So how do you feel?

wow · Nov 1, 2011

So how'd it go guys? Do you think you easily passed/failed or are on the fence? Obviously, if you weren't aware for some odd reason, don't discuss anything specific about any exam questions.

I took the Civil/Structural PE exam for the first time. I feel that both the morning and afternoon sessions were about the same in difficulty with each session having 4-5 questions I either completely guessed or am not very confident of my answer. I hope that will be suitable enough to pass but will hold my speculations until I see my result.

pu_grad2001 · Nov 1, 2011

I feel like I am right on the belly of the curve. I hope I passed but it out of my hands now. The morning was harder than I expected it to be. I heard the morning was easier in past exams.

ellebee2001 · Nov 1, 2011

I don't want to jinx anything, but I think I did okay. I have previously taken this exam twice and feel the most comfortable with this one. I guess I will find out what that means in December.... yikes.

AMiller · Nov 1, 2011

This was my first time taking the Civil/Structural. I felt great about the AM and was humbled a bit by the PM. I think i did OK in the PM, but hopefully my AM will pull me through.

-Andrew

HP Junkie · Nov 1, 2011

I took the Construction module for the second time.. My first time was in April after a few weeks of studying and while sitting in the exam it was clear a few weeks of studying wasn't sufficient. I walked out not knowing how to approach a lot of the basic questions. I ended up with a 28/22 split on the morning and afternoon sections.

This time, I felt prepared and walked out thinking I couldn't have studied anymore than I did. I don't feel like I killed it because there were a few questions I couldn't answer but I felt comfortable not knowing them. I think unpractical, or academic is a good way to describe the ones I am thinking of. I felt some questions were tricky. Given it being an extremely tense and time restricted situation I can't help but have an issue with that kind of stuff.

Even though I studied a significant amount more this time I felt the morning session was more difficult than April. Afternoon felt easier but I didn't even study for the afternoon portion of the test last time so I don't think that's an accurate gauge. I have no regrets, I feel like I did everything I could, if I failed I failed.

K=1.0 · Nov 1, 2011

The exams were easier than I thought.

I think I will pass all three (general/structural, seismic & survey) at one shot. Wait and see...

10 ~12 weeks, long waiting...

DS58 · Nov 1, 2011

I thought it went about as expected, which is not to say I know how it turned out. I felt like my prep and references were right (thanks to this board), my pace was right, now I just hope my answers were right! I took the EE-Computer which is 80 questions total balanced half and half. There is no breadth/depth thing, so morn and aft seemed about even in difficulty for me.

thwlruss · Nov 1, 2011

This was my first time taking the Mechanical Engineering PE Exam. There were a couple in each exam that I guessed on or did not feel good about, and I fell for a trick on two of the afternoon questions, but beyond that I feel pretty confident that I passed. I finished the AM exam with an hour left for checking. I finished the PM section with 45 minutes to check and rework. I did not ace the thing but I dont think I failed either. We'll see i guess.

treyjay · Nov 1, 2011

what I found out is don't believe anyone who tries to tell you what references you need. If NCEES says you need a reference...you better get it, and bring it with you.

the reference you dont have is one that you will need.

wow · Nov 1, 2011

treyjay said:
what I found out is don't believe anyone who tries to tell you what references you need. If NCEES says you need a reference...you better get it, and bring it with you.

the reference you dont have is one that you will need.

Goswami's All In One Book came in quite handy, IMO, for mostly the AM but also for some of the PM problems. Never bought the CERM.

castonstud · Nov 1, 2011

This is my first time taking the Civil-Geotech in CA. I felt the afternoon section was long and I ended up guessing 5-6 questions..anyone in the same boat as me?

treyjay · Nov 1, 2011

wow said:
treyjay said:

what I found out is don't believe anyone who tries to tell you what references you need. If NCEES says you need a reference...you better get it, and bring it with you.

the reference you dont have is one that you will need.

Click to expand...

Goswami's All In One Book came in quite handy, IMO, for mostly the AM but also for some of the PM problems. Never bought the CERM.

I had Goswami's Book....didn't bring it....CERM was plenty. I dont think i missed anything by not having the Goswami book.

treyjay · Nov 1, 2011

castonstud said:
This is my first time taking the Civil-Geotech in CA. I felt the afternoon section was long and I ended up guessing 5-6 questions..anyone in the same boat as me?

I outright guessed on three questions. a couple of others I am not sure if i worked them correctly. I am going crazy second guessing everything else. I didn't really have the time to check everything.

jharris · Nov 1, 2011

treyjay said:
wow said:

treyjay said:

what I found out is don't believe anyone who tries to tell you what references you need. If NCEES says you need a reference...you better get it, and bring it with you.

the reference you dont have is one that you will need.

Click to expand...

