# PE Power Electrical Exam



## Kahrlo (Nov 2, 2010)

Give us your thoughts about the exam.. I feel that the exam is really for minimum competence since the questions are pretty basic based on the ncees given study guide.. No questions are unexpected or out of ordinary.. Just my 2 cents...


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## LMAO (Nov 3, 2010)

Kahrlo said:


> Give us your thoughts about the exam.. I feel that the exam is really for minimum competence since the questions are pretty basic based on the ncees given study guide.. No questions are unexpected or out of ordinary.. Just my 2 cents...


I think I got about %80 to %90 right in the morning and %70 to %80 in the afternoon.


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## Nik (Nov 3, 2010)

PE - Power exam was Ok. I think I did 75% in the morning and 85% in the afternoon.

I was disappointed with the curve-ball questions. Thought would solve all the questions ! Those curve-ball questions really affect mental status on other questions. I wanted to get all the questions right.

However, I just wished only one thing. Why cant there be a strict study material recommended by NCEES ? I read 6-7 books. And I still got some unexpected questions as surprises. I was like , what ? Do I have to be a God of Electrical Engineering ? I am a competitive exam taker, so hitting anything below 90% accuracy kinda bothers me. 

I would rather demonstrate my knowledge by theory and not by multiple choice. Ofcourse, for silly mistakes there is negative points ( as for silly mistakes you are going closer to the failure score).



LMAO said:


> Kahrlo said:
> 
> 
> > Give us your thoughts about the exam.. I feel that the exam is really for minimum competence since the questions are pretty basic based on the ncees given study guide.. No questions are unexpected or out of ordinary.. Just my 2 cents...
> ...


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## cableguy (Nov 3, 2010)

I feel like I got 90-95% in the morning and 75-80% in the afternoon. Not that the questions were that "different", I just got stumped by more of the afternoon questions. I had to do some "most logical answer" type guessing. I had plenty of time for both (well over an hour left in the morning, right at an hour left in the afternoon). The exam wasn't easy, but I dare say it wasn't impossible either. It had a number of tricky questions.


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## penamite (Nov 3, 2010)

I took the electrical power last week and my morning was just like the afternoon. I had to even call the proctor over. I did not have any of the items listed in the morning exam. It really threw me off.


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## djsr50 (Nov 3, 2010)

I didn’t think the test was very "easy" and basic. It wasn’t what I expected. I based my studying on the concepts and problems from the practice exam. I think I got about 65% of the problems before I started deductive reasoning. Judging from the other comments of up to 85%, I hope I can get up to 70% with my reasoning skills. Good Luck to everyone…


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## Machiavelli999 (Nov 3, 2010)

I thought the exam was OK. Surprisingly, I thought afternoon was easier than the morning. From what I remember, I think it was because afternoon was chock full of 'per unit' problems and I love 'per unit' problems. I thought I did mostly OK, but it's never good when during the lunch break you have a realization you did one of the problems wrong.

And yes, I agree with the sentiment that there were a couple things on the exam that either came out of left field or were tricky and kind of depended on how you interpreted the question.


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## Kahrlo (Nov 4, 2010)

I used the following books on the exam and i really thought everything was pretty much starightforward:

- Electrical Machines (Wildi)

- PPI reference/practice books (Camara)

- Power System Analysis (Grainger)

- Protective Relaying (Blackburn)

- NCEES practice exam

- NEC 2008/NESC handbook

- Notes from graduate school

- IESNA Illumination lighting calculations

- Paper on VFDs, power quality

- IEEE colored books (not really necessary)


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## cabbagekid2 (Nov 4, 2010)

I also thought the exam was just OKAY. There were a few that I had to guess. It's hard to say how I did though since it wasn't difficult ...but then again it could have been because it was tricky and I did them wrong...*sigh* now the wait.

Working all of the NCEES and Kaplan problems twice (both timed tests) helped a lot with time management during the test. I thought the morning exam was easier than the afternoon (ended over an hour early for the morning compared to 30 min or so for the afternoon). There were a couple of problems that also shocked me since it wasn't in PPI, Kaplan, or the NCEES sample exams. Had I know that it was going to be on the test I would have studied it but since there weren't any sample problems I didn't think about it.


