# Sharing Computer Based Exam (CBT) experience - PE Mechanical Engineering



## FA_Mechanical engineer

As the Computer Based Testing (CBT) is implemented for all Engineering PE exams starting from April 2020, I would like to initiate a thread to share the experience on Mechanical engineering HVAC &amp; R  and Thermal Fluid Systems (TFS) - PE exam as soon as candidates take the exam and share their experience. Below are some areas of concern,

Note: Do not post and disclose any question or part of question here. This is just to share overall experience by not disclosing any details of the exam.

1. Overall difficulty level?

2. Question outside the NCEES reference manual? If yes difficulty level.

3. Best practice problem book to be used for CBT based on the difficulty level? For eg. PPI Mechanical engineering practice problem, 14th edition, NCEES practice exam etc.

4. When did you get the test results?

Please, continue to share the overall experience as you take the exam that would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance and GOOD LUCK to all test takers.


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## Edgy Cheesy Graphite PE

I support this post. And definitely encourage sharing.

But also, this from the forum guidelines...
NCEES does monitor these boards, and other users can report violations. I don't want to see anyone get their score invalidated.



> As a reminder, when you took the NCEES examination you signed an agreement that included the statement that you agreed you will not reveal in whole or part any exam questions, answers, problems, or solutions to anyone during or after the exam, whether orally, in writing, or any internet chat rooms , or otherwise. This agreement also stated that failure to comply with this could invalidate your exam results.


Also with COVID-19 issues, I don't think any Mechanical CBT exams are being administered yet. But sooner or later they will be.


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## FA_Mechanical engineer

I agree. The purpose of this post is to share the overall CBT experience without revealing details of the test. I would encourage not to do that either. The real purpose of this post is to provide the high level guidelines to help prepare for the CBT test more effectively.


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## FA_Mechanical engineer

Has anyone taken the CBT based PE - Mechanical exam yet? I do not know anyone in my company I work for currently taking the PE exam because it is not required to have a PE license, however I know there are just a few who acquired a PE license long back and they have no clue about the CBT exam. So, I personally have no guidance.

I am really relying on this engineer board to help update the members as soon as anyone take the exam and share their experience. Feedback on the overall experience would be very helpful especially who took the Paper based last time in Oct 2019 and retaking CBT now in 2020.

I appreciate for your feedback on this. Like I said I am very much relying on this engineer board and take things seriously when an honest feedback is posted.  

Thank you!!!


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## Edgy Cheesy Graphite PE

This person has. Some info here:


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## mechengineer1213

First time posting on this board, but I just took the HVAC PE CBT a couple weeks ago and found out I passed last week. But here are my responses, appears not many people have posted their experience with the CBT format, but give it time. 

1. Overall difficulty level? Medium

2. Question outside the NCEES reference manual? If yes difficulty level. Some conceptual questions that you either know or dont know.

3. Best practice problem book to be used for CBT based on the difficulty level? For eg. PPI Mechanical engineering practice problem, 14th edition, NCEES practice exam etc. The NCEES practice exam and 6min problems and did those over and over again. I dont see the point of spending hundreds of dollars on a class unless you see it beneficial. I just kept a decent study schedule and made sure I knew the ins and out of the reference guide (really important to always have this up when you are studying).

4. When did you get the test results? A week later.


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## FA_Mechanical engineer

Congrats!!! I am glad you passed the exam and good to know the overall difficulty level was medium and I believe solving PPI problems will help to tackle medium problems better. One question if you can answer that would be a great help. Was the morning session very different than the afternoon session? If yes, what was the difference just to get an idea.

Thanks again for posting your thoughts!!!


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## Edgy Cheesy Graphite PE

@Ijoinedbecausecovid I think you could add to this discussion.


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## ChooChooEngineer_PE

@mechengineer1213 I asked this question before with no response so maybe you can shed light. The PE handbook was riddled with errors when first came out and appears to still contain some issues. Did you have any questions that required the use of formulas or information from these incorrect sections and if so did you err on the side of the book being correct or or what you knew to be correct?


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## mechengineer1213

FA_Mechanical engineer said:


> Congrats!!! I am glad you passed the exam and good to know the overall difficulty level was medium and I believe solving PPI problems will help to tackle medium problems better. One question if you can answer that would be a great help. Was the morning session very different than the afternoon session? If yes, what was the difference just to get an idea.
> 
> Thanks again for posting your thoughts!!!


AM and PM were similar. I thought the AM was easier which i think is the case for all the disciplines.


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## gregp

I took the Machine Design and Materials exam last weekend and I would definitely say it is harder than the NCEES practice exam but not as hard as PPI's practice exams. I wasn't able to pass the test but with the report that they gave I found out what areas I did not do as good in and can improve. I'm going to re-take the test in the next few months and use PPI's Self study course that is around $300 for three months. I feel like the difficulty of that will help prepare me for the exam. The morning session for me was also easier than the afternoon session. Best of luck to all you guys when you take the exam.


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## naonao

gregp said:


> I took the Machine Design and Materials exam last weekend and I would definitely say it is harder than the NCEES practice exam but not as hard as PPI's practice exams. I wasn't able to pass the test but with the report that they gave I found out what areas I did not do as good in and can improve. I'm going to re-take the test in the next few months and use PPI's Self study course that is around $300 for three months. I feel like the difficulty of that will help prepare me for the exam. The morning session for me was also easier than the afternoon session. Best of luck to all you guys when you take the exam.


Thanks for sharing your experience on the difficulty level, did you self study for the test?


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## Dr. Barber

gregp said:


> I took the Machine Design and Materials exam last weekend ...






mechengineer1213 said:


> ... I just took the HVAC PE CBT a couple weeks ago ...




Did you have to wear a mask while taking the test?


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## gregp

I prepared for the exam doing Dr. Toms Classroom 20 week lesson plan. That is very helpful to get a good base but I would also try to do additional problems and find other practice exams to work on with that. Getting used to the NCEES Reference handbook while studying is very important to. I only used that as my reference while preparing for the exam.


