# How I Passed the Thermal / Fluid PE exam



## Ramnares P.E.

Having just received the good news that I've passed the PE exam, it's only fair for me to pass along the knowledge, tips, advice that I've used that ultimately proved successful. I've been a lurker on the board for a few years now and gathered a lot of information before I decided to take the exam.

I'm not saying that my approach is correct for everyone. Others have passed using different approaches and methods. I started studying for the October exam in the spring and got burnt out. I started back seriously studying (every day) at the beginning of July.

Here's what worked for me:

1. Based on the work I've done daily, as well as the subjects I've studied in Grad school, I knew in advance that I would be taking the Thermal/Fluids. Decide what afternoon session you want to take and focus on that. Do not waste time trying to master all three major disciplines.

2. Once I applied and got my letter of approval, I purchased the MERM, Thermal/Fluids Six Minute Solutions, NCEES 2008 practice exam, and NCEES 2001 practice exam. The 2008 exam was updated in 2011. The actual content is the same. The 2008 exam contained all three disciplines. The 2011 book simply split them apart and sold them individually. The NCEES 2001 exam is very difficult to get hold of but well worth the effort and money.

3. I prepped for this exam with the attitude that it was a one-or-none deal. I was only going to take this exam once. At the time I started prepping for the exam I had a one-year old son to deal with AND I was pursuing a second MS degree. Why am I telling you this? You need buy-in from your spouse/significant other. My wife and parents spent countless hours while I studied late into the night and all day on weekends.

4. I did not read the MERM. I skimmed through the MERM to get a general idea where the sections were located and what information was in the Appendix. 

5. Copy the MERM appendix and have it bound separately. It will save you a lot of time during the exam and make it much easier during practice. It will also save the life-time of your MERM binding. Print and bind the Index also.

6. I began by working the Six Minute Solutions book. Do not be afraid to look at the answers if you get stuck the first time through. As I was working the SMS, I would find the formulas in the MERM and highlight them AND record them in my notes. If I didn't have a clue how to work the question, I would read the solution, find all the equations, and work through it using the solution. Highlight your equations in the MERM and in your notes for easy reference. 
I worked through the SMS 7 times before I got 100% correct under 8 hours. In fact, by the time I was at the end of my preparation, I was working through the SMS in about 4 hours and getting 100%. A lot of it at that point will seem like rote memorization, don't be scared of it. As you're working through the problems, read and understand the methodology. Work the problems over and over again.

7. Once I completed the SMS, I moved on to the NCEES 2008/2011 exam. Again, I worked this using the same methodology as above. I got 100% correct, under 8 hours after my 5th attempt or so. Use the same method of writing down the equations you did not know and reading the methodology.

8. Worked the NCEES 2001 exam using the same approach described in (6) and (7) above. You'll see a lot of posters saying keep an exam to test yourself the last week or so. I found that working as many problems as possible with as much time left to prep was the best strategy.

9. Now I moved on to the MERM. I worked all the main sections noted on the NCEES breakdown. Skip the math, project management, plant engineering, statics etc. I worked the Fluids, Heat Transfer, Thermo, HVAC, Machine Design sections. I did NOT work any of the 1-hour time limit problems. I was able to work all the problems in those sections twice. Do not be afraid if you get stuck and need to read through the solutions.

10. By this time, I had approximately 10 days left before the exam. I worked the SMS and each of the NCEES exams the first three days. I re-worked the MERM problems in the Fluid, Heat Transfer, and Thermo sections.

11. I went through the MERM, using the notes that I made as I studied (here's where the highlighting comes in handy) and tabbed what I felt was important. At this point I knew the MERM and the bound appendix intimately so I didn't feel the need to tab that much. I certainly tabbed the major sections of the MERM and a few diagrams. Follow the now famous Shaggy tabbing method on this site.

12. I took Thursday (the day before the exam) off. I was up early (normal time I leave for work 0500) and did one run through of the SMS, NCEES 2008, and NCEES 2011. I drove to the exam site and ensured I knew where the building was. Then I drove home and packed my bag. I took a back-pack. I took the MERM, the MERM appendix I bound, Steam Tables, Lindeburg conversion book, sample exams, 2 calculators, and ear-plugs. I put my money, approval letter, and ID cards in a zip lock bag. Then I did absolutely nothing exam related the rest of the day. I took my son to play-time, watched a few movies etc.

13. Exam day I was up early and went to the site. I finished both sections (AM and PM) with over an hour to spare. I did NOT go through and rate questions etc. I simply worked the questions in order. If I didn't feel satisfied with an answer, or if I had to guess, I put a mark next to it and moved on. At the end, I came back and re-worked the questions I had doubts on. I still left the exam room very early both sessions. I felt that leaving the AM session early and giving myself extra time for lunch allowed me to clear my head and prep for the PM session.

14. Went through the now well known process of self-doubt and anger at the lack of timely results.

15. Got my results today. Wrote this up as a thank you EB for your help and support. Thanked EB financially on getting the good news.

Feel free to ask any questions and best of luck prepping for April 2015.


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## salsill

Thanks for sharing your strategy and congratulations on passing the exam.


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## P-E

I hated the TFS Six Min Solutions. I read the merm and worked most of the practice problems. That worked for me. All good stuff Ram.

The fate of my SMS book TBA.


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## Ramnares P.E.

Thanks P-E. I saw mixed reviews on the SMS prior to purchasing it. A few people had issues with the type of problems and solutions presented in the Thermal/Fluids SMS. Overall I thought it was good preparation for the exam, particularly when combined with the NCEES practice exams. I don't think the SMS, by itself, would be adequate preparation.


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## MetsFan

Congrats Ram! Now go celebrate by getting into santa arguments


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## Ramnares P.E.

By that reasoning I've been celebrating for quite some time


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## Valvoline6

I think Ramnares' method is solid - it's pretty similar to they way I did it (my approach was mostly based on advice from this forum).

I agree that the NCEES practice exams and SMS were closest to the actual exam. I felt the actual afternoon section was a little more difficult than the NCEES practice exam, but that may have just been due to test anxiety.

The MERM companion practice problems are somewhat demoralizing, but I do think they are useful. To echo what people have said in the past, do the MERM practice problems (in the MERM itself and the separate practice problem book), but keep in mind they are generally more complex than the actual exam. I used the 2007 (I think) editions of these books (except SMS, I bought the new one) and they worked for me on the 2014 exam.

In my opinion, aside from the MERM, my most valuable reference was a ring binder where I compiled the most commonly used unit conversions and equations I came across while preparing for the exam. I made these sheets after studying for a couple of months, and they were a huge time saver on the exam.


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## blessedangel85

IS now too late to start preparing for the April 2015 exam?


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## Ramnares P.E.

It is not too late. If you follow a schedule rigidly starting January you should be able to do everything I did during my preparation. The key is consistency. Some days will be harder than others. Don't get discouraged if you don't cover much the first few days. Once you get the ball rolling you'll be fine.


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## Ramnares P.E.

BTW, sounds like you should ask for a copy of the MERM for Christmas.


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## hvacTyler

Great post! An idea where I could get a copy of the 2001 HVAC exam or other Mechanical guides? I am willing to fork over the cash.....

Thanks for sharing your story. Very much appreciated.


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## Ramnares P.E.

The 2001 is pretty difficult to find. I have already been contacted by someone looking to purchase my copy. If they aren't interested, I'll let you know.

The current mechanical material is available on the 'other' board here.


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## txfape

I used about 11 weeks to prepare and passed the exam.

Doing the sample exam questions is the most important.

During the exam, i answered about 60 questions and guessed about 20.

A bit surprised there're quite a bit mechanical system design questions(beam, gear, weld...).

I used the following 4 books:

Mechanical Engineering Reference Manual for the PE Exam 13th Edition, Lindeburg

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mechanical-Engineering-Reference-Manual-for-the-PE-Exam-13th-Edition-Lindeburg-/251762137267?pt=US_Texbook_Education&amp;hash=item3a9e3158b3

*Mechanical-PE-Sample-Examination-by-Michael-R-Lindeburg-2004-Paperback*

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mechanical-PE-Sample-Examination-by-Michael-R-Lindeburg-2004-Paperback-/251763247549?pt=US_Texbook_Education&amp;hash=item3a9e4249bd

*PE-Mechanical-Thermal-and-Fluids-Systems-Sample-Questions-and-Solutions*

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PE-Mechanical-Thermal-and-Fluids-Systems-Sample-Questions-and-Solutions-/251763244123?pt=US_Texbook_Education&amp;hash=item3a9e423c5b

*Six-Minute-Solutions-For-Mechanical-PE-Exam-Thermal-And-Fluids-Systems-Problems*

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Six-Minute-Solutions-For-Mechanical-PE-Exam-Thermal-And-Fluids-Systems-Problems2-/251762151272?pt=US_Texbook_Education&amp;hash=item3a9e318f68

Good luck!


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## VTmePE07

I learned one tip in my study course that I thought made the entire course payment worthwhile. I could have skipped every class, just paid for that one piece of information and been satisfied that my money was well spent. If you want to know what it is just let me know.


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## P-E

VTmePE07 said:


> I learned one tip in my study course that I thought made the entire course payment worthwhile. I could have skipped every class, just paid for that one piece of information and been satisfied that my money was well spent. If you want to know what it is just let me know.


Does it involve Viagra?


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## VTmePE07

power-engineer said:


> VTmePE07 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I learned one tip in my study course that I thought made the entire course payment worthwhile. I could have skipped every class, just paid for that one piece of information and been satisfied that my money was well spent. If you want to know what it is just let me know.
> 
> 
> 
> Does it involve Viagra?
Click to expand...

Haha nope, just how to exponentially increase your odds of guessing correctly if you don't know the answer.


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## NJmike PE

VTmePE07 said:


> I learned one tip in my study course that I thought made the entire course payment worthwhile. I could have skipped every class, just paid for that one piece of information and been satisfied that my money was well spent. If you want to know what it is just let me know.


Does it include a plane and a treadmill?


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## P-E

VTmePE07 said:


> power-engineer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> VTmePE07 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I learned one tip in my study course that I thought made the entire course payment worthwhile. I could have skipped every class, just paid for that one piece of information and been satisfied that my money was well spent. If you want to know what it is just let me know.
> 
> 
> 
> Does it involve Viagra?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Haha nope, just how to exponentially increase your odds of guessing correctly if you don't know the answer.
Click to expand...

I see.


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## NJmike PE




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## ptatohed

VTmePE07 said:


> power-engineer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> VTmePE07 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I learned one tip in my study course that I thought made the entire course payment worthwhile. I could have skipped every class, just paid for that one piece of information and been satisfied that my money was well spent. If you want to know what it is just let me know.
> 
> 
> 
> Does it involve Viagra?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Haha nope, just how to exponentially increase your odds of guessing correctly if you don't know the answer.
Click to expand...

Exponentially. That is a tall claim.


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## TXtoCA

Does anybody who passed the Thermal/fluids test form April mind sharing what they did to pass? I'm trying not to get burned out from study with about a month left to go


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## Ramnares P.E.

Can't imagine what folks did to prep for April '15 was much different than my write up above. Don't get discouraged now. You're just three weeks or so away from the exam. Hit the books hard now and relax later. You do NOT want to take this exam again. Best of luck.


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## Ken PE 3.1

If you've studied well, then you need to relax and get organized. Then refresh on problem areas once more and pass it!


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## Audi Driver P.E.

Does anyone have a copy (perhaps in PDF format) of the Appendix for MERM 13? I have the index.


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## slickjohannes

That would be nice. Let me know if you found one.


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## TomMechanical

Ok, just got word I passed and wanted to write a thank you to Mr. Ram PE for writing this post.  I followed this outline with a few tweaks and an added class but I am VERY glad I found this at the beginning of my studies.  Anyways, below is my thoughts and changes to the outline.  This was my first try at this exam and it proved successful.

My start Date was mid August sometime. Total time was between 150 to 170 hours.

One additional study tool I used was School of PE for the Mechanical PE exam.  It was a great refresher for those morning topics but don't expect it to be much help for the afternoon, that is where the below write up kicks in."Here's what worked for me:1. Based on the work I've done daily, as well as the subjects I've studied in Grad school, I knew in advance that I would be taking the Thermal/Fluids. Decide what afternoon session you want to take and focus on that. Do not waste time trying to master all three major disciplines. Thermal and Fluids is my discipline as well, no brainer for me.2. Once I applied and got my letter of approval, I purchased the MERM, Thermal/Fluids Six Minute Solutions, NCEES 2008 practice exam, and NCEES 2001 practice exam. The 2008 exam was updated in 2011. The actual content is the same. The 2008 exam contained all three disciplines. The 2011 book simply split them apart and sold them individually. The NCEES 2001 exam is very difficult to get hold of but well worth the effort and money.

Was not able to get the 2001 exam, but got the rest of these books. One additional MUST have in my opinion was the Lindburg Unit conversion book (2nd most used book at my exam desk).  Get it early so you use it during your studies,3. I prepped for this exam with the attitude that it was a one-or-none deal. I was only going to take this exam once. At the time I started prepping for the exam I had a one-year old son to deal with AND I was pursuing a second MS degree. Why am I telling you this? You need buy-in from your spouse/significant other. My wife and parents spent countless hours while I studied late into the night and all day on weekends.

Extremely important, it just became business as usual during the week, home from work, dinner, then books/class until sleep, rinse and repeat. Buy-in from spouse a must.4. I did not read the MERM. I skimmed through the MERM to get a general idea where the sections were located and what information was in the Appendix. 

Same5. Copy the MERM appendix and have it bound separately. It will save you a lot of time during the exam and make it much easier during practice. It will also save the life-time of your MERM binding. Print and bind the Index also.

Didn't do the appendix, but did do the index (it was downloadable from PPI).  3rd Most Used Reference at my exam desk.  Appendix would have been nice, but I was too lazy to scan it all in.6. I began by working the Six Minute Solutions book. Do not be afraid to look at the answers if you get stuck the first time through. As I was working the SMS, I would find the formulas in the MERM and highlight them AND record them in my notes. If I didn't have a clue how to work the question, I would read the solution, find all the equations, and work through it using the solution. Highlight your equations in the MERM and in your notes for easy reference. I worked through the SMS 7 times before I got 100% correct under 8 hours. In fact, by the time I was at the end of my preparation, I was working through the SMS in about 4 hours and getting 100%. A lot of it at that point will seem like rote memorization, don't be scared of it. As you're working through the problems, read and understand the methodology. Work the problems over and over again.

Agree 100% with this!  I worked it about 5 times, by the final time you can almost do every problem in your head.  It makes you remember pages in the MERM and what sections will combine with each other for a particular type of problem.  I have read a lot of hate about the SMS, it has it's flaws, but I think it is an excellent source for problems that use the equations and chapters that are relevant for the exam.7. Once I completed the SMS, I moved on to the NCEES 2008/2011 exam. Again, I worked this using the same methodology as above. I got 100% correct, under 8 hours after my 5th attempt or so. Use the same method of writing down the equations you did not know and reading the methodology.

Worked this so many times I would know what the next problem was and start solving before a flipped the page.  Really helped with memorizing the MERM locations and the problem types.

8. Worked the NCEES 2001 exam using the same approach described in (6) and (7) above. You'll see a lot of posters saying keep an exam to test yourself the last week or so. I found that working as many problems as possible with as much time left to prep was the best strategy.

Did not have this exam, but I would have gotten it if it wasn't 3,000 dollars on the internet. Maybe you can pick one up off this forum.9. Now I moved on to the MERM. I worked all the main sections noted on the NCEES breakdown. Skip the math, project management, plant engineering, statics etc. I worked the Fluids, Heat Transfer, Thermo, HVAC, Machine Design sections. I did NOT work any of the 1-hour time limit problems. I was able to work all the problems in those sections twice. Do not be afraid if you get stuck and need to read through the solutions.

I didn't order the MERM Problems Book until the last 2 weeks before the exam.  I went through the sections that pertain to the T&amp;FS and used the solutions a whole lot.  Never reached the confidence level that I did with the SMS and the NCEES practice exam because I felt the problems were a little harder.  But, do them anyways, at least once.  10. By this time, I had approximately 10 days left before the exam. I worked the SMS and each of the NCEES exams the first three days. I re-worked the MERM problems in the Fluid, Heat Transfer, and Thermo sections.

My last week I worked the SMS and NCEES, Only worked the MERM once.

11. I went through the MERM, using the notes that I made as I studied (here's where the highlighting comes in handy) and tabbed what I felt was important. At this point I knew the MERM and the bound appendix intimately so I didn't feel the need to tab that much. I certainly tabbed the major sections of the MERM and a few diagrams. Follow the now famous Shaggy tabbing method on this site.

I waited until the last week to tab my MERM, but I didn't over-tab, only the most used pages.  I wish I did it sooner so I would have been really comfortable with the tabbing for the test but the last week work of studying was sufficient for me to get used to most of the tabs.  12. I took Thursday (the day before the exam) off. I was up early (normal time I leave for work 0500) and did one run through of the SMS, NCEES 2008, and NCEES 2011. I drove to the exam site and ensured I knew where the building was. Then I drove home and packed my bag. I took a back-pack. I took the MERM, the MERM appendix I bound, Steam Tables, Lindeburg conversion book, sample exams, 2 calculators, and ear-plugs. I put my money, approval letter, and ID cards in a zip lock bag. Then I did absolutely nothing exam related the rest of the day. I took my son to play-time, watched a few movies etc.

I worked the SMS &amp; NCEES until about 2pm on Thursday.  Packed it up and had a nice afternoon and dinner with the wifey. I took everything mentioned above except the steam tables, used the steam tables in the MERM for my entire prep.  In bed by 930, which was terrible because the Patriots were playing thursday night that week...13. Exam day I was up early and went to the site. I finished both sections (AM and PM) with over an hour to spare. I did NOT go through and rate questions etc. I simply worked the questions in order. If I didn't feel satisfied with an answer, or if I had to guess, I put a mark next to it and moved on. At the end, I came back and re-worked the questions I had doubts on. I still left the exam room very early both sessions. I felt that leaving the AM session early and giving myself extra time for lunch allowed me to clear my head and prep for the PM session.

I finished the morning with about 1.5 hours to spare but I stayed in the test center until the end just reassuring that my bubbles were filled in correctly. Felt really good when i went for lunch break, but then used the entire 4 hours for the afternoon section, I wouldn't say it was much harder but there were several problems that I struggled to find the solution path too.  I didnt rate questions either, just went one by one, if I spent more than 30 seconds on one and didnt have an idea of a path forward, I starred it and moved on and went back at the end.   14. Went through the now well known process of self-doubt and anger at the lack of timely results.

This was terrible but glad it is over!
Ram's outline is excellent and I would recommend it to any T&amp;FS test taker.  If you need the structure to get through the morning exam prep, I would highly recommend the School of PE class.  Stick to it and I'm sure you will have a successful career as a PE! Good Luck!


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## Ramnares P.E.

Congrats TomMechanical!  Glad to hear that I was able to help in some (little) way.  Good additions to my write up, I'm sure future test takers will find it very helpful.


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## Audi Driver P.E.

I just want to reiterate that Ram's methodology is indeed a solid approach.  I'm guessing that if you follow what he did to the letter, you too will pass (everything short of a guarantee here).  I followed it as closely as I could have (I found his post about half way through my prep period, so there was no way to do it all) and I passed on my first time taking the exam.  I had both NCEES practice exams, and if you can only get the newer one, you're really not missing out on much. About half of the problems are repeats and the content of other half wasn't really represented on the exam, anyway.  Furthermore, the newer practice set has better solutions, IMO, if that makes sense (some are better explained, anyway).  About the only thing gained from the older one is that it comes with all the focus sections, so there's no need to buy them separately.  I don't know if I would recommend working those necessarily, but surely if you have it, it wouldn't hurt to do them if time allows.   I did not work those, and after taking the test, wished I had, but I passed anyway.  If I was to go back and do it over, I would have probably liked to have had the SMS, and would have worked those in lieu of the focus problems for the other sections.  As it was, I didn't really have time to do either one.  Either way, my recommendation is to get as broad a representation of subject matter as possible, to practice with.

A couple other odds and ends things.  The older MERMs have the problems right in the text, so there is no need to buy a separate problems book, like there is with edition 13.  My buddy loaned me his 12th edition to use (as well as the 2001 practice exam) and I ended up buying my own copy of the 13th edition because I wanted to make notes in the text and do my own highlighting (his was bare... don't know how he did that, honestly, but he passed :blink: ).  I saw test some takers that had the 12th (the majority of test takers) and some with the 13th, but really no others in the exam room.  If I was going to do it again, I would buy the 12th edition because the practice problems are right in the text.  I would probably also buy the "Quick reference" book of equations (Companion book to the MERM).  The MERM is a great reference, to be sure, but you really really have to wade through a ton of information to find pertinent equations for the problems you're looking to solve.  You definitely want to make your own reference binder of equations, but you won't have everything you need... there's just no way.  You'd have to duplicate that book.

I don't think I can say this part enough: you definitely, without a doubt, want the Engineering Unit Conversions book.  And in your practice, highlight the conversions you used.  I also recommend learning to do the conversions in different ways.  What I mean is if you always use g=32.2 ft/sec^2 you end up only memorizing that value and you will have to do more conversions than necessary, in some cases.  But, if during your practice, you plug in 386 in/sec^2 where it's appropriate and remember to use that value, you may end up saving yourself some time.

Also, (for TFS guys) you will want better steam tables than what is in the MERM.  Those tables are pretty lousy, actually.  You can spend some dollars and get the ASME steam tables for Industrial Use or you can get good ones for free and put them into your binder (like I did).  Here is a link for the best Imperial units table I could find (I did a lot of searching) http://www.tuner.tw/omega%20cd/zsection/STEAM_TA.PDF  and a GREAT compilation of SI units (tables 1, 2, and 3) here: https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/srd/NISTIR5078.htm

There was definitely a need for a good SI units table.  Note, the Imperial units table is from ASME data, whereas the SI units tables are from the newest standard developed by NIST.  I know how to work a Mollier diagram and had a large format one with me, but it's more accurate to look values up in a table, IMO.

