# Computer Depth



## wilheldp_PE (Apr 15, 2008)

Did anybody else take the Computer Depth of the EE exam on Friday? I would venture a guess that I was the only person out of about 120 people at my site that took it. I know of one other person in Indianapolis (college buddy) that took it. I wonder what a low number of testees does to the cut score of an exam. If they only have a sample size of 50-100 nationwide, do they exclude problems based on those results?

Anyway, if there are any aspiring CompEs that plan on getting their PE, I will answer general questions about it here. I'll start with my list of references:

Computer Organization and Design, Patterson and Hennessy

Upgrading and Repairing PCs, 13th Edition, Scott Mueller

Teach Yourself Networking in 24 Hours, 3rd Edition, Habraken and Hayden

Dictionary of Computer and Internet Terms, 9th Edition, Barron's

Those are the only refs that I had specifically for the Computer portion. I also used the EERM and Electronic Circuit Analysis and Design, Neamen on both sections. I really wish I had gotten a basic Software Engineering book because there were a whole lot of debugging/software planning questions that I wasn't expecting. I got the networking book because the sample exams had a lot of IEEE networking standards questions...and I did use it a fair amount on the real test. The Dictionary was invaluable due to several definition-type questions. Also, some of the history of computing and random standards required for the test showed up the Mueller book.


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## Techie_Junkie_PE_LEED_AP (Apr 15, 2008)

wilheldp,

KUDOS! :appl:

Thanks for posting this info. I'm sure you will be helping some poor distressed soul since, as you know, there weren't many posts refering to the Computer Depth.

Are there any references you wish you had brought or areas you wish you spent more time on?

I'm rooting for ya. Good luck and hang in there for the wait.....

(now if we can get more feedback on the ECC Depth...)


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## wilheldp_PE (Apr 15, 2008)

Techie_Junkie PE said:


> wilheldp,
> KUDOS! :appl:
> 
> Thanks for posting this info. I'm sure you will be helping some poor distressed soul since, as you know, there weren't many posts refering to the Computer Depth.
> ...


Yeah, I figured it would help since there didn't seem to be a big knowledge base for Computer Engineers here...not that we take the PE very often anyway. You guys helped me a ton on my Electrical Breadth issues, so I thought I would give back to the forum a little.

Like I said, I wish I had some basic reference on Software Engineering. I don't have a book to recommend since I have never taken a class on that subject. However, if I failed this time and end up taking it again, I will definitely dig one up and post a review of it.


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## adr (Apr 15, 2008)

Good luck wilheldp!

I'm sure there are lots of good Software Engineering books out there. I used Software Engineering by Stephen Schach (was the Software Engineering course textbook at LSU). It had more than enough information for both the sample NCEES questions (#531, #535) and the real exam.


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## MiPatLwr (Apr 16, 2008)

adr said:


> Good luck wilheldp!
> I'm sure there are lots of good Software Engineering books out there. I used Software Engineering by Stephen Schach (was the Software Engineering course textbook at LSU). It had more than enough information for both the sample NCEES questions (#531, #535) and the real exam.


I took the Computer Depth of the EE Exam. I think that I am okay. However, I am a little concerned because I relied primarily upon common sense, logic, intuition and experience from many years ago (instead of a hardcopy reference) for many of the questions in the software area. Just in case, I need a line on a good software engineering reference. According to NCEES, 35% of the Computer Depth exam pertains to software. I felt a little uneasy going into the exam without a specific software reference. Amazon lists many software engineering books by Schach.

What was the specific title and edition of the Schach book?

Does that book cover all of the topics listed by NCEES and its detailed listing of topics covered by the Computer Depth exam? If not, which topics are not covered?

I took a review course. At a common meeting for all disciplines it was recommended that we find out who has a hand in the test preparation and look to that source for study material. In my Amazon search I noticed that IEEE also publishes a software engineering book. If IEEE is involved in the Computer Depth question preparation, I would lean to that book rather than the Schach book if I were to buy only one.

Does anyone know if IEEE is involved in the Computer Depth test preparation?

Does anyone have any opinions as to how well the IEEE software engineering book covers the NCEES detailed listing of topics for the Computer Depth exam?


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## wilheldp_PE (Apr 16, 2008)

I knew that there were going to be software problems, but I was expecting more code snippets and machine/assembly language type questions. What I got was a bunch of questions related to OOP and software structure/planning. That threw me for a loop. I think I got a lot of them just by remembering programming classes from school, and some of them were common sense among CompEs, but others would have been made much easier with just a simple Software Engineering reference. As to which reference would cover the most topics, I can't be sure. In fact, if I went and looked at a reference today and got one that covered all of the topics that I remember from the exam, there is no guarantee that it would cover topics on the October exam. As I said earlier, I will post if/when I need to retake the test and buy some more reference material.


