# Engineering Economics



## Matt-NM (Sep 30, 2008)

One piece of advice for people taking the PE exam. DO NOT skip the engineering economics chapter in the MERM, CERM, etc. I nearly skipped this chapter thinking that there would be very few economics problems or that they would be easy as they were in the NCEES sample exam. Wrong. Thank God I spent three hours or so working the sample problems in MERM. There were probably 5 problems at least on the ME PE in April. They required at least a basic understanding of engineering economics principles (present value, future worth, break-even analysis, etc). You probably don't have to go through the entire chapter, but make sure you at least go through as many of the example problems as you can. Since most people either pass or fail the PE by only a few problems, economics may have been the subject that put me over the top.


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## MEPE2B (Sep 30, 2008)

Absolutely! Matt speaks the truth. I was very surprised at how much engineering economics was represented on the PE exam.


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## NCcarguy (Sep 30, 2008)

Good advice Matt!!!!


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## mudpuppy (Sep 30, 2008)

Interesting. If I recall correctly, the EE PE has very little engineering economics on it. 6% (2.4 questions) or so according to the exam specs.


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## ALBin517 (Oct 1, 2008)

Matt-NM said:


> One piece of advice for people taking the PE exam. DO NOT skip the engineering economics chapter in the MERM, CERM, etc. I nearly skipped this chapter thinking that there would be very few economics problems or that they would be easy as they were in the NCEES sample exam. Wrong. Thank God I spent three hours or so working the sample problems in MERM. There were probably 5 problems at least on the ME PE in April. They required at least a basic understanding of engineering economics principles (present value, future worth, break-even analysis, etc). You probably don't have to go through the entire chapter, but make sure you at least go through as many of the example problems as you can. Since most people either pass or fail the PE by only a few problems, economics may have been the subject that put me over the top.


Engineering Economics was one of the few college classes I earned an 'A' but I found the econ questions on the PE to be very challenging.

There were many topics I did not know as well but I could identify "gimme" questions.

Econ was the opposite. I felt extremely comfortable with the material but every question was difficult.


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## IlPadrino (Oct 1, 2008)

Most (all?) you need to know about economics for the Civil PE can be found at PE Notes - Engineering Economics. This topic is ridiculously easy and you should count on a few "gimmes" from them. Economic equivalence (cash flows that have to same economic effect regardless of how or when the flows occur) can relate to just about any subject so it's the most common question.


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## tbob (Oct 1, 2008)

You don't have to worry about the Engr. Econ on April 09, Because the new PE EE test format doesn't have it at all.


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## MEPE2B (Oct 2, 2008)

tbob said:


> You don't have to worry about the Engr. Econ on April 09, Because the new PE EE test format doesn't have it at all.


NCEES thinks it does. Just look at the the NCEES outline for the breadth section of the PE EE exam, section I.A.1.

pe_electrical_breadth_exam_specs.pdf


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## mudpuppy (Oct 2, 2008)

I think tbob may have been referring to the new and improved EE exam coming to a testing site near you in April 2009. Though I hadn't heard the exam specs were out yet? However, I can see how one might surmise that because there will no longer be a breadth section that maybe the econ will be cut? :dunno:


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