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## mechengineer1213

gregp said:


> Yes you have to wear a mask while taking the test.


Depends on the testing site but mine did not require me to wear a mask.


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## FA_Mechanical engineer

If anyone who took the CBT exam already can answer these questions that would help.

1. What has been provided to the test taker to solve the problems? Is it in the form of blank sheet of paper and pencil or erasable white board with marker?

2. Problems require to use Psychrometric charts, P-H diagrams etc how easy is to trace them to find what you need. The quality in NCEES reference manual is very bad and it is difficult to find an exact answer using these charts.

3. What version of the manual they have been offering during the exam? Is it exactly version 1.1 or there are some difference between the one online and the one in the exam?


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## Edgy Cheesy Graphite PE

FA_Mechanical engineer said:


> If anyone who took the CBT exam already can answer these questions that would help.
> 
> 1. What has been provided to the test taker to solve the problems? Is it in the form of blank sheet of paper and pencil or erasable white board with marker?
> 
> 2. Problems require to use Psychrometric charts, P-H diagrams etc how easy is to trace them to find what you need. The quality in NCEES reference manual is very bad and it is difficult to find an exact answer using these charts.
> 
> 3. What version of the manual they have been offering during the exam? Is it exactly version 1.1 or there are some difference between the one online and the one in the exam?


I haven't taken the CBT, but regarding number 1, NCEES put out this video.


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## FA_Mechanical engineer

Oh great!!! Thanks for sharing. I would rather have a pencil with eraser but this would work as well.

Thanks again!!!


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## Mecha

@FA_Mechanical engineer Thanks for creating this thread. Very helpful and useful for test takers.

When is your exam?


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## FA_Mechanical engineer

I don't know at this time. My application is in process and expecting to hear from Board this week.


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## Mecha

oh good luck!
my exam is this week. will share experience when done


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## FA_Mechanical engineer

Good luck to you as well. Please, do share your experience and the discipline you are taking the exam in?


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## Mecha

Just wanted to share PE exam experience with all of you. I took the exam last week and just heard back from NCEES that I have passed.

1. Overall difficulty level? Medium

2. Question outside the NCEES reference manual? If yes difficulty level. - Yes, a lot of questions from ASHRAE books which will require common sense and little understanding of how HVAC &amp; Refrigeration system work.

3. Best practice problem book to be used for CBT based on the difficulty level? For eg. PPI Mechanical engineering practice problem, 14th edition, NCEES practice exam etc. - I have prioritize the practice books for CBT, please see below:

a. NCEES practice problems (MUST!!!! Can not emphasize it enough) Exams problems are based on same concepts as published in the NCEES Book

b. Practice problems by Engg Pro Guides

c. Final Exam by Engg Pro Guides

d. MERM is definitely required to go through all the fundamentals. I did not use it a lot as I took FE Exam last October, so fundamentals were all fresh in my mind.

4. When did you get the test results? 6 days.

@FA_Mechanical engineerGood Luck!!


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## BuffaloWings

@Mecha

Thank you for the information. Do you have any tips or suggestions on time saving techniques when taking the CBT Exam. Obviously, the more you formulas that you don’t need to look up in the Reference Manual the more time you will save.


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## FA_Mechanical engineer

@Mecha

CONRATULATIONS!!! I am glad you passed the exam. How many questions in the exam were there which does not require any calculations at all? Just curious.


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## Jonnybgood

Greetings &amp; thank you to @FA_Mechanical engineer for starting this thread. Also, congrats to those of you ( @gregp  , @mechengineer1213 , @Mecha , etc) that have already taken the CBT and passed!

Main question I have for those of you that have taken it: There are a lot of properties that called for MERM, steam tables, and other references. Generally, were the specific material/component/fluid properties needed for specific questions within that specific question or did they need to be referenced back to the provided electronic handbook? A lot of the practice problems (currently 6 Min Problems) I am working use properties that are not in the handbook at all. But I assume these have to be provided for the CBT - just wondering if it is more prevalent for them to be provided in specific questions or only in the handbook. 

I took TFS April '19 with minimal studying and did not pass. I started studying for the October '19 exam but due to a hurricane on the Gulf Coast and other personal obligations decided to postpone and take my chances with the CBT. I started Dr. Tom's in October '19 and really like the format, but feel there is a lot that you need to cover/practice on your own. For that reason I am focusing on working and understanding as many different types of problems that I can find . Currently working Deckler's 6 Min Problems from PPI and plan to go back to NCEES practice problems thereafter. Also considering working Slay the PE problems in as there seems to be good reviews based on this Forum Board. Any thoughts on study tactics or suggested material appreciated as well !

Only big issue I have with CBT is I personally like printed material that I can feel, make notes on, organize/categorize, etc. I am a bit worried about the CBT for this reason. That and of course the security blanket of reference material!


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## MAHMOOD ASLAM QUMMAR

I appeared for the PE HVAC exam on  Saturday, I got result today and I passed. Exam was technical with wrinkles. Morning section was easy. Need deep study and knowledge of codes , controls and practical knowledge. Main point is, no need to panic. Skip first three economics questions and go directly to easy questions of psychometrics. At the end of the session you need to come back and solve all skipped questions. Please make sure to prepare to get all 80 questions right. In that way you will hunt the exam easily. But if your preparation is only for to achieve the goal of 70%, it will hurt you brutally.


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## FA_Mechanical engineer

@MAHMOOD ASLAM QUMMAR    Congrats!!! Mahmood on passing the HVAC &amp; R exam. Any additional feedback on preparation for the exam would be helpful. I would like to know which study material you used to practice for the exam. Which areas you focused the most and which practice tests you completed as a part of the exam preparation?


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## MAHMOOD ASLAM QUMMAR

MERM, 6 minutes problems, NCEES practice test, Engineering pro-guide study guide and practice test. PPI preparation course. Most important to study the MERM at least 4 time and Engineering pro-guide’s study guide thrice. Need to clear the concept. Need to study the control systems and vibration  and acoustics From ASHRAE.