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## adr (Apr 16, 2008)

MiPatLwr said:


> What was the specific title and edition of the Schach book?
> Does that book cover all of the topics listed by NCEES and its detailed listing of topics covered by the Computer Depth exam? If not, which topics are not covered?
> 
> Does anyone know if IEEE is involved in the Computer Depth test preparation?


Looks like IEEE is involved:

http://www.ieeeusa.org/volunteers/committees/lrc/default.asp

I have “Classical and object oriented software engineering with UML &amp; Java” by Schach, 4th edition. This book covers topics B1, B2, B3, and B12.

These are the references I used for software:

A. System software

1. Operating systems (OS book)

2. Real time operating systems (OS book)

3. Computer security (OS book, networks book)

4. Drivers (OS book)

B. Development/applications

1. Software lifecycle (Software Engineering book)

2. Software design methods (Software Engineering book)

3. Software documentation (Software Engineering book)

4. Software fault tolerance

http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~koopman/des_s99/sw_fault_tolerance/

5. Performance enhancement (Hmmm...what were they thinking?)

6. Data structures (Data structures book)

7. Algorithms (Data structures book)

8. Complexity (Data structures book)

9. Database schemas (Database book)

10. Program control structures

11. Programming language characteristics

12. Development tools (Software Engineering book)

OS book: Schaum’s or equivalent should be fine. I had Operating system concepts by Silberschatz et al.

Networks book: I had Computer networks by Peterson &amp; Davie, 3rd edition. This book was helpful. There was a really tough question on networks when I took it and Schaum’s didn’t have the information that was required.

Data structures book: Schaum’s or equivalent should be fine. I had Data Structures by Ellis Horowitz

Database book: I took Database systems by CJ Date. Schaum’s prolly enough.


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## mbparksPE (Apr 23, 2008)

MiPatLwr said:


> I took the Computer Depth of the EE Exam. I think that I am okay. However, I am a little concerned because I relied primarily upon common sense, logic, intuition and experience from many years ago (instead of a hardcopy reference) for many of the questions in the software area. Just in case, I need a line on a good software engineering reference. According to NCEES, 35% of the Computer Depth exam pertains to software. I felt a little uneasy going into the exam without a specific software reference. Amazon lists many software engineering books by Schach.
> What was the specific title and edition of the Schach book?
> 
> Does that book cover all of the topics listed by NCEES and its detailed listing of topics covered by the Computer Depth exam? If not, which topics are not covered?
> ...



Another Computer Engineering PE Wannabe here. I agree MiPatLwr, I feel okay. About as good as I did when I came out of the EIT. I do feel the morning was VERY light on computer related topics. Oh well. The afternoon I felt was fair, wish I had a few more reference books, and more recent books too! Well, the wait is upon us. Best wishes to all my brother (and sister?) CompE PE Wannabes!


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## mbparksPE (Apr 23, 2008)

MiPatLwr said:


> I took the Computer Depth of the EE Exam. I think that I am okay. However, I am a little concerned because I relied primarily upon common sense, logic, intuition and experience from many years ago (instead of a hardcopy reference) for many of the questions in the software area. Just in case, I need a line on a good software engineering reference. According to NCEES, 35% of the Computer Depth exam pertains to software. I felt a little uneasy going into the exam without a specific software reference. Amazon lists many software engineering books by Schach.
> What was the specific title and edition of the Schach book?
> 
> Does that book cover all of the topics listed by NCEES and its detailed listing of topics covered by the Computer Depth exam? If not, which topics are not covered?
> ...



Another Computer Engineering PE Wannabe here. I agree MiPatLwr, I feel okay. About as good as I did when I came out of the EIT. I do feel the morning was VERY light on computer related topics. Oh well. The afternoon I felt was fair, wish I had a few more reference books, and more recent books too! Well, the wait is upon us. Best wishes to all my brother (and sister?) CompE PE Wannabes!


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## mbparksPE (Apr 24, 2008)

Anybody want to venture a guess at the cut score for the Computer Engineering EE exam? I am guessing 47 to 52. Hoping it is closer to 47. Rumors abound in my office and circle of friends. Power was rumored to be at 47. I figure the CompEs have less of a chance on the morning session so we should be around 47 too. Thoughts?


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## wilheldp_PE (Apr 24, 2008)

mbparks2 said:


> Anybody want to venture a guess at the cut score for the Computer Engineering EE exam? I am guessing 47 to 52. Hoping it is closer to 47. Rumors abound in my office and circle of friends. Power was rumored to be at 47. I figure the CompEs have less of a chance on the morning session so we should be around 47 too. Thoughts?