  I really want to emphasize one thing from Ram's post that may not stand out on first read of it: know the methodology, not just the applicable equation(s).  You definitely DO want to know the underlying theory behind the problems you're working and why you're using the equation you're using, etc.

One last parting word of wisdom on exam prep: the test makers know that the MERM exists and know its content well.  They write questions that are not quickly looked up in it, or that may not be clearly answered by quickly reading a section that deals with the type of information you're looking for, and they use terms and phrases that Lundeberg doesn't necessarily use or explain in a way that can easily answer their riddle (otherwise it would be pretty easy: hey, they want this... here's where MERM answers it).  You've got to be able to interpret what the question is looking for, to a certain extent.  Just don't let that trip you up, by knowing how to approach problems from more than just the MERM way.  After reading this, you may ask: is the MERM really the reference I need, then?  Yes.  Categorically, yes.  You just ALSO need to need to know how others deal with the same information by, for example, reviewing texts from your engineering course work.


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## Ramnares P.E.

Good to hear that you found the write up helpful Audi.  Congrats on passing and thanks for posting those steam table links - they should be very helpful for future test takers or anyone who uses steam tables on a regular basis.


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## Audi Driver P.E.

Ramnares P.E. said:


> Good to hear that you found the write up helpful Audi.  Congrats on passing and thanks for posting those steam table links - they should be very helpful for future test takers or anyone who uses steam tables on a regular basis.


I totally did.  I even printed it out and would remind myself... "hey, I need to keep doing more.  He did it, I can too."


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## Phenomenon083

Thank you for posting the link of those steam tables Audi.


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## Audi Driver P.E.

Phenomenon083 said:


> Thank you for posting the link of those steam tables Audi.


No problem.  I posted them on another thread too, but this thread seemed a good and logical place to repost.  You will want to note that between the imperial table in the MERM and the one I posted, you have about as comprehensive a set as you can find.  The MERM table fills in a couple gaps, but it's really pretty limited otherwise.


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## TyTy

Was convinced I didn't need the SI Unit Steam Tables when I walked into the exam... I'll say no more.


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## Phenomenon083

"and they use* terms and phrases that Lundeberg doesn't necessarily use or explain *in a way that can easily answer their riddle (otherwise it would be pretty easy: hey, they want this... here's where MERM answers it). "

Audi, Sounds like a book which explains all the mechanical engineering terms and phrases would help? Here is the link of a such kind of book.

http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Mechanical-Engineering-Terms-Ramalingam/dp/8122426085


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## Audi Driver P.E.

Phenomenon083 said:


> "and they use* terms and phrases that Lundeberg doesn't necessarily use or explain *in a way that can easily answer their riddle (otherwise it would be pretty easy: hey, they want this... here's where MERM answers it). "
> 
> Audi, Sounds like a book which explains all the mechanical engineering terms and phrases would help? Here is the link of a such kind of book.
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Mechanical-Engineering-Terms-Ramalingam/dp/8122426085


Possibly.  I don't know.  I don't have that book and have no plans to buy it.  I prepared using the MERM and my engineering course books from circa 1996.  If you have access to the same, and have worked in industry, you shouldn't need a book like that.


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## Audi Driver P.E.

Phenomenon083 said:


> "and they use* terms and phrases that Lundeberg doesn't necessarily use or explain *in a way that can easily answer their riddle (otherwise it would be pretty easy: hey, they want this... here's where MERM answers it). "
> 
> Audi, Sounds like a book which explains all the mechanical engineering terms and phrases would help? Here is the link of a such kind of book.
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Mechanical-Engineering-Terms-Ramalingam/dp/8122426085


Thinking about your question more, I think there are a few more appropriate sources that I would consider before buying that text.  The Machinery's Handbook, Mark's Manual, CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, any or all of the ASHRAE handbooks.  The book you found there seems pretty limited.  If you have any or all of the others, I think you'd be ahead of the game.


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## Phenomenon083

Mark's standard handbook looks good. I may just get this book for the exam. One of my friend who just passed October 2015 civil transportation have the same opinion as you. She said in exam she found terms and phrases that she had no idea of on at least 4 problems and which MERM does not use or explain. So by just being cautious I think a handbook or engineering dictionary might come in handy on the exam day!


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## TyTy

You don't need Marks for T&amp;F Systems.


----------



## Ramnares P.E.

While that is true, Mark's HDBK is a fantastic resource that any engineer, particularly those in design, should own.


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## ADV15

Hey everyone, I'm new to this forum; and have been preparing for the April ME-TF exam for April 16. I have a question. Has anyone found the Schaum's TF or Fluids manual helpful for preparation or during the exam?

Thanks


----------



## P-E

The merm practice problems book was all I needed.  However, if you have time, more problems wouldn't hurt.


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## Audi Driver P.E.

ADV15 said:


> Hey everyone, I'm new to this forum; and have been preparing for the April ME-TF exam for April 16. I have a question. Has anyone found the Schaum's TF or Fluids manual helpful for preparation or during the exam?
> 
> Thanks


I had never heard of it prior to your post.  It seems like it might be useful, but I would make sure you know how to do the type of problem from the NCEES practice exams before branching out into that.  As a bonus, it looks like it is available for only 17 bucks or so.  Compared to other references that is pretty cheap.


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## Mike in Gastonia

ADV15 said:


> Hey everyone, I'm new to this forum; and have been preparing for the April ME-TF exam for April 16. I have a question. Has anyone found the Schaum's TF or Fluids manual helpful for preparation or during the exam?
> 
> Thanks


I have some great advice for you - if you show up on April 16th you won't do very well. You'll do much better if you show up on April 15th......


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## Ken PE 3.1

Daaaaaamn Mike, in with razor blades a flyin'


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## Audi Driver P.E.

I feel like this thread should be pinned.


----------



## Rantlers

Just wanted to say thank you to @Ramnares P.E. and @TomMechanical, I followed your gameplans for studying and was able to pass on the 1st try!   :thankyou:

And for my one piece of advice to others, do NOT waste your money on the Kaplan sample PE exam. That's $30 and 8hrs of my life I'll never get back...


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## seeseansky

I got the news that I passed TF exam on Friday. First try. I really want to say thank you to EB. Especially to Ramnares! I have found great ideas, methods and intuition in this thread!!


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## starquest

Being this thread is created for TFS depth, I figure that I'd post my experiences with using the same study approach for MSM depth.   

I started studying on January 26 for the April 15 exam (12 weeks).  I invested 275 total hours during this time period.  I maintained an excel spreadsheet on how many hours I devoted per day and to what.  This aided in my motivation and tracking of my progress.

Many thanks to Ram...this study approach was instrumental.  I'm so glad that I read and followed it from day one!    

Here are my comments from Ram's study guide, tailored to MSM depth:"Here's what worked for me:1. Based on the work I've done daily, as well as the subjects I've studied in Grad school, I knew in advance that I would be taking the Thermal/Fluids. Decide what afternoon session you want to take and focus on that. Do not waste time trying to master all three major disciplines. MSM was my depth based on my background.2. Once I applied and got my letter of approval, I purchased the MERM, Thermal/Fluids Six Minute Solutions, NCEES 2008 practice exam, and NCEES 2001 practice exam. The 2008 exam was updated in 2011. The actual content is the same. The 2008 exam contained all three disciplines. The 2011 book simply split them apart and sold them individually. The NCEES 2001 exam is very difficult to get hold of but well worth the effort and money.

Was not able to get the 2001 exam which I don't believe hurt me in any way!  In addition I used the Lindberg unit conversion book (absolutely needed...no if's, and's, or but's), my old FE mechanical book that I had to prepare for the FE exam way back in April of 2000, Shigley's Machine Design 5th edition, Machinery's Handbook, and referred to a few other old college textbooks.   I also downloaded the oughtredco practice exam to supplement for not having the 2001 ncees exam, I only did the AM sample test and felt it was beneficial but it had many errors.  3. I prepped for this exam with the attitude that it was a one-or-none deal. I was only going to take this exam once. At the time I started prepping for the exam I had a one-year old son to deal with AND I was pursuing a second MS degree. Why am I telling you this? You need buy-in from your spouse/significant other. My wife and parents spent countless hours while I studied late into the night and all day on weekends.

Same experience here.  I worked 6 evenings a week for a minimum of 2 hours a day but typically was 3 hours.  I also used my lunch hour at work religiously. On several occasions I spent 5-6 hours straight along the way...specifically the last two weeks.  4. I did not read the MERM. I skimmed through the MERM to get a general idea where the sections were located and what information was in the Appendix. 

Same.  I'll note that I purchased the MERM 13th edition from the start.   I held off of buying the companion problems until later on.  Due to price and availability at the time, I bought the 12th edition practice problems.  Although some of the chapters were different numbers between the editions, this didn't pose to be much of an issue for me. 5. Copy the MERM appendix and have it bound separately. It will save you a lot of time during the exam and make it much easier during practice. It will also save the life-time of your MERM binding. Print and bind the Index also.

I didn't copy the appendix, didn't feel it was necessary (had it well tabbed by the time of the exam and knew it in and out).  I did copy the index and put it in a separate 3 ring binder and tabbed it alphabetically.....was such a help during the exam!!!6. I began by working the Six Minute Solutions book. Do not be afraid to look at the answers if you get stuck the first time through. As I was working the SMS, I would find the formulas in the MERM and highlight them AND record them in my notes. If I didn't have a clue how to work the question, I would read the solution, find all the equations, and work through it using the solution. Highlight your equations in the MERM and in your notes for easy reference. I worked through the SMS 7 times before I got 100% correct under 8 hours. In fact, by the time I was at the end of my preparation, I was working through the SMS in about 4 hours and getting 100%. A lot of it at that point will seem like rote memorization, don't be scared of it. As you're working through the problems, read and understand the methodology. Work the problems over and over again.

I worked the MSM 6MS book 3 times. I did this cold...no prior studying, not even skimming the MERM.  I took the time to learn and understand the approach of every problem.   I didn't take it to mastery but I was confident that I knew how to tackle all problems in around 8 hours by the third pass.    I still was making stupid mistakes, of which I just flagged and moved on.  To give you a feel; it took 35 hours first pass. 21.5 second, and 8.5 third.  I tabbed the MERM sufficiently using the shaggy method during this process (all chapters in the MERM tabbed on the right and key tables, formulas, etc on the bottom).  Also, I utilized Shigley's Machine Design a lot while working the 6MS problems.   I was very comfortable with this reference as a result.   I actually had to travel for work during this time period where I literally went thru Shigley's cover to cover while on the plane and in layovers...I felt this was very helpful.   At this point I was felt pretty good on MSM problems and had a great understanding of the MERM MSM chapters/appendix's and Shigley's.7. Once I completed the SMS, I moved on to the NCEES 2008/2011 exam. Again, I worked this using the same methodology as above. I got 100% correct, under 8 hours after my 5th attempt or so. Use the same method of writing down the equations you did not know and reading the methodology.

I did the NCEES 2008/2011 AM and MSM PM tests three times.   I could complete the questions in well under 8 hours by the third time...still some stupid mistakes but I definitely was comfortable I knew how to approach and solve every problem by the third pass.  Same approach, didn't treat this as a sample exam but simply as more problems to work out.  I used the solutions, as required, on my first pass just like I did on the 6MS.

8. Worked the NCEES 2001 exam using the same approach described in (6) and (7) above. You'll see a lot of posters saying keep an exam to test yourself the last week or so. I found that working as many problems as possible with as much time left to prep was the best strategy.

I didn't have this exam nor even tried hard to acquire it.   At this stage I ran thru my old Mechanical FE book which I was waiting for my MERM companion book to arrive.   The FE book really helped me in the TFS and HVAC problems that I haven't had much experience to date.   I'm not sure it helped too much for the exam itself but it prepared me for the challenging problems in the MERM.  

I also spent about 8-10 hours on 'relearning' vibrations.  I ran thru my old Schaum's outline on Mechanical Vibrations.  Although I wouldn't recommend this too much...for none of the work really had any impact on how I did on the exam.  I was surprised to find that there weren't too many vibration problems on the exams and the ones that were there were basic...although I read here that previous exams were different.  If I had this time back, I wish I would have focused more on reviewing my old Dynamics book...for I felt the actual exam was loaded in Kinematics/Kinetics problems.    

Again most of this time doing these odds and ends at this stage was while I ordered and waited for the MERM companion book to arrive.   Probably a bad move to not order it up front but it did give me a little breather in the middle of this process that allowed me to focus on getting myself up to speed on the areas that I knew I needed more help in.  9. Now I moved on to the MERM. I worked all the main sections noted on the NCEES breakdown. Skip the math, project management, plant engineering, statics etc. I worked the Fluids, Heat Transfer, Thermo, HVAC, Machine Design sections. I did NOT work any of the 1-hour time limit problems. I was able to work all the problems in those sections twice. Do not be afraid if you get stuck and need to read through the solutions.

This was the most tedious part of the study process...specifically in the TFS and HVAC sections which were out of my depth.   It was so time consuming and discouraging.   I the TFS and HVAC problems with exception to the 1 hour time limit ones.  I also skipped the inorganic chemistry chapter and about half of the combustion chapter (not sure I'd recommend this but these weren't my strong points and I was devoting so much time and effort into understanding them that I decided to just move on).   The TFS problems were extremely challenging for me and I resorted to the solution on almost every problem (specifically heat transfer and fluids...also the sections that have the famed 'iterative solutions').   

For the MSM chapters, I did EVERY problem including the 1 hr time limit ones.  With the 6MS as a basis, I felt the MERM problems for MSM were doable (only sporadically referring to the solutions)...but still time consuming.     

I'll share a great tip that worked with me in the TFS/HVAC sections;  I first read thru the MERM chapter briefly, then I looked at all problems AND the solutions, only after doing this did I start to work the problems one by one.  I felt I had greater retention of the problem by first looking them over and relating them to the formulas in the MERM.   When I finished the problem, I recorded notes on the key equations used.   At the completion of each chapter, I had a nice 2-3 page set of notes that I used up to and including at the exam (I can't stress this enough on how beneficial it was for me...particularly on the areas outside of my depth).   I wasn't so rigid in my approach in my depth area because I felt I knew the MERM in and out on those sections by then (thanks to the 6MS)and I had better comprehension.  BTW it took 113 hours to go thru this process!  That's one pass thru!   10. By this time, I had approximately 10 days left before the exam. I worked the SMS and each of the NCEES exams the first three days. I re-worked the MERM problems in the Fluid, Heat Transfer, and Thermo sections.

I had about 2 weeks at this point.  I went back and did another pass thru the 6MS, 2011 ncees practice exam, and FE problems the first week.   It was on the last week when I downloaded the oughtredco sample exam.  I only had time to do the AM section.   I felt that this exam was a much better representation of TFS questions that appeared on the actual exam!   For MSM and HVAC, the 2011 NCEES sample exam was adequate but I felt it lacking on TFS.  The oughtred AM questions pertaining to TFS were a lot more challenging and closer to what I experienced on the actual exam.   As I said earlier, there were a lot of errors both in the oughtred questions and answers.  Some thru me off and got a bit frustrating...but in all, I really think doing these 40 questions only a few days prior to the exam were instrumental in passing!   

11. I went through the MERM, using the notes that I made as I studied (here's where the highlighting comes in handy) and tabbed what I felt was important. At this point I knew the MERM and the bound appendix intimately so I didn't feel the need to tab that much. I certainly tabbed the major sections of the MERM and a few diagrams. Follow the now famous Shaggy tabbing method on this site.

On my last two days, I ran thru all of the MERM companion problems.  No I didn't do them from scratch, I simply read the problem and reviewed the solutions (the solutions that I worked out, not the solutions in the book).   Then I picked 3 or 4 problems that I felt were really good examples from each primary chapter and wrote them out nice and neat, each on a single white sheet of copy paper (highlighting in yellow, the type of problem and key formulas and approaches).  I included these problems behind each 2-3 page set of notes that I created on my full pass thru the MERM earlier.   

I assembled these notes and 'sample problems' within a three ring binder and tabbed them according to section (thermo, combustion, fluids, HT, etc.).  I put a divider on the three ring binder and included one set of worked solutions from 6MS, MERM, FE problems, and sample tests.  I tabbed these accordingly as well.  (I broke the MERM companion problems down into key areas like I did in the notes section).     I also included some of items that I downloaded on the internet in this binder...mainly things like; a better psych chart, more comprehensive beam formulas, thick walled cylindrical pressure vessel formulas, etc.  

This binder, or as some refer to it as the 'book of knowledge', was VERY helpful during the exam.  The MERM, the book of knowledge, the MERM index binder, and the Unit conversion book didn't leave my desk for the entire exam...yes it got cluttered at times but was very necessary!

Note I never did the problems in the MERM for plant engineering or econ.  I felt these were adequately covered by the sample tests, the 6MS, and those FE problems that I worked...which was a good decision looking back.

  12. I took Thursday (the day before the exam) off. I was up early (normal time I leave for work 0500) and did one run through of the SMS, NCEES 2008, and NCEES 2011. I drove to the exam site and ensured I knew where the building was. Then I drove home and packed my bag. I took a back-pack. I took the MERM, the MERM appendix I bound, Steam Tables, Lindeburg conversion book, sample exams, 2 calculators, and ear-plugs. I put my money, approval letter, and ID cards in a zip lock bag. Then I did absolutely nothing exam related the rest of the day. I took my son to play-time, watched a few movies etc.

This will differ based on what works for you.   Some take the day off, some work like mad.  I always found that I benefit greatly by this last minute CRAM...maybe its just mental, but it works for me...so that is what I did.   I took half a day on Wednesday and worked until about 11pm.  On Thursday (the day before the exam), I took the day off of work and studied 13 hours straight...only stopping to make a sandwich, etc.   These last two days consisted of mainly doing that final skim over of the MERM and creating the 'sample problems' worksheets, assembling my 'book of knowledge', updating the tabs in my MERM that were worn/torn from being put in and out of my bookbag over the past 3 months, and finally assembling my bankers box of books.   I also tabbed my units conversion book with the key conversions and tabbed my Shigley Machine Design book very well.  13. Exam day I was up early and went to the site. I finished both sections (AM and PM) with over an hour to spare. I did NOT go through and rate questions etc. I simply worked the questions in order. If I didn't feel satisfied with an answer, or if I had to guess, I put a mark next to it and moved on. At the end, I came back and re-worked the questions I had doubts on. I still left the exam room very early both sessions. I felt that leaving the AM session early and giving myself extra time for lunch allowed me to clear my head and prep for the PM session.

I ran thru the morning session with ease.  I came to solutions on all but 1 problem on the first pass.  I think I had 2-3 problems of which I know I processed right but didn't come out with one of the answers.  However I had plenty of time to go back and review/double-check each and every problem.  I think I still had to make an educated guess on those 1-2 problems and I know that I had to flat out guess on the one problem that I really didn't know how to approach (Combustion problem..not surprising because I basically skipped half of that chapter on my preparation).     

The PM session was different.  I hit three problems in a row early on that completely stumped me.  This thru off my rhythm and confidence.  However, I finally skipped them and powered on.  I wasn't so diligent at this point in checking all of my work...if I got a solution, I filled in the bubble and moved on due to time.   I ended up having enough time to go back to those 3 questions in the end.  I processed two out of the three to solutions (of which I know were correct).   I was on the right track with the third but think I was making a stupid mistake along the line...by this point I had scribbles everywhere on the test booklet and think I was messing myself up...but I made an educated guess before the time ran out.   

All in all, I left the exam feeling confident that I succeeded!    

I felt the exam really was a mix of the problems I did in the 2011 NCEES practice exam, the 6MS, and the MERM.  I referred to all three during the exam.  Some problems were almost spot on with worked problems from these sources, others had similar approaches.   I didn't feel the need to hail marry any other references for potential solution paths during the exam.  14. Went through the now well known process of self-doubt and anger at the lack of timely results.

Yep.   I'm also in PA so was expecting to wait a full two weeks after the initial states received their scores but thankfully PA wasn't too far behind this go around
Best of luck to all.  I plan on keeping up with this forum in the future and would be happy to share my experience with others that follow.  Feel free to send me a message.   

Thank you to EB boards!   This was an overwhelming experience that I wouldn't have been able to get through without your help!


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## Phenomenon083

Passed the exam and I can sign and seal that this thread is a great PE preparation thread   Thank you everybody on this thread who chipped in their experience from time to time. This was the first thread that I read when I first visited the board and it motivated me greatly for my TF exam preparation. I designed my exam preparation based on this thread, here is what I've done

Dec 1 - Jan 31. I'm out of school for a while and working as a project engineer so I really do not practice a specific engineering discipline day to day basis. So I felt like I needed to know the relative theories and practice problems accordingly before I jumped on to the problems (SMS, NCEES) representative of the PE exam. In light of this, I skimmed through whole MERM and practiced problems from MERM companion. While I was practicing problems, I made sure I know the underlying assumption of the theory being used to solve the problems. I put more focus on TF section and skipped plant engineering, control systems section.

Feb 1 - 29. Practiced SMS TF multiple times till I know the problems very well and practiced MD &amp; HVAC SMS just once.

March 1 - 15. Before I started practicing the NCEES 2011 TF I took it as a simulated test, marginally failed. Practiced it 5 times till I know the problems very well.

March 15 - 31. Likewise NCEES 2011 TF, took NCEES 2001 TF as a simulated test, did better on this exam. Nearly half of the questions are same as NCEES 2011, didn't grade those, but the other half of the problems are valuable in my opinion. Again, practiced it 5 times till I know the problems very well.

April 1 - 7. By this time I have 2 weeks left till the exam. So I took PPI practice exam, needless to say I failed miserably. But I knew this exam is not a representative to the exam. One positive thing from this exam was that there were multiple questions from Heat transfer which covered problems from different theories, this was a great practice for heat transfer. NCEES and SMS heat transfer problems are basically focused on LMTD, and heat exchanger, not many problems from conduction or convection. This reference covered those. Anyway, week before last week I've practiced the problems from this reference.

April 7 - 13. Last week I just practiced NCEES, SMS and did some practice problems from MERM. Took the day off before the exam day.

