# Taking the PE Exam with ThermoFluids depth in April



## thwlruss (Feb 8, 2011)

It's roughly eight weeks out. I've got roughly 150 hours of studying in so far and I still feel really unprepared. I just received the T/F SMS workbook in the mail this weekend. I read over a few of the problems and felt quite discouraged. I'm going to up my studying from 25 hours to 30 per week. I've been studying the MERM, university text, and the PE Exam Prep package from Kaplan. Am I missing something? I've ordered two practice exams that I plan on taking 6, 4, and 2 weeks out. That puts the first practice exam two weeks from now. Until then I plan on completing the SMS workbooks (I have T/F and HVAC) and re-reviewing power cycles in the MERM...

Would someone like to share their pain or provide some advice and/or critiques regarding my approach?

In other words ‘HELP’!


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## snickerd3 (Feb 8, 2011)

first things first...and I am serious about it...take a deep breath and relax a little. Being a worry wart causes tons of unnecessary stress and strain on your brain and body.


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## navyasw02 (Feb 8, 2011)

When you say you ordered practice exams, did you order the NCEES exams? If not, do that now and take one of the practice exams immediately. You'll see that it's a lot easier than the practice stuff you're working with. Also do nothing but problems from here until the exam. If you can do about 100 problems a week, you'll be fine.


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## thwlruss (Feb 8, 2011)

navyasw02 said:


> When you say you ordered practice exams, did you order the NCEES exams? If not, do that now and take one of the practice exams immediately. You'll see that it's a lot easier than the practice stuff you're working with. Also do nothing but problems from here until the exam. If you can do about 100 problems a week, you'll be fine.


I ordered two exams; One from NCEES and one from Lindeberg. I have not received either. I wanted to work through the SMS modules before the practice exams but I'll consider doing one of the practice exams first. 100 problems a week sounds tough as some of the problems take me over an hour to complete. Few take less than a half hour.


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## thwlruss (Feb 8, 2011)

snickerd3 said:


> first things first...and I am serious about it...take a deep breath and relax a little. Being a worry wart causes tons of unnecessary stress and strain on your brain and body.


point taken... The worst case scenario is I have to retake the exam in October... not the end of the world.. And I actually enjoy studying. My GF is in the ARMY so I have plenty of time.


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## navyasw02 (Feb 8, 2011)

thwlruss said:


> navyasw02 said:
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> > When you say you ordered practice exams, did you order the NCEES exams? If not, do that now and take one of the practice exams immediately. You'll see that it's a lot easier than the practice stuff you're working with. Also do nothing but problems from here until the exam. If you can do about 100 problems a week, you'll be fine.
> ...


Buy every NCEES exam you can, they're closest to the real thing. The 2001 and 2008 can be found used floating around. Every other practice test, problem set, etc is way harder. I think doing one of the NCEES tests will ease your nerves a bit.


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## thwlruss (Feb 8, 2011)

navyasw02 said:


> Buy every NCEES exam you can, they're closest to the real thing. The 2001 and 2008 can be found used floating around. Every other practice test, problem set, etc is way harder. I think doing one of the NCEES tests will ease your nerves a bit.


Sounds good. Thanks


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## Clydeman (Feb 8, 2011)

I am in the same boat as you (I already covered all of MERMs and MERMs practice problems). I started going through TF 6MS on Sunday.

I am honestly pretty surprised at how long they take. About half of the problems I know right off the bat, but they still take me a while to solve (definitely not 6 minutes). They also have some really strange problems thrown in (where I don't even have a clue to start), the torpedo vibration problem for example (Problem 21 - Strouhal number).

How do SMS problems rate on the difficulty scale?


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## navyasw02 (Feb 8, 2011)

Nathan Satter said:


> I am in the same boat as you (I already covered all of MERMs and MERMs practice problems). I started going through TF 6MS on Sunday.
> I am honestly pretty surprised at how long they take. About half of the problems I know right off the bat, but they still take me a while to solve (definitely not 6 minutes). They also have some really strange problems thrown in (where I don't even have a clue to start), the torpedo vibration problem for example (Problem 21 - Strouhal number).
> 
> How do SMS problems rate on the difficulty scale?


Harder. Everything non NCEES is harder than what NCEES will give.


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## Relvinim (Feb 8, 2011)

Nathan Satter said:


> I am in the same boat as you (I already covered all of MERMs and MERMs practice problems). I started going through TF 6MS on Sunday.
> I am honestly pretty surprised at how long they take. About half of the problems I know right off the bat, but they still take me a while to solve (definitely not 6 minutes). They also have some really strange problems thrown in (where I don't even have a clue to start), the torpedo vibration problem for example (Problem 21 - Strouhal number).
> 
> How do SMS problems rate on the difficulty scale?


Don't worry about time when doing the 6MS problems. Most of them from what I remember took me a lot longer than 6 minutes to solve but you will learn a lot of good theory from them. The NCEES exam will seem easier after you get through the 6MS.