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## justin-hawaii

Congratulations @MAHMOOD ASLAM QUMMAR and everyone else who passed.  

I am posting some information from one of our students in our HVAC class who took the exam a couple of weeks ago and passed.  I thought the part about the format of the exam was very interesting.  Our student lost some time on the second half of the exam because he didn't know how long it would take to get checked back into the afternoon portion of the exam, please see below.  I also thought the information on drawing lines in the PDF was interesting.

"If you feel good about the NCEES practice exam and the 6-minute problems practice exam you should do fine on the test. Both of those were of similar difficulty and format as the official test. I actually think the Engineering Pro Guides final exam is harder than the official test I took. If you understand psychrometrics, vapor compression cycle, the lever rule, mass balance and the Bernoulli equation you will be in good shape. I think it's important not to second guess yourself on problems. My advice is to read the whole problem twice and really think about what it's asking before jumping into calculations.

The test format itself was pretty straight forward. You get a 24 inch computer monitor, on the left side is the NCEES reference manual and the exam is on the right side. The reference manual is searchable and has the same bookmark tabs as the one you download to study with. One thing I wish I knew is you can draw as many lines as you want on the reference manual but you can only delete 10 lines, which is really stupid I think. I ended up with 11 lines at one time and couldn't get rid of the last one so I had a random line on my psych chart for like half of the test which was annoying. The line drawing tool draws black lines that are only slightly more bold than the lines on the psycho chart so be careful that you are reading the correct line.

The testing center staff were very serious about security and hand hygiene. I had to use hand sanitizer like 10 times before I sat at my testing station. They will make you wear a mask the entire time your testing. You will have 37 problems in the morning session and 43 in the afternoon. I couldn't tell a difference in the difficulty between morning and afternoon problems. You have to complete and submit the 37 morning questions before taking lunch, you will not be able to go back to those problems after lunch.

You get to choose when to take your 50 minute lunch break. You will not get a break before or after lunch, if you need to use the bathroom the clock will continue ticking away while your gone. If you arrive back from lunch after 50 minutes have elapsed the clock will start without you. It took the exam staff like 10 minutes to check me and a few other testers back in after lunch and I lost like 4 minutes from my time which was annoying. I recommend bringing a sack lunch, I would hate to be stressed waiting for food. Give yourself plenty of time to be checked back into the test."


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## Edgy Cheesy Graphite PE

justin-hawaii said:


> Congratulations @MAHMOOD ASLAM QUMMAR and everyone else who passed.
> 
> I am posting some information from one of our students in our HVAC class who took the exam a couple of weeks ago and passed.  I thought the part about the format of the exam was very interesting.  Our student lost some time on the second half of the exam because he didn't know how long it would take to get checked back into the afternoon portion of the exam, please see below.  I also thought the information on drawing lines in the PDF was interesting.
> 
> "If you feel good about the NCEES practice exam and the 6-minute problems practice exam you should do fine on the test. Both of those were of similar difficulty and format as the official test. I actually think the Engineering Pro Guides final exam is harder than the official test I took. If you understand psychrometrics, vapor compression cycle, the lever rule, mass balance and the Bernoulli equation you will be in good shape. I think it's important not to second guess yourself on problems. My advice is to read the whole problem twice and really think about what it's asking before jumping into calculations.
> 
> The test format itself was pretty straight forward. You get a 24 inch computer monitor, on the left side is the NCEES reference manual and the exam is on the right side. The reference manual is searchable and has the same bookmark tabs as the one you download to study with. One thing I wish I knew is you can draw as many lines as you want on the reference manual but you can only delete 10 lines, which is really stupid I think. I ended up with 11 lines at one time and couldn't get rid of the last one so I had a random line on my psych chart for like half of the test which was annoying. The line drawing tool draws black lines that are only slightly more bold than the lines on the psycho chart so be careful that you are reading the correct line.
> 
> The testing center staff were very serious about security and hand hygiene. I had to use hand sanitizer like 10 times before I sat at my testing station. They will make you wear a mask the entire time your testing. You will have 37 problems in the morning session and 43 in the afternoon. I couldn't tell a difference in the difficulty between morning and afternoon problems. You have to complete and submit the 37 morning questions before taking lunch, you will not be able to go back to those problems after lunch.
> 
> You get to choose when to take your 50 minute lunch break. You will not get a break before or after lunch, if you need to use the bathroom the clock will continue ticking away while your gone. If you arrive back from lunch after 50 minutes have elapsed the clock will start without you. It took the exam staff like 10 minutes to check me and a few other testers back in after lunch and I lost like 4 minutes from my time which was annoying. I recommend bringing a sack lunch, I would hate to be stressed waiting for food. Give yourself plenty of time to be checked back into the test."


That's really weird that it's 37 and 43. That almost sounds like an error. All the rest of it sounds exactly like the old paper base exam. Except that everyone starts and ends at the same time both morning and afternoon. So you don't get to choose your lunch time it's after exactly 4 hours.


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## justin-hawaii

My theory as to why there is an uneven amount of problems between the AM and PM session is that the first half includes the Basic Eng Practice (4-6), Thermo (4-6), Psych (7-11), Fluids(3-5), Heat Transfer(6-9), Energy/Mass Balance(4-6) and Heating/Cooling Loads(7-11).  The second half includes HVAC Systems(16-24), HVAC Equipment(16-24) and Supportive Knowledge(3-5).  

Based on the outline, there is a range of the possible number of problems for the 1st half and second half.  Assuming this is how the exam is split up.  

AM Session:  35 to 54 possible problems  [Basic Eng Practice (4-6), Thermo (4-6), Psych (7-11), Fluids(3-5), Heat Transfer(6-9), Energy/Mass Balance(4-6) and Heating/Cooling Loads(7-11)]

PM Session:  35 to 53 possible problems [HVAC Systems(16-24), HVAC Equipment(16-24) and Supportive Knowledge(3-5)]

So this means that 37 problems on the AM session and 43 on the PM session is possible.


