# For those who passed Power-PE: Lets hear your studying technique



## bambooi (Jun 16, 2010)

For those who passed, please tell us how you studied to pass the exam.

1. How many hours per day?

2. What sections did you read from the EERM?

3. What books did you bring to the test?

4. When did you begin preparing for the exam?

5. What all books/review materials did you use?

6. What advice do you have for us?


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## alabama_ee (Jun 16, 2010)

bambooi said:


> 1. How many hours per day?


Not too much at first, maybe 1 hour a day, three or four times a week until about 6 weeks to the exam. Then I was taking a review course online, and between 1 and 2 hours a night, every weeknight, and 6-8 hours on Saturdays. I reserved Sundays for skimming and tabbing references and other such things.



bambooi said:


> 2. What sections did you read from the EERM?


I skimmed most of them relevant to power, plus the basic math review. Not all that useful in my opinion.



bambooi said:


> 3. What books did you bring to the test?


NEC, IESNA Lighting Handbook, EERM, the Wildi book, a "handbook of EE" or two, the review course notes, and some bound notes of problems I had worked. If I had to pick one of those to go without, it would probably be the EERM.



bambooi said:


> 4. When did you begin preparing for the exam?


Lightly preparing about two and a half months out. Seriously preparing about 6 weeks out.



bambooi said:


> 5. What all books/review materials did you use?


The aforementioned books that I brought to the exam, plus of course the NCEES Sample Exam.



bambooi said:


> 6. What advice do you have for us?


If you only study one thing, make it that sample exam. Know that inside, and out. Get a copy of the 2008 NEC, and use it before exam day. If you're not confident, do the review course. You will pass...even if the first attempt doesn't go your way...


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## only ero's (Jun 16, 2010)

bambooi said:


> For those who passed, please tell us how you studied to pass the exam. 1. How many hours per day?
> 
> 2. What sections did you read from the EERM?
> 
> ...


I believe the test will make a large difference based on what each individual does for work and their background. There are some power industries that I can see would not be much help based on experience, and there are others that would have a great deal of help. I am an engineer in the consulting field. Currently, I am working for an Engineering Firm where we design the renovations to multiple industrial sites.

I checked Engineering Boards for about a year and a half before the test just to see what others had to say about preparation, what to expect, etc. There is a lot of good information here that can be quite useful. I have always been a pretty good test taker and rarely get worked up for tests. This one, was a little different. I think one of the main issues people have it putting too much stress on themselves going into the test. I was eligible to take the test in October of '09 but passed it up because we were too busy with work. I wish I would have taken the test.

1. I started actually studying about 5 months before the test. I never had a set schedule as to how much I was going to study. I didn't study more than 3 hours on any given day. I would say on an average, I studies 3 nights a week for about an hour to an hour and a half. I think there were 3 weeks in March that I didn't study at all. The biggest thing to remember is how to use your resources. If you know how to get around your books, that will be the single most useful thing while taking the test.

2. I didn't read anything from the EERM. I skimmed it and put tabs in the book. I also looked through the index because that is just as easy to use.

3. 2008 NEC, Ugly's Pocket Reference, EERM, Mech and Elec Systems in Buildings, MGI management Institute P.E. readiness books, and Power systems analysis.

4. I started buying references about 2 years ago. I have so many books at home. See above for actual preparing for the exam.

5. I used all the books I took to the exam.

6. Always keep an eye on the boards here. There is so much valuable info that goes through here. You run across others that struggle with questions and just reading through the explanations is helpful. I will also say that you should not try to get too worked up about the test.


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## sowega (Jun 16, 2010)

alabama ee - what online review course did you use?


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## db2525 (Jun 17, 2010)

went to testmasters,did the class, didnt really study any extra, brought the nec and the testmaster's review book

advice, be lucky, i think i was

passed


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## alabama_ee (Jun 21, 2010)

sowega said:


> alabama ee - what online review course did you use?


Georgia Tech. I've heard good things about the one through 'Nova, too, for what that's worth. Neither is cheap.


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## ELEPE (Jun 22, 2010)

alabama_ee said:


> sowega said:
> 
> 
> > alabama ee - what online review course did you use?
> ...


Is that the one taught by Professor Callen? I took a class in optics from him when I was a grad student at Georgia Tech.


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## alabama_ee (Jun 22, 2010)

ELEPE said:


> Is that the one taught by Professor Callen? I took a class in optics from him when I was a grad student at Georgia Tech.


That's the one.


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## MSEE_PE (Jun 23, 2010)

bambooi said:


> For those who passed, please tell us how you studied to pass the exam. 1. How many hours per day?
> 
> 2. What sections did you read from the EERM?
> 
> ...



I took the PE Exam in October in 2009 and passed, it was a long day. However, if I have to take it all again, I would do it smarter. The most important thing is realizing what you need to study, and for the EE Power Exam I believe those should be:

If I need to retake the exam, I would probably look into my old books and try to make summary sheet + equations for the following topics

1) Power System Analysis and Faults

2) Machines

3) Power Electronics

4) High Voltage Engineering

5) Protection

6) Lighting

7) Economics (the past exam didn’t have a single economics problem which was considered weird)

8) Other topics that need experience like demand power, meters,….etc

9) NEC Code.

If you start studying 4 months before exam, you need a maximum of 6-10 hours/week (MAXIMUM), depending on what of the above 9 mentioned topics you use at work. If you work in a consultancy, you might have 4-5 of those covered in your everyday work routine.

Make your own pointers for every single topic of the above mentioned topics, believe me, those are more important than the EERM. Make them as you review the topics the first time and keep adding to them. You'll end up with 1-2 pages/topic that have the most important information in your point of view.


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