Did sleep terribly before the exam night ( went to bed around 11 pm and woke up at 12.30 am   ). I was so nervous in the morning. First couple of questions threw me off but after that I remember I answered next 28 questions straight and came back to solve the questions I missed, found some of the problems were so simple I missed those just being paranoid. Finished 30 minutes early and stayed till the end to check my answers and made sure I filled all the bubbles correctly  Anyway I was not overly satisfied with my AM performance. I thought I could do better. Plus common consensus is that AM is easier than PM, so I thought I was in trouble.

I expected PM to be harder, but I felt more comfortable with PM. I just flew through most of the problems. Definitely the problems were longer and requires more steps to solve but the solution path were easy to see. After my first round I just had 3 or 4 problems left to answer. Finished the exam 20 minutes early and did recheck everything within the timeframe. After the exam I felt pretty good about passing.

On May 19th after 34 days of waiting (which is earlier than I expected honestly) I receive the pass notice and my PE exam journey is over! Looking back at it I have to say simulated tests, practicing NCEES and SMS problems, and knowing the underlying assumption of a theory by studying MERM was crucial to pass the exam.


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## Ramnares P.E.

Thank you starquest and Phenomenon083 for adding valuable advice to this thread.  Glad to hear that the advice on here worked for you both.  I'm sure your additions to this thread will prove very helpful to future test takers.

Congrats on passing the P.E.


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## Louisdaboois

Quite honestly, I agree with @Audi driver, P.E. this thread really needs to be stickied. 

By far the most valuable information for Mechanical PE test takers. I'd go as far as saying it'll guarantee passing scores.


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## seeseansky

Phenomenon083 said:


> I was so nervous in the morning. First couple of questions threw me off but after that I remember I answered next 28 questions straight and came back to solve the questions I missed, found some of the problems were so simple I missed those just being paranoid. Finished 30 minutes early and stayed till the end to check my answers and made sure I filled all the bubbles correctly  Anyway I was not overly satisfied with my AM performance. I thought I could do better. Plus common consensus is that AM is easier than PM, so I thought I was in trouble.
> 
> I expected PM to be harder, but I felt more comfortable with PM. I just flew through most of the problems. Definitely the problems were longer and requires more steps to solve but the solution path were easy to see. After my first round I just had 3 or 4 problems left to answer. Finished the exam 20 minutes early and did recheck everything within the timeframe. After the exam I felt pretty good about passing.


I took TF exam and passed. Exactly same as you. I expected AM problems would be easy, but felt harder than expected. Hence I was so disappointed and during lunch time I called my wife and said "I think I would fail because normally PM problems are harder. But my wife told me "never give up!". I was little bit surprised as I felt so comfortable with PM problems and just went through. Finally I found only 2 problems are left blank on answer sheets!


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## LifeSucks

October 2016 will be my 3rd time taking the TF exam.  58% the first time and 69% the second. I've never been a strong test taker so I'm hoping 3rd time is the charm. I have taken Houston Testmasters class twice now, I felt this prepared me well for the AM portion but none whatsoever for the PM. I have the 2001, 2008, and 2011 NCEES practice exam, MERM, Lindbergh unit conversion book, SMS. Time was the biggest factor for me, I am slow at reading and solving problems!!! Any tips on how to get faster? I'm hoping to get started studying again after vacation I have planned end of July. Thanks everyone for all the insight.


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## Audi Driver P.E.

LifeSucks said:


> October 2016 will be my 3rd time taking the TF exam.  58% the first time and 69% the second. I've never been a strong test taker so I'm hoping 3rd time is the charm. I have taken Houston Testmasters class twice now, I felt this prepared me well for the AM portion but none whatsoever for the PM. I have the 2001, 2008, and 2011 NCEES practice exam, MERM, Lindbergh unit conversion book, SMS. Time was the biggest factor for me, I am slow at reading and solving problems!!! Any tips on how to get faster? I'm hoping to get started studying again after vacation I have planned end of July. Thanks everyone for all the insight.


Sounds like you need to work more problems.  Work them until you get faster at them.


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## aakrusen

Since Ramnares did such a fantastic job of laying out the study/review schedule, and Starquest added to it with an MSM focus, I felt I needed to combine their comments into a study sheet of my own.  I printed this out and it is the front page in my Custom Notebook (Book of Knowledge).

Here's what I put together with an effort of removing comments, streamlining it, and making it slightly objective.  Some may find additional info is critical in a guide like this, or less info.  For me, I feel like this will fit me best and help keep me focused on what I need to do until October.

*[SIZE=10pt]Study Plan for the Mechanical System and Materials discipline (MSM)[/SIZE]*

[SIZE=10pt]1.      1.  [/SIZE][SIZE=9.5pt]Decide what afternoon session you want to take and focus on that. Do not waste time trying to master all three major disciplines.[/SIZE][SIZE=10pt][/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]2.      2.  [/SIZE][SIZE=9.5pt]Obtain MERM, MERM companion book (practice problems), Six Minute Solutions (6MS) for Mechanical System and Materials (MSM), NCEES 2011 Practice Exam, NCEES 2001 Practice Exam, Lindeburg Unit Conversion, Shigley’s Machine Design (5th ed.), Machinery Handbook, and FE Reference Handbook.  [/SIZE]Assemble a notebook or 3 ring binder with blank pages for notes.  Tab notes with subject titles (eg Statics, Dynamics, Strengths, Material Properties, Fluids, Thermo, etc).  This notebook becomes a custom set of notes that combines key equations and critical points to solving problems.  This custom book is invaluable as it is customized to the user.[SIZE=10pt][/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]3.      3.  [/SIZE][SIZE=9.5pt]Two hours per weekday, 5 hours each Sat and Sun.[/SIZE][SIZE=10pt][/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]4.      4.  [/SIZE][SIZE=9.5pt]Skip through the MERM to get a general idea where the sections were located and what information is in the Appendix.[/SIZE][SIZE=10pt][/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]5.  Copy the Index, tab it by letter, and have it bound (or in 3 ring binder).  If possible, print out the MERM Appendix, or at the least ta[/SIZE]b the Appendix in the MERM.

[SIZE=10pt]6.  Begin by working the 6MS book.  [/SIZE]Do not be afraid to look at the answers if getting stuck the first time through.  While working the 6MS, find the formulas in the MERM, highlight them AND record them in notes. If unsure how to work the question, read the solution, find all the equations, and work through it using the solution.  Highlight equations in the MERM and in notes for easy reference. Work through the 6MS until getting 100% correct under 8 hours.  Bonus points for working through the 6MS in about 4 hours and getting 100%. A lot of it at that point will seem like memorization, it’s OK.  While working through the problems, read and understand the methodology. Work the problems over and over again.

[SIZE=10pt]a.      [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Alternate route – Work the MSM 6MS book 3 times without opening the MERM.  [/SIZE]Take the time to learn and understand the approach of every problem.  Don’t’ need to take it to mastery, but passing the 6MS in 8 hours is the goal.  Flag mistakes and move on.  Realistic times per pass = 35 hrs for 1st, 21.5 hrs for 2nd, and 8.5 hrs for 3rd.

[SIZE=10pt]b.      [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Tab the MERM using Shaggy method (chapters on right side of page, then key tables, forumlas, etc along the bottom of the page).[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]c.       [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Utilize Shigley’s Machine Design while working the 6MS problems.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]1.     7.   [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Once 6MS has been “mastered”, move on to the 2011 NCEES Practice Exam.  [/SIZE]Go through book until getting 100% correct under 8 hours (typically by 4th attempt).  Continue to write down unfamiliar equations and reading the methodology.  Don’t treat this as an exam, view it as additional practice problems.  The more the better.

[SIZE=10pt][/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]1.      8.  [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Next move to 2001 NCEES practice exam (if attainable).  [/SIZE]Same method as above.

[SIZE=10pt]a.      [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]If 2001 NCEES practice exam is not available, move to old FE study material or text books from school.  [/SIZE]The point here is to continue to do as many problems as possible.  Practicing how to look up the needed data and equations for each question is essential for not only learning the material but it also aids in time management.

[SIZE=10pt]b.      [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Dynamics and Kinematics/Kinetics problems may need additional attention since this is the MSM discipline.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]1.      9.  [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Move on to the MERM.  [/SIZE]Work all the main sections noted on the NCEES breakdown, trying to work all the example problems twice.  Depending on comfort level, it might be ok to skip the 1 hour practice problems.  Skip the math, project management, plant engineering, inorganic chemistry.  Do not forget that TFS and HVAC are covered on the morning exam.

[SIZE=10pt]a.      [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Alternate route – Do all the example problems in each chapter as well as the 1 hour time limit problems.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]b.      [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Read through each chapter then do the example problems.  [/SIZE]This may help with understanding of the problem rather than going in cold.  Record equations used for each chapter in custom notebook, having 2-3 pages of notes per chapter is realistic.

[SIZE=10pt][/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]1.      10.  [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]By this point, there is likely only a few weeks left until test day.  [/SIZE]Take another pass through the 6MS, NCEES practice exams, MERM practice problems (either in the chapters or companion book, or both).  Keep in mind that the MERM problems are more difficult than what is on the exam, practicing these problems for MSM discipline will aid in continuing to master the theories and principals of that discipline.

[SIZE=10pt]2.      11.  [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Take an extra pass through the MERM to tab additional material noted in the custom notebook.  [/SIZE]Continue with the Shaggy Tabbing Method.

[SIZE=10pt]3.      12.  [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Final few days prior to the exam, go through the MERM companion problems, pick out 3 or 4 problems that best represent the subject and copy them into the custom notebook.  [/SIZE]These copied problems (and solutions) go with the 2-3 pages of notes per chapter that were generated from step 9.  Continue this process for the 6MS and NCEES practice exams, saving the problems and solutions in the custom notebook.  Other helpful graphs, data, and equations (e.g. better Pysch chart, comprehensive beam formulas, and thick walled pressure vessels, etc) found on the internet may be a nice additional the notebook.  Also, tabbing the Units Conversion and Shigley’s book can be beneficial.

[SIZE=10pt][/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]1.      13.  [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Take Thursday off from work.  [/SIZE]Get up early, run through the 6MS and NCEES practice exam(s).  This will likely be done in less than 8-10 hours.  If the test site is local, drive there, find parking options and prices, as well as food options.  Head back home and pack up everything that will be taken to the exam (including approval letter, ID cards, money, 2 calcs, and ear plugs).  Relax, send the kids to stay with the folks, take the spouse out for dinner (they deserve it for being so supportive during the last 3-4 months).

[SIZE=10pt]2.     14.   [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Exam Day.  [/SIZE]Get to the test site 30 minutes to one hour early.  Once the exam has begun, work the problems in order, noting if some need to be revisited.  Don’t get discouraged if there are 3 questions in a row that need to be skipped.  Don’t let the psychological part of test taking ruin the pace/rhythm.  Skip what needs to be skipped and move on.  Because so many practice problems were worked over the last 3 months, pacing will not likely be an issue, meaning there’s time at the end to go back and do the skipped questions. 

[SIZE=10pt]a.      [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Pro tip 1, finishing the AM session early leaves more review time for the PM session.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]b.      [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Pro tip 2, the answers for each question are in numerical order (eg 50 psi, 150 psi, 200 psi, 210 psi), so selecting “C” for every question that need to be guessed on will not improve chances for a correct answer.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]c.       [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Pro tip 3, NCEES loves to use Logical Distractors where one answer may look like a realistic option.  [/SIZE]This kind of answer can be derived by working through the problem correctly but missing one step.  Watch out for these!

[SIZE=10pt]d.      [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Pro tip 4, establishing that this test is one the highest priorities for the next 3-4 months, putting in 15-25 hours per week, and mastering as many problems as realistically possible will all but guarantee passing the exam the first time.  [/SIZE]Obviously there’s more to it than that, but the underlying point is the same.

[SIZE=10pt]e.      [/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Pro tip 5, while it’s not an exact science (because the cut score varies each time the exam is offered), try and get 60 or more questions correct on the actual exam.  [/SIZE]Keep a tally during the exam of answers that are known to be 100% correct.  If this tally is 60 or more by the end of the day, WINNER! WINNER! WINNER!

[SIZE=10pt][/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Not sure what's up with my formatting, the text size and font style is all over the map in this post.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt][/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt][/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt][/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt][/SIZE]

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## starquest

aakrusen said:


> 6.  Begin by working the 6MS book.  Do not be afraid to look at the answers if getting stuck the first time through.  While working the 6MS, find the formulas in the MERM, highlight them AND record them in notes. If unsure how to work the question, read the solution, find all the equations, and work through it using the solution.  Highlight equations in the MERM and in notes for easy reference. Work through the 6MS until getting 100% correct under 8 hours.  Bonus points for working through the 6MS in about 4 hours and getting 100%. A lot of it at that point will seem like memorization, it’s OK.  While working through the problems, read and understand the methodology. Work the problems over and over again.
> 
> a.      Alternate route – Work the MSM 6MS book 3 times without opening the MERM.  Take the time to learn and understand the approach of every problem.  Don’t’ need to take it to mastery, but passing the 6MS in 8 hours is the goal.  Flag mistakes and move on.  Realistic times per pass = 35 hrs for 1st, 21.5 hrs for 2nd, and 8.5 hrs for 3rd.


For the alternate route on the MSM 6MS, I think I misworded my intentions earlier.  I would NOT advise doing the 6MS without utilizing the MERM.  I simply would not read over the MERM prior to starting the 6MS, start cold with both books but definitely use the MERM to help solve the 6MS problems.  The 6MS helps you to use the MERM index to locate the formulas you need, much more so than doing the MERM companion problems which follow the MERM chapter by chapter.


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## JayhawkerME

I was fortunate enough to find this site fairly early in my studies. I'm proud to say that I passed Thermal Fluids on my first attempt through self-study, largely thanks to the guidance of those on this forum. I wrote up a study guide for a buddy that's taking the exam, but then I realized that I should probably pay it forward a bit here. So without further ado, one engineer's opinion:

*Mechanical (Thermal Fluids) Study Guide:*






*Before you begin—some required reading / viewing:*






This thread. You're here already. Congratulations!

Youtube ‘Dr. Tom ME PE exam strategy’. He has several videos about test taking strategy. He lays out how to map out your study plan according to how many points are in each subject. A great strategy.

Read Lindeburg’s ‘Introducton’ section in the MERM. It is a fairly comprehensive overview of the PE process and is filled with helpful reminders and tricks. It helped me frame the way I studied to better mirror test conditions.

*Study time &amp; commitments:*






I started studying in early January for the Apr-15 test. I wasted a bunch of time early on reading through the MERM in the hopes of shaking off the rust, and forgot quite a bit. My recommendation would be to start 12 weeks ahead of time, and to take a few days of vacation time in the two weeks prior to the test. There’s a lot of material to master—if you study for over three months, you’ll start to forget things.

*Study Materials:*






You’ll need to acquire the materials that you’ll use during the actual test. ‘Practice how you play’. The Lindeburg MERM has a pretty good list of potential items. I’d recommend the following:


·         MERM

·         Lindeburg Units Conversion book (in a 3 ring binder or as a standalone book)

·         Random notes binder (2 page study sheet and other small items)

·         Steam tables (I cannot stress how important this is)

o   It should have saturation and superheated tables (by both pressure and temp) that go to at least 5000psi. Also, it should have the metric equivalent to US.


·         11 x 17 psychrometric chart (this will be 3 ring bound during the test, but loose is fine for studying)

o   You should have a ruler for this, as well


·         Air tables (similar format as steam tables—obviously without saturation data)

·         Calculator. Make sure it fits the NCEES requirements before you start studying. 

·         Kitchen timer for timed sessions. Avoid the temptation to use your phone—you won’t have it on test day.

For problem sets, you’ll need:


·         The 2001 NCEES test

·         The 2008 NCEES test

·         The Lindeburg practice exam

·         Lindeburg’s Practice Problems

Some of these exams are difficult to come by. I’d recommend that folks check with their library (especially if you have an access to a University library system). I was able to find a few books on location and successfully transferred a few more through an inter-library loan system.

*The Tao of the PE study plan:*






Rule 1: Know thyself. What type of learner are you? Is working problems only on the weekends good for you? Would you benefit from a review of some of the theory (there are ME undergrad lectures available all over youtube, if that’s your bag)? Do you need to be out of the house to avoid distractions?

Rule 2: (T)CREAM-- . Test Conditions Rule Everything Around Me. You are attempting to pass a test with very specific parameters within a finite amount of study time. Your studying should reflect that. It’s easy to get into the trap of trying to read through theory or work very involved practice problems (ie some of Lindeburg problems). Focus on the goal. How are you going to solve problems at a 6 min/problem clip with over 75% accuracy? How have you prepared for the mental marathon of an eight hour exam under these timed conditions?

*Practical study outline (12 weeks):*







·         Week 1: NCEES 2001 afternoon test under untimed conditions

·         Week 2: NCEES 2008 afternoon test under untimed conditions

·         Week 3: NCEES 2001 afternoon test under timed conditions

·         Week 4: NCEES 2008 afternoon test under timed conditions

·         Week 5: NCEES 2001 morning test under untimed conditions

·         Week 6: NCEES 2008 morning test under untimed conditions

·         Week 7: Lindeburg afternoon practice exam under untimed conditions

·         Week 8: Lindeburg morning practice exam under untimed conditions

·         Week 9: Work through core topics and areas of weakness

o   Your focus should be 80% afternoon and 20% morning session material.

o   Use Lindeberg practice problems and MERM chapter problems  to supplement


·         Week 10: NCEES 2001 afternoon test under timed conditions

·         Week 11: NCEES 2008 afternoon test under timed conditions

o   Review / scan the three exams. Walk through how to solve the problem. Note any areas still giving you trouble.

o   Generate study plan for next week based upon areas of weakness.

o   Double check documents and materials needed for test


·         Week 12: Study light, organize materials, and get some rest

The schedule above is rooted in a couple of personal observations:


·         Reviewing old college materials (textbooks, notes, etc.) or the MERM itself is not terribly efficient. Getting reps in on the NCEES exams is good practice for the actual exam, while also exposing you to the theory.

·         The NCEES exams are a good way to work your way up to more difficult problems, while also exposing your areas of weakness.

·         A fair amount of Lindeburg’s materials (Practice problems, MERM chapter problems and the practice exam) are an order of magnitude more complex than the NCEES exams and what you’ll encounter on test day. However, they are vital in ensuring you have a greater breadth and depth of knowledge.

o   The NCEES exams represent snapshots of how they might compile an exam. They can (and will) change which topics they emphasize, and introduce content that is not present in either the 2001 or 2008 practice exams.


·         There is nothing like a test under timed conditions to teach you the intangibles of test day, and to guide your study habits.

*An Ode to Cheat Sheets:*






One of the materials I used the most on the test was a cheat sheet. It was two pages of the most commonly referenced equations I encountered in studying the three exams. It also included where the equation / topic was found in the MERM (i.e. 36-7) in case I needed to flip to it for context or similar equations.

I recommend a cheat sheet two main reasons: (1) It prevents a ton of flipping through the MERM, which costs time; (2) Compiling and writing a cheat sheet is a form of study. When you have to write out the equations, you’re forced to look at its components and to understand why a solution calls for it. Some also may argue that connecting content to multiple senses / experiences helps retention.

How to compile a cheat sheet: After you complete an untimed exam, compare your solutions to the book’s. At the same time, try to identify which equations they used. Locate the chapter and page number and write it down in the margins of your scratch work. After you’re all done, march through your scratch work and type up the equation and chp/pg number in a Word Doc. Try to group ‘like’ topics together as you go.

The next time you take the exam (timed or otherwise) use your cheat sheet. It’ll dramatically reduce your ‘flip’ time.

*The Art of the Timed Practice Exam:*






I found timed exams to be the most valuable form of study. I recommend doing a four hour test on Saturday, scoring it in the afternoon and then working through deficiencies on Sunday / the following week. It makes for a decent weekly cycle. I didn’t do eight hour mock exams, because I wanted to be able to reflect on all the content and immediately rework the problems. I feel like I had enough endurance built up for the real deal, despite only doing four hour exams.

Set yourself up at a table with a 4’ x 4’ work space. Why 4’x4’? That’s the space we were given on test day—it was a bit awkward, because it’s a bit harder to reach materials way out in front of you.

Get your kitchen timer ready and be sure to keep any drinks or snacks on the floor.

 Some things to think about when you simulate the test:

o   How do you deal with skipping / ranking problems? I found that ranking them by difficulty was a waste of 10 minutes and that working them in order, reading them thoroughly and then evaluating whether to skip them was more efficient. I’d then write down the problems I skipped on the final page of the test booklet. By the time of the actual test, you’ll be experienced enough to know the difference between a three minute and an eight minute problem by reading it.

o   How much time are you spending on each of the problems? I found it helpful to write down how much time I spent on them in the margin so I could review that info afterwards. Obviously, that’s not something you need to do on the actual test.

o   Did you notice that you were missing any materials that you needed to solve the problem? Which resources did you use the most? Are there any opportunities to cut down on flipping between the MERM?

o   How’d you handle the mental fatigue? Eventually, your brain will become more accustomed to running marathons.

o   How much time did you have left when you worked through the test? How many problems did you need to come back to? For example, you may have gotten through all the easy ones with 45 minutes to spare, and had six hard problems to come back to.

o   Were you scrambling for time at the end? How many did you guess on?

o   How many fluids did you drink? How many times did you need to get up to go to the bathroom?

Mark up your test and note the results. The metrics I used to track improvement were: score (duh), how fast I completed my first pass, and how many problems I needed to come back to. After a while, you’ll also be able to mentally handicap what your score will be based upon those the latter two metrics.

Work your way down the ‘things to think about when you simulate the test’ list two paragraphs up. How can you cut your time or improve in any of these areas? I saved a bunch of time flipping once I switched from MERM steam tables to a separate flip book, likewise with having a cheat sheet vs. looking up things in the glossary. Adjust your future studying accordingly.

*Breadth and Depth:*






I mentioned it earlier, but the NCEES tests alone are not enough to prepare you for the exam. You’ll need to crack open some of Lindeburg’s materials to get a sufficient body of knowledge.

