PE PREPARATION

annie · Apr 26, 2007

Hi All,

I will be taking my PE this october. I have decided on the Thermal & Fluids Depth and bought the stuff below:

[*]Mechanical Engineering Reference Manual (MERM)

[*]NCEES PE Mechanical Engineering Sample Questions and Solutions, NCEES

[*]Practice Problems for the Mechanical Engineering PE Exam, Michael R. Lindeburg, PE

[*]Quick Reference for the Mechanical Engineering PE Exam, 4th Edition, Michael R. Lindeburg, PE, 2002, 113 pp., paperback

[*]Mechanical PE Sample Examination, Michael R. Lindeburg, PE, 2004, 114 pp. Paperback

[*]Engineering Unit Conversions, Michael R. Lindeburg, PE, 1999, 160 pp., hardcover

[*]Steam Tables: Thermodynamic Properties of Water Including Vapor, Liquid & Solid Phases (Hardcover)

[/list

Are these enough or should I be looking for some more like ASHRAE etc. I have no clue.

Please let me know.]

Sschell · Apr 26, 2007

I took the MD depth and never touched my ASHRAE fundamentals book...

I would however suggest picking up a set of 11x17 psychrometric charts, the're more efficient to use than the small one in MERM. Don't forget to throw them in a 3 ring binder.

For the breadth section all I ever used was MERM and I think I looked at the Psych charts twice.

In the MD depth section, MERM was sufficient for at lease 90% of the problems.

My advice is to do as many of the practice problems as you have time for and get very familiar with MERM.

Shaggy · Apr 26, 2007

I second what sschellhase mentioned. I too took the MD depth in April. In the vein of becoming familiar with MERM, put tabs in the book to help you quickly find pertinent information. The test isn't so much difficult, but moreso a speed test. The faster you can find a formula or piece of data, the better. I probably have about 100 tabs in my MERM. I tabbed the sections along the right side and specific pertinent info within that section along the top. The rationalle was to open the book to a specific section (based on the tabs on the right), and then find the content in that section based on the tabs at the top. It worked well. As you do problems, you will figure out what needs to be tabbed.

Work lots of problems.

BORICUAZO · Apr 26, 2007

Don't forget all Six Minute series: HVAC, Mach Design and Thermal & Fluids. This books give you all types of breath and deph typical excersices you need.

I began my study schedule last year thinking that my afternoon choice would be Thermal & Fluids. Wrong!. I change my mind when I found HVAC deph problems easier for me. You should compare and make your final decision with enough time. The six minute series will help you to select which deph module is better for you.

Buy diffrent colors of highlighters to mark all important notes and equations on the MERM. I also use a book stand for the MERM. I use it in my study process and at the exam. Very nice tool. You can find it on ebay at: http://stores.ebay.com/Readers-Edge

If you get perfectly organized, you are going to pass the exam! Good Luck!

annie said:
Hi All,I will be taking my PE this october. I have decided on the Thermal & Fluids Depth and bought the stuff below:

[*]Mechanical Engineering Reference Manual (MERM)

[*]NCEES PE Mechanical Engineering Sample Questions and Solutions, NCEES

[*]Practice Problems for the Mechanical Engineering PE Exam, Michael R. Lindeburg, PE

[*]Quick Reference for the Mechanical Engineering PE Exam, 4th Edition, Michael R. Lindeburg, PE, 2002, 113 pp., paperback

[*]Mechanical PE Sample Examination, Michael R. Lindeburg, PE, 2004, 114 pp. Paperback

[*]Engineering Unit Conversions, Michael R. Lindeburg, PE, 1999, 160 pp., hardcover

[*]Steam Tables: Thermodynamic Properties of Water Including Vapor, Liquid & Solid Phases (Hardcover)

[/list

Are these enough or should I be looking for some more like ASHRAE etc. I have no clue.

Please let me know.]

NEplantengineer · Apr 26, 2007

I took the PE-ME HVAC Depth Apr 20 2007, I haven't rec'd my results yet so take what I say with a grain of salt (however, I answered all the questions, had plenty of time, and I think I passed).

You will love having the K&K steam table book, the MERM steam tables require constant interpolation.