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## thwlruss (Feb 8, 2011)

would someone please suggest a good set of steam tables. I'm considering the following set but the seller (ASME) does not provide details for me to decide whether or not this is what I need.

http://catalog.asme.org/books/PrintBook/20...blesCompact.cfm


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## snickerd3 (Feb 8, 2011)

thwlruss said:


> snickerd3 said:
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> > first things first...and I am serious about it...take a deep breath and relax a little. Being a worry wart causes tons of unnecessary stress and strain on your brain and body.
> ...


thats the best way to approach it, IMO. People would look at me funny when I said that. and I had to remind myself that couple time over the course of studing for the exam. It really did help with the nerves. I was able to get a full night sleep the night before because I wasn't stressed out about it.


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## snickerd3 (Feb 8, 2011)

it might be different for mechanical, but the steamtable in the ChERM were sufficient. Unless it is a question aimed at testing your ability at reading steam tables, the information gleaned from them is highly likely to be given to you in the problem statement. This way there is not 100s of different interpolations off the tables.


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## Clydeman (Feb 8, 2011)

thwlruss said:


> would someone please suggest a good set of steam tables. I'm considering the following set but the seller (ASME) does not provide details for me to decide whether or not this is what I need.
> http://catalog.asme.org/books/PrintBook/20...blesCompact.cfm


I bought that book off Amazon. I would not recomment buying it. It is not any better than what is the back of MERMs. To make matters worse, it does not contain hfg (which MERMs has). So I have now have a $12 pamplet which while compact and seperate requires an additional subtraction operation (just one more chance for error and using precious time).


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## thwlruss (Feb 8, 2011)

Nathan Satter said:


> thwlruss said:
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> > would someone please suggest a good set of steam tables. I'm considering the following set but the seller (ASME) does not provide details for me to decide whether or not this is what I need.
> ...


Thanks.


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## thwlruss (Feb 8, 2011)

In College Thermo we didn't have to interpolate on the final. We were told to estimate based on the steam table values. Is interpolation really necessary during the PE exam? From what I've seen the answers are not exact. So a good estimate may be good enough.


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## Clydeman (Feb 8, 2011)

thwlruss said:


> In College Thermo we didn't have to interpolate on the final. We were told to estimate based on the steam table values. Is interpolation really necessary during the PE exam? From what I've seen the answers are not exact. So a good estimate may be good enough.


Most of the time interpolation is not necessary. It is fairly obvious based on the numbers whether or not it is necessary (how rapidly they are changing).

Try to do the sample problems without interpolating and see how it goes. It is good practice to break some of the OCD tendencies we have as engineers.

What sucks is when you have to do double interpolation (superheat).


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## wongdaisiu (Feb 8, 2011)

I used my old thermo book (Moran-Shapiro) from college which had the steam tables. In addition, you also had some of the refrigerants. It also had more resolution, so interpolation was a bit easier. But just for good measure I also brought a ASHRAE Fundamentals (which was given to me by my boss). I am not sure if you are being sarcastic with the "pamphlet," since they want everything bound. I wound up putting my compressibility tables, and a psychrometric chart in a binder for easy access. Last thing you want happening is the proctor taking away the tables and charts you are so accustomed to using.

Good luck with the studying.



Nathan Satter said:


> thwlruss said:
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> 
> > would someone please suggest a good set of steam tables. I'm considering the following set but the seller (ASME) does not provide details for me to decide whether or not this is what I need.
> ...


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## RobertR (Feb 9, 2011)

thwlruss said:


> would someone please suggest a good set of steam tables. I'm considering the following set but the seller (ASME) does not provide details for me to decide whether or not this is what I need.
> http://catalog.asme.org/books/PrintBook/20...blesCompact.cfm


I bought an old copy of the Keenan steam tables off Amazon. Small, but loaded with good info. It kept me from having to interpolate.


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## thwlruss (Feb 10, 2011)

navyasw02 said:


> thwlruss said:
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I received the 2008 exam and you're right, it does not seem too difficult. I'm looking to buy the 2001 sample exam. I found this one on Amazon but I cannot tell whether it is the right one.

http://www.amazon.com/Mechanical-Sample-Qu...k/dp/1932613366

Do you know? Thanks


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## navyasw02 (Feb 10, 2011)

thwlruss said:


> navyasw02 said:
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That's the 2008, the 2001 has a blue and white cover. You probably wont find it on amazon, you'll have better luck getting it on ebay or here from someone else.


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## thwlruss (Feb 10, 2011)

navyasw02 said:


> thwlruss said:
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K, I think I found one. This issue is not seperated by discipline (T/F, HVAC, or MD), is that right?


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## Clydeman (Feb 10, 2011)

thwlruss said:


> navyasw02 said:
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No the 2001 &amp; 2008 have all three depth sections. Also the 2001 test has a disk with sample problems on it as well. I did not see a disk with the 2008 test.

They did not break them up until this year (which is a really lame move IMO). I can't really justify spending $70x3.


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