I don't even want to speculate. It's got to be tough to set a cut score for this exam because it probably has the lowest sample size out of all the "mainstream" exams (EE, ME, CE, ChE). I never thought going into the test that I would feel better about the AM exam than I did about the PM. In all my practice, I always felt better about the Computer section than the general...not so on the actual exam.


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## benbo (Apr 24, 2008)

mbparks2 said:


> Anybody want to venture a guess at the cut score for the Computer Engineering EE exam? I am guessing 47 to 52. Hoping it is closer to 47. Rumors abound in my office and circle of friends. Power was rumored to be at 47. I figure the CompEs have less of a chance on the morning session so we should be around 47 too. Thoughts?


I have no idea what the cut score will be on any exam, but 47 is less than 60%. Judging by a lot of the failing diagnostics people have posted on this site, I think it is unlikely to have a cut score under 60%. I said unlikely, not impossible.

But remember, you probably got more correct than you think.


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## rcurras (Apr 24, 2008)

mbparks2 said:


> Anybody want to venture a guess at the cut score for the Computer Engineering EE exam? I am guessing 47 to 52. Hoping it is closer to 47. Rumors abound in my office and circle of friends. *Power was rumored to be at 47. * I figure the CompEs have less of a chance on the morning session so we should be around 47 too. Thoughts?


Regarding Power, there is a guy in this forum, who posted his/her failure results, based on the document sent to him/her by the board: he/she got a 50/80 (50 questions good out of 80).

I think the only way to be “safe”, is to think: I made 56/80 as a minimum.

Have anyone heard about who has failed with 56 good answers over 80 questions? I wish for a lower “cut score”, but you never know (or will know).

Thanks.

RC.


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## wilheldp_PE (Apr 24, 2008)

I guess it's not out of the realm of possibility that a cut score could be over 70% raw if the test was exceptionally easy. It's only fair since they reduce the raw score required to pass when the test is exceptionally hard. I certainly don't foresee this happening based on the comments so far from all of the test disciplines.


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## mbparksPE (Apr 24, 2008)

wilheldp said:


> I guess it's not out of the realm of possibility that a cut score could be over 70% raw if the test was exceptionally easy. It's only fair since they reduce the raw score required to pass when the test is exceptionally hard. I certainly don't foresee this happening based on the comments so far from all of the test disciplines.



Man, the cut score for the CompE exam better not be &gt;56! We get the shaft on the morning exam, imho. Oh well, at least we can all agonize together as we wait. The good news is there is ONLY about 56 to 67 days to go by my best guess for Maryland.

Then we'll all be doing :multiplespotting:


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## rcurras (Apr 25, 2008)

mbparks2 said:


> Man, the cut score for the CompE exam better not be &gt;56! We get the shaft on the morning exam, imho. Oh well, at least we can all agonize together as we wait. The good news is there is ONLY about 56 to 67 days to go by my best guess for Maryland.
> Then we'll all be doing :multiplespotting:


What I do not understand is how come a “cut score” would be higher than 56 questions right out of 80? Is not the minimum passing score (without “normalization/rectification/ or whatever”) 70% (again 56/80 = 70%)?

Thanks.

RC.


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## benbo (Apr 25, 2008)

rcurras said:


> What I do not understand is how come a “cut score” would be higher than 56 questions right out of 80? Is not the minimum passing score (without “normalization/rectification/ or whatever”) 70% (again 56/80 = 70%)?
> Thanks.
> 
> RC.


The 70 score has nothing to do with percent. It is just a number they place on the passing score. For different exams it means different percentages. Nobody is gong to be able to tell you the cut score.

But let me ask you a question -

Do you know exactly what percentage you got correct on the exam you just took? I didn't when I took it. And if you don't know this what good would it do you to know the exact cut score?

Probably you know a range that you might have gotten correct. Maybe 50% to 80% or something like that. Maybe you know it a little better. But I doubt you can say "I got a 69% correct."

I'd look at it this way -

If you're sure you got 70% or better, I wouldn't pop a cork, but you can be pretty confident.

If you got under 55% you need a miracle. They probably won't pass someone who only get's half the problems. On the EIT maybe, probably not on the PE.

Between 55% and 70% - who knows? You just need a little luck.


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## rcurras (Apr 25, 2008)

benbo said:


> The 70 score has nothing to do with percent. It is just a number they place on the passing score. For different exams it means different percentages. Nobody is gong to be able to tell you the cut score.
> But let me ask you a question -
> 
> Do you know exactly what percentage you got correct on the exam you just took? I didn't when I took it. And if you don't know this what good would it do you to know the exact cut score?
> ...