Lindeburg is kind of like that one Professor you had that makes things harder than they should be in real life. There is a method to his madness—his problems require that you draw from 2 to 4 pieces of theory and many conversions/calcs, whereas the NCEES only requires 1-2 pieces of info and fewer conversions/calcs. By hitting Lindeberg’s material later in your studies, you’ll have a base knowledge before running into the buzz saw.

The study plan outline devotes weeks 7 &amp; 8 to his exam. It will take 2 or 3 times of walking through the exams to understand how he attacks the problems, or to gain an understanding of the new concepts he introduces. But you’ll be glad you did—working these problems netted me a few extra points on test day.

Week 9 is devoted to introducing supplemental material. To date, you’ve only worked 240 problems, some of which were essentially duplicates. By now, you should know which areas you’re weak in (take a look at the three afternoon exams for inspiration). Figure out which MERM chapters make the most sense to target. Work all sample problems in those MERM chapters (usually 3-5 a chapter) and work a couple of the companion MERM practice problems. Shoot for about 30-40 extra problems that week-- do more if you can.

*Finish Strong:*






The last couple of weeks should be heavily focused on afternoon topics, getting timed test reps, and addressing deficiencies. Two weeks out from test day, you should have a good base of knowledge, a fairly complete cheat sheet, and be getting passing test scores under timed conditions. Still, there will be lingering doubts about certain topics, and whether or not you’re prepared.

If you can, take off from work on the Friday before the exam, and the day before the exam. Your week before the exam should look like this:


·         Thursday night (-8): Scan the three exams and put together a study sheet for the next week. Work problems / address deficiencies (3- 4 hours total).

·         Friday (-7): All day working problems / addressing deficiencies

·         Saturday (-6): Work a timed NCEES afternoon exam. Score it that afternoon and work the problems you messed up on. Keep working through any deficiencies.

·         Sunday (-5): Take a look at the break down of problems for the morning session—what’s your level of comfort with them? With all the emphasis on afternoon session materials, you could miss an opportunity for easy points (i.e. beam bending, econ, manufacturing concepts). Cram for anything else you might have (morning or afternoon) and finalize your cheat sheet. 

·         Monday &amp; Tuesday (-4 &amp; -3): Lightly review any remaining items. 9 hours of sleep

·         Wednesday night (-2): Read through Lindeburg’s ‘Introduction’ section in the MERM and note any outstanding issues (triple check your paperwork). Organize all of your materials and then kiss them good bye for 24 hours. 9 hours of sleep (make sure to go to sleep at a time that simulates test day)

·         Thursday (-1): Wake up like you’re going to go to the test. Simulate everything until you’re ready to hit the door. Then relax-- it’s a ‘You’ day. Blow off some steam, loaf a bit, hang out with the family, or whatever floats your boat. The one piece of ‘work’ I did do was to drive by the test location to make sure I knew where it was. 9 hours of sleep.

*Test Day:*






Nail it, and then, as one of my Professors used to say, ‘Go pound some Budweisers’.

Good luck!


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## Ramnares P.E.

Excellent write up.  Good to see this post turned out quite useful and even better to see folks add valuable information/study habits.


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## Audi Driver P.E.

JayhawkerME said:


> *Test Day:*
> 
> Nail it, and then, as one of my Professors used to say, ‘Go pound some Budweisers’.
> 
> Good luck!


As if an 8 hour exam weren't punishment enough! :wacko:


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## SacMe24

TomMechanical said:


> Ok, just got word I passed and wanted to write a thank you to Mr. Ram PE for writing this post.  I followed this outline with a few tweaks and an added class but I am VERY glad I found this at the beginning of my studies.  Anyways, below is my thoughts and changes to the outline.  This was my first try at this exam and it proved successful.
> 
> My start Date was mid August sometime. Total time was between 150 to 170 hours.
> 
> One additional study tool I used was School of PE for the Mechanical PE exam.  It was a great refresher for those morning topics but don't expect it to be much help for the afternoon, that is where the below write up kicks in."Here's what worked for me:1. Based on the work I've done daily, as well as the subjects I've studied in Grad school, I knew in advance that I would be taking the Thermal/Fluids. Decide what afternoon session you want to take and focus on that. Do not waste time trying to master all three major disciplines. Thermal and Fluids is my discipline as well, no brainer for me.2. Once I applied and got my letter of approval, I purchased the MERM, Thermal/Fluids Six Minute Solutions, NCEES 2008 practice exam, and NCEES 2001 practice exam. The 2008 exam was updated in 2011. The actual content is the same. The 2008 exam contained all three disciplines. The 2011 book simply split them apart and sold them individually. The NCEES 2001 exam is very difficult to get hold of but well worth the effort and money.
> 
> Was not able to get the 2001 exam, but got the rest of these books. One additional MUST have in my opinion was the Lindburg Unit conversion book (2nd most used book at my exam desk).  Get it early so you use it during your studies,3. I prepped for this exam with the attitude that it was a one-or-none deal. I was only going to take this exam once. At the time I started prepping for the exam I had a one-year old son to deal with AND I was pursuing a second MS degree. Why am I telling you this? You need buy-in from your spouse/significant other. My wife and parents spent countless hours while I studied late into the night and all day on weekends.
> 
> Extremely important, it just became business as usual during the week, home from work, dinner, then books/class until sleep, rinse and repeat. Buy-in from spouse a must.4. I did not read the MERM. I skimmed through the MERM to get a general idea where the sections were located and what information was in the Appendix.
> 
> Same5. Copy the MERM appendix and have it bound separately. It will save you a lot of time during the exam and make it much easier during practice. It will also save the life-time of your MERM binding. Print and bind the Index also.
> 
> Didn't do the appendix, but did do the index (it was downloadable from PPI).  3rd Most Used Reference at my exam desk.  Appendix would have been nice, but I was too lazy to scan it all in.6. I began by working the Six Minute Solutions book. Do not be afraid to look at the answers if you get stuck the first time through. As I was working the SMS, I would find the formulas in the MERM and highlight them AND record them in my notes. If I didn't have a clue how to work the question, I would read the solution, find all the equations, and work through it using the solution. Highlight your equations in the MERM and in your notes for easy reference. I worked through the SMS 7 times before I got 100% correct under 8 hours. In fact, by the time I was at the end of my preparation, I was working through the SMS in about 4 hours and getting 100%. A lot of it at that point will seem like rote memorization, don't be scared of it. As you're working through the problems, read and understand the methodology. Work the problems over and over again.
> 
> Agree 100% with this!  I worked it about 5 times, by the final time you can almost do every problem in your head.  It makes you remember pages in the MERM and what sections will combine with each other for a particular type of problem.  I have read a lot of hate about the SMS, it has it's flaws, but I think it is an excellent source for problems that use the equations and chapters that are relevant for the exam.7. Once I completed the SMS, I moved on to the NCEES 2008/2011 exam. Again, I worked this using the same methodology as above. I got 100% correct, under 8 hours after my 5th attempt or so. Use the same method of writing down the equations you did not know and reading the methodology.
> 
> Worked this so many times I would know what the next problem was and start solving before a flipped the page.  Really helped with memorizing the MERM locations and the problem types.
> 
> 8. Worked the NCEES 2001 exam using the same approach described in (6) and (7) above. You'll see a lot of posters saying keep an exam to test yourself the last week or so. I found that working as many problems as possible with as much time left to prep was the best strategy.
> 
> Did not have this exam, but I would have gotten it if it wasn't 3,000 dollars on the internet. Maybe you can pick one up off this forum.9. Now I moved on to the MERM. I worked all the main sections noted on the NCEES breakdown. Skip the math, project management, plant engineering, statics etc. I worked the Fluids, Heat Transfer, Thermo, HVAC, Machine Design sections. I did NOT work any of the 1-hour time limit problems. I was able to work all the problems in those sections twice. Do not be afraid if you get stuck and need to read through the solutions.
> 
> I didn't order the MERM Problems Book until the last 2 weeks before the exam.  I went through the sections that pertain to the T&amp;FS and used the solutions a whole lot.  Never reached the confidence level that I did with the SMS and the NCEES practice exam because I felt the problems were a little harder.  But, do them anyways, at least once.  10. By this time, I had approximately 10 days left before the exam. I worked the SMS and each of the NCEES exams the first three days. I re-worked the MERM problems in the Fluid, Heat Transfer, and Thermo sections.
> 
> My last week I worked the SMS and NCEES, Only worked the MERM once.
> 
> 11. I went through the MERM, using the notes that I made as I studied (here's where the highlighting comes in handy) and tabbed what I felt was important. At this point I knew the MERM and the bound appendix intimately so I didn't feel the need to tab that much. I certainly tabbed the major sections of the MERM and a few diagrams. Follow the now famous Shaggy tabbing method on this site.
> 
> I waited until the last week to tab my MERM, but I didn't over-tab, only the most used pages.  I wish I did it sooner so I would have been really comfortable with the tabbing for the test but the last week work of studying was sufficient for me to get used to most of the tabs.  12. I took Thursday (the day before the exam) off. I was up early (normal time I leave for work 0500) and did one run through of the SMS, NCEES 2008, and NCEES 2011. I drove to the exam site and ensured I knew where the building was. Then I drove home and packed my bag. I took a back-pack. I took the MERM, the MERM appendix I bound, Steam Tables, Lindeburg conversion book, sample exams, 2 calculators, and ear-plugs. I put my money, approval letter, and ID cards in a zip lock bag. Then I did absolutely nothing exam related the rest of the day. I took my son to play-time, watched a few movies etc.
> 
> I worked the SMS &amp; NCEES until about 2pm on Thursday.  Packed it up and had a nice afternoon and dinner with the wifey. I took everything mentioned above except the steam tables, used the steam tables in the MERM for my entire prep.  In bed by 930, which was terrible because the Patriots were playing thursday night that week...13. Exam day I was up early and went to the site. I finished both sections (AM and PM) with over an hour to spare. I did NOT go through and rate questions etc. I simply worked the questions in order. If I didn't feel satisfied with an answer, or if I had to guess, I put a mark next to it and moved on. At the end, I came back and re-worked the questions I had doubts on. I still left the exam room very early both sessions. I felt that leaving the AM session early and giving myself extra time for lunch allowed me to clear my head and prep for the PM session.
> 
> I finished the morning with about 1.5 hours to spare but I stayed in the test center until the end just reassuring that my bubbles were filled in correctly. Felt really good when i went for lunch break, but then used the entire 4 hours for the afternoon section, I wouldn't say it was much harder but there were several problems that I struggled to find the solution path too.  I didnt rate questions either, just went one by one, if I spent more than 30 seconds on one and didnt have an idea of a path forward, I starred it and moved on and went back at the end.   14. Went through the now well known process of self-doubt and anger at the lack of timely results.
> 
> This was terrible but glad it is over!
> Ram's outline is excellent and I would recommend it to any T&amp;FS test taker.  If you need the structure to get through the morning exam prep, I would highly recommend the School of PE class.  Stick to it and I'm sure you will have a successful career as a PE! Good Luck!


Hello Tom,

Wow, what a great summary and thanks for taking the time to write out the test strategy that worked for you. Although we are in different disciplines, the principles are still the same and I definitely agree that I need to get my hands on older revisions of the NCEEs exam so I can practice more exam-like problems. I'm not afraid of hard work, like I said I was putting in close to 30 hrs. a week of study time on top of the lectures, so I know I can do it, I just want to be SMART about it the next time. Now that I've read through all the chapters in MERM and that knowledge is still relatively fresh in my head, I won't have to spend so much time re-reading everything and will instead dedicate time to practice, practice, practice.

Thanks again for your advice.

JV


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## Jespiga

Hello everybody. I am starting my preparation for the exam and I'm having a hard time trying to find the practice exams mentioned. The one I found is: https://ppi2pass.com/ncees-pe-mechanical-engineering-thermal-and-fluids-systems-practice-exam-ncpemt2.html

Would that suffice or should I dig deeper and find the ones previously mentioned?

Thanks.

JE


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## Nevill24

Jespiga said:


> Hello everybody. I am starting my preparation for the exam and I'm having a hard time trying to find the practice exams mentioned. The one I found is: https://ppi2pass.com/ncees-pe-mechanical-engineering-thermal-and-fluids-systems-practice-exam-ncpemt2.html
> 
> Would that suffice or should I dig deeper and find the ones previously mentioned?
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> JE


That is the latest version of the NCEES practice exam.  It has be revised to the current specs.  You should checkout the price of this exam on the NCEES website. I'm not sure how much ppi2pass charges for shipping, but my guess is you can get it for a better price directly through NCEES.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but the other NCEES practice exams you will have to find from 3rd party (ebay, amazon, friends, folks here, etc.).  I believe the other available copies are the 2001, 2008, and 2011 versions.  Given how the new specs do not have a "breadth" section the past practice exams aren't as beneficial as in the past IMO.  They are still valuable, but many of the practice problems will likely not be applicable.  However, I have both the 2011 and the newest version and at a first glance it appears many of the questions are the same.


----------



## Audi Driver P.E.

Nevill24 said:


> However, I have both the 2011 and the newest version and at a first glance it appears many of the questions are the same.


That's going to be good info for test takers.


----------



## Nevill24

Dr. Tom gives a comparison of the 2011 vs 2016 practice exam.

https://youtu.be/-mLfmjcovlc

Basically 25 questions from 2011 practice morning are on 2016 TFS practice morning. There are 4 problems dropped from 2011 and Dr. Tom doesn't indicate what area they are in (lets assume 1-2 problems are applicable to the TFS exam). On the afternoon session 27 of the 2011 questions are carried over into the 2016 practice exam. Therefore there are only 13-15 questions on the 2011 practice exam that may be beneficial for the 2017 TFS exam. It looks like you can find the 2011 practice exam for $50-60ish online, but I guess its up to each individual if it's worth spending $4-$5 per problem?


----------



## Jespiga

Nevill24 said:


> That is the latest version of the NCEES practice exam.  It has be revised to the current specs.  You should checkout the price of this exam on the NCEES website. I'm not sure how much ppi2pass charges for shipping, but my guess is you can get it for a better price directly through NCEES.
> 
> Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but the other NCEES practice exams you will have to find from 3rd party (ebay, amazon, friends, folks here, etc.).  I believe the other available copies are the 2001, 2008, and 2011 versions.  Given how the new specs do not have a "breadth" section the past practice exams aren't as beneficial as in the past IMO.  They are still valuable, but many of the practice problems will likely not be applicable.  However, I have both the 2011 and the newest version and at a first glance it appears many of the questions are the same.


Nevill24, thanks for your response!!


----------



## justin-hawaii

Hi Everyone,

I have compiled a spreadsheet of nearly everyone's method on how they passed the T&amp;F exam, please take a look and add to it and edit it as you see fit.  I also updated the references from the previous exam for the new exam.

How I Passed the Thermal and Fluids Exam - Summary Spreadsheet

Justin


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## landolakes

Just updated your spreadsheet. 

MERM was my main source of material. The PPI Thermal Fluids Book they say helped for this exam was not very helpful... stick with the MERM. 

NCEES 2016 Test, Engineering Pro Guide Sample Test for TF. 6MS TF. MERM problems from relevant chapters (skipped the 1 hour). 

Passed on my 4th attempt. I am an EE who took the ME TF. My success this time was nothing but problems from day 1 of studying...do them and struggle...get better and bored... find more problems... go back to the "bored" problems and see if you still remember to do those. Rinse and repeat.


----------



## Nevill24

After getting the news that I passed I would first like to thank everyone for their help on these forums.  It was extremely beneficial to get input from so many that have passed the exam. Second I figured it would only be fair to share my experience with the exam (especially given the new specs).   

First a little background info about myself. I have 6 years of experience in the power generation industry working for a large electric utility company. I have a MS in ME and finished only a year ago so I was not too far removed from the grind of exam studying.  I think these two factors, not having any children (or other living commitments), and a lot of spare time really played in my favor. The reason I mention all this is I felt like I was in a very good position in preparing for this exam with minimal distractions; Not everyone is in this same situation and one study method may not work for all.

At the beginning of my study I set up a study schedule in excel to help track and motivate me to study.   Attached is the actual study schedule I used.  I did not do a good job of updating what topics I studied on each day, but the hours logged are very accurate.  I started 13 weeks in advance of the test date and tried to set aside like 1-2hrs Mon-Thurs, then 3-4 hrs Fri-Sun.  I got pretty lazy and didn’t stick to this completely, but I ended up with about 165 hours of study.  Overall I felt I may have over studied, but reading online it sounded like the avg study time was around 200 hrs which was my original goal.  The stuff I studied I knew very well unfortunately there was a good bit of stuff on the exam that caught me off guard that I unfortunately did not study for. 

References:


MERM – this was by far the most used reference in my study and on exam day.  I got the 12th edition as it was about $150 cheaper, from what I read not much different than 13th, and the engineering forums had a lot more resources available for the 12th edition.  During my studying I made sure I was very comfortable with how to navigate through the MERM.  I also used the “shaggy” method we talked about with tabbing.  Attached are some photos showing you how I did it.  The side tabs are each chapter related to the exam including chapter numbers which made it easier to flip through the book if I had to reference the table of contents or index.   I would use the specs provided by NCEES (attached but may change for OCT 17) to determine what chapters need to be tabbed.  The bottom tabs I put the key appendices, tables, charts, constants, etc that I used a good bit during studying.  The top tabs I put the key equations and concepts that I used a lot during my studying.  The example I show how the color coding works where you flip to a certain chapter and you see at the top the associated concepts/equations in that chapter.  By the end of my studies I really just needed the chapters and tables/charts tabbed as I was pretty familiar with where each concept was located in each chapter.

NCEES Practice exam – you can get the 2016 version directly from NCEES.  They also have a 2001, 2008, and 2011 version.  A lot of the problems are recycled on each practice exam.  I borrowed a coworkers 2011 version and it had about 15 problems on it that were applicable to thermal fluids that was not on 2016.  If you can find someone that took the exam prior to April 17 you may be able to get the old copies.   If not ebay or amazon may have them.

http://www.engproguides.com/  - The owner gave me a free copy of the “Thermal &amp; Fluids Technical Study Guide” and later in my studies I bought his “Thermal &amp; Fluids April 2017 Full Exam”.  I thought the study guide was good for kick starting the study as it did a good job of explaining the basics and had easy practice problems to get myself familiar with many of the concepts I hadn’t used in years.  The study guide did have a lot of errors in it.  I emailed these errors to the owner and hopefully he has updated the study guide by now.  The exam was similar to the NCEES practice exam and there were a couple problems included that were nearly identical to the actual exam.  Both the study guide and exam are PDFs.

Prep Course – I didn’t actually do a prep course, but I got the material for School of PE.  I did all their practice problems which was beneficial.  I’ve heard mixed reviews about School of PE which seemed to be dependent on what lecturer you get for the course.   I have heard good things about http://drtomsclassroom.com/ which I considered taking, but decided not to.  He does have free videos on his website that discuss format of exam, things to look out for, etc. that I watched.

Steam Tables: Thermodynamic Properties of Water Including Vapor, Liquid, and Solid Phases – the steam tables in the MERM aren’t great so I bought this steam tables book which was a godsend. If you can find it in metric I would get that as well.

http://www.nist.gov/srd/upload/NISTIR5078.htm  - I used these steam tables for metric since I couldn’t find a good metric book for them.  Printed off and put in a 3-ring binder

Engineering Unit Conversions – This book was helpful in quickly converting units. I mostly used the front cover of the MERM, but I’d say without this book there were a couple problems that I probably would have gotten wrong.

FE Reference manual – this is free on the NCEES website.  I downloaded the pdf and printed off the sections that were applicable to the exam.  I included this in the 3-ring binder with the metric steam tables.  Some people make their own cheat sheet of equations or buy a equation reference book.  I thought the FE reference manual was adequate for this though.   

 Six-Minute Solutions  – A PPI resource you can also buy directly from the publisher.  I also got this from a coworker.  This includes like 80-90 practice problems and overall has gotten pretty mixed reviews.  I personally would not buy this with money out of my pocket.  About 1/2-2/3 of the problems are garbage and this exam is generally more difficult than the real exam.  A lot of the problem requires you to use references and equations that are not realistic to have available for the exam.  I just used judgment on which problems seemed reasonable and spent time practicing them.

Thermal and Fluids Systems Reference Manual for the Mechanical PE Exam (METS) – another PPI resource you can buy direction from the publisher.  The bulk of this book didn’t add much value to my list of references.  The literature was essentially the MERM rewritten and a lot of the derivations for the equations were given which isn’t any value for this exam.   However, the 88 practice problems included were decent especially for the cycle problems.  They were more time consuming and probably more difficult in general compared to the actual exam, but I felt they helped me prepare.

Created a cheat sheet table of contents – See attached.  I got this from engineerboards.com (credit to Randy Villeneuve) and modified it to my liking.  This helped me early on, but once I got familiar with the MERM I didn’t use it much.   I put it in the 3-ring binder with my other materials.  I don’t think I ever used it during the exam though.  This is for the 12th edition of the MERM I am assuming you have 13th edition so it may not be of much value.

www.coolerado.com/pdfs/Psychrmtrcs/0000Psych11x17US_SI.pdf  Printed off 11x17 in color and included in my 3-ring binder.

Made a section in my 3-ring binder that included practice problems that I struggled with.  Ended up not using in the exam though.

oughtredco – did their free TFS problems.  Only about half of the problems were useful.  Would probably only do these problems if you have exhausted all other resources and just looking for more practice.  Given all the errors though I wouldn’t be too confident in this resource though.

Engineerboards.com – used the forums to research what other people are doing, to ask questions, etc.



Looking back what would I have done differently…


I’d skim through the MERM just to see what chapters are in there, what are in the appendices, etc.  And tab the key chapters as I did in my book.

I would start off with the engproguides and go through the study guide.  Skim through the areas that I felt weak in and do all the practice problems in the study guide

Get practice problems from a prep course and work all of those if possible.

If you get the six-minute solutions I would go through it at this point, but probably wouldn’t do every problem.  Like I mentioned above only about half of them are of value.  A good bit aren’t applicable to the actual exam and are pretty obscure.