Goswami's All In One Book came in quite handy, IMO, for mostly the AM but also for some of the PM problems. Never bought the CERM.

Click to expand...

I had Goswami's Book....didn't bring it....CERM was plenty. I dont think i missed anything by not having the Goswami book.

Goswami's book was good for quick look-ups if you knew where to look. I studied knowing the strengths and weaknesses of both the CERM and the All-In-One. I felt that the Civil am portion was fairly straightforward, but the qualitative questions were the hardest. PM Transportation was reasonable and, had I been a bit stronger in knowing exactly where to look for some answers, I would feel more confident. Unfortunately I think I will be back for a second round in April. It's all good, though. I know how I will approach the exam this time.

pu_grad2001 · Nov 1, 2011

castonstud said:
This is my first time taking the Civil-Geotech in CA. I felt the afternoon section was long and I ended up guessing 5-6 questions..anyone in the same boat as me?

Yes I thought it was long too. It was easier than past geotech exams and I think it might have saved my score.

eselcen · Nov 1, 2011

Mechanical HVAC&R

I had a hard time on AM as well.

AM section killed me. 8 questions bubbled without any idea

I tried to catch up with PM section (bubbled 3 without any idea) but I am not sure about my passing

eselcen · Nov 1, 2011

pu_grad2001 said:
I feel like I am right on the belly of the curve. I hope I passed but it out of my hands now. The morning was harder than I expected it to be. I heard the morning was easier in past exams.

thwlruss said:
This was my first time taking the Mechanical Engineering PE Exam. There were a couple in each exam that I guessed on or did not feel good about, and I fell for a trick on two of the afternoon questions, but beyond that I feel pretty confident that I passed. I finished the AM exam with an hour left for checking. I finished the PM section with 45 minutes to check and rework. I did not ace the thing but I dont think I failed either. We'll see i guess.

Mechanical HVAC&R

I had a hard time on AM as well.

AM section killed me. 8 questions bubbled without any idea

I tried to catch up with PM section (bubbled 3 without any idea) but I am not sure about my passing

Ambrug20 · Nov 2, 2011

this is not my first time. This time I felt that exam was easier. But I think it because I was prepared better, not because NCEES decided to throw something light on us. I had 4 "blanks" and about 4 "not sure" in the morning and 4 "blanks" and 2 not sure in the afternoon. I was able to find answers in the reference material from the first try of opening the book. Only one question I spend more than a minute searching for an answer in Green Book. Before, I spend much more time searching Green Book or other references. I took Dr. Goswami prep class and few days before the test he sent us revisions for one of our reference book in Transp. I had it, but didn't pay attention. This time, night before the exam, I marked each revised page "see revisions". I had 3 questions out of these revisions! It was so awesome - I knew where to find them in a seconds. I finish afternoon after little over than in 3 hrs and had time to work out 4 mystery problems (didn’t make it). Oh, well, two month and get back to the books again or to the bar and have my life back.

gaurav0323 · Nov 3, 2011

Guys,

I attempted Machine Design mechanical PE from Texas. I had worked on studying HT, fluid mechanics and Machine Design for last 4-5 months. I did solve 6MS and NCEES practise exam 2X times. If there was a third party person looking over me even he would testify that yes I did it all.

Said so not trying to be pessimistic, I know that I did not crack the exam. Here are couple of mistakes which I think I have done.

1) underestimated HVAC. Many questions were asked on complex HVAC problems in morning session which require moderate to high skill of understanding of subject. Since I have never studied HVAC not even in my Bachelor's I had no clue except simple COP problems.

2) Low skill level in problems of conduction, convection and radiation. Should have worked on more complex problems for better understanding on subject.

I was at impression from start that ME PE is designed for HVAC and Thermal guys but exam was pretty fair and square. They gave equal emphasis on understanding of three breadth modules.

Afternoon session was of moderate level for MD. After my first glance I was releived that they did not ask any thermal or economics problems in MD. Still I did not fair well towards the end and was only able to complete 25/40 problems with surety towards end. Completely guessed 12-15 porblems due to lack of time.

In all I feel that I will get total score of 47-48/80 two sessions combined, and I know with surety that I will have to fight another battle in hot summer of Texas.

Lessons learned: I will study HVAC in more depth this time. @ "thwlruss" I know you are a HVAC guy, please recommend me a book that you used for studying HVAC so that I can prepare well next time. I will study basic concepts of convection and radiation good next time.

Many board members have indicated earlier to practise problems. I did practise but also read a lot. The jist is by practising make concepts clear. Read minimal but practise hard "make walmart aisle empty of notebooks".

Krakosky · Nov 3, 2011

Did you spend time to read thru the MERM or mainly just do practice problems? I plan on taking the ME MD depth exam in April and am trying to decide whether I should take the time to read thru the MERM. I've already read thru most of the T/F chapters.

So how do you feel?

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