I completely agree with your statements. As a fact, based on my last time failure report, I got 55.5% and did not pass.

What I am trying to represent is that, if the passing grade is 70%, then the real and absolute minimum performance would be answering 56 questions out of 80 in order to pass and not to worry about a possible failure. Again, unless you felt pretty confident about your performance (which is not the sample majority), you have no idea how many questions you got right (like you well stated).

Thanks.

RC.


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## benbo (Apr 25, 2008)

rcurras said:


> I completely agree with your statements. As a fact, based on my last time failure report, I got 55.5% and did not pass.
> What I am trying to represent is that, if the passing grade is 70%, then the real and absolute minimum performance would be answering 56 questions out of 80 in order to pass and not to worry about a possible failure. Again, unless you felt pretty confident about your performance (which is not the sample majority), you have no idea how many questions you got right (like you well stated).
> 
> Thanks.
> ...


Of course IF the passing grade is 70% then you must answer 56 questions correctly. But that is not always true. It varies, and nobody knows the actual passing percent for any given exam. All you know is that for your last exam it was higher than 55.5% (or around 45 questions correct).


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## Capt Worley PE (Apr 25, 2008)

I have a feeling the 70% is a convention in education, of sorts. All throughout my schooling, first grade through college, 70% was a pass (barely), and 69% was a fail.

That being said, I don't know if we're assuming a 70% based on our past experience, or NCEES adopted 70% because it is a 'tradition' in education.


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## rcurras (Apr 25, 2008)

benbo said:


> *Of course IF the passing grade is 70%* then you must answer 56 questions correctly. But that is not always true. It varies, and nobody knows the actual passing percent for any given exam. All you know is that for your last exam it was higher than 55.5% (or around 45 questions correct).


Meaning that it (passing grade) could be higher than 70 %? Thus, it could be 75% (60 good out of 80), or even 80% (64 good out of 80). That is scary.

Quote from NCEES:

“…What is the passing score?

The passing score for each NCEES examination has been set at a scaled score of 70…”

Then, the “scaled score of 70”, can be set to a percentage higher than 70%?

Thanks.

RC.


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## Mike in Gastonia (Apr 25, 2008)

rcurras said:


> Then, the “scaled score of 70”, can be set to a percentage higher than 70%?


Exactly. Imagine it this way. Here is a sample list of exams and their hypothetical raw score to pass:

Civil - Construction - 43

Civil - Geotechnical - 49

Civil - Transportation - 59

Electrical - Power - 54

Electrical - Computer - 52

Mechanical - HVAC - 55

Fire Protection - 39

How would you keep track of all that? What if they released that information? And those numbers change from one exam to the next so how confusing would that be?

So they set each one of those above scores equal to a scaled score of 70. Not a percentage passing score, a scaled score. That way everyone can compare apples to apples. So that's where the 70 came from. they could have called it 75 or 62, but they chose 70.

But apparently even that was too complicated, so they just went to pass/fail.


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## mbparksPE (May 16, 2008)

So what does everyone think, was the April 2008 Computer Engineering exam easy or hard? Anyone with "past" experience that can compare would be appreciated.


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## Techie_Junkie_PE_LEED_AP (May 19, 2008)

mbparks2 said:


> Another Computer Engineering PE Wannabe here. I agree MiPatLwr, I feel okay. About as good as I did when I came out of the EIT. I do feel the morning was VERY light on computer related topics. Oh well. The afternoon I felt was fair, wish I had a few more reference books, and more recent books too! Well, the wait is upon us. Best wishes to all my brother (and sister?) CompE PE Wannabes!


I probably should have asked sooner, but what "few more references" do you wish you had during the exam? This might be helpful down the road for others.


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## mbparksPE (May 19, 2008)

Techie_Junkie PE said:


> I probably should have asked sooner, but what "few more references" do you wish you had during the exam? This might be helpful down the road for others.



The only real additional reference I wish had with me was more on Software Engineering. I was surprised on how much software related questions there was. Also, a book on Operating Systems would've helped.

As for my other comment, make sure your books include the latest protocols and standards. All the study guides I had (both from NCEES and others) focused on RS-232, needed books with my current technology.


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## KnowledgeAcquirer (Jun 15, 2008)

I really appreciate your posting since I just passed the April 2008 FE exam (1st time I've taken such an exam) and am planning on taking the PE Exam in Electrical with the focus on Computers section of the Afternoon exam.

My background includes 26 years of space/ground architecture, satellite system design, VLSI circuit design, LAN/WAN design and installation including Cisco, Nortel, 3Com, and Wellfleet, along with other network engineering, software engineering, and project managemet.

You're the first to identify a set of references that you found useful for the Computers section of the exam.