Go through each section of the MERM that is applicable to the exam (skim through to get familiar with each section – probably wouldn’t read through the material) and do the practice problems in the book.  If these are too difficult don’t sweat it as these problems are generally more difficult than what will be on the exam. 

Find and do some practice problems on the “supportive knowledge” (pipe system analysis, joints, etc).  I didn’t practice these areas much as the material I have pretty much just covered thermal and fluids.   Not sure a good source for these problems.  At least read through the MERM and do the practice problems for these sections.  I didn’t and I think it came back to bite me on the exam.

Complete the NCEES practice exam under timed conditions.  I would do a mock test and set aside a weekend to do a 4 hr morning and 4 hr afternoon.  Grade and see how well I did.  If I couldn’t go through each session in 4 hours I would just go back and do those problems later.  See what areas you are weak in and what you need to study more.  You should find that the NCEES material is much easier than the PPI stuff.  From reading online some people like to do the mock test from the very beginning, some like to not even do the mock test and just work the problems as they go, etc.  Really just personal preference, but I feel getting some studying in and then doing the practice exam timed under exam like conditions helped.  Part of the exam day is the mental fatigue of sitting and doing problems for up to 8 hrs in a day.  I think the mock test helped in that aspect.

At this point you should be pretty familiar with the MERM and what concepts are reoccurring.  I would begin to tab the top and bottom of the book with the key concepts, tables, etc.  You could of course do this sooner in the study process.

I would then go through the METS and do all practice problems and focus on your weak areas.

At this point depending on how much time is left I would recycle through all the material above.  I would leave the engproguides practice exam as a final mock test and do that maybe a couple weeks before the exam to gauge where you are at.  Then use the last week or so going over areas you need improvement on and focus on the NCEES practice exam as it resembles the actual exam best out of all practice material.  I think it’s worth noting the engproguides practice exam was the second best at mimicking the actual exam out of the material I utilized.

There may be other good material available that I am not aware of.  I also had the PPI “Practice Problems for the Mechanical Engineering PE Exam”, but towards the end of my studies I was really losing motivation and never went through this book.   I read online that it is like the six-minute solutions in that it is more difficult than the real exam and may cover topics that aren’t of much value.  This was originally written for a coworker so the wording may sound weird for a forum posting.  Sorry this was a lot, hopefully it provides some value and good luck!




View attachment PE Exam Schedule Latest..xlsx


View attachment MERM Reference Guide R1.docx


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## justin-hawaii

Thank you Nevill24 for the nod and for pointing out the errors.  I have made your changes and I have also made more fixes from other reviews.  Congratulations on passing!


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## Nevill24

Thanks Justin. My wording may have been poor with regards to the engproguide in my post. Just so others know most of the errors were grammatical/administrative type errors so don't let that shy you away and Justin was very responsive to my emails. Highly recommend future test takers pick up engproguide material. It's great material especially for the cost.


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## Ramnares P.E.

Thanks @Nevill24 for a great write up.  Congrats on passing! Hope you stick around the forum.


----------



## Mr.PE

So I took the April 2017 Mechanical - HVAC PE and Passed on my first try!

The information in this thread was crucial and following it as best as you can will definitely lead to your success on the exam!

My advice would be to start out with the Engineering Pro guide by Justin Kuawale. - For the price the study guide and exam are a steal. It does have some typos but they are obvious and shouldn't affect your studies that much.

I also purchased School of PE - Mechanical and it was a waste of time.. sorry. First their classes start about a month before the exam and the last class ends merely a week before the exam (This gives you very little time review topics you may be struggling with). Also there material reminds me of the "C.Y.A. Method" of giving an over abundant amount of information and problems to cover every topic so that technically they gave you everything you need.. rather than tailoring the material and focusing on what is important. And the last straw for me was that on of their lecturers mentioned that you shouldn't expect to pass the PE on your first try.. And they was right if you only used their material. Enough about SOPE.

What you need to do to pass:

1. *Read the Eng Pro Guide and do all of the problems.* (It will help get your mind refreshed on the topics you need to cover) I hole punched the guide, divided it into color coded sections and put it in a 4 inch binder. And as I found other important materials and problems from other study guides, I made a copy and inserted it into the appropriate sections. So by the end I had a solid binder with pretty much everything I needed for the exam. I also noted on the guide next to the equations the pg #s that correlated to the MERM &amp; ASHRAE Books.

2. *Six Minute Solutions -  Do this book at least 4 -5 times*. The first time you will reconsider a lot of things in life and why you chose to take the exam..lol. But after the 2 or 3rd time you'll be fine. And every time you take the exam you will learn something new that you didn't realize in the previous go-rounds. I didn't time myself until the last week. (The truth is, if you take the time to fully understand the material, you will be able to move through the problems quicker, so don't frustrate yourself with timing.. it will eventually come) Focus on learning the material and where to find it. My advise have the MERM and ASHRAE books next to you and tab the pages with the equations you need as you go through each problem. What I found helpful was also noting next to the equations the Problem # that I needed it for.

3. Buy all of the NCEES Practice Exams - 2016, 2008, 2001. And practice practice practice! The 2001 test is hard to find but there are some floating around on ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/182612444442?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&amp;_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 

What you will realize is that after doing these exams at least one time during the first few weeks of your studies, when you review other prep materials you will have a better inclination towards whether or not NCEES would test you on it. Meaning some sample problems are just too in depth and by review the NCEES test first you will have a better understanding on whether you should spend time review the problem or passing on it.

4. If you have the time take the Sample PE Exam by PPI. It is slightly harder but your focus is to understand the material as thorough as you can. I comb through each problem one time and took as much time as I needed to understand the problem completely.(1hr a problem at first)

So overall.. the key is to practice as many problems as you can.. I believe I reviewed close to 400 - 500 problems.  Also incorporate the ASHRAE books into your reference materials very early on, so that you are very familiar with navigating through it..  it does have some really good information and if you know the history between Lindeburg and NCEES you may want to focus on using ASHRAE, as the authors of the exam make it a point to test on material that Lindeburg sometimes has very little coverage on. I used the ASHRAE books for many of the Thumb Search questions.

I also printed and bounded the MERM Index, ASHRAE Index and Psychro Charts together for quick recall. Time is crucial so it is important to be efficient!

Good Luck on your studies! And you will be a PE! ..Remember its not a matter of if.. its just when.


----------



## Mr.PE

Mr.PE said:


> So I took the April 2017 Mechanical - HVAC PE and Passed on my first try!
> 
> The information in this thread was crucial and following it as best as you can will definitely lead to your success on the exam!
> 
> My advice would be to start out with the Engineering Pro guide by Justin Kuawale. - For the price the study guide and exam are a steal. It does have some typos but they are obvious and shouldn't affect your studies that much.
> 
> I also purchased School of PE - Mechanical and it was a waste of time.. sorry. First their classes start about a month before the exam and the last class ends merely a week before the exam (This gives you very little time review topics you may be struggling with). Also there material reminds me of the "C.Y.A. Method" of giving an over abundant amount of information and problems to cover every topic so that technically they gave you everything you need.. rather than tailoring the material and focusing on what is important. And the last straw for me was that on of their lecturers mentioned that you shouldn't expect to pass the PE on your first try.. And they was right if you only used their material. Enough about SOPE.
> 
> What you need to do to pass:
> 
> 1. *Read the Eng Pro Guide and do all of the problems.* (It will help get your mind refreshed on the topics you need to cover) I hole punched the guide, divided it into color coded sections and put it in a 4 inch binder. And as I found other important materials and problems from other study guides, I made a copy and inserted it into the appropriate sections. So by the end I had a solid binder with pretty much everything I needed for the exam. I also noted on the guide next to the equations the pg #s that correlated to the MERM &amp; ASHRAE Books.
> 
> 2. *Six Minute Solutions -  Do this book at least 4 -5 times*. The first time you will reconsider a lot of things in life and why you chose to take the exam..lol. But after the 2 or 3rd time you'll be fine. And every time you take the exam you will learn something new that you didn't realize in the previous go-rounds. I didn't time myself until the last week. (The truth is, if you take the time to fully understand the material, you will be able to move through the problems quicker, so don't frustrate yourself with timing.. it will eventually come) Focus on learning the material and where to find it. My advise have the MERM and ASHRAE books next to you and tab the pages with the equations you need as you go through each problem. What I found helpful was also noting next to the equations the Problem # that I needed it for.
> 
> 3. Buy all of the NCEES Practice Exams - 2016, 2008, 2001. And practice practice practice! The 2001 test is hard to find but there are some floating around on ebay. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&amp;_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.XNCEES+PE+Mechanical+Practice+Exam.TRS0&amp;_nkw=NCEES+PE+Mechanical+Practice+Exam&amp;_sacat=0
> 
> What you will realize is that after doing these exams at least one time during the first few weeks of your studies, when you review other prep materials you will have a better inclination towards whether or not NCEES would test you on it. Meaning some sample problems are just too in depth and by review the NCEES test first you will have a better understanding on whether you should spend time review the problem or passing on it.
> 
> 4. If you have the time take the Sample PE Exam by PPI. It is slightly harder but your focus is to understand the material as thorough as you can. I comb through each problem one time and took as much time as I needed to understand the problem completely.(1hr a problem at first)
> 
> So overall.. the key is to practice as many problems as you can.. I believe I reviewed close to 400 - 500 problems.  Also incorporate the ASHRAE books into your reference materials very early on, so that you are very familiar with navigating through it..  it does have some really good information and if you know the history between Lindeburg and NCEES you may want to focus on using ASHRAE, as the authors of the exam make it a point to test on material that Lindeburg sometimes has very little coverage on. I used the ASHRAE books for many of the Thumb Search questions.
> 
> I also printed and bounded the MERM Index, ASHRAE Index and Psychro Charts together for quick recall. Time is crucial so it is important to be efficient!
> 
> Good Luck on your studies! And you will be a PE! ..Remember its not a matter of if.. its just when.


----------



## Engineer1234567

Hi all,

I just took the October 2017 TFS PE exam and wanted to say thank you to all before me who shared your experiences.  Now that I’ve taken the exam, I can say that your advice was critical in allowing me to prepare adequately for the exam.  I feel I did well enough on the exam that I passed, and I have all of you to thank for it.  So, thank you.

To pay it forward to future examinees, I’d like to mention a couple of things that I found helpful in my preparations:

1. Ramnares’ (the OP to this topic) advice is gold.  Follow Ramnares’ advice and set a schedule for your studying (start early!), and that should set you up to have a great shot at passing the PE exam.

2. Books that I used and found extremely helpful were: 

a. MERM (13th Ed) – Must have.

b. Practice Problems for the Mechanical Engineering PE Exam (13th Ed) – Very good practice problems.

c. Engineering Unit Conversions (4th Ed) – This is absolutely necessary for the PE exam.  Definitely worth the money.  Buy this early and use throughout your studying.

d. Mechanical PE Practice Examination (3rd Ed)

e. NCEES’ PE Mechanical: Thermal and Fluids Systems Practice Exam

3. I also briefly used the TFS Six-Minute Solutions book, but I found this book not helpful because (1) the solutions often required major assumptions that were omitted from the problem statements, (2) the solutions were not written well enough to learn fundamentals from, and (3) the solutions often required much, much more time than six minutes.

4. Doing a few things at the start will ensure your studying is efficient and that you’re familiar with how things will be on exam day.  For me, these were the following:

a. Set up a 4 foot wide by 3 foot deep section on a table and do all of your practice problems within this space, including the references that you are using.  Place any extra materials on the floor beside you in a bin or crate.

b. Tab your MERM like described in previous posts (i.e., the Shaggy tabbing method).  I tabbed the first page of each chapter and wrote the chapter number and a shortened title (e.g., for Chapter 17, I wrote “17” and “Fluid Dynamics” on the tab).

c. Copy the MERM Appendix and put it in its own binder.

d. Copy the MERM Index and put it in its own binder (the PDF version of the MERM Index is available for free here:

https://ppi2pass.com/thermal-and-fluids-systems-reference-manual-for-the-mechanical-pe-exam-index-metsidx.html

e. Printout steam tables and psychrometric charts (US and SI at sea level) and place them in a third binder.

5. Use the “Practice Problems for the Mechanical Engineering PE Exam (13th Ed)” as your primary source of practice problems.  The problems are generally a bit harder/longer than you’ll see on the PE exam, but the solutions will teach you the fundamentals (very important!) and also get you very well acquainted with how to quickly find information in the MERM (extremely important!).  To help you identify which sections to study, the MERM publisher PPI has cross-referenced the NCEES Exam Specs with the MERM Chapters in a free “study schedule” available here:

https://ppi2pass.com/mechanical-pe-thermal-and-fluid-systems-study-schedule-metfss.html 

My recommendation is to study first the practice problems that are associated with the chapters that relate to the most points from the NCEES Exam Specs.  Keep doing passes through the practice problems until you’re able to do them efficiently.

6. While studying, use a highlighter to highlight each equation, table, figure, and conversion factor that you use from the MERM or your units conversion book.  This will make it easier for you to identify later on where you should add additional tabs to the MERM or your units conversion book.  Also, only write notes with pen the the MERM.  Writing with pencil could get you accused of cheating on exam day.

7. Track your time studying, and be honest with the time you’re recording (i.e., don’t count time spent browsing your phone when you inevitably get distracted).

8. About a month out from the exam (even earlier is better), begin doing timed practice exams.  Your goal should be to be able to pass the full “Mechanical PE Practice Examination (3rd Ed)” under exam time limits.  If you’re like me, you’ll fail miserably on your first time running through this practice exam, which will motivate you to study a lot more.  Use the “Mechanical PE Practice Examination (3rd Ed)” as the benchmark for whether you’re ready for the exam.

9. Periodically do practice exams with the “NCEES’ PE Mechanical: Thermal and Fluids Systems Practice Exam”.  This will get you familiar with the exam format.  This exam is easier than the “Mechanical PE Practice Examination (3rd Ed)” practice exam.  In my experience, the actual PE exam was halfway between those two practice exams in terms of difficulty.

10. You should aim to have done each practice exam several times over, under timed conditions each time, before the actual exam roles around.

11. My mistakes during preparation:

a. Don’t spend time reading the MERM cover to cover.  I did and absolutely forgot everything before I started doing practice problems.  If you want, quickly skim through the MERM initially.  The most effective way to read the MERM is to read a single chapter and then work its associated practice problems.

b. Don’t use the six-minute solutions book if you’re taking the TFS exam.  It is an ineffective way to study.

c. Set a study schedule early on and stick to it.

12: I studied 330 hours in total.  I had to relearn everything because my jobs after college did not have me using any of the fundamentals covered by the PE exam.  330 hours was enough studying to allow me to confidently answer 95% of the questions on the actual PE exam with hardly any time to spare.  I’m pretty sure I passed, but I’ll have to wait for the exam results to know for sure.


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## EngineerGirlPE

*THANK YOU all so much for your help!  I just found out I passed TFS PE exam taken on October 27, 2017.  To give back and in case it might help anyone else in the future, I'm writing up here what I did in comments to the original post by Ramnares, P.E.*

Having just received the good news that I've passed the PE exam, it's only fair for me to pass along the knowledge, tips, advice that I've used that ultimately proved successful. I've been a lurker on the board for a few years now and gathered a lot of information before I decided to take the exam.I'm not saying that my approach is correct for everyone. Others have passed using different approaches and methods. I started studying for the October exam in the spring and got burnt out. I started back seriously studying (every day) at the beginning of July.

*I started studying for the April exam, only to postpone it and then seriously study after July 4th holiday for the October exam. I spent lots of time with my husband/family/friends over July 4th holiday and then organized all aspects of my life to prepare for the next few months of studying for October PE exam.  *

*Overall my schedule was that  **I studied every week night about 4 hours and all day on Saturdays.   I took Friday/Saturday after 5pm and Sundays (all day) completely off to spend time with my husband and family.  I used two weeks of personal vacation time before the test in October.    *Here's what worked for me:1. Based on the work I've done daily, as well as the subjects I've studied in Grad school, I knew in advance that I would be taking the Thermal/Fluids. Decide what afternoon session you want to take and focus on that. Do not waste time trying to master all three major disciplines.

2. Once I applied and got my letter of approval, I purchased the MERM, Thermal/Fluids Six Minute Solutions, NCEES 2008 practice exam, and NCEES 2001 practice exam. The 2008 exam was updated in 2011. The actual content is the same. The 2008 exam contained all three disciplines. The 2011 book simply split them apart and sold them individually. The NCEES 2001 exam is very difficult to get hold of but well worth the effort and money.

*Agreed - these might be the only books that you need.  I purchased other books but did not really use them as much as I used the above.  I also took the School of PE class and used the written materials provided.  *3. I prepped for this exam with the attitude that it was a one-or-none deal. I was only going to take this exam once. At the time I started prepping for the exam I had a one-year old son to deal with AND I was pursuing a second MS degree. Why am I telling you this? You need buy-in from your spouse/significant other. My wife and parents spent countless hours while I studied late into the night and all day on weekends.

*This is critical.  My husband is also an engineer and extremely supportive.  With that said, I know he missed me a lot when I would put in my ear plugs, eat dinner at my desk every evening or be lost in thought about how much more I needed to study whenever we did go out.  It's very important to share with your spouse the demands and maybe even provide him/her with your study schedule.  Also, keep reminding him/her that you love them very much and appreciate all of their support.   *4. I did not read the MERM. I skimmed through the MERM to get a general idea where the sections were located and what information was in the Appendix. 

*Tried to read MERM for a refresher but was not able to get much out of that.  I skimmed MERM to learn where all the concepts/equations were located.  School of PE class provided a good refresher for those who need help with structure and reinforcing engineering knowledge.  *

5. Copy the MERM appendix and have it bound separately. It will save you a lot of time during the exam and make it much easier during practice. It will also save the life-time of your MERM binding. Print and bind the Index also.

*Agreed - you can get the index in pdf version from MERM website.  Appendix is not readily available so you will need to copy (or at least just your most frequently used pages) and have it bound seperately.  *6. I began by working the Six Minute Solutions book. Do not be afraid to look at the answers if you get stuck the first time through. As I was working the SMS, I would find the formulas in the MERM and highlight them AND record them in my notes. If I didn't have a clue how to work the question, I would read the solution, find all the equations, and work through it using the solution. Highlight your equations in the MERM and in your notes for easy reference. I worked through the SMS 7 times before I got 100% correct under 8 hours. In fact, by the time I was at the end of my preparation, I was working through the SMS in about 4 hours and getting 100%. A lot of it at that point will seem like rote memorization, don't be scared of it. As you're working through the problems, read and understand the methodology. Work the problems over and over again.

*I worked through SMS about 5 times.  I was never able to get to the point of getting 100% correct and skipped some problems that were too difficult.  SMS review really helped with reinforcing important concepts in a way that reading the MERM or participating in a class was not able to achieve.  Even if you can't work through the whole problem, just make sure you understand the methodology.  *7. Once I completed the SMS, I moved on to the NCEES 2008/2011 exam. Again, I worked this using the same methodology as above. I got 100% correct, under 8 hours after my 5th attempt or so. Use the same method of writing down the equations you did not know and reading the methodology.

*Same strategy, and I got up to 90% correct.  *

8. Worked the NCEES 2001 exam using the same approach described in (6) and (7) above. You'll see a lot of posters saying keep an exam to test yourself the last week or so. I found that working as many problems as possible with as much time left to prep was the best strategy.

*Agreed. Two weeks before the exam I was so anxious to know how I would do on problems that I haven't work before and took the Justin Kuawale exam for $35.  http://www.engproguides.com/thermalexam.html  I got a 71% on this practice exam 2 weeks before the PE exam*

9. Now I moved on to the MERM. I worked all the main sections noted on the NCEES breakdown. Skip the math, project management, plant engineering, statics etc. I worked the Fluids, Heat Transfer, Thermo, HVAC, Machine Design sections. I did NOT work any of the 1-hour time limit problems. I was able to work all the problems in those sections twice. Do not be afraid if you get stuck and need to read through the solutions.

*I really struggled with the MERM problems.  I purchased these to review during my vacation in the last 2 weeks.  I was extremely nervous about how I could perform on the actual PE exam when I was working these problems.  These problems are designed to be harder, and they're useful for reinforcing concepts.  *10. By this time, I had approximately 10 days left before the exam. I worked the SMS and each of the NCEES exams the first three days. I re-worked the MERM problems in the Fluid, Heat Transfer, and Thermo sections.

*Reworked SMS, NCEEES exams.  Skimmed MERM problems once.  *

11. I went through the MERM, using the notes that I made as I studied (here's where the highlighting comes in handy) and tabbed what I felt was important. At this point I knew the MERM and the bound appendix intimately so I didn't feel the need to tab that much. I certainly tabbed the major sections of the MERM and a few diagrams. Follow the now famous Shaggy tabbing method on this site.

*I had a special 1 inch binder with all of my most commonly used notes, FE review manual notes, school notes, 11x14 Mollier Chart, 11x14 coolerado psychrometric chart*12. I took Thursday (the day before the exam) off. I was up early (normal time I leave for work 0500) and did one run through of the SMS, NCEES 2008, and NCEES 2011. I drove to the exam site and ensured I knew where the building was. Then I drove home and packed my bag. I took a back-pack. I took the MERM, the MERM appendix I bound, Steam Tables, Lindeburg conversion book, sample exams, 2 calculators, and ear-plugs. I put my money, approval letter, and ID cards in a zip lock bag. Then I did absolutely nothing exam related the rest of the day. I took my son to play-time, watched a few movies etc.

*I studied until about 3 pm the day before the exam because I still had more material to cover.  *13. Exam day I was up early and went to the site. I finished both sections (AM and PM) with over an hour to spare. I did NOT go through and rate questions etc. I simply worked the questions in order. If I didn't feel satisfied with an answer, or if I had to guess, I put a mark next to it and moved on. At the end, I came back and re-worked the questions I had doubts on. I still left the exam room very early both sessions. I felt that leaving the AM session early and giving myself extra time for lunch allowed me to clear my head and prep for the PM session.