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## JG3

I just took the T&amp;F CBT Exam last week. Hopefully this will help others with the black box that is this test currently.

1. Overall difficulty level?

Easy/Medium. My best description of the test is "tedious". The number of unit conversions will whittle you down faster than the actual difficulty of knowledge depth behind the problems. I had enough time to review all the questions with an hour to spare at the end. If you know the key search words and the main unit conversion factors that you'll use 40 times, you should have plenty of time to think through the difficult problems.

2. Question outside the NCEES reference manual? If yes difficulty level.

Pretty much all of these related to theory. They were simply "you know it or you don't" as someone else has said. I'd argue that most of them would be relevant to practical field experience rather than theoretical (book) knowledge. There was a certain formula on the exam (for one question) that is in the handbook for a quantitative problem, but the handbook is missing a portion of the explanation on how to get one of the values.

3. Best practice problem book to be used for CBT based on the difficulty level?

NCEES Practice Exam. It was spot on for difficulty and length. My first run through of the practice of exam and the actual exam were almost identical in time and confidence in answers.

Btw, I wrote my review of the PPI system (MERM, PP, Learning hub) here:



4. When did you get the test results?

Still waiting. Still a few days til a week. I'm a little concerned with how the test will be curved moving forward.

Some additional info that I think will help future takers with expectations:


The erasable booklet was pretty much the perfect length for each half of the exam for me (filled up an entire booklet for each half of the exam. Swapped out for a new one at halftime without losing any time.). I typically would write out all the knowns for each problem along with a diagram when needed, which takes up considerable space. I was worried going in, but I don't think anyone should have any problems. I will say that they didn't provide me any materials to actually erase the marker for errors, so that did almost run me out of space on the second half of the exam.

Psychrometric chart tool - worked pretty well. Mine actually had a bug where I had under 10 lines (I think i had 3), and one wouldn't erase. I reported to NCEES, but they didn't seem to take me seriously.

I had no access to the table of contents from the handbook during my exam. This was a BIG issue as I had to shred through the search function. Reported this to NCEES as well. Not sure if anyone else had this issue.

AM and PM sections seemed relatively the same, with the PM having 3 or 4 longer/harder questions. The knowledge areas seemed mixed together to me (no dedicated split), but that's still a little blurry.

I used bluebeam during studying for the handbook. For some reason, bluebeam doesn't read the data in the 1.1 handbook for searches. One example of this is having to spell "affiinity" as "afinity" in bluebeam search to pull up results. However, the search function in the Pearson Vue center seemed to work very well (didn't have to intentionally misspell anything to receive results).


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## FA_Mechanical engineer

Thanks for your input JG3. Your detailed feedback on the CBT experience seems to be fairly accurate and valuable for the test takers. Like other test takers in HVAC &amp; R and Thermal Fluid Systems (TFS), your feedback does match fairly well and help the test takers to prepare better for the CBT environment.

Thanks again and good luck with your test results!!!


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## DaisyD

JG3, Thank you for the feedback! I’m appalled that the table of contents didn’t work for you...that’s pretty major for making things go quickly during the search, did NCEES respond, and did you ask the Vue Pearson staff if this could be fixed? All the best for your test results!


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## martiansoldier

JG3 - Thank you for the review and hope you were successful. Am I right in assuming that the timer starts with 8 hours remaining and does not have a cut off between te morning and afternoon sessions, i.e., you don't necessarily get exactly 6 minutes per question for say 40 questions in the morning session, but get the whole 8 hours that you have to manage appropriately to be able to finish the whole exam within the given time regardless of when you take the break?


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## martiansoldier

justin-hawaii said:


> My theory as to why there is an uneven amount of problems between the AM and PM session is that the first half includes the Basic Eng Practice (4-6), Thermo (4-6), Psych (7-11), Fluids(3-5), Heat Transfer(6-9), Energy/Mass Balance(4-6) and Heating/Cooling Loads(7-11).  The second half includes HVAC Systems(16-24), HVAC Equipment(16-24) and Supportive Knowledge(3-5).
> 
> Based on the outline, there is a range of the possible number of problems for the 1st half and second half.  Assuming this is how the exam is split up.
> 
> AM Session:  35 to 54 possible problems  [Basic Eng Practice (4-6), Thermo (4-6), Psych (7-11), Fluids(3-5), Heat Transfer(6-9), Energy/Mass Balance(4-6) and Heating/Cooling Loads(7-11)]
> 
> PM Session:  35 to 53 possible problems [HVAC Systems(16-24), HVAC Equipment(16-24) and Supportive Knowledge(3-5)]
> 
> So this means that 37 problems on the AM session and 43 on the PM session is possible.


Would you know at the start of the test that you will have a certain number of questions in the AM and the rest in the afternoon or would you only find out when you complete approximately 40 questions when a break is offered?


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## FA_Mechanical engineer

I have no doubt in my mind that you can actually see how many questions you have in the morning session and in the afternoon session. You can also skip questions and come back to answer them in a later time. I also think once you complete the morning session, you would be prompted to take a scheduled break and need to get back to the afternoon session after you are done with the break.


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## santy

Hello folks,

I took the MD&amp;M CBT Exam last week. Here is my experience about the exam and its preparation.

I gave my FE Mechanical Exam on December 2019. I received the results as “Passed” within 4 days of the exam. I knew I would pass this one easily. Couple weeks after the completion of FE exam, some how I thought it would be a good idea to start preparing for PE as well, as I was eligible. I discussed this idea with one of my co-workers who passed his PE exam October 2019. He suggested me to wait atleast 1-1.5 years and get a feedback about the new CBT exam from other test takers before I give it a shot. He had a point, but somehow I felt that I should start preparing early since a lot of concepts were still fresh in my mind from FE preparation. Also I read from several reviews that PE preparation is much more exhaustive and is time demanding compared to FE. So finally after a lot of thought, I said it to myself “Lets do it and see what happens”.

