thinking that maybe i oversimplified everything in my head.


Does anyone know if there were multiple test??  I found tons of grammar errors in mind.  I did NOT think it was like the practice exam at all, which I can do with my eyes closed!


----------



## namod65

pleasePassPE said:


> I found it to be very difficult, due to lots of grammar errors as well as lots of application questions that resulting in spending time in all 4 ASHRAE books. I'm wondering did we take the same test.   Did you pass??


I did pass. I also spent a significant amount of time in the ASHRAE books. Did you do the six minute solutions and PPI practice test? They both have quite a few practice problems that would force you to practice using the ASHRAE books.


----------



## pleasePassPE

I did SMS, in which I'm fairly comfortable and NCEES, which I personally think didn't perpared me.  

What PPI practice exam do you have? What is the full name? There are a few.

Thanks!


----------



## P-E

pleasePassPE said:


> I did SMS, in which I'm fairly comfortable and NCEES, which I personally think didn't perpared me.
> 
> What PPI practice exam do you have? What is the full name? There are a few.
> 
> Thanks!


The TFS SMS is terrible.   I torched mine in a campfire.


----------



## sayed

Passed HVAC!

Feels....ok... being part of the ~80%


----------



## justdoitNG

Passed HVAC..2nd attempt..other than going over ncees practice exam, SMS, lindeburg practice exams several times..added Justin's sample test and guide to the list..very helpful..and off course ASHRAE (all 4 books)..tabbed the hell out of these books..lastly I enrolled in school of pe..their HVAC course goes thru the basic fundamentals for the most part..I do not think it was exam oriented..which was not helpful at all..that's my opinion..Good luck to you all..


----------



## andy10889

Pass HVAC here as well.

Good job everyone!


----------



## Harryasd

Hello, I am planning to give Oct 2019 PE TFS exam. To those who have given the exam, what would be the typical number of equations/steps required to solve the problems?
Does all problems require 6 mins to solve?


----------



## Ramnares P.E.

Generally I've found 3-4 steps are required to solve a problem.  All problems do not require 6 minutes to solve - that is the average time to solve a problem (4hrs/40problems = 6mins/prob).  It is typical you may find some problems which you can solve in 1-2 mins whereas others may take up to 10 mins.


----------



## Ramnares P.E.

@Harryasd don't post the same questions in multiple forums.  You've already asked this question here:


----------