*I worked up until the last minute of the test.  *

14. Went through the now well known process of self-doubt and anger at the lack of timely results.

*Agreed!  There is another thread that you should check out after the test that is dedicated to this.  *15. Got my results today. Wrote this up as a thank you EB for your help and support. Thanked EB financially on getting the good news.

*THANK YOU all again!  *

Feel free to ask any questions and best of luck prepping for April 2015.


----------



## casummerlin

Passed TFS October 2017.  I finished undergrad in 2010 and have been working in power generation facilities ever since.  I've worked in coal-fired plants and simple cycle and combined cycle combustion turbine facilities.  I don't do real design work and don't do a lot of calculations.  Here's what worked for me:


I started studying in late July and I studied for a couple hours after work Mon-Thurs.  I tried to do 4-6 hours on Friday and Saturday.  No studying on Sundays.  I kept this up pretty well through August and most of September, but I was feeling pretty good and slacked off in October.  Towards the end, I was only getting a few hours a week done.  We had a shutdown at work the week before the exam, so I didn't get much studying done that week.  I did take the day before the exam off and studied for about 8 hours.

The first thing I did was go through the Eng Pro Guides study guide and worked the practice problems in it.

I worked through 6MS once over the course of several study sessions, but I don't think it helped me much.  Personally, I wouldn't work through this book more than twice.

I worked the Eng Pro Guides practice test something like 6 times.  The first time through, if I didn't know what to do, I'd go look at the solution, find the applicable material in the MERM, read it, understand it, tab it, highlight it, etc.  I did not worry about how much time this took.  The first time through probably took me a total of 20+ hours because I was learning the topics as I went along.  Each time through I would add tabs and highlighting if necessary.  By the second or third time through, I knew right where to go in the MERM for each question.  Eventually I got where I could work all 80 problems in about 4 hours.  I would just sit down and work 40 problems straight through and call it a session.

I worked the 2011 NCEES practice exam about 6 times as well in the same manner.

I saved the 2016 NCEES practice exam until October and worked it twice.  The first time through, I treated it as a mock exam.  There were only a few questions I didn't feel good about and I was well within the time limit.  At this point, I felt like I could pass.  I worked through it again for good measure.

I did not work any problems from the MERM.

In my studies, I only opened my college Thermo book a few times.  I lost the rest of my college textbooks due to water damage several years ago, but didn't feel like I really needed them.  There were a few times I wish I'd had my Fluids book and my Heat Transfer book, but I made it through with the MERM and Google.

I took my tabbed MERM, Keenan steam tables, some SI steam tables I printed and put in a binder, the unit conversion book, Crane TP-410, and a binder with a few copies of an 11x17 psych chart and a hand-written cheat sheet I made with the conversions and formulas I found myself using very frequently during my studies.  I used everything except Crane 410 during the test.

In the morning, I worked through all the problems I knew how to do and skipped a handful.  I went through that handful two times and on all the quantitative problems I at least got a number that was a choice.  There were one or two qualitative questions that I had to spend some time thinking about, but I came to answers I felt good about on them.  I didn't have to make random guesses on anything and I left with about 45 mins left in the morning session.

The afternoon was pretty much the same.  Went through the questions I skipped a few times and left with about 45-60 mins to go.  Didn't randomly guess on anything and got one of the choices for every quantitative problem.

I think the number one best piece of advice I can give is to not just learn the solutions to the practice problems.  Learn the theory behind the formulas instead of just learning a "cookbook recipe" to get an answer.  Understand why you're using a specific approach or formula.  I think that as long as you take this approach, then you'll be ok spending the majority of your study time working and re-working practice tests.

I appreciate everyone posting what worked for them.  It really helped me to make the best use of my study time.  Hope this helps someone.


----------



## Flluterly

I did passed TFS in October. Thanks everyone for the help, support and encouragement from Forum. I am out of school more than 10 years and I spent around 350-400 hours for the PE test. I exactly followed the study strategy from Ramnares P.E



the material I used:


MERM (read all TFS sections based on NCESS's specification)

TFS 6 SMS (did 5 or 6 times)

Practice problems for the mechanical engineering PE exam (only TFS section based on NCESS's specification)

Practice exam from NCEES (did 3 or 4 times)

Practice exam from Eng pro guides (final mock exam within 8 hours)

Unit conversion book

I hope helps. let me know if you have any question.


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## cornsnicker3

Hello everyone!

I plan on taking the April 2018 exam in Minnesota.

I have noticed for nearly all of the recommendations that rarely anyone mentions the example problems found in the MERM. Are these example problems good practice for understanding theory or is it well accepted that they aren't worth anyone's time?

Cheers!


----------



## Oleg

Would anyone recommend the PPI course work? Curious as it is very expensive.


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## Sheshtawy

cornsnicker3 said:


> Hello everyone!
> 
> I plan on taking the April 2018 exam in Minnesota.
> 
> I have noticed for nearly all of the recommendations that rarely anyone mentions the example problems found in the MERM. Are these example problems good practice for understanding theory or is it well accepted that they aren't worth anyone's time?
> 
> Cheers!


These examples are excellent and they'll help you grasp the topics better. They aren't as difficult as the MERM's companion book's problems but they are good to start with.


----------



## casummerlin

Another thing I did was to write the units for the answer choices beside the answers before I started working on the problem.  That served as a final reminder to check the units on my calculated answer against the units for the answer choices.  If you don't pay attention to your units, you're going to have problems on this test, but you won't know it because they'll include the usual unit mistakes as answer choices.


----------



## Audi Driver P.E.

cornsnicker3 said:


> Hello everyone!
> 
> I plan on taking the April 2018 exam in Minnesota.
> 
> I have noticed for nearly all of the recommendations that rarely anyone mentions the example problems found in the MERM. Are these example problems good practice for understanding theory or is it well accepted that they aren't worth anyone's time?
> 
> Cheers!


In version 13, they moved the in-text problems to a separate book.  That may be why.


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## Jespiga

I passed the PE Exam on October 2017 following this thread. Studied for about 220 hours. I have a coworker that used the same recipe and also passed. I'd almost go as far as saying it guarantees a passing score. Reviewed the MERM and its examples, worked SMS twice (thought it was overkill) and did the practice test around 4 times. All I can say is thank you for sharing your approach!


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## cornsnicker3

Audi driver said:


> In version 13, they moved the in-text problems to a separate book.  That may be why.


The Thirteenth Edition has problem in the book. I am aware that there is another book with additional problems that go with the book. My original question was regarding why people never seem to talk about the example problems in the MERM.


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## Sheshtawy

cornsnicker3 said:


> The Thirteenth Edition has problem in the book. I am aware that there is another book with additional problems that go with the book. My original question was regarding why people never seem to talk about the example problems in the MERM.


Because most people just skim through the MERM and try to solve as many problems as possible from other books/ practice exam. I did all the examples in the MERM for the TFS and I thought they were great.


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## Sheshtawy

I took the TFS exam in October and I passed. I was never a big fan of solving certain problems or exams gazillion times until you get them 100% correct, so I didn't do that. But solving problems, a lot of problems, is extremely important. Here's my 2 cents:
- The NCEES practice exam and Slay the PE exam (the exam is free but the solution isn't) were great. The Engineering Pro Guides exam is too easy and I personally believe that the study guide is a waste of time and money.
- Create your own reference manual and get familiar with it. This can contain charts, graphs, steam tables, air tables, solved problems, or whatever else you feel like. 
- Tab the shit out of your MERM
- The Six-Minute Solutions book is total garbage
- Lindebrug's Unit Conversion book is a life saver
- PPI's new TFS reference manual contains some decent problems, but it's far from conclusive. It has nothing about HVAC and it's chapter about Supportive Knowledge is a joke.


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## Oleg

For those who passed the TFS exam, how did you deal with the problems that involved cooling towers and stack temperatures? The MREM was not that helpful in that area


----------



## Slay the P.E.

Sheshtawy said:


> ... and Slay the PE exam (the exam is free but the solution isn't) were great. ...


Thanks for the kind words. We're very excited to have contributed to your success. Congratulations!


----------



## cornsnicker3

Sheshtawy said:


> Because most people just skim through the MERM and try to solve as many problems as possible from other books/ practice exam. I did all the examples in the MERM for the TFS and I thought they were great.


My intent is to work through all of the relevant MERM before even attempting the practice exam. In my head, I theorize that going through the MERM problems will get me 80% the way there in terms of sheer knowledge. The rest of the 20% will come from working the other references and developing good test habits.


----------



## Sheshtawy

cornsnicker3 said:


> My intent is to work through all of the relevant MERM before even attempting the practice exam. In my head, I theorize that going through the MERM problems will get me 80% the way there in terms of sheer knowledge. The rest of the 20% will come from working the other references and developing good test habits.


That's pretty much what I did. The only difference is I spent almost 60% of my time studying the MERM and the other 40% with everything else.


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## Sheshtawy

May I add that the Engineering Pro Guide's creator is a very helpful and respectful person. He reached out to me and offered to refund me for the guide and asked me for my feedback. I think that the next version of the guide and practice exam will be great.


----------



## Vel2018

Hello,

Thank you all for sharing this. I am new here and I will take the April 2018 TFS exam.

I read through all the advice and I have few questions in general, please feel free to answer, any input is appreciated.

1. I always see Psychrometric Charts being printed 11x17 - is this a must? or a letter size will do? I have printed bunch of Standard, low pressure, low temperature, high temperature charts, will this be of any use in the exam? or does any of you who already have taken the test used the other charts than the standar?

2. I was reading the MERM introduction, and saw this list of reference, "Table 3" although based on what I read here, most of the reference in that table were not mentioned except for TEMA standards where according to that fellow Engineer he did not even used it during the exam. I would like to ask for more input/opinion on the references listed on "table 3" in the MERM introduction. The rest that I did not list down here I know for sure I'm gonna need it based on what I read on this thread.

These are the list of references in the MERM introduction "Table 3". I need to decide if I will be using these references but please do advice me if its necessary or not. 

a.) Air Tables- Gas Tables by Keenan and KEyes

b.) Compressible flow Tables (included in Gas tables)

c.) Mark's Handbook

d.) TEMA Standards

e.) Heat Transfer Book (any suggestion? which book if this is necessary?)

f.) ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals

g.) ASHRAE Pocket Guide Inch Pound Edition

h.) Crane/s Flow of Fluid's TP410 (I have the Metric edition the one you can download off google) 

i.) NFPA Standards - I don't think this is needed but no harm asking. 

3. Also with this new exam specifications, does the MERM covers all? I have read someone said about cooling tower problems being not in the MERM but came out in the exam?


----------



## justin-hawaii

@Vel2018 

1.  With respect to the 11 x 17 psych charts, it all depends on your eyesight.  If you feel comfortable with a smaller psych chart then that should be sufficient.  I have helped some people that have difficulty interpolating with the smaller charts.  

2.  Here is my opinion on the list of references needed for the Thermal &amp; Fluids PE exam.  I can't speak to all of those items on your list, but the ASHRAE Fundamentals book has a good heat transfer section.  So maybe you can save some money and not get another heat transfer book, if you already have the ASHRAE Fundamentals section.  I think the main thing is to go through each of the NCEES outline items and ensure that you have sufficient references for each item. 

http://www.engproguides.com/thermalreferences.html

(I don't think you need to purchase the Power Plant Engineering Book or the Hydraulics &amp; Pneumatics book, if you have some practical experience with these topics.  I only recommend these books because it adds real-life context and practical background knowledge to the concepts and skills tested on the PE exam.)

3.  I have received comments similar to what you read about the cooling tower information.  I think the ASHRAE Systems &amp; Equipment book has a lot of information specific to many of the equipment listed in the NCEES outline.  Again, I put all that information on the previous link.


----------



## cornsnicker3

How well can someone do with using JUST the MERM, hand made cheat sheets, and the printed Appendix/Index?

I am simply too poor and uninterested in investing in a large library of books that I don't envision using even in my profession career (Google and borrowed references have practically eliminate any need for me to buy references for my work). Is it possible?


----------



## Ramnares P.E.

cornsnicker3 said:


> How well can someone do with using JUST the MERM, hand made cheat sheets, and the printed Appendix/Index?
> 
> I am simply too poor and uninterested in investing in a large library of books that I don't envision using even in my profession career (Google and borrowed references have practically eliminate any need for me to buy references for my work). Is it possible?


With a strong understanding of the subject material, you can pass the Thermal/Fluids with just the MERM.  I'd suggest buying the Lindeburg conversion book for the convenience and time it'll save you.


----------



## Vel2018

Ramnares P.E. said:


> With a strong understanding of the subject material, you can pass the Thermal/Fluids with just the MERM.  I'd suggest buying the Lindeburg conversion book for the convenience and time it'll save you.


Hi, 

I agree, that is how I will prep for the exam, not just by practicing problems but rather understanding and knowing the theories and applications.

So far, I am thinking of using these books below and bring it to the exam:

1. MERM 13th Edition

2. Practice Problems (MERM13th Ed. Companion)

3. TFS Reference Manual by Hanson

4. SMS

5. NCEES Practice Exam 2011 and 2016

6. Flow of Fluids TP 410M (I got the Metric one) Should I get the English Unit version? Is this book worth it?

7. TEMA Standards

8. NCEES Reference Handbook

*These below I am not sure:*

a.) Air Tables- Gas Tables by Keenan and KEyes

b.) Compressible flow Tables (included in Gas tables)

c.) Mark's Handbook

d.) TEMA Standards

e.) Heat Transfer Book (any suggestion? which book if this is necessary?)

f.) ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals

g.) ASHRAE Pocket Guide Inch Pound Edition

Just needed inputs based on your experience with the exam, which books among these are of *NO* use? 

Thanks in advance!


----------



## Ramnares P.E.

1.  Keep the Mark's at home.  It's of more use for the Machine Design folks.

2.  I did not find much use for the ASHRAE books and I expect that to be true with the improved MERM which has a more comprehensive HVAC section.

3.  Heat Xfer - I did not take a heat xfer book, nor did I need one.  You'll probably need one during your studies - particularly for some of the Nusselt number questions in the SMS.

4.  I took a more comprehensive set of steam/gas tables but that's because I had one available with better intervals that was present in the MERM.  The MERM is sufficient, including compressible flow tables.

I am not familiar with the TEMA standards but maybe one of the other folks on here can provide an opinion on that.


----------



## Vel2018

Ramnares P.E. said:


> 1.  Keep the Mark's at home.  It's of more use for the Machine Design folks.
> 
> 2.  I did not find much use for the ASHRAE books and I expect that to be true with the improved MERM which has a more comprehensive HVAC section.
> 
> 3.  Heat Xfer - I did not take a heat xfer book, nor did I need one.  You'll probably need one during your studies - particularly for some of the Nusselt number questions in the SMS.
> 
> 4.  I took a more comprehensive set of steam/gas tables but that's because I had one available with better intervals that was present in the MERM.  The MERM is sufficient, including compressible flow tables.
> 
> I am not familiar with the TEMA standards but maybe one of the other folks on here can provide an opinion on that.


Thank you very much for taking the time to respond appreciate it. As I am a dad with 7 and 8 yr old. It is the same for me, it is a one shot deal for me. I want to make it simple as possible, I have exactly 91 days to study from the test date and will probably just make 4-6 hours the most each day to review and practice.

I'm just a bit confused where to start since I saw lots of reference mentioned in the Table 3 MERM. 

Just a little bit of my background, I finished school way back 2006 from overseas. 

Then I took my FE Mechanical CBT in May of 2015, I did the same, I studied everyday for 5-7 hours each day and 8-12 hours during weekends for 3 months. 

I only used 3 reference, its the FE Mechanical Review Manual, the Practice companion and the thick Review Manual like for the General. I know I only need those 3 books for the FE.

But now  for the PE It's just quite overwhelming to see references like these where there are less subjects now. 

By the way I have the ASME Steam Table compact edition, this should suffice right? Also I bought a gas tables by Keenan and Kaye 1948 (do I NEED newer version)?


----------



## cornsnicker3

Ramnares P.E. said:


> 1.  Keep the Mark's at home.  It's of more use for the Machine Design folks.
> 
> 2.  I did not find much use for the ASHRAE books and I expect that to be true with the improved MERM which has a more comprehensive HVAC section.
> 
> 3.  Heat Xfer - I did not take a heat xfer book, nor did I need one.  You'll probably need one during your studies - particularly for some of the Nusselt number questions in the SMS.
> 
> 4.  I took a more comprehensive set of steam/gas tables but that's because I had one available with better intervals that was present in the MERM.  The MERM is sufficient, including compressible flow tables.
> 
> I am not familiar with the TEMA standards but maybe one of the other folks on here can provide an opinion on that.


1. I don't even own Mark's for aforementioned reasons. I am glad I don't really need to buy it.

2. I have almost no familiarity with the ASHRAE series. I have only read the name while perusing the forums, but know nothing about it. I won't get it if it is truly not needed.

3. For Heat Transfer, I have goods and bads. I was fairly competent in college in this class and got A's in Heat Transfer I and II. The bad is I don't have a book because I needed money and needed to move. I am just going to have the make the MERM work for me here.

Also, I was turned off by the SMS as most users on here stated that it is practically useless for the new exam format and a waste of money.

4. I have the appendices printed, sheet protected, and binder bound. It has worked fairly well in my studies.

I think the only thing I plan on buying at this point is the exam itself ($350 is an ouch), the 2016 practice exam, and the Lindeburg unit conversions book. I am just gonna have to make it work


----------



## Simpo Hippo

User banned for posting links to personal YouTube site.


----------



## breezy_moto

I've been seeing a lot of talk about the unit conversion book. I've been using the 2 conversion pages in the quick reference for the ME PE Exam by Lindeburg. The multipliers are pretty useful. What does the conversion book have that's not in the quick reference, just more conversions and more complicated ones?


----------



## MikeGlass1969

breezy_moto said:


> I've been seeing a lot of talk about the unit conversion book. I've been using the 2 conversion pages in the quick reference for the ME PE Exam by Lindeburg. The multipliers are pretty useful. What does the conversion book have that's not in the quick reference, just more conversions and more complicated ones?


Nearly ever conversion possible...    HIGHLY recommend you have this for the exam.  I had to use mine several times for my exam.  Worth every cent of the $40 I paid for the book.  I will be keeping mine for reference.


----------



## Ramnares P.E.

@Slay the P.E. moved the discussion regarding the practice exam here:


----------



## mongolianbbq

To those who took the revised exam recently. Which practice exam was most similar to the real exam? A reviewer on amazon said the NCEES practice exam was very different than the real exam. I've pasted the review below.



> I took the April 2015 exam (ME - thermo/fluids) and passed. While this helped me study, I don't feel the problems were representative of the exam. The exam was substantially different. I wouldn't say it was much more difficult though. Overall, studying problems from my class books seemed more beneficial than this guide.


----------



## Audi Driver P.E.

mongolianbbq said:


> To those who took the revised exam recently. Which practice exam was most similar to the real exam? A reviewer on amazon said the NCEES practice exam was very different than the real exam. I've pasted the review below.


You need to understand the purpose of the practice exam.  It's not going to give you sample problems from the real exam.  It's only purpose is to show you what level of difficulty to expect and to give you an opportunity to determine how to pace yourself for the actual exam.  You can glean some idea as to the breadth of material that will be on a typical exam, but it is NOT representative of the entire breadth of topics that MAY be covered.


----------



## hasler

I am wrapping up my studying for the April exam and I am unsure which standards I should get a copy of for the exam? Does anyone have suggestions on this topic?


----------



## Ramnares P.E.

I'm not sure specifically what Standards you'd be interested in.  Unlike other disciplines, like HVAC where ASHRAE is basically required, T&amp;FS typically isn't limited to specific standards.  A comprehensive list of references is provided in this thread.


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## Vel2018

I passed the 1st try! Self study, 3 months of no life spent approximately 500hrs of studying, practicing timed test until I was fast fast fast (Like I finished NCEES practice test in lessthan 2hrs, 2.3hrs for SMS and 2.5hrs for SlayThePE at the last week of my study, yes that fast!) You want to pass 1st time 100%, then be that fast at the same time making sure you know your doing the right approach and knowing the concepts. 

just follow this thread, and the attitude to pass only 1 shot and you will succeed!


----------



## slmn

thanks all for the useful info.

i have one question about machine design, statics and dynamics ... problems, according to the TFS NCEES exam specs there is no such topics, is it worth to spend some time studying them?

im asking because i found some recommendations for some machine design books...

thanks


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## Ramnares P.E.

@slmn this forum is intended to catalog what worked for you during studying that helped in passing the exam.  For general exam help, please create a separate post in the mechanical forum.

Thanks.


----------



## mckenz007

This forum was astronomically helpful for me when it came to figuring out how to study for this goliath of an exam. I just found out I passed the exam on my 1st attempt and I wanted to share my study methods for future test takers in case it’s of any value, like previous posts were to me.

*My Background:* Graduated with a ME degree in 2011, but technically work as an environmental engineer in the municipal drinking water industry. I considered taking the Civil Water Resources exam, but was scared off by the civil breadth section. I decided to go back to my mechanical roots and chose thermal/fluids because of the overlap with fluids and my current work.

*Study Resources:*

MERM (13th ED): Get this, it’s worth it. I found the most value came from the appendices. You DO NOT need other steam tables – the MERM tables were more than efficient for the exam. Yes, you may need to interpolate. No, the extra 30 seconds spent interpolating for 1 or 2 problems is not going to make or break your test taking experience.

Lindeburg’s Quick Reference for ME PE Exam (5th ED): Take it or leave it… could be useful but I didn’t really utilize it. I ended up writing my own “quick reference” that I found much more valuable.

Lindeburg’s Engineering Unit Conversions (4th ED): Super helpful, especially for studying. There were some conversions on the exam, but not nearly as bad as the practice tests.

Lindeburg’s Practice Problems for ME PE Exam (13th ED): Don’t waste your time or money on this. The problems are way more complex than the actual exam. I did about 30 of the 1000 problems and then never touched it again.

*Practice Tests:*

NCEES Practice Exam (2016 ED): Hands down most representative of actual exam. Do it over and over.

