# Bode plots - Smith Charts- Root locus etc.



## Phatso86 (Sep 6, 2016)

how involved are the problems involving these topics?

has there been problems involving zeta, correction factors, etc.?

Also, will there be anything with root locus, nyquist stability,  etc.?


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## knight1fox3 (Sep 7, 2016)

In my opinion/experience, those are advanced topics that tend to take much longer than 6 min. to solve. So they are not likely to show up specifically for the power PE exam.


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## Ship Wreck PE (Sep 7, 2016)

I read somewhere that you will not need any high level math skills for the test, which was good because I forgot most of them.


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## Phatso86 (Sep 7, 2016)

Ship Wreck PE said:


> I read somewhere that you will not need any high level math skills for the test, which was good because I forgot most of them.


that's good, because I am constantly making minor calculator mistakes on my practice problems.


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## Ship Wreck PE (Sep 7, 2016)

Phatso86 said:


> > 34 minutes ago, Ship Wreck PE said: I read somewhere that you will not need any high level math skills for the test, which was good because I forgot most of them.
> 
> 
> that's good, because I am constantly making minor calculator mistakes on my practice problems.[emoji20]


You need to be at 100% on your general math and algebra.


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## KatyLied P.E. (Sep 7, 2016)

I heard someone say that the test is designed so that your average engineer (B- or C student?) can pass with the appropriate amount of study and experience.  As mentioned earlier 6 minutes should be the average time it takes to solve a problem.  I tend to think of it in terms of the end-of-chapter questions in your engineering textbooks.  Usually the first 1/3(?) of those questions have shorter answers that can be solved relatively quickly and have a straightforward process.  To me the PE questions are comparable to those.  So if you were to have a Bode problem I think it would be structured so that the answer should be pretty evident and can be found rather quickly.  Now granted, the time factor, nerves and sheer magnitude of the test can make it seem as if these are the hardest problems you have ever seen.  But thinking of the problems in this way gave me a new perspective and helped calm me down.  Just my two cents.


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## KatyLied P.E. (Sep 7, 2016)

Full disclosure, I was one of those "average" engineering students.  Too many Natural Lite kegs and engineering groupies in college. :B   If I can pass  you can too.


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## Phatso86 (Sep 7, 2016)

KatyLied P.E. said:


> Full disclosure, I was one of those "average" engineering students.  Too many Natural Lite kegs and engineering groupies in college. :B   If I can pass  you can too.


Lol, I figured it'd be easy, for an EE major.

I am not an EE major, so makes this more nerve wrecking.


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## KatyLied P.E. (Sep 7, 2016)

There is a book titled something like, "Elec. Engineering for non-Elec. Engineers"  Depending upon your amount of time might be worth checking out.  I'm serious.  Could be helpful.


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## Phatso86 (Sep 7, 2016)

KatyLied P.E. said:


> There is a book titled something like, "Elec. Engineering for non-Elec. Engineers"  Depending upon your amount of time might be worth checking out.  I'm serious.  Could be helpful.


yeah I got that. Skimmed through it because I already went through the whole PPI book (2nd edition, which has more concepts) a few months ago.

I plan on just working practice exams the final 3 weeks before the test.


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## KatyLied P.E. (Sep 7, 2016)

If you have not already purchased I strongly recommend Complex Imaginary and Spinup practice tests.  Complex Imaginary also has an excellent study guide for the NEC.  The Elec. Engineers Guide to Passing the Power PE by Alex Graffeo is also very good.


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## Phatso86 (Sep 7, 2016)

KatyLied P.E. said:


> If you have not already purchased I strongly recommend Complex Imaginary and Spinup practice tests.  Complex Imaginary also has an excellent study guide for the NEC.  The Elec. Engineers Guide to Passing the Power PE by Alex Graffeo is also very good.


oh yeah, got all three.


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## Phatso86 (Sep 7, 2016)

are there any differential equations on the exam?


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## KatyLied P.E. (Sep 7, 2016)

I am always leery about answering questions where someone asks if a certain types of questions are on the exam.  The powers that be are strict about the rule stating that details of particular problems should not be discussed.  I prefer to err on the side of caution.  A better way to ask might be are there diff eqns on any review material sample tests.  I don't recall seeing any problems like that on the review material. As you study all the review materials discussed earlier you will get a good sense of the types of problems you should expect to see.  I would also look at the NCEES sample exam.  Not trying to brush your question off but better safe than sorry.


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## Phatso86 (Sep 8, 2016)

KatyLied P.E. said:


> I am always leery about answering questions where someone asks if a certain types of questions are on the exam.  The powers that be are strict about the rule stating that details of particular problems should not be discussed.  I prefer to err on the side of caution.  A better way to ask might be are there diff eqns on any review material sample tests.  I don't recall seeing any problems like that on the review material. As you study all the review materials discussed earlier you will get a good sense of the types of problems you should expect to see.  I would also look at the NCEES sample exam.  Not trying to brush your question off but better safe than sorry.


I think that my question was ambiguous enough. Just trying to find out the topics that I need to focus on, not specific problems that they use.


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## knight1fox3 (Sep 8, 2016)

knight1fox3 said:


> In my opinion/experience, those are advanced topics that tend to take much longer than 6 min. to solve. So they are not likely to show up specifically for the power PE exam.


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## KatyLied P.E. (Sep 26, 2016)

Phatso86 said:


> I think that my question was ambiguous enough. Just trying to find out the topics that I need to focus on, not specific problems that they use.


I hear you.


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