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## EDISON_NY (Nov 4, 2010)

I think the afternoon exam was easier than the morning exam; generally the exam was straight forward compare to the amount of study we put to prepare. Reference books might help you but if you cover the NCEES sample exam you will be able to at least got 50% morning &amp; 50% afternoon without any problems. Electrical handbooks are needed for the un-expected problems. I hope to pass (though chances are good), but if I will prepare again for the exam, my references will be all based on the NCEES sample exam book. Hope the best to you all.


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## Nik (Nov 4, 2010)

Kahrlo ! You are the man. I wish if I had the paper on VFD's and Wildi.

That would have helped a lot. Again, I think afternoon was easier because I am a Per Unit maniac. I studied 3-4 books on that. And really, without over confidence, I can do good chunk of PU problems. The sad part was, this exam didnt have as many. I would've liked all 80 to be PU problems. 



Kahrlo said:


> I used the following books on the exam and i really thought everything was pretty much starightforward:- Electrical Machines (Wildi)
> 
> - PPI reference/practice books (Camara)
> 
> ...


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## nmh0408 (Nov 4, 2010)

Nik said:


> Kahrlo ! You are the man. I wish if I had the paper on VFD's and Wildi.
> That would have helped a lot. Again, I think afternoon was easier because I am a Per Unit maniac. I studied 3-4 books on that. And really, without over confidence, I can do good chunk of PU problems. The sad part was, this exam didnt have as many. I would've liked all 80 to be PU problems.
> 
> 
> ...


Thank God not all 80 Q were PU  . In general it was not a bad exam, mostly basic power problems.


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## Kahrlo (Nov 4, 2010)

nmh0408 said:


> Nik said:
> 
> 
> > Kahrlo ! You are the man. I wish if I had the paper on VFD's and Wildi.
> ...



Per unit is easy to deal with as long as you understand its true meaning and its advantages. You can solve all short circuit problems easily by having all values on the same base. This topic should be basic to all power engineers i think.


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## cableguy (Nov 4, 2010)

Did you guys download the VFD (Adjustable AC Drives) paper from NEMA.org? I brought it with me. It was helpful.  http://www.nema.org/stds/acadjustable.cfm


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## LMAO (Nov 5, 2010)

So what *IS *the minimum passing grade?


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## Kahrlo (Nov 5, 2010)

LMAO said:


> So what *IS *the minimum passing grade?


from what i read from previous takers, it depends on how the overall class did on the exam.. 52/80 should be reasonable.. But it might still be 56/80 (70%) as a minimum but i wouldn't think they'll stick with that..


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## cdcengineer (Nov 5, 2010)

Scale score is a mystery on exactly how it's determined. There are many posts and topics on this forum which talk/argue about it in great detail. Shoot for 80, hope for 65 and you'll make it over the bar...


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## Nik (Nov 6, 2010)

I agree, in general it was not a bad exam. However, The problem is, that I remember some of the questions that I did not get right. And I found some of the answers just by plain google search within seconds. So I know that my answer choices are wrong. But again, I learnt something new that I dont use at work, and would never will in future.

So if I were to count the number of wrong answers that I definitely think I screwed up, counts to 12 ! :-/ pretty upsetting. Just leaves me a 15% chance left before NCEES cuts me off from the passing troops.

These are the ones that I absolutely know are wrong. Very straigtforward questions, just that I didnt know what is what. Never use it at work, and couldnt find in stupid Camera or Electrical Handbook or even NEC. Obviously the educated guess, ,was kinda a over-killed thinking wrong guess. lol....

I hope I did fine/ok with the rest of the questions as I knew how to crack them without a double doubting.

________________________________________________________________________________

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Kahrlo said:


> nmh0408 said:
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> > Nik said:
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## Chickman (Nov 6, 2010)

Honestly you guys are killing me with this post! I'm so bummed, but then again I was dazed at how I wasn't expecting the type of questions they asked. I even made some tabs in my reference books which didn't seem to help much, but I dove down and did way better on the afternoon section.