Some of the questions that I have, that you may be able to provide insight:

1) When you refer to recent protocols other than RS-232, do you mean stuff such as SS7, xDSL, 802.x, older stuff such as X.25?

2) What about the Internet protocols such as SSL, HTTP, HTTPS, SNMP, UDP, TCP/IP?

3) What about the OSI model and CMM?

4) With respect to software engineering, are you talking about SDLC and CMM?

5) With respect to operating systems, do you mean vendor-specific OSs or generic OS type of questions?

I do have a set (I think or I may have given the entire set away) of William Stallings books on Communication Standards.

I have a Software Engineering textbook that I used for my graduate coursework for my MSIS and MBA (copyright around 1990 or thereabouts I think).

Any further insight(s) you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

What references did you find helpful for the morning (BREADTH) session? I was thinking of bringing Horowitz's The Art of Electronics.


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## wilheldp_PE (Jun 15, 2008)

KnowledgeAcquirer said:


> 1) When you refer to recent protocols other than RS-232, do you mean stuff such as SS7, xDSL, 802.x, older stuff such as X.25?2) What about the Internet protocols such as SSL, HTTP, HTTPS, SNMP, UDP, TCP/IP?
> 
> 3) What about the OSI model and CMM?
> 
> ...


The answer to your last question is simply the EERM. I'd say about 95%+ of the morning questions could be answered with info out of the EERM. I may have double checked some stuff in my other references (practice exams, Kaplan books, etc.) but I don't remember any specifically.

1. I mentioned RS-232 because that seems to be the era of technology covered in the NCEES practice exam (along with IDE, SCSI, etc.)...basically older computer protocols. You should study for the same types of questions found in the NCEES practice exam except applied to more modern protocols like USB, FireWire, 802.11, etc.

2. You need some sort of networking book because there WILL be questions about networking protocols (TCP/IP, 802.11, types of ethernet, etc.).

3. You just need to either know, or have a reference that describes, OSI. I don't think there were any in-depth questions about it...but you need to be aware of what it entails.

4. I don't know what you are asking here, so I would assume you don't need to study it too much for the exam.

5. General OS programming questions like data structures, debugging processes, types of faults, etc.


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## adr (Jun 15, 2008)

KnowledgeAcquirer said:


> 4) With respect to software engineering, are you talking about SDLC and CMM?


I took the October 2007 Electrical/Computer depth exam. There were questions on parts of the software life cycle, nothing specific on CMM.

Definitely take the Art of Electronics book. It was very useful in the afternoon.

Books I found useful for the morning:

EERM7

NEC 2005 Handbook

For the afternoon I would recommend:

NCEES sample problems

Digital Design by Wakerly

Art of Electronics by Horowitz

Computer Networks by Peterson &amp; Davie (covers Networks &amp; Security)

Software Engineering by Schach 4th edition (or any other software engineering book)

Data structures by Horowitz (or Schaum's)

Database Systems by CJ Date (or Schaum's)

OS by Silberschatz et al (or Schaum's)

Schaum's Computer Architecture


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## KnowledgeAcquirer (Jun 20, 2008)

wilheldp PE, adr:

Thank you for the great input 

SDLC is the acronym for Software Development Life Cycle on the IT side; it is the acronym for Systems Development Life Cycle for the industry-exempt areas that do a lot of military/intelligence government projects, especially with space systems.

CMM is the acronym for Capability Maturity Model --- applicable only in Software Development environments.

As my luck would have it, I have NEC 2002 so I guess I'll have to reload.

Hey! I have some of the references that adr listed buried somewhere beneath my vendor-specific Digital Design books (i.e., TI, National Semiconductor, etc).

I finally received my NCEES Sample PE Exam for Electrical and Computer Engineering this evening. I'll take a look at it to see if the protocol questions and networking questions are similar to those for Cisco certification.


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## MiPatLwr (Jun 20, 2008)

MiPatLwr said:


> I took the Computer Depth of the EE Exam. I think that I am okay. However, I am a little concerned because I relied primarily upon common sense, logic, intuition and experience from many years ago (instead of a hardcopy reference) for many of the questions in the software area. Just in case, I need a line on a good software engineering reference. According to NCEES, 35% of the Computer Depth exam pertains to software. I felt a little uneasy going into the exam without a specific software reference. Amazon lists many software engineering books by Schach.
> What was the specific title and edition of the Schach book?
> 
> Does that book cover all of the topics listed by NCEES and its detailed listing of topics covered by the Computer Depth exam? If not, which topics are not covered?
> ...



Results update - I did pass the April 08 EE/Computer test. Hopefully, the rest of those taking the the EE/Computer test and participating in this thread passed also.