PE Preparation : I was clear my focus would be MD&amp;M as I have been working on the Mechanical Testing for 9 years now. I started self preparing in January of this year. I studied for 2 hrs early morning every day before I went to my work and weekends as well. I started with MERM and studied in the order listed in the NCEES topics for this exam. I bought the updated MERM and MEPP book from ppi. 
For the AM topics, I felt studying from MERM was sufficient (with the exception of couple topics). For the PM topics, Shigley is the best. MERM is ok. I also bought the Pro Engg guides study material and felt that it is much more concise and easier to study because of the order and the depth to which the topics are laid out and how well it is connected to the PE Reference Manual. I must certainly appreciate Justin for his efforts on coming out with this book for the CBT format.
This exam is all about application of problems and concepts. The more and the variety of problems you do, the higher are the chances of passing. I did problems from MERM, MEPP, Six Minute solutions, Pro Engg Guides, PE Review by Kennedy and all quizzes from ppi learning hub. I tried to reference the concept used on every problem I worked on to the PE reference manual. 5 months into my preparation, I got completely familiar with the reference manual.

Practice Exams : 1 month before the exam, I started giving timed exams. I started with NCEES Exam followed by Ppi exams, Pro Engg guide exam, PE Exam by Hart and Klein. I got &gt;80% in all these exams. I thoroughly reviewed the concept of every problem from every exam I took.

The Actual Exam : My exam had a question split of 38-42. There is no set time for every question. After you submit first half of the exam, you get an optional 50 minute break which does not count in the 8 hr time provided. You can take as much time as you need for the first half. Obviously, the remaining time is for the second half of the exam.

For me, I can say with full certainity that the exam was much harder than the NCEES Practice exam and Pro engg guide practice exam. It is slightly easier than Klein and Hart exam and close to the difficulty of the 2 ppi exams.

The first half of my exam wasn’t a good start for me as my first 6-7 questions tanked. I lost confidence, may be because of my nervousness. It took 1 hr into the exam until I started feeling little confident. Some questions were ok, some moderate. There were a decent number of questions that ripped me apart inspite of my exhaustive preparation and paying attention to the units. They were longer and harder. I took ~ 4:30 hrs for the first haIf. I knew I was not managing time well, but I decided to submit with a moderate confidence level. I was left with ~3.5 hrs and 42 questions. I was only confident of 20-24 questions out of 38 questions in the first half. 

Second half started well and I breezed through the problems. The difficulty level was moderate but I didnt have to come back to any question/s. I finished and submitted all 42 questions within 3 hrs with 30 min to spare. Overall, I walked out of the exam confidently.

I received the results within a week. I passed.
Overall, I must say that folks at NCEES are masters at framing the questions. Know the reference manual well. Practise as many variety of problems as possible during preparation. Please pay close attention to the units ( I might have navigated to the units page of the manual atleast 40 times). For quantitative questions, read the entire question and diagram properly. Please think carefully about what is being asked in a question. I had diagrams for most of the questions (both quantitative and qualitative). For the qualitative type questions, either you know them or you dont.

Others folks who gave the exam might have similar or different experience/s. I apologize for the lengthy post, but if you have any question/s related to preparation or CBT exam format in general, I will be glad to answer. Best of luck to all the future test takers.


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## martiansoldier

santy said:


> Overall, I must say that folks at NCEES are masters at framing the questions.


Tell me about it!

I took the TFS exam last Friday and received my results today, and I'm thrilled to have passed.

Having been out of school for several years, I did not think until late last year that I would one day take the P.E. exam, but I did and I am glad I did.

I started my preparation in late January after signing up with Dr. Tom's Classroom, which was highly recommended by 3 of my coworkers. Dr. Tom's course also requires working problems from the NCEES Practice Exam. I did not use any other material to prepare, but after the exam, I felt that the exam problems were at a much higher level than the DTC coursework and the NCEES practice problems. Nevertheless, as it turns out now, what I did was sufficient.

I spent a total of about 23 weeks preparing, which included 18 weeks to get through the 20 week planned coursework, a couple of weeks of intermittent reviews and 3 weeks of final review. Each week included about 25 hours of preparation (I was literally starting from zero theoretical knowledge). I thought the DTC coursework was very well structured for someone who has no clue where to begin and for anyone considering taking a course, I would highly recommend DTC.

The exam itself was super tedious. Wearing a mask was mandatory, but wasn't necessarily strictly monitored. My morning session had 37 questions for which I decided to give myself 3 hours and 40 minutes. I was able to get through most of the questions in less than 3 hours and spend the next 40 minutes trying to work problems that I had skipped or flagged. I took my break at that point and returned after a 40 minute break only to lose 6-8 minutes trying to get a pen that would write on the erasable booklet. The questions in the afternoon needed more time to work and some of them kept me spinning in circles with the way they were framed. There were some that looked very similar to the NCEES Practice exam, just twice as twisted. In my opinion, the difficulty level for the morning 37 questions was medium and the afternoon felt more like medium/hard with a couple of easy questions here and there. I had a fair amount of "Alternate Item Type" questions which I hated and most of those, you either knew based on your field of work or you didn't. To my surprise however, despite several questions seeming like curve balls, I managed to stay calm throughout the whole exam and I think this definitely played to my favor. Towards the end of my 8 hours, I still had several flagged questions and didn't manage to review them all. So, I walked out a bit low on confidence but high on hope and needless to say, hope prevailed.

Like others have mentioned, it is important to know how to navigate the Reference Handbook and the number you unit conversions throughout the exam will indeed wear you out. Also, be prepared for some questions that are unrelated to the Reference Handbook and I'd say Dr. Tom did a good job on some of these, which certainly helped me.

I too apologize for the lengthy post, but I hope some of you find it helpful and good luck to future test takers!