I still think I missed some easy ones, got some right that I thought I did wrong, and solved one correctly and just rush answered it and ended up picking the wrong answer. I certainly felt pressed for time on the morning session ...

I'd say I got somewhere around 65 to 75 percent on the morning and 75 to 80, but then again my estimates are planning only getting a couple of answers correct by guessing on each portion. I left feeling that the pep talk I gave myself after the morning session put me in the range I felt I needed on the afternoon, then again after researching my answers I knew I could have done way better. I think the atmosphere and everything just gets you jittery ... certainly hoping that I don't have to drive to that place with horrible parking in six months and that all this wait doesn't hurt my hunting season.

I'm not scared of the test anymore, pass or fail ... I know i won't ever be again. It's certainly not easy, on the note of the pu ... I was certainly banking on it and after just destroying them I kinda slacked off on my studying. Man was I ever disappointed on the type of questions they asked, urgg i can't say much but my calculator is not happy.

Wishing you guys the best, please to be sure to send the big man a good word for me.


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## Flyer_PE (Nov 8, 2010)

A friendly reminder to remember the agreement you signed with NCEES regarding disclosure of exam questions.


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## Dark Knight (Nov 8, 2010)

Flyer_PE said:


> A friendly reminder to remember the agreement you signed with NCEES regarding disclosure of exam questions.


One more thing...

NCEES' reminder it is not that friendly.


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## DarbCU (Nov 9, 2010)

I felt like the morning was a little tougher than the afternoon for me. I have tried not to think about the problems too much, but I can not think of any that I know for sure that I got wrong. I think I got about 65% in the morning and about 75% in the afternoon, plus a lot of good educated guesses in the afternoon. If I don't pass then I think it will be close. If I fail, I feel like I can be better prepared after seeing how the exam really was, and can use that experience to focus on my weak points and time management.


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## Nik (Nov 9, 2010)

Yes, NCEES is monitoring these blogs as well, from my understanding.

They have new NCEES power sample questions. Does anybody know if only the cover has changed ? or the problems are also different ?

___________________________________________________


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## Flyer_PE (Nov 9, 2010)

From just below the picture of the new book on the NCEES site:



> *New look, same great questions!*


I think that answers the question of what's inside the "new" book.


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## sam314159 (Nov 10, 2010)

Nik said:


> Yes, NCEES is monitoring these blogs as well, from my understanding.


I wasn't sure if this was a serious post or not, are they really monitoring forums for leaked questions? What stops someone from just posting all they remember from the exam? I don't think you can really track someone down through these forums if they were trying to remain anonymous.


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## Flyer_PE (Nov 10, 2010)

sam314159 said:


> Nik said:
> 
> 
> > Yes, NCEES is monitoring these blogs as well, from my understanding.
> ...


There was an individual that posted an exam question on this very board that had his exam results nullified by NCEES. There's no such thing as anonymity on the internet.


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## Dark Knight (Nov 10, 2010)

sam314159 said:


> Nik said:
> 
> 
> > Yes, NCEES is monitoring these blogs as well, from my understanding.
> ...


Someone here once took that chance and paid the price. I will try to get the link for you but take my word on this one. They are continiously monitoring this board.


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## Flyer_PE (Nov 10, 2010)

Story here.


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## Dark Knight (Nov 10, 2010)

Flyer_PE said:


> Story here.


Beat me to the punch


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## Flyer_PE (Nov 10, 2010)

Dark Knight said:


> Flyer_PE said:
> 
> 
> > Story here.
> ...



Not by much. Great minds think alike.


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## Nik (Nov 10, 2010)

Ok. I was taking the language too literally. After the trauma of studying for the exam. "same great questions" I thought is analogies to same great questions that NCEES guys have been providing in sample books.

Anyways, so the questions are exactly the same as before.



Flyer_PE said:


> From just below the picture of the new book on the NCEES site:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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