Engineering ProGuides Practice Exam: Second most representative after NCEES Practice Exam. Questions may be a little on the easier side. Save this test for towards the ends of your studies it will be a good confidence booster after sloughing through the below.

SlaythePE Practice Exam: Some questions are a bit harder than what you’d find on the actual exam, but so, so, so helpful. I think studying off of this exam was the difference between passing and failing for me. The power plant problems look scary and overwhelming, but reviewing these solutions taught me how simple they are when you break it down.

Deckler’s Thermal and Fluid Systems Six-Minute Problems (2nd ED): Will take you way longer than 6-mins a problem to start, but keep at it. Problems are a bit harder than the actual test, but good practice. Skip “Codes and Standards” question at the end. You are not expected to have copies of codes at the exam and these can’t be solved without them.

Lindeburg’s PE Mechanical Thermal and Fluids Systems Practice Exam (1st ED): Way harder than the actual test. Will kill your confidence. Worth struggling through once or twice for practice.

*Prep Course:*

Dr. Tom’s Classroom: Great resource for catching up on all the basics after years out of school. Most importantly, this course gave me structure and steered me towards what was important to study and what was not. Be prepared to spend a couple extra hundred dollars on ink and printer paper as you amass all of Dr. Tom’s handouts. Videos are on-demand, and surprisingly engaging. There is forum where you can ask Dr. Tom questions directly and he is very prompt with responses.

*Study Regimen:*

I started studying on January 2nd for the April 13th exam. I started with the Dr. Tom’s Classroom Course. He has a 20 week plan, but I averaged about 3 weeks of lessons per actual week. During this time, I was only doing DTC lessons and his assigned problems, which came from Deckler’s Six Minutes Problems (referred to by old name Six Minute Solutions), the NCEES 2016 practice exam, and Dr. Tom’s personal bank of questions. I was finished the entire course by the 1st week of March.

I then started working through practice test. I ran through the above mentioned tests over and over and over again. First/second time through I often had to look up solutions and runs took WAY longer than 8 hours (more like 16-20). Keep at it. Things will start to click eventually. When you are feeling confident with one test, put it aside and start working on the next. I dedicated at least 4 hours a day to working on problems, 7 days a week. It sucks, but it pays off. While working on these problems, I made of list of equations/notes so I didn’t have to look through the MERM every time – more on this below.

About three weeks out from the exam, I wrote out the question and solutions to every single problem from every single test neatly on its own piece of paper, hole punched it, and put it in a categorized binder. This is huge take-away of the DTC method. I had 5 binders: Thermo, Fluids, Heat Transfer, HVAC, Engineering Basics. These binders were each tabbed for different categories of problems, for example: the Heat Transfer binder had tabs for conduction, convection, radiation, heat exchangers, and so on. Each tab also included corresponding notes/problems from DTC. The theory is if while taking the exam a heat exchanger question comes up that you aren’t sure of the solution path, you take out your heat transfer binder, flip to hex section, and there you have 10-12 different hex questions to compare against to jog your memory.

At the same time I was working on my own equation/reference binder. I got a lot of this information from DTC notes, the MERM, and equations/notes recorded while doing practice tests. I organized it carefully by topic and highlighted important reminders. It ended up being about 40 well-spaced out pages which I put in plastic sleeves for easily flipping through during the exam.

A week or so before the real test I did a timed dry run of the ENGPRO Guides exam. I ended up getting 80% correct, and took me about 7 hours start to finish. Afterwards I also re-wrote and sorted all these questions into my problem binders mentioned above.

*The Actual Test:*

Most important bit of advice I got off this form: If you don’t know the solution path to a problem immediately, SKIP IT. Morning section, I knew how to do 28 problems on the first run and had skipped 12. At this point, I had about 90 minutes left to work on the ones I didn’t know immediately. I wasn’t panicking because I was feeling confident about those 28 and I still had plenty of time left. And believe it or not, I was able to figure out several of those I skipped during this time (or I at least got a corresponding answer in the multiple choice). By the end of the 4 hours, I only had 2-3 that really were straight up guesses. Same thing happened in the afternoon, first run through I felt confident in 34 questions. I then had a little under an hour to work on the 6 I had skipped, with a lot less pressure. I figured a couple more out and guessed on the remaining 2-3. I never felt pressed for time at any point during the test.

For the test itself, I really only used my personal equation/reference binder, the MERM appendix, and the unit conversion book. I barely touched the problem/solution binders I had made – but I think at this point their content was engrained in my brain that I didn’t need to.

*Aftermath:*

I left feeling cautiously optimistic. As the weeks of waiting ticked by, that optimism dwindled and I was certain I had fallen for all the tricks or skipped a bubble somewhere and all my answers were off by one question. When I got the email notification my heart was racing. When I saw the “PASS” I literally “Yahoo!-ed”.

Best of luck to all those preparing!


----------



## Audi Driver P.E.

Appreciate your post here @mckenz007. The only thing I would caution others about your post is regarding steam tables. The steam tables in the MERM were definitely NOT enough for my exam and a lot of time could have been wasted interpolating, when it was a simple look up.  Can you do it without them? Yes. Would a person be better served with a better set of tables? Absolutely. Since there are excellent free tables available, I see no reason why someone would not study with and bring more complete tables to the exam, for use.  Here are your best bets for both standard and SI unit steam tables (both free):

Here is a link for the best Imperial units table I could find (I did a lot of searching) http://www.tuner.tw/omega%20cd/zsection/STEAM_TA.PDF  and a GREAT compilation of SI units (tables 1, 2, and 3) here: https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/srd/NISTIR5078.htm


----------



## squaretaper LIT AF PE

Audi driver said:


> Appreciate your post here @mckenz007. The only thing I would caution others about your post is regarding steam tables. The steam tables in the MERM were definitely NOT enough for my exam and a lot of time could have been wasted interpolating, when it was a simple look up.  Can you do it without them? Yes. Would a person be better served with a better set of tables? Absolutely. Since there are excellent free tables available, I see no reason why someone would not study with and bring more complete tables to the exam, for use.  Here are your best bets for both standard and SI unit steam tables (both free):
> 
> Here is a link for the best Imperial units table I could find (I did a lot of searching) http://www.tuner.tw/omega%20cd/zsection/STEAM_TA.PDF  and a GREAT compilation of SI units (tables 1, 2, and 3) here: https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/srd/NISTIR5078.htm


I agree with @Audi driver, P.E. 100%. The only thing I would add (in addition to both these US and SI tables) is to print out an 11x17 Mollier diagram and use that as your first stop. You'll know immediately if you're superheated (and if you're doing any turbine problem, you'll probably start there anyway) and you can pick off enthalpies in 1-5 seconds versus 20-30 seconds rooting around the tables. In my practice runs and on the exam, I found the resolution on the Mollier diagram sufficient to get the correct answer. Either way works! Just nice to have options. I was a steam table holdout for a long time before I jumped to the Mollier diagram.


----------



## mckenz007

Audi driver said:


> The steam tables in the MERM were definitely NOT enough for my exam


Appreciate the note - I guess I should have prefaced that I am only describing my test taking experience. I would say the need for interpolation on the test I took was minimal. I used my calculator to do any interpolations for me and as I said, time was not an issue for me on test day, so a couple extra seconds didn’t make a difference. If you think you’re going to need every last second, print out the tables (great links!). But I just used the MERM tables, and I passed, so it can be done!


----------



## cornsnicker3

I made a similar post on another thread, but wanted to capture my experience here. Overall, I took a minimalist approach and it worked just fine. *I passed*

Overall hours studied: *~200 hrs*

*Books Used/Brought:*

1*. MERM - *This is the bread and butter of my studying. 95% of the content I reviewed was out of this book. I simply reviewed the relevant chapters for TFS and did all of the example problems. I hardly used it during the test itself due to #3.

2. *Engineering Unit Conversions* - This is a must have during the exam and is beneficial for studying.

3. *Self Made Equation/Appendices Book - *I compiled each chapter into an equation sheet and their respective appendices. This book *REALLY *made the difference for me. I was able to navigate everything so much faster than with the MERM. I had the MERM for back-up or for unknown definitions, but this book was my execution playbook.

I did not use any other NCEES exams, SMS, EngPro Guides, or any other reference. I also didn't refer to any problems during the exam

*How did I study:*

*1. MERM Problems - *I worked the relevant MERM problems in the actual MERM itself. I did this only one time.

*2. MERM Companion Problems - *I worked about 80% of the relevant problems and felt that the problems were sufficient for understanding the material.

*3*. *NCEES 2016 *- I worked this three times with about 96% on my last attempt. I honestly didn't find much value for this other than exam formatting.  It was good for understanding the PE problem structure, but I didn't get as much use out of it as many other posters.

*4*. *SlaythePE - *I worked this exam once, but was stubborn to pay for the solutions. It kicked my butt when I did it and got me to focus harder is about all.

*What would I have done differently? *Although I passed, I still would have done some stuff differently.

*1.* Get the Companion Problems earlier* - *These are integral to studying and really complete the MERM problems

*2. *Work the chapters carousel method* - *I would have hopped chapters after each problem rather than slamming a single chapter at once. I got really bored doing all one problem.

*3. *I probably would have brought something for control valves since I know very little about the them and the MERM does a weak job covering it.

That is my experience!


----------



## sambisu

Following @cornsnicker3's lead...here is what worked for me and some thoughts for future test-takers. This was my first (and only) time taking the exam. 

The only books I ended up using or needing were *MERM*, *Engineering Unit Conversions*, and *steam tables*. The steam tables I used were a version published by Iowa State University which I held on to from my undergrad. I actually looked into whether they still print them, but couldn't get an answer. They were a huge help though as they were much more comprehensive than anything else I found. I did not have to interpolate a single time to get through the exam. If you are questioning the need for the Engineering Unit Conversions book, GET IT! I used it a lot while studying as well as during the actual exam.

*In general, my studying looked like this:*


Started by attempting to read through MERM in its entirety and gave up after 3 or 4 chapters.

Completed the NCEES 2016 practice exam twice un-timed. On the second pass, I made a note sheet of all the commonly used equations. This eventually became my exam "cheat sheet". Completed the exam a third time (not in one sitting) timed. Also tabbed MERM as I went along.

Completed Slay the PE once un-timed. Made additions to my cheat sheet as I went through. Made sure I understood each problem.

Completed Slay the PE (not in one sitting) timed.

*WEEKEND BEFORE THE EXAM: *Completed NCEES 2016 in one sitting (giving myself the same format as exam day with a one hour break between AM and PM sessions...also did not allow myself any scratch paper besides the exam itself). I made a point of not even looking at this exam for about 6 weeks prior to this so I would hopefully not just remember how I worked out the problems. I also went through and worked out all of the practice problems that @Slay the P.E. posted on this forum.

Not sure total number of hours studied, but would guess somewhere in the 100-150 hr range.

*Opinions on practice exams taken:*

*NCEES 2016 -* Spot on as far as difficulty and type of questions.

*Slay the PE* - Definitely more difficult than the actual exam, but really helpful as it hit the right topics. Definitely worth the investment for the solutions.


----------



## sambisu

mckenz007 said:


> SlaythePE Practice Exam: Some questions are a bit harder than what you’d find on the actual exam, but so, so, so helpful. I think studying off of this exam was the difference between passing and failing for me. The power plant problems look scary and overwhelming, but reviewing these solutions taught me how simple they are when you break it down.


This ^


----------



## ME_VT_PE

just take Dr. Tom's classroom for TFS and do exactly what he says and you will almost certainly pass


----------



## Slay the P.E.

So many posts here for me to "like" or "thank". 

This functionality seems to have been disabled for me


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## Ramnares P.E.

Slay the P.E. said:


> So many posts here for me to "like" or "thank".
> 
> This functionality seems to have been disabled for me


You may have handed out too many.  I believe there's a quota.  @knight1fox3 can you confirm??


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## knight1fox3

Ramnares P.E. said:


> You may have handed out too many.  I believe there's a quota.  @knight1fox3 can you confirm??


Confirmed that there is a quota for assigning posts a status. And I believe that is tied to the type of user account one has.


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## BFT87

My strategy and preparation was nearly identical to @mckenz007. The only things I did differently were:


I used @Slay the P.E.'s practice problems and practice exam. The solutions were well explained and better explained some topics than Dr. Tom.

I did not touch the Six Minute Solutions book. The problems are just confidence killers in my opinion and are poorly explained. 

Six weeks before the exam, I did at least two practice exam runs each week. The goal was to work on problem recognition, how to use my resources effectively, and get my timing down. 

I did not bring all the reference binders I created for Dr. Tom's course. Instead, like Mckenz007 did, I just heavily modified the EDC with different equations and other reference material. My whole thought was I wouldn't have time to flip through different binders for a solution during the exam and I just needed one go to source to do 70 - 80 percent of the problems and the rest I would rely on the MERM for.

I brought the ASME steam tables (SI &amp; US) with me to the exam. It helped cut down on a lot of interpolation and interpretation of Molleir diagrams. I still did use the MERM steam table during the exam as the ASME did not have superheat values at atm pressure.

And again just reinforcing what Mckenz007 said, you need to skip problems if you don't immediately understand how to solve them. The morning section I skipped possibly 6 or 7 in a row at one point. I think a lot of it was due to the initial panic attack I had when starting. But, I was able to come back later with clear mind and plenty of time left to solve them or take an educated guess.


----------



## Monir

Hello I will appear the PE exam in October 2018 in Thermal and Fluid Systems. I have a question regarding UNITS.

Guideline says "The exam uses both the International System of units (SI) and the U.S. Customary System (USCS)." 

What does it mean?

1) Does this mean that in same question will have USCS and SI unit? 

2) Or total exam will use USCS and SI unit, but some question will be SI unit and some are in USCS unit

Which one is correct? 1 or 2?


----------



## emmajuwa

Monir said:


> Hello I will appear the PE exam in October 2018 in Thermal and Fluid Systems. I have a question regarding UNITS.
> 
> Guideline says "The exam uses both the International System of units (SI) and the U.S. Customary System (USCS)."
> 
> What does it mean?
> 
> 1) Does this mean that in same question will have USCS and SI unit?
> 
> 2) Or total exam will use USCS and SI unit, but some question will be SI unit and some are in USCS unit
> 
> Which one is correct? 1 or 2?


First, dont just appear for the exam, be involved in the exam.

To answer your question, they can mix up SI and US units in one question. Option 1 is correct.


----------



## Monir

Thank you emmajuwa for your response.

Yes I will be involved 

So question will be like attached image. One unit will be in bracket [ ].


----------



## Monir

Audi driver said:


> Does anyone have a copy (perhaps in PDF format) of the Appendix for MERM 13? I have the index.


Can you please give me the index. Thanks in advance

email: [email protected]


----------



## Slay the P.E.

Monir said:


> So question will be like attached image. One unit will be in bracket [ ].
> 
> View attachment 11888


Questions will not be like that. They will not provide the equivalent units in SI in parenthesis for English units problems or vice-versa. What you show here is actually two problems in one. So, you solve the problem with the given English units and then solve it again with the SI units for additional practice with a different system of units.

Mixed units (SI and English) in the same problem would be very rare. Please look at the official NCEES practice questions book for the most accurate representation of question format.


----------



## Ramnares P.E.

This ^  

It has been my experience that for any one given question, the unit system will be consistent throughout.  The exam itself may have different unit systems used throughout in different problems, but no single question uses multiple unit systems (typically).


----------



## Audi Driver P.E.

Monir said:


> Can you please give me the index. Thanks in advance
> 
> email: [email protected]


No.


----------



## Vel2018

Monir said:


> Thank you emmajuwa for your response.
> 
> Yes I will be involved
> 
> So question will be like attached image. One unit will be in bracket [ ].
> 
> View attachment 11888


@Monir just a heads up, I don't think they would be asking questions like this. You gonna have to sweat a little bit with the real exam problems.


----------



## BT in CT

Just wanted to thank the contributors to this thread very sincerely for guiding my test prep approach. I have been out of college since 1995 with an ME fluid and thermal sciences focus, and spent many years in combustion engineering on-site combined heat and power. This year I have changed career tracks to energy efficiency to follow a passion that I've always had to contribute to well designed buildings, so I decided to take the PE exam in HVAC/R rather than fluid and thermal. Just found out I passed. What a relief!

Never would have made it without Ramnares's original guidance and also the many subsequent posters who shared their methods.

Best wishes to all and thank you again

Ben Toby


----------



## slmn

i got the result notice , i passed OCT 2018 TFS

thanks for the contributors to this thread, some points that may be beneficial to the exam takers:

- i started by a quick review reading through the MERM . to refresh my mind i solved the problems (examples) of the basic concepts of fluid , thermodynamics....etc, i tried not to miss any topic listed in the exam specs , in some areas i made further readings in my text books (fluid mech, thermo and heat transfer)

- SMS and lindeburg practice exam was  useful made me find the concepts and study the important topics but many of the problems is far difficult. and in my opinion is not PE exam problems, anyway i did them. (try to solve the problem , see the solution , study the concept in MERM, highlight the equation, mark the page)

- NCEES 2016 practice exam is extremely important, i left it  to the end and try to do it in the same exam environment (time and references).

- slay the PE has some interesting problems, i used it the same way i did with SMS and lindeburg  , i didn't buy the solutions.

- i made my own folder/sheet of the important formulas and concepts, that was the most useful and most used reference helped me a lot especially as a time saver

- the MERM, my own folder/sheets, ASME steam tables was almost all i have  used

- unit conversion table available free on engproguides was enough for me, some minor units are missed and i added them while studying 3 or 4 ones as far as i remember

almost 4 months of preparation, may be two to three hours daily after work and weekends around 8 hrs/day

my advice, it is not useful to bring a lot of reference materials unless you already used them during your preparation and know particularly how to use them and why you are bringing them , you will not find a lot of time to search and read during the exam.

one important thing is the  concentration and how to stay focused for 4 hrs morning and the most exhausting is the 4 hrs after noon so be prepared and take one day at least before the exam as a rest , sleep well........etc

thanks


----------



## vaibhav kapoor

Thanks for sharing your Experience with us. and  Congratulations.!!!!!

all the best for your future.....!!


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## Ramnares P.E.

Thanks for the feedback and glad to hear this thread continues to help folks.  Hope you guys stick around.


----------



## TPatil

Big thanks to all contributors and advisors in this group. I passed the TFS exam, 88 percentile. For engineers who are planning, this forum is a very good resource of getting advice. My quick tips for those who are planning to appear in next exam -


Concentrate on getting your concepts clear. Exam is not hard if your concepts are clear.

Once your concepts are clear next thing is practice. As time is limited, you need speed to solve problems in time.

Take your personal notes throughout your study. Organize them in a binder. It was a life saver for me.

I carried only four books to the exam -


MERM

Personal Notes Binder

Unit Conversion Book by Lindeburg

Steam Table by Keenan


----------



## AlliChEME

I will add my experience as well. I hesitated to take the exam for years because my degree doesn't like up exactly with my work experience, so I didn't feel confident I would be able to be successful in either subject. I have a Chemical Engineering degree but my job has always been mechanical engineer. Fast forward 14 years and I'm now a wife and mom  to elementary aged kids. When I decided to bite the bullet and sign up for the exam, I knew I had to use my time effectively. I also refused to sequester myself away from my family. So I studied amid all of the noise and distraction. I think this actually helped me tune everything and everyone else out on exam day and keep my focus.

I started studying in April. I bought a copy of MERM, 13th edition. I didn't spend any time simply reading through. I knew I wouldn't really absorb the information that way. I bought the NCEES Practice Exam and started working my way through the problems without looking at the solutions unless I was completely stumped. The first time through took me a long time (a month or more), and I was discouraged, but I kept going. After I made it all the way through the NCEES practice exam, I started on the Slay the PE practice exam. I did purchase the solutions, which were well explained. The Slay the PE exam was more difficult than the NCEES practice exam, and I am glad I did it second (otherwise I may have given up). I did the same thing with this one - I took my time working the problems. After I finished Slay the PE, I worked through NCEES again and it went much more quickly the second time. Then Slay the PE again. After that, I bought the Engineering Pro Guides practice exam. The difficulty of it was in line with the NCEES practice exam, and it was a confidence booster for me. By the time I finished EngProGuides, I was about 4 weeks out from the exam. At this point, I started over and worked through NCEES again (in pen) and EngProGuides again (also in pen). I didn't have time to work through Slay the PE again, so I photocopied my previous work on those.

Through all of this, I used MERM as my only reference. I tabbed every relevant chapter and wrote the chapter number and title on the tabs, both front and back so I could flip to it easily no matter the page to which I had the book already open. Each section got a different color. I also tabbed the appendices I found myself using frequently. I bought alphabet tabs and tabbed the index at the start of each section. I used this book so much that I had to reinforce the spine with clear packing tape to keep it from falling apart. I now know it backwards and forwards. During the exam, this and the Engineering Unit Conversion book were the only two that I used.

If I had to do it over again, I would have purchased more practice problems instead of repeating the same ones over and over again. The more you work problems stated in different ways, the faster you will be able to recognize the method you need to use during the exam.

I'm also very glad that I studied using the calculator that I used on exam day. I have used a TI-89 since high school and of course it is not allowed during the PE exam. The TI-30x that I used had a very different feel to the keys and I couldn't type on it the way I do my regular calculator. I made a lot of errors in the beginning of my studying simply because I had to get used to the differences. It would have been a major issue if I hadn't gotten that worked out before exam day.

The references I took with me were:

MERM 13th edition

Engineering Unit Conversions

Crane Technical Paper 410

Cameron Hydraulic Data

Steam Generation and Use

NCEES Practice Exam

Slay the PE Practice Exam

Engineering Pro Guides Practice Exam

11x17 psychrometric charts


----------



## BT in CT

My path has been long and winding, and it's been a long time goal to secure the P.E. registration. Now that it's done, here is the method I used:

I graduated BSME in 1993 and MS Civil Engr in 1995. Worked about six years as a combustion engineer for a gas turbine manufacturer. About 18 years as a Sales Engineer and Sales Manager since then, in distributed energy and cogeneration.