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## FA_Mechanical engineer

@santy and @martiansoldier Congrats to both of you to pass the PE exam. Both of you sounds like worked very hard and prepared for the exam really well and it finally paid off. Well done!!!

I guess, couple of quick questions,

1. In case if you completely fill out the booklet in the first session, can you get another one and keep the previous one without returning before the second session?

2. Secondly, how searchable the provided reference manual on the exam. I am used to pdf searching features and get to where I need to be, however I am not sure how easy to use the reference manual during the exam and how to use it quickly? Any feedback in this would be greatly appreciated.


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## martiansoldier

FA_Mechanical engineer said:


> @santy and @martiansoldier Congrats to both of you to pass the PE exam. Both of you sounds like worked very hard and prepared for the exam really well and it finally paid off. Well done!!!
> 
> I guess, couple of quick questions,
> 
> 1. In case if you completely fill out the booklet in the first session, can you get another one and keep the previous one without returning before the second session?
> 
> 2. Secondly, how searchable the provided reference manual on the exam. I am used to pdf searching features and get to where I need to be, however I am not sure how easy to use the reference manual during the exam and how to use it quickly? Any feedback in this would be greatly appreciated.


@FA_Mechanical engineer

1. I thought I wrote down a lot of stuff and I was nowhere close to filling out the booklet in the morning session. For the afternoon session, before I started, I requested a 2nd booklet and although I didn't ask, they also let me hold on to my booklet from the morning session which they had asked me to leave on my desk before I took my break. The markers were a bit finicky to write with as they often didn't put any ink on the booklet until you tried a few times.

2. I used Adobe during my exam preparation, but rather than search using "Control + F", I would recommend "Control + Shift + F" on Adobe, which is closer to what you will have in the exam, but not identical. The index and search functions worked just fine during the exam and I didn't have any trouble finding what I was looking for, but I was bummed that they didn't have page numbers. For instance, to get to the SI Steam Tables, I had to manually scroll some 50 pages to get to the page I wanted whereas while preparing, I'd type in page 325 or 330 and get pretty darn close to what I was looking for. Also, scrolling is pretty darn slow and not page by page, which could cost a bit of time.

Also, if you plan to take the break, I'd recommend that you use no more than 35-40 of the allotted 50 minutes because you would lose a few minutes before you leave the Exam Center and you will lose about 5 minutes on your check in when you return. Like someone else mentioned, if there are others waiting in line to check in ahead of you on your return, this could cost you time.

At the exam center I chose, a trip to the restroom would have cost me at least 5 minutes. So plan accordingly and avoid unscheduled breaks if you can.

Stay calm and focused. Apart from my preparation, I truly believe this is what helped me get through. Good luck!


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## DaisyD

martiansoldier said:


> @FA_Mechanical engineer
> 
> 1. I thought I wrote down a lot of stuff and I was nowhere close to filling out the booklet in the morning session. For the afternoon session, before I started, I requested a 2nd booklet and although I didn't ask, they also let me hold on to my booklet from the morning session which they had asked me to leave on my desk before I took my break. The markers were a bit finicky to write with as they often didn't put any ink on the booklet until you tried a few times.
> 
> 2. I used Adobe during my exam preparation, but rather than search using "Control + F", I would recommend "Control + Shift + F" on Adobe, which is closer to what you will have in the exam, but not identical. The index and search functions worked just fine during the exam and I didn't have any trouble finding what I was looking for, but I was bummed that they didn't have page numbers. For instance, to get to the SI Steam Tables, I had to manually scroll some 50 pages to get to the page I wanted whereas while preparing, I'd type in page 325 or 330 and get pretty darn close to what I was looking for. Also, scrolling is pretty darn slow and not page by page, which could cost a bit of time.
> 
> Also, if you plan to take the break, I'd recommend that you use no more than 35-40 of the allotted 50 minutes because you would lose a few minutes before you leave the Exam Center and you will lose about 5 minutes on your check in when you return. Like someone else mentioned, if there are others waiting in line to check in ahead of you on your return, this could cost you time.
> 
> At the exam center I chose, a trip to the restroom would have cost me at least 5 minutes. So plan accordingly and avoid unscheduled breaks if you can.
> 
> Stay calm and focused. Apart from my preparation, I truly believe this is what helped me get through. Good luck!


Did you have access to the bookmarks in the pdf—so for instance you could click on the different chapters and then search Through them vs going through the entire document? I remeber being able to do that in the FE


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## Victor1990

thank you for everyone for your valuable feedbacks 

i took the pe thermal exam on Saturday 

overall difficultly is nominal 

Exam passed  result in 2days


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## martiansoldier

DaisyD said:


> Did you have access to the bookmarks in the pdf—so for instance you could click on the different chapters and then search Through them vs going through the entire document? I remeber being able to do that in the FE


Yes, you do have access to the bookmarks that will take you directly to each chapter and it worked well for me. However, there is a post in this thread where someone mentioned that the bookmarks didn't work for them.


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## DaisyD

Alright my turn—first, I appreciate all the feedback from the prior test takers, here’s my two cents on the TFS exam though it is fairly similar to others experience.
 

1. Overall difficulty level? Medium, I felt the AM portion was more difficult with more of what I’d consider minor topics (combustion, mechanics, economics). PM portion was more similar to the practice exam with some curveball questions. I echo the sentiment about conversions—good grief!

2. Question outside the NCEES reference manual? If yes difficulty level: Yes, practical knowledge—not a whole lot but those were essentially educated guesses for me

3. Best practice problem book to be used for CBT based on the difficulty level? I took Dr Toms course and I thought it was great—it’s been redone for the CBT and because his course work includes working problems from the NCEES practice exam I felt very confident in my ability to not only solve problems but understand the topics. His course is setup for 20 weeks with an additional 3 week final review period, I pushed myself to go through the course as fast as possible , from the start of the class to the exam date i spent 13 weeks studying.  There are topics that aren’t covered in depth in his course which is where I felt I had weak points that were exposed in the exam but like he says you don’t need to make a 100, you just need to pass.