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## mbparksPE (Jun 25, 2008)

To my future Computer Engineer P.E.s, if you need any advice and I am not around here, feel free to drop me a line @ [email protected]


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## John Williams (Apr 27, 2009)

Another PE wanabe here. I took the Computer test this weekend also. Wanted to see if anyone else did?

Below are the books I used…

Dictionary of Computer and Internet Terms (ISBN: 978-0-7641-3417-3)

Computer Systems and Design and Architecture (ISBN: 0-8053-4330-X)

Digital Design Principles and Practices (ISBN: 0-13-769191-2)

Operating Systems Internals and Design Principles (ISBN: 0-13-887407-7)

NCEES Computer Engineering Sample Questions (ISBN: 978-1-932613-39-1)

The Art of Electronics (ISBN: 0-521-37095-7)

Upgrading and Repairing PC’s (ISBN: 978-0-7897-3697-0)

Schaum’s Computer Architecture (ISBN: 0-07-136207-X)

Schaum’s Operating Systems (ISBN: 978-0-07-136435-5)

Schaum’s Computer Networking (ISBN: 0-07-136285-1)

Schaum’s Data Structures with Java (ISBN: 0-07-136128-6)

Schaum’s Fundamentals of Relational Databases (ISBN: 0-07-136188-X)

Schaum’s Software Engineering (ISBN: 0-07-137794-8)

Schaum’s Digital Principles (ISBN: 0-07-065050-0)

Electrical Engineering Reference Manual 7th Ed (ISBN: 978-1-59126-096-7)

Object-oriented and classical software engineering (ISBN: 0072865512)

Cant say that I really felt like I needed anymore references, there were a few questions I was not sure on but overall I feel good about the test. During my studying I really read the Schaum’s outlines a lot to get caught up on everything. The Computer Architecture is really good and helped me both on the sample test and the real test (read it twice).

For the actual test I used the “Dictionary of Computer and Internet” and “Upgrading and Repairing PC’s” a bunch for the look-up questions. I highly recommend “Upgrading and Repairing PC’s” because it has a fantastic index. I used “Digital Design Principles and Practices” quit a bit also for digital type questions; I used this book in school so I was very familiar with it. I also was able to just answer many questions because I read “Object-oriented and classical software engineering” right before the test. I would recommend doing that.

I was actually surprised on the amount of circuit type stuff I saw and was able to use “Electrical Engineering Reference Manual 7th Ed” for those questions. I work for an ISP so I leave and breathe networks and was not worried about that part of the test. The network questions were so easy I don’t even really remember any of them. I don’t know of a good book to recommend for that but I felt like the Schaum’s outline for networks was very good. If you do not know networks well you might want to pick up another network books.

Hope to see that some other CompE’s took the test and this helps any future takers. I used this thread to build my references and really think that I would have been lost without all the recommendations. Hopefully I wont have to retake this thing again in October.s


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## wilheldp_PE (Apr 27, 2009)

John Williams said:


> For the actual test I used the “Dictionary of Computer and Internet” and “Upgrading and Repairing PC’s” a bunch for the look-up questions. I highly recommend “Upgrading and Repairing PC’s” because it has a fantastic index.


Just out of curiosity, did you get those two books based on my recommendation, or did you already have them?


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## John Williams (Apr 27, 2009)

wilheldp_PE said:


> Just out of curiosity, did you get those two books based on my recommendation, or did you already have them?


Those were all based off your recommendations, really glad I found this site before I took the test, Thanks!

I actually did not think I would use the repairing PC's book at all during my studying but there were some crazy standards type questions on the test and found several in this book.


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## wilheldp_PE (Apr 27, 2009)

John Williams said:


> Those were all based off your recommendations, really glad I found this site before I took the test, Thanks!
> I actually did not think I would use the repairing PC's book at all during my studying but there were some crazy standards type questions on the test and found several in this book.


No problem...I'm just happy that I was able to give some advice that helped somebody. I didn't think I would use that PC book either, but I had it laying around the house and decided to take it with me.


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## tbob (Apr 28, 2009)

Dictionary of Computer and Internet Terms (ISBN: 978-0-7641-3417-3)

Computer Systems and Design and Architecture (ISBN: 0-8053-4330-X)

Digital Design Principles and Practices (ISBN: 0-13-769191-2)

Operating Systems Internals and Design Principles (ISBN: 0-13-887407-7)

NCEES Computer Engineering Sample Questions (ISBN: 978-1-932613-39-1)

The Art of Electronics (ISBN: 0-521-37095-7)

Upgrading and Repairing PC’s (ISBN: 978-0-7897-3697-0)

Schaum’s Computer Architecture (ISBN: 0-07-136207-X)

Schaum’s Operating Systems (ISBN: 978-0-07-136435-5)

Schaum’s Computer Networking (ISBN: 0-07-136285-1)

Schaum’s Data Structures with Java (ISBN: 0-07-136128-6)

Schaum’s Fundamentals of Relational Databases (ISBN: 0-07-136188-X)

Schaum’s Software Engineering (ISBN: 0-07-137794-8)

Schaum’s Digital Principles (ISBN: 0-07-065050-0)

Electrical Engineering Reference Manual 7th Ed (ISBN: 978-1-59126-096-7)

Object-oriented and classical software engineering (ISBN: 0072865512)

I need to buy those books that you advice.