This year I switched career paths into high efficiency building systems, so I decided to take the HVAC/R exam (in which I have basic knowledge but very little hands on practical experience) rather than the Thermal and Fluids exam, which would have been much more relevant to what I've done in my career. But I really wanted this to be a learning experience for my new career direction hence the HVAC/R decision.

So, I had a lot of cobwebs to dust off. To prepare for the FE exam I first completed "Calculus Refresher for the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam" (Peter Schiavone 2000), in its entirety including all practice problems, took about three months. I then worked through FE Mechanical Review Manual (Lindeburg) again in its entirety including all practice problems. Did not do any practice exam repetition or timed practice tests. Felt comfortable passing the FE exam in April 2018.

Came upon Ramnares's post in May of 2018, just after completing the FE. Having just completed the FE my technical mind felt sharpened by the prep leading up to that exam. I followed the Ramnares method as follows:

* HVAC and Refrigeration Six Minute Problems (Keith Elder 2017) - five times in a row. Took my time and used the MERM a lot for reference the first one or two times. After the fifth time my speed was not blazing (about 4 hours total), but sufficient to be confident that I could handle this number of questions on the actual exam in the time allowed. Two hours per day, 6 days a week, 3 weeks

* NCEES PE Mechanical HVAC/R Practice Exam (NCEES 2016) - five times in a row. Again, the first time through I referenced the MERM a lot, second time less so, and so on. On the fifth time through I completed the full exam in about four hours. Two hours per day, 6 days a week, 3 weeks

* MERM companion practice problems - Chapter 38 (Psychrometrics), Chapter 39 (Cooling Towers and Fluid Coolers), Chapter 40 (Ventilation), Chapter 41 (Fans, Ductwork, and Terminal Devices), Chapter 42 (Heating Load), Chapter 43 (Cooling Load), Chapter 44 (AC Systems and Controls). Treated these chapters like an exam, in that I completed all of the problems in these chapters with a five minute time limit per problem. Two hours per day, 6 days a week, 3 weeks

Total post-FE prep time was approximately 120 hours. I know others have done much more, but for me this was the right balance. My youngest has just left for college, so my wife and I have a quiet home. I've always been a morning person, so my study time was 6 to 8 am every day, before beginning my work day. Sundays off to decompress and rest.

I will say that the ASHRAE books were crucial to my prep, and also on the day of the test. I'm not sure if it's unique to HVAC/R, but the MERM did not contain all the information needed to answer either the practice exam problems or the actual exam problems. Having to dig into the ASHRAE books during my sample exam prep was good practice for me, because it sure was necessary on the day of the exam!

References I brought with me to the exam:

Purchased resources:

MERM

Engineering Unit Conversions, Lindeburg 4th edition

ASHRAE 62.1 Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality

ASHRAE 90.01 2016 Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings

ASHRAE Fundamentals 2001

ASHRAE HVAC Applications 1995

ASHRAE HVAC Systems and Equipment 2012

ASHRAE Refrigeration 2006

11 x 17 psychrometric charts

Hand made resources, all in a single medium-sized binder:

Tabbed the MERM - no special method, just nice and organized in a way that worked for me

Photocopied the MERM index and the ASHRAE master index (the index in the back of all four of the ASHRAE references is the same)

Practice problems - wrote out about 70% of my practice problems in my own handwriting and made and index by type of problem, where I could find the solution, etc.

Notes on the references:

* Just bite the bullet and buy the full set of psych charts from ASHRAE early in your test prep. Make copies and mark them up as you go. They have the protractor and dual units for moisture content on the right side vertical axis, both of which are useful/crucial.

* I would love to have had the most current version of all of the ASHRAE books, but come on, they're super expensive. The reason I bought the 1995, 2001, and 2006 versions is they are available online used for $20 and I simply couldn't afford $200 each for new editions.

Well that's about it! Now I'm wondering what to do with myself next! 

Best wishes to all

Ben


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## Kohos

TPatil said:


> Big thanks to all contributors and advisors in this group. I passed the TFS exam, 88 percentile. For engineers who are planning, this forum is a very good resource of getting advice. My quick tips for those who are planning to appear in next exam -
> 
> 
> Concentrate on getting your concepts clear. Exam is not hard if your concepts are clear.
> 
> Once your concepts are clear next thing is practice. As time is limited, you need speed to solve problems in time.
> 
> Take your personal notes throughout your study. Organize them in a binder. It was a life saver for me.
> 
> I carried only four books to the exam -
> 
> 
> MERM
> 
> Personal Notes Binder
> 
> Unit Conversion Book by Lindeburg
> 
> Steam Table by Keenan


Congratulations!

&amp; how did you know the "88 percentile"?


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## TPatil

Kohos said:


> Congratulations!
> 
> &amp; how did you know the "88 percentile"?


Check below link to get exam score -

https://engineers.texas.gov/exam_check_grades.php


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## Kohos

I passed the exam (October 2018) and I want to thank everyone who helped me (Thank you!!) in this blog and also add in my two cents.

I took the TFS module based on my background even though my current job is nothing related to TFS. Started studying mid July, serious studying in August giving me ~ 3 months of self study. The books I used were:


MERM 13th edition (Heavily tabbed, I wanted to save some seconds from having to look into the appendix even though I had the appendix printed out separately)

Practice Problems for the Mechanical Engineering PE Exam-(did all the relevant sections in this book, no real benefit other than for the power cycle section where repetition helped me, if I had to do it again I wouldn't purchase this book or I would do the book at the end after mastering all the concepts)

Thermal and Fluids Systems Six-Minute Problems - This book may frustrate you at first, but go over it at least three times, the problems help you learn concepts and it is overkill but it helped me. I skipped a lot of problems that seemed irrelevant due to the new exam format

Thermal and Fluids Systems Reference Manual for the Mechanical PE Exam - this is a good book to do more practice problems, but I found myself pulling my hair out a couple of times because the book had mistakes, the e-book didn't have them updated either...I plan to write to them showing the mistakes so be cautious if you purchase it. 

PE Mechanical Thermal and Fluids Systems Practice Exam -Not much different from the older edition, only a handful of new information but it helps

NCEES PE Mechanical Engineering: Thermal and Fluids Systems Practice Exam - purchase this, it should be obvious, it is from NCEES and I thought it was a good representation of the exam structure compared to other books. I had an older NCEES exam with me too and the problems were almost the same.

I took all the above books for the exam. The table on the exam was big, I had these books in a carry on luggage and referenced the practice books more than once during the exam. Other items I took for the exam are:


Two calculators, if you use casio fx11, use the RCL function to save any conversion factors

One note book with common conversions and some problems/notes that I thought was useful (about 15 pages total) 

Conversion book

Psychrometric charts on 11x17 from links posted on this forum (colerado) in color and multiple ones, color helped during the exam

Steam tables (one posted in the forum from Audidriver, I wanted to save time from iterating)

Two rulers, straight and right angle

Snack, water, Aspirin

A binder with online notes I found for certain topics, when I felt MERM wasn't sufficient, 

I did not take all the problems I did, I left it at home, it would be a waste of time to go hunting for similar problems and leaving them at home was the only way to avoid doing that during the exam. Additionally you will find that any question you have on NCEES or other practice problem, the solution is probably already covered by this forum or youtube (Dr Tom) which I found very useful. Slay the PE's website had some good graphs too that I printed and took for the exam.

Night before the exam: took off from work a bit early and I actually did review some notes (even thought most folks say not to) and the morning of, during coffee I reviewed a little bit too

Day of the exam: Ate something good for the tummy (plain and simple) and went to the exam site early, waited outside in the cold until they let us in and sat for the test. First module I did not skip over what I didn't know and wasted time and rushed through the end, but knew better for the second half and skipped what I didn't know and second half went smoother. 

*In summary:*


You don't need to read each page of the MERM, when you do practice problems, you will see yourself flipping to the same page/chapter, know those chapters well and where to find the information

When you do practice problems, learn the concept so you aren't hoping to get similar questions on the exam

Make the exam your priority for a few months, the hard work will pay off

Try to keep calm during the exam, few problems frustrated the crap out of me, and I learned to skip them till the end

You might get curve ball questions, ones you have never seen or topics you didn't expect. So use your appendix wisely or skip the problem, you do not need to get 100% to pass the test

Don't forget to give back! This forum helped me and I want to repay

Best luck to all!


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## Slay the P.E.

AlliChEME said:


> ... I started on the Slay the PE practice exam. I did purchase the solutions, which were well explained. The Slay the PE exam was more difficult than the NCEES practice exam, and I am glad I did it second (otherwise I may have given up). I did the same thing with this one - I took my time working the problems. After I finished Slay the PE, I worked through NCEES again and it went much more quickly the second time. Then Slay the PE again. After that, I bought the Engineering Pro Guides practice exam. The difficulty of it was in line with the NCEES practice exam, and it was a confidence booster for me. By the time I finished EngProGuides, I was about 4 weeks out from the exam. At this point, I started over and worked through NCEES again (in pen) and EngProGuides again (also in pen). I didn't have time to work through Slay the PE again, so I photocopied my previous work on those.


Hi @AlliChEME

Congratulations! We're glad you did well. We appreciate the mention in your excellent post.


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## mikeman1986

Hello guys, 

What did you study for the following subjects? 

1. Pipe system analysis (e.g., pipe stress, pipe supports, hoop stress)
2. Joints (e.g., welded, bolted, threaded)

4. Control valves (e.g., flow characteristics, sizing)
5. Actuators (e.g., hydraulic, pneumatic)
6. Connections (e.g., fittings, tubing)

Does MERM cover these topics sufficiently? for example, there is a chapter for pressure vessel in MERM, however, pressure vessel calculations are very broad and the best reference for study is ASME section VIII div.1 which is around 780 pages. 

The PE syllabus that NCEES has is vague and I don't know why!?!


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## justin-hawaii

mikeman1986 said:


> Hello guys,
> 
> What did you study for the following subjects?
> 
> 1. Pipe system analysis (e.g., pipe stress, pipe supports, hoop stress)
> 2. Joints (e.g., welded, bolted, threaded)
> 
> 4. Control valves (e.g., flow characteristics, sizing)
> 5. Actuators (e.g., hydraulic, pneumatic)
> 6. Connections (e.g., fittings, tubing)
> 
> Does MERM cover these topics sufficiently? for example, there is a chapter for pressure vessel in MERM, however, pressure vessel calculations are very broad and the best reference for study is ASME section VIII div.1 which is around 780 pages.
> 
> The PE syllabus that NCEES has is vague and I don't know why!?!




1.  Pipe Systems:  ASHRAE Fundamentals, Chapter 22 Pipe Design

2.  Joints:  ASHRAE Systems, Chapter 46 Pipes, Tubes and Fittings

4.  Control Valves: ASHRAE Systems, Chapter 47 Valves

5.  Actuators:  ASHRAE Systems,  Chapter 47 Valve &amp; https://www.parker.com/literature/Industrial Cylinder/cylinder/cat/english/0106c002.pdf

I have my take on the entire NCEES outline topics and references for each topic on this webpage. 

http://engproguides.com/thermalreferences.html


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## Dr. Barber

justin-hawaii said:


> 2.  Joints:  ASHRAE Systems, Chapter 46 Pipes, Tubes and Fittings


Yet in the NCEES TFS Practice exam, the one problem on "joints" is about eccentric loading of the bolted joint of two metal bars. I think for this it is better to review the concepts of mechanical joints: bolted, welded 

I think it would actually pay to review sections 53-11, 53-12, 53-15, 53-20, and 53-21 from MERM


----------



## Dr. Barber

mikeman1986 said:


> Hello guys,
> 
> What did you study for the following subjects?
> 
> 1. Pipe system analysis (e.g., pipe stress, pipe supports, hoop stress)
> 2. Joints (e.g., welded, bolted, threaded)
> 
> 4. Control valves (e.g., flow characteristics, sizing)
> 5. Actuators (e.g., hydraulic, pneumatic)
> 6. Connections (e.g., fittings, tubing)
> 
> Does MERM cover these topics sufficiently? for example, there is a chapter for pressure vessel in MERM, however, pressure vessel calculations are very broad and the best reference for study is ASME section VIII div.1 which is around 780 pages.
> 
> The PE syllabus that NCEES has is vague and I don't know why!?!


If its any consolation, the NCEES practice exam for TFS doesn't have any problems or questions on any of these topics, with the very bizarre exception of one qualitative problem on the eccentric loading of a bolted connection of two metal plates. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


----------



## Kohos

mikeman1986 said:


> Hello guys,
> 
> What did you study for the following subjects?
> 
> 1. Pipe system analysis (e.g., pipe stress, pipe supports, hoop stress)
> 2. Joints (e.g., welded, bolted, threaded)
> 
> 4. Control valves (e.g., flow characteristics, sizing)
> 5. Actuators (e.g., hydraulic, pneumatic)
> 6. Connections (e.g., fittings, tubing)
> 
> Does MERM cover these topics sufficiently? for example, there is a chapter for pressure vessel in MERM, however, pressure vessel calculations are very broad and the best reference for study is ASME section VIII div.1 which is around 780 pages.
> 
> The PE syllabus that NCEES has is vague and I don't know why!?!


Only studied the parts that were covered by practice exam/practice problems using the MERM. I think if you know how to do a free body diagram and understand basic loading, it will get you far. Remember to know where to get information during the exam if something does show up.


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## GordyJ

Kohos said:


> Only studied the parts that were covered by practice exam/practice problems using the MERM. I think if you know how to do a free body diagram and understand basic loading, it will get you far. Remember to know where to get information during the exam if something does show up.


Has anyone gone through each and every item in the Exam specifications and noted where to find applicable info/problems (e.g., MERM Section X.X or NCEES Practice Problem XX)?  Was surprised after seeing my Exam Diagnostic that the problem distribution lined up almost exactly to the exam specs.  Felt like my prep course could have also taken a closer look at this, but I digress : )

If not, I'd be willing to give this a shot.  If you awesome exam passers out there think this may be a waste of time, however, let me know.  Thanks!


----------



## GordyJ

GordyJ said:


> Has anyone gone through each and every item in the Exam specifications and noted where to find applicable info/problems (e.g., MERM Section X.X or NCEES Practice Problem XX)?  Was surprised after seeing my Exam Diagnostic that the problem distribution lined up almost exactly to the exam specs.  Felt like my prep course could have also taken a closer look at this, but I digress : )
> 
> If not, I'd be willing to give this a shot.  If you awesome exam passers out there think this may be a waste of time, however, let me know.  Thanks!


I should also add that the primary objective is to identify these areas in the MERM and/or Practice Problems (NCEES, PPI, etc).  Would like to minimize the purchase of additional references (e.g., ASHRAE) when possible.  Thanks in advance.


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## Dr. Barber

GordyJ said:


> Was surprised after seeing my Exam Diagnostic that the problem distribution lined up almost exactly to the exam specs.


How detailed are the categories in the diagnostic report? 

For instance, do they say

*Principles&gt;Fluid Mechanics *

or do they break it down in more detail as in the exam specs:

*Principles&gt;Fluid Mechanics&gt;"Fluid properties"*

*Principles&gt;Fluid Mechanics&gt;"Compressible Flow"*

*Principles&gt;Fluid Mechanics&gt;"Incompressible Flow" *


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## GordyJ

Same as the exam specs on NCEES website


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## Dr. Barber

GordyJ said:


> Same as the exam specs on NCEES website


Seriously?

What does your diagnostic report say under: 

*Hydraulic and Fluid Applications &gt; Hydraulic and Fluid Equipment &gt; Actuators*


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## McEng PE

PEinIllinois said:


> Seriously?
> 
> What does your diagnostic report say under:
> 
> *Hydraulic and Fluid Applications &gt; Hydraulic and Fluid Equipment &gt; Actuators*


NCEES website provides a sample diagnostic report to give an example how they are formatted. But it is best to just cover all the areas listed in the syllabus, because there is no way of knowing what will be thrown in on the exam. That is why the exam is so hard to prepare for.


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## Alex Marchena

From my experience, aside from the MERM, my most valuable reference was a ring binder where I compiled the most commonly used unit conversions and equations I came across while preparing for the exam. I made these sheets after studying for a couple of months, and they were a huge time saver on the exam.


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## Ramnares P.E.

Alex Marchena said:


> From my experience, aside from the MERM, my most valuable reference was a ring binder where I compiled the most commonly used unit conversions and equations I came across while preparing for the exam. I made these sheets after studying for a couple of months, and they were a huge time saver on the exam.


As a first time prep taker I strongly suggest prepping utilizing Lindeburg's Engineering Unit Conversions as this is the most comprehensive.


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## GordyJ

Ramnares P.E. said:


> Work the problems over and over again.﻿


I appreciate the write-up but have always been perplexed by folks who work the same problems many times over.  Once I know the "trick" to a problem (or superfluous information), I don't see much value in reworking it more than once or twice.  But maybe that's just me....


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## McEng PE

GordyJ said:


> I appreciate the write-up but have always been perplexed by folks who work the same problems many times over.  Once I know the "trick" to a problem (or superfluous information), I don't see much value in reworking it more than once or twice.  But maybe that's just me....


For me, doing the problems over and over again (3 to 4 times) helped me ingrain the steps for certain types of problems and it also helped me memorize a lot of equations, which saves a lot of time. Also, doing the problems over and over again means do one pass it, and do another pass at it a week or two later. By then you may have forgot part of the steps, but the 3rd or 4th pass you should just know what to do.  Everyone studies differently though.


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## Doug E. Fresh

Audi driver said:


> Appreciate your post here @mckenz007. The only thing I would caution others about your post is regarding steam tables. The steam tables in the MERM were definitely NOT enough for my exam and a lot of time could have been wasted interpolating, when it was a simple look up.  Can you do it without them? Yes. Would a person be better served with a better set of tables? Absolutely. Since there are excellent free tables available, I see no reason why someone would not study with and bring more complete tables to the exam, for use.  Here are your best bets for both standard and SI unit steam tables (both free):
> 
> Here is a link for the best Imperial units table I could find (I did a lot of searching) http://www.tuner.tw/omega%20cd/zsection/STEAM_TA.PDF  and a GREAT compilation of SI units (tables 1, 2, and 3) here: https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/srd/NISTIR5078.htm


Does anyone know if the PDF from the tuner website has a new link? I can't seem to find the Imperial units table that was mentioned here.


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## Audi Driver P.E.

Doug E. Fresh said:


> Does anyone know if the PDF from the tuner website has a new link? I can't seem to find the Imperial units table that was mentioned here.


Hi Doug, I can't find those quickly so I just scanned my copy and posted it up on a burner google drive account:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qrTbLmf5TUG0GZEAJx1aK_YGDAAE9yKM

They were a generational copy before I got them. Now you have a few sparse notes of my own added in. Still appear to be readable though.

Hope this helps.

And here's the original:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-9pRcKXjVBtAi_OG70YJXXa55DB492OF


----------



## Doug E. Fresh

Audi driver said:


> Hi Doug, I can't find those quickly so I just scanned my copy and posted it up on a burner google drive account:
> 
> https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qrTbLmf5TUG0GZEAJx1aK_YGDAAE9yKM
> 
> They were a generational copy before I got them. Now you have a few sparse notes of my own added in. Still appear to be readable though.
> 
> Hope this helps.


Thanks Audi. I actually saw your response with this on another thread. Coming back here to say thanks for the quick reply.


----------



## IslandStart PE

This is an old thread, but if anyone is still reading it, be sure to realize that the exam format is changing to the computer-based test after October of 2019 (for Mechanical).  This is why I encourage everyone to consider taking their exam this year. 

You can see the study plan that I used back in April 2016.  Keep in mind that there have been some specification changes since I took the exam though.


----------



## cvanwy02

For a detailed look at how I passed the Mechanical TFS exam the first time look at my thread here:


----------



## SpecificHeat

Doug E. Fresh said:


> Does anyone know if the PDF from the tuner website has a new link? I can't seem to find the Imperial units table that was mentioned here.


Found the pdf using the wayback machine.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19N_XU-SgYzAJtyMHHA96YPUmI1R9qwy5/view?usp=sharing

View attachment STEAM_TA.PDF


----------



## jfig

Hello everyone, great info on here. Gearing up for the April 2020 Thermo-Fluids exam. Silly question, besides the practice exam on NCEES and MERM, how does one get a hold of more practice exams? I saw 2001 as well as 2008/2011 mentioned here. Anything helps. Thanks!


----------



## OldSquaw

jfig said:


> Hello everyone, great info on here. Gearing up for the April 2020 Thermo-Fluids exam. Silly question, besides the practice exam on NCEES and MERM, how does one get a hold of more practice exams? I saw 2001 as well as 2008/2011 mentioned here. Anything helps. Thanks!


PPI has some practice exams formulated for the CBT. They also have an online database of practice problems, quizzes, and two practice exams all updated for CBT. I’ve been using this to study. There are a lot of errors in the solutions but so far this is the best resource I’ve found for solving lots of problems for the CBT.

You can get the older NCEES practice exams on eBay or online but keep in mind that some of the older exams covered machine design whereas the new exams do not.


----------



## Darkchild

I just passed the PE exam on the fifth shot via CBT.  I tried self-study, TestMasters, Dr. Tom's Class, and most recently Slay the PE.  I definitely recommend Slay the PE course materials and practice problems to prepare for the exam.  I found their practice exam much more difficult than the PE exam itself.


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## MikeGlass1969

Guest Darkchild said:


> I just passed the PE exam on the fifth shot via CBT.  I tried self-study, TestMasters, Dr. Tom's Class, and most recently Slay the PE.  I definitely recommend Slay the PE course materials and practice problems to prepare for the exam.  I found their practice exam much more difficult than the PE exam itself.


Congrats, Guest Darkchild!!!   

I support Slay and his efforts here on this forum as well.


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## Slay the P.E.

Guest Darkchild said:


> I just passed the PE exam on the fifth shot via CBT.  I tried self-study, TestMasters, Dr. Tom's Class, and most recently Slay the PE.  I definitely recommend Slay the PE course materials and practice problems to prepare for the exam.  I found their practice exam much more difficult than the PE exam itself.


Congratulations!!!


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## Audi Driver P.E.

Slay the P.E. said:


> Congratulations!!!


And to you, apparently.


----------