4. When did you get the test results? 8 days, I passed 

Some general comments—I had access to the book mark tab and to a search tab, I had no issues with searching through the reference manual but of course knowing key words is essential—you don’t need to memorize anything though it’s good to know general locations for topics Incase you don’t know what keywords to use.  I had 37 questions in the morning and 43 in the afternoon and split my 8 hours accordingly.  It’s important to know when to “let go” of problems or skip them to get through all the questions—I felt like I was running out of time for the first portion because I couldn’t move on from some of the problems, this was not the case for the afternoon though I did end up using all the exam time.  I felt pretty good about the PM portion but worried about how I did for the AM portion, though I guess it worked out in the end.  I hope this helps future test takers, good luck everyone!


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## Saurabh9978

Thank you all for your feedback  and support , I passed MDM exam recently. 

*1. Overall difficulty level?*

very easy for most of the problems , it did not take more than 5.5 hours to finish the exam.  

*2. Question outside the NCEES reference manual? If yes difficulty level.*

not much with basic designing and material background experience. exam was well formed considering the use of reference manual 

*3. Best practice problem book to be used for CBT based on the difficulty level? For eg. PPI Mechanical engineering practice problem, 14th edition, NCEES practice exam etc.*

MERM reference book for the theory and basic practice problems (chapter 41 to 60 and chapter 22)  and shigley's mechanical engineering design for practice problems.

_I did enroll in ppi online practice problems for the safer side , not worth it _

*4. When did you get the test results?*

it took 6 working days.


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## TooOldForThis

Passed the MDM recently.  This forum was helpful to feel less "alone" during the weeks leading up to the exam, so I'll give back my part.

*1. Overall difficulty level?*

Similar in difficulty to the NCEES practice exam.

*2. Question outside the NCEES reference manual? If yes difficulty level.*

Sorry, this question is too specific about exam questions, not going to perjure myself.

*3. Best practice problem book to be used for CBT based on the difficulty level? For eg. PPI Mechanical engineering practice problem, 14th edition, NCEES practice exam etc.*

The NCEES practice is representative.  Pro Engineering Guides practice exam is also pretty good, and affordable.  Even though it's outdated, I really liked the little blue Kennedy book, it's got some good focused refresher material without being overwhelming like the huge MERM.

*4. When did you get the test results?*

6 weekdays.


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## Dothracki PE

DaisyD said:


> Some general comments—I had access to the book mark tab and to a search tab, I had no issues with searching through the reference manual but of course knowing key words is essential—you don’t need to memorize anything though it’s good to know general locations for topics Incase you don’t know what keywords to use.  I had 37 questions in the morning and 43 in the afternoon and split my 8 hours accordingly.  It’s important to know when to “let go” of problems or skip them to get through all the questions—I felt like I was running out of time for the first portion because I couldn’t move on from some of the problems, this was not the case for the afternoon though I did end up using all the exam time.  I felt pretty good about the PM portion but worried about how I did for the AM portion, though I guess it worked out in the end.  I hope this helps future test takers, good luck everyone!


Just to clarify on this, were you able to skip a question and come back to it? I didn't quite see that explicitly stated in the examinee guide.


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## DaisyD

Dothracki said:


> Just to clarify on this, were you able to skip a question and come back to it? I didn't quite see that explicitly stated in the examinee guide.


Yes you can skip questions, my suggestion is you go through the exam and answer the questions you know and guess  on questions you don’t know-let’s say “a” if you think you can come back and work it out “b” if you might be able to work it out and “c” if you have no clue.  You would hit the “flag” button on these question screens.

Once you’re done with the exam (morning or afternoon portion) the end screen allows you to go back to your flagged questions.  You can then work through them in order of difficulty you assigned: a’s first, b’s second and forget about the ones you guessed c on.  This method will ensure you never leave any question blank Incase you run out of time.


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## BebeshKing PE

Regarding any CBT PE exam, When you are asked about a Code problem? Are they going to give you the access of the whole code book in PDF? or are they just going to give the limited pages of the code book specifically to solve that code problem?


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## Darkthrone1986

I took my thermal fluid exam last week and i just got the result and i passed. 
couple of things: 
1. there were around 12 questions regarding psychrometric and HVAC topics. I did not expect that many questions in this field since NCEES practice exam book has less questions in this filed. 
2. expect to see questions which are not covered in Lindeburg's book. for example, there were three questions about control valves which need your engineering judgment in order to solve them. Also don't forget to read the last chapter of manual for temperature control devices. 
3. Heat transfer question format was new mostly (much harder than what i've seen in NCEES practice exam book) and i did not see this format anywhere else (not even in textbook). 

1. Overall difficulty level?
*easy-medium*

2. Question outside the NCEES reference manual? If yes difficulty level.
*this question is very general. I would say no but everybody knows that there are some questions about codes and standards which needs you engineering judgement.*

3. Best practice problem book to be used for CBT based on the difficulty level? For eg. PPI Mechanical engineering practice problem, 14th edition, NCEES practice exam etc.
*Lindeburg's manual, NCEES practice exam, Mechanical Pro exam *

4. When did you get the test results?
*1 week after i took the exam (5 business day)*


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## FA_Mechanical engineer

Does anyone know if the test taker can take more than 4 hrs for the morning session?

Also for the afternoon session, does the computer terminate the test and submit it automatically once the test time is complete?


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## naonao

I took and passed the MDM exam at the first attempt. 

*1. Overall difficulty level? *Medium 

*2. Question outside the NCEES reference manual? If yes difficulty level. *Yes, qualitative question either you know or don't know.

*3. Best practice problem book to be used for CBT based on the difficulty level? For eg. PPI Mechanical engineering practice problem, 14th edition, NCEES practice exam etc.*


NCEES practice exam (The most important reference, I did the entire book 4 times)

I used Dr. Tom's Classroom for my review, the 20 weeks class is well structured. Some quiz and challenge problems are good.