Anyone can help me solving the NCEES problems Computer Depth afternoon samples #10 and #13. I can't figure out the solution for those sample questions.

Thanks.

Bob


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## John Williams (Apr 28, 2009)

tbob said:


> Dictionary of Computer and Internet Terms (ISBN: 978-0-7641-3417-3)Computer Systems and Design and Architecture (ISBN: 0-8053-4330-X)
> 
> Digital Design Principles and Practices (ISBN: 0-13-769191-2)
> 
> ...


Those are both great examples to know well for the test (#510 and #513). I took the real deal last Friday and I can tell you knowing those helped.

As for #510 this covers several types of things you might see. But really it is an easy problem to solve. It gives you the Instruction Register (01110100) Which you can just write in the boxes from MSB to LSB (Instruction Register IR). From there you can see the Op code for the ALU is 110 which states to do an AND operation on inputs IN1 and IN2. IN1 comes from the registers 1-4 and from the Instruction (01110100) you can see that it is register R2. IN2 comes from the Accumulator so now we know where IN1 and IN2 come from. IN1 is R2 which shows to be loaded with (80)HEX and IN2 comes from the Accumulator which is loaded with (FF)HEX. So now we know what the operation is…

(80)HEX AND (FF)HEX which is (1000000)BINARY AND (11111111)BINARY.

Doing that operation you get (80)HEX because of the “AND” operation. Then you can also see that the ENB bit is a “1” for the Accumulator which means that it will latch to the output of the ALU which we just found is (80)HEX and that’s your answer.

As for #513 it is just a state diagram, one way you can look at it is no matter what combo you put in it should give you candy when you get more or at $0.25. So one way to think is the lowest money amount you can put in is a Nickel which means that you are going to have 5 states. That takes out option A and C right away. Option D can be thrown out because if you put in 3 Nickels then a Dime it does not dispense candy. Start from Reset go around putting in 3 Nickels and then the Dime and it just goes back to the reset state but does not dispense candy, actually any combo of dimes never gives you candy. You could feed the thing dime after dime and just go in circles. So that only leaves answer B.

I hope that helps and assuming I pass the test Ill sell you some of my books if you want. I wont find out until late June or early July but if I pass Ill want the cash.


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## chiggarEB (Apr 30, 2009)

Hi,

Can you elaborate "I was actually surprised on the amount of circuit type stuff ..?" I am planning to take the ComEng exam Fall'09 or Spring'10.

Thanks,

chiggarEB


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## John Williams (May 1, 2009)

chiggarEB said:


> Hi,
> Can you elaborate "I was actually surprised on the amount of circuit type stuff ..?" I am planning to take the ComEng exam Fall'09 or Spring'10.
> 
> Thanks,
> ...


Not a problem, after going back and looking at the sample test don't guess I should say surprised. Some really good examples are problems 121, 520, 521 from the sample exam. Really just basic circuits and electronics type stuff. Cant say I really studied at all for those subjects and did not feel as good on those problems as I did on other parts of the test. My suggestion would be review that stuff in the EERM before the test.

Hope that helps.


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## tbob (May 4, 2009)

John Williams said:


> Thanks very much John. I am taking the test on this Oct 09 and I need a lot of review after more than 12 yrs out of college and have 3 young kids.
> 
> Thanks again John


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## JoeHamEE (May 5, 2009)

Another Computer depth guy here. I thought it was pretty straightforward, but like others have said, I could have used a reference for the software questions. I will hold off purchasing additional books in hopes that I make the cutoff. Do you think we'll get results by mid-July?


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## wilheldp_PE (May 5, 2009)

JoeHamEE said:


> Another Computer depth guy here. I thought it was pretty straightforward, but like others have said, I could have used a reference for the software questions. I will hold off purchasing additional books in hopes that I make the cutoff. Do you think we'll get results by mid-July?


Depends on where you live. California? No way. Anywhere else? Pretty good chance.


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## John Williams (May 5, 2009)

JoeHamEE said:


> Another Computer depth guy here. I thought it was pretty straightforward, but like others have said, I could have used a reference for the software questions. I will hold off purchasing additional books in hopes that I make the cutoff. Do you think we'll get results by mid-July?


