# Need serious help in examining my exam techniques to pass PE Mechanical Machine Design Exam.



## Engineer_562 (Oct 31, 2017)

Dear Engineers,

I took a PE exam in Machine design last week (second attempt) and did not do well at it. There were atleast 5 problems in the first session and 15 in the second session that I had no clue how to solve them. I noticed a wide variety of complexity in problems. Some were straight forward definitions  but most were completely new problems to me. The problems had basically related to totally different concepts together, which made them harder to solve. These are the types of problems that I need to find and practice solving them. One problem was "XXXXXXX" (I still dont know if I had answered that correctly).

My question is basically, what did you different to pass the PE exam, the second and third time?

Another question, I have some problems in my mind still that I need to answer and find out if I answered them correctly. Can I post them here?

MODERATOR NOTE:

1.  Per your NCEES policy, you are not allowed to discuss or disclose exam specific content.  Please do NOT post questions on here.

2.  Your post has been edited to remove references to specific exam topics and questions.

3.  Please be mindful of your NDA.


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## DoctorWho-PE (Oct 31, 2017)

You have some very specific things in there relating to exam questions.. might need to remove them.  @leggo PE can you help with that?


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## goast55 (Oct 31, 2017)

Took the exam, just relax.  It was my first attempt so here's to hoping I passed (I'm sure you did just fine!). Do you have the MERM?  Plenty of questions you probably have can be found in there.  I don't believe you should be posting specifics though.  Just relax and wait it out.


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## Engineer_562 (Oct 31, 2017)

vhab49:

Thanks for the response. I can't find the edit button. I am trying my best to delete that specific info.


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## engineerdude123 (Oct 31, 2017)

Well, you obviously are struggling with your listening and reading comprehension skills as they made it BLATANTLY clear that you are not to discuss specific test questions with anybody at any time during or after the test.


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## Engineer_562 (Oct 31, 2017)

goast55:

thanks for the response. I can't relax because I am very embarrassed with how I did on the exam. I did the problems that were on MERM but missed that were not in that book. I definitely need more than just MERM.

To the Admin. I know I have specifics in my post and I assure you that I am not able to find the edit button to remove that.


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## Engineer_562 (Oct 31, 2017)

Engineerdude please tell me how to edit the post. You can criticize me all you want after we edit the post and remove the specifics.


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## Engineer_562 (Oct 31, 2017)

Thanks for whoever edited my post.


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## Engineer_562 (Oct 31, 2017)

Since, I cannot ask specific questions here. Is there anyway to find the answer to one or two problems that I missed on the exam ? I have even tried Google but the questions are so specific that I cant find them on Google. Is there any legal way to find the answer? If not, then that's fine too.


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## leggo PE (Oct 31, 2017)

Engineer_562 said:


> Since, I cannot ask specific questions here. Is there anyway to find the answer to one or two problems that I missed on the exam ? I have even tried Google but the questions are so specific that I cant find them on Google. Is there any legal way to find the answer? If not, then that's fine too.


I don't believe there is any way to find the answer to any specific question on the PE exam, unless it happens to show up in a future NCEES issued PE practice exam.

EDIT: See advice below. Don't pose this as an exam problem. Better yet, just go try to find your answer by doing additional research on the general topic. It's unlikely you'll find the exact problem anywhere.

Also, regarding your post being edited: you don't have the ability to do that yet. So, as it states in your now edited original post, please just avoid posting about the specifics of any exam problems from the get-go. It's better for all of us, you especially!


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## Engineer_562 (Oct 31, 2017)

Thank you Lego PE


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## Guest (Oct 31, 2017)

.


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## knight1fox3 (Oct 31, 2017)

fireguy_PE said:


> This would probably only work if the problem was presented as a "homework problem" or with some description other than admitting it came off of the actual exam. Even a handwritten version of an exam question is still revealing exam content. I think any reasonable person would acknowledge the difference between "hey, how do you solve this type of problem?" versus "check out this problem I saw on the P.E. exam."


Correct. Even presenting to anyone in hand-written form is in violation to the NDA.

Best bet would be to re-create what you remember to yourself and try to find any related material that might help you solve the problem if it were posed to you again.


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## leggo PE (Oct 31, 2017)

Note the edit to my response above! In hindsight, I agree with @knight1fox3 and @fireguy_PE.


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## sbrookef (Oct 31, 2017)

It was my first time taking the MDM - no idea if I passed but I brought way more than just the MERM to the exam. I brought lots of textbooks and practice problems. On the PE exam, about 75% of questions or more had similar concepts to that in which I studied. Not to say I got those 75% of questions right, but I saw similar concepts to them during my studying. I dug around these forums to see which books were most recommended. Also, on Amazon, I read buyer reviews to determine which practice problem books to purchase.


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## sayed (Nov 13, 2017)

engineerdude123 said:


> Well, you obviously are struggling with your listening and reading comprehension skills as they made it BLATANTLY clear that you are not to discuss specific test questions with anybody at any time during or after the test.


kinda rude response

but then again, violation of the NDA is a serious offense to NCEES. (Not that taking a majority of test questions out isn't an easy thing to do)


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