Klein and Hart's Practice Exam

Engineering Pro Guide's Exam

*4. When did you get the test results? *3 business days


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## ashu04

Hello All,

I took the MDM CBT format last week and got the result today as passed. I would like to thank all the members here. This was my second attempt first being the October 2019. I initially planned to give exam in April but due to industry downturn and all the uncertainties surrounding Job decided to give whenever market improves. I started studying in august for my exam in late September. I had good hold on mechanical concepts so decided tp practice them a lot and focus on weak topics like supportive knowledge and basic engineering practices. It took me one month to review and brush up concepts and one month for practice any question I could find in various materials. I found two questions in the exam with some data mix-match or missing and reported it to NCEES. The table of content did not work for me as it when I was practicing through pdf. The search bar worked perfectly though. The main difference I found between paper and CBT is that there are many questions where you will find need to cross reference just to be sure and you know where that section is located but you wont have MERM or any other reference guide forcing you to have thorough understanding of the concept. My Pearson center required everyone to have mask throughout the exam. 

1. Overall difficulty level? Medium, It took me whole four hours to finish the morning section (38 questions)afternoon was core mechanical and it was breeze with and two hours to finish and I used rest of the time to recheck results and unit conversation.

2. Question outside the NCEES reference manual? If yes difficulty level. There were many questions but if you have deep understanding you would get them and then there are question you either know or you do not.

3. Best practice problem book to be used for CBT based on the difficulty level? For eg. PPI Mechanical engineering practice problem, 14th edition, NCEES practice exam etc. I used Merm and PPI learning hub. I also went through Engineering pro guides and found it to be very useful and exam oriented. EPG had numerous concepts which I think I would have missed if I only went through Merm.

4. When did you get the test results? 6 business days.

Please, continue to share the overall experience as you take the exam that would be greatly appreciated.


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## Mahil

Hi All,

Does anybody know if there is a a full "Page Down" and "Page Up" function on the exam version of CBT PE handbook (versus scrolling down and up through portion of pages)?

Thank you in advance for yourfeedback


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## ashu04

Mahil said:


> Hi All,
> 
> Does anybody know if there is a a full "Page Down" and "Page Up" function on the exam version of CBT PE handbook (versus scrolling down and up through portion of pages)?
> 
> Thank you in advance for yourfeedback


As far I can recall it does work but I only used search feature as it is user friendly and highlights( keywords) all at one place. I would suggest going through the NCEES tutorial to get comfortable before starting the exam.


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## Jonnybgood

Anyone selling Lindeburg's practice problems for TFS please shoot me a message.

Congrats on those with the good news and thanks everyone for the feedback.


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## megan

Thanks for all the intel! This thread has been so helpful to read through as I gear up for my own CBT exam!

I have a couple other questions that I'm hoping someone could answer:
- Is there a clock provided on the computer or somewhere in the room? I see that PearsonVue doesn't allow watches so I wanted to double-check.
- Are you allowed to bring in water/snacks?


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## Simon

I took and passed my MDM CBT exam on 07/02, difficulty level is medium for me (graduated 15 years ago, took 2 months to prepare the exam). I rent a PPI reference manual 13th edition from Amazon (27 dollars for 3 months) and bought a NCEES practice exam, those are the only 2 review material I had. Once you understand all questions and examples (not too many actually) in these 2 books I am sure you can pass the exam. Good luck guys!


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## FA_Mechanical engineer

Hi All,
Happy New Year. I am wishing the best to you all in year 2021. First I would like to apologize not providing my feedback on my PE mechanical (HVAC & R) exam results in Oct 2020 because of various reasons but I am excited to share that I have passed the exam. I took the test late Sept 2020. Boy!!! I tell you what it was one of the most unique experiences I have witnessed. It was not an easy one due to the fact that I decided to take the exam 13 years after my graduation from Masters in mechanical engineering and decided to self study for 5 to 6 months with some gaps in between to take some rest and still enjoy time with my wife and 2 kids. 

Below is what I have done to pass the PE exam,

1. Started with PPI practice problem first. It was way to difficult for me initially, I studied it for 3 months or so to keep my self busy and reading through the background information as well as using the reference manual. 

2. The next step was to dive into the practice manual from Engineering pro guides with some good problems. The problems were easy but I started to get a little more focused toward the final exam using this manual. The manual was very helpful overall.

3. Finally, 6 weeks out from exam, I started to take Engineering pro guide final exam as well as NCEES final exam. Did ok in both tests on the first attempt and I was not very happy but I did it 5 times each to get 100% correct in the end. NCEES practice exam was very helpful to get the feel for the final PE exam.

4. Took 3 days complete rest not looking any exam material and took the exam late Sept 2020. I am happy to say that I passed the exam with lots of prayers from my loved ones. 

5. Got results within 7 business days.

Good luck to you all

Best Regards,

FA_Mechanical Engineer


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## oshah34

Hey all, just wanted to say thanks to everyone sharing their exam experiences. And congratulations to anyone and everyone that has passed!

All of these posts are helping in mentally preparing for the exam, especially small details that you don't always see in study guides or practice exams, like using the NCEES reference manual. I didn't know that you could draw lines on it, that would help greatly for the psych chart and Mollier. 

I am about a month out from taking the CBT TFS exam here in NY. I've been using Slay the PE and I cannot stress enough how useful it is. Great for people that want to self-study and the Slack group that they have is invaluable.


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## Slay the P.E.

oshah34 said:


> Hey all, just wanted to say thanks to everyone sharing their exam experiences. And congratulations to anyone and everyone that has passed!
> 
> All of these posts are helping in mentally preparing for the exam, especially small details that you don't always see in study guides or practice exams, like using the NCEES reference manual. I didn't know that you could draw lines on it, that would help greatly for the psych chart and Mollier.
> 
> I am about a month out from taking the CBT TFS exam here in NY. I've been using Slay the PE and I cannot stress enough how useful it is. Great for people that want to self-study and the Slack group that they have is invaluable.


Thanks for the kind words!


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