Hey Joe, Glad to know got someone else out there waiting on the results too, wish you luck. There is a thread on here somewhere that shows when people received there results for past years. Here in TN I am hoping for end of June.

One thing I got to thinking about the other day is wonder if NCEES will separate the pass rate out for the 3 electrical tests now and not lump us together? It would make sense because we all took completely different tests. Last October I think it was like 70% of first time takers passed. It will be interesting to see what they do there.


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## JoeHamEE (May 11, 2009)

wilheldp_PE said:


> Depends on where you live. California? No way. Anywhere else? Pretty good chance.


No, I am in Georgia. My guess is that things are a little slower over here. Any advice on how to forget about this for 2-3 months?


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## chiggarEB (May 19, 2009)

John Williams said:


> Not a problem, after going back and looking at the sample test don't guess I should say surprised. Some really good examples are problems 121, 520, 521 from the sample exam. Really just basic circuits and electronics type stuff. Cant say I really studied at all for those subjects and did not feel as good on those problems as I did on other parts of the test. My suggestion would be review that stuff in the EERM before the test.
> Hope that helps.


Sorry for the late reply. Thank you. Hope you pass!


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## Leverage (Jun 7, 2009)

I took the April 2009 Electrical Computer exam and used the following resources:

Computer Organization and Design, Patterson and Hennessy (very useful)

EERM

NCEES sample problems (very useful)

I too wished I had a good software engineering text. But I feel that with logic and common sense I answered the few problems about software engineering correctly.

Good luck to all of you that are waiting for results.

-john


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## John Williams (Jul 9, 2009)

Well glad to say I passed both the FE (Oct 2008) and the PE (April 2009). I am selling the books I used to pass both exams. They are all listed on Half.com except for the review DVD’s are on Ebay. All of the prices I put up are the same or lower than anyone else. Thought I would put up the links to them here to try and sell them faster and hopefully help out someone else on this board.

PE (I took Computer Depth April 2009)

•	IEEE Electrical PE Exam Course on 15 DVDs (Dr Blank) http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=200361296102

•	Electrical &amp; Computer Engineering http://product.half.ebay.com/Electrical-Co...7QQtgZvidetails

•	Electrical And Computer PE Sample Examination http://product.half.ebay.com/Electrical-An...6QQtgZvidetails

•	The Art Of Electronics http://product.half.ebay.com/The-Art-Of-El...1QQtgZvidetails

•	Upgrading and Repairing PCs http://product.half.ebay.com/Upgrading-and...1QQtgZvidetails

•	Practice Problems for the Electrical Engineering PE Exam http://product.half.ebay.com/Practice-Prob...0QQtgZvidetails

•	Six-Minute Solutions for Electrical and Computer PE Exam Problems http://product.half.ebay.com/Six-Minute-So...1QQtgZvidetails

•	Schaum's Outline of Software Engineering http://product.half.ebay.com/Schaums-Outli...8QQtgZvidetails

•	Schaum's Outline of Operating Systems http://product.half.ebay.com/Schaums-Outli...7QQtgZvidetails

•	Introduction To Computer Security http://product.half.ebay.com/Introduction-...0QQtgZvidetails

•	Electrical Engineering Reference Manual http://product.half.ebay.com/Electrical-En...2QQtgZvidetails

FE (I took the General morning and Industrial afternoon)

•	Industrial Discipline-Specific Review for the FE/EIT Exam http://product.half.ebay.com/Industrial-Di...2QQtgZvidetails

•	FE Review Manual http://product.half.ebay.com/FE-Review-Man...0QQtgZvidetails

•	Industrial Engineering FE / EIT Exam Preparation http://product.half.ebay.com/Industrial-En...0QQtgZvidetails

If anyone has any questions on the Computer Depth PE let me know. I guess since I passed my advise is worth at least something 

Also buy some of my books!


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## Brian G (Jan 3, 2011)

I took the computer exam in Oct 2010 and my wife just called to tell me that I passed! I wanted to thank you guys for this thread. I dug this thread up earlier this year and it really helped me find some books for the areas I'm pretty soft in and and didnt have very much of a reference for. I also didn't know about half.com until I came across this thread.

Thanks!

Brian


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## speedyox (Jan 4, 2011)

Brian G said:


> I took the computer exam in Oct 2010 and my wife just called to tell me that I passed! I wanted to thank you guys for this thread. I dug this thread up earlier this year and it really helped me find some books for the areas I'm pretty soft in and and didnt have very much of a reference for. I also didn't know about half.com until I came across this thread.
> Thanks!
> 
> Brian


This. Thanks guys.


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