Suggest getting a copy of Keenan & Keyes "Air Tables" (Gas Tables: Thermodynamic Properties of Air Products of Combustion and Component Gases Compressible Flow Functions ) This is indispensible (i.e. no interpolation req'd) when doing all the combustion cycle problems in MERM. I also used this book on the exam. I found my copy on ebay for $5.

For the Psych chart, get and use the ASHRAE chart. Use only the ASHRAE chart to practice with when doing problems. See the following web site for a pdf of the chart: http://www.handsdownsoftware.com. Print it out on 11 x 17 paper in black and white.

You also will need a fluids reference. Suggest either Crane's TP-410 or Cameron's.

BORICUAZO · Apr 27, 2007

I almost forgot: Have some Fire Protection reference for the exam. You never now....... :BS: "the other board"'s looks good.

annie · Apr 28, 2007

IndependencePR said:
I almost forgot: Have some Fire Protection reference for the exam. You never now....... :th_rockon: "the other board"'s looks good.

Thanks a lot for the tips guys. I reallly appreciate it.

Tiger · Apr 30, 2007

I definitely agree with the above posts, but one thing I haven't seen mentioned is codes. I thought I was prepping enough for code questions by getting familiar with the basics of ASME, ASTM and ANSI. This didn't really help me when it came time for the test as there were more specific questions that I expected. I kinda feel like the code questions are either going to be something you know or don't know. They specific test question was not something I was familiar with so I had no clue, but had the question been something that I deal with regularly, the question would have been a "gimme" for me.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how they prepped for code questions? I didn't really have any references that helped me during the test - so I am wondering what others think about code questions for the test.

Sschell · May 1, 2007

I kinda feel like the code questions are either going to be something you know or don't know. They specific test question was not something I was familiar with so I had no clue, but had the question been something that I deal with regularly, the question would have been a "gimme" for me.

I agree that these are the things that you either know or you don't. There is not a comprehensive reference for all posible standards or codes, these are really things you are going to know from experience or not know at all. With the exception of ASME, ASTM and ANSI, which you have a chance of finding specifics in MERM or other common references... I would say the thing to do on the test is take your best guess and move on, spending alot of time looking for an obscure piece of information is not likely to pay off.

luckily there do not seem to be many of these types of questions on the test.

Capt Worley PE · May 7, 2007

Are the NCEES review questions or the MERM review questions more representative of what was on the test? The questions for the machine design depth on the NCEES reveiw seemed much simpler.

Shaggy · May 7, 2007

Captain Worley said:
Are the NCEES review questions or the MERM review questions more representative of what was on the test? The questions for the machine design depth on the NCEES reveiw seemed much simpler.

The problems in the "the other board" Practice Problems were the most difficult. They were not representative of problems you would see on the PE, they were however complete problems. The problems on the PE could be considered portions of complete problems.

The problems in the "the other board" Sample Exam were comparable to the problems on the PE exam (machine design) this past April. Relatively the same difficulty.

The problems in the NCEES Sample Exam were slightly easier than the problems in the "the other board" Sample Exam and thus the actual exam.

I would recommend doing all of the problems in the above sources and if time permits, do the Six-Minute Solutions from "the other board" as well. The problems in the Six-Minute Solutions were comparable to actual exam problems (machine design at least).

Bottom line is do as many problems as possible and put tabs in your references so you can quickly find important info. My MERM probably has 100 tabs in it.

Tiger · May 8, 2007

I thought of something else that may be helpful...

Make sure you check the exam topic breakdown (can be found in the MERM and in the NCEES sample test) every few weeks to make sure you are focusing your studies appropriately. Also, even though you are taking the thermal and fluids section, there is definitely machine design and HVAC stuff covered on the afternoon section (11%), so don't be suprised if you see those types questions on the exam. I found the exam topic breakdown helpful in reminding me to go back and study little stuff that I might not have thought about otherwise (electrical, economics, etc.) I don't know that they stick to these breakdowns strictly, but it at least provides a bit of guidance.

Hope this helps.

Capt Worley PE · May 8, 2007

Thanks for the advice. I'm still up in the air over thermal/machine design, and will probably decide once I get more studying in and the final decision will, of course, be on test day.

It's been well over 15 years since I was in a classroom, so it is coming back sloooowly.

Shaggy · May 9, 2007

Captain Worley said:
the final decision will, of course, be on test day.

I think you should make that decision well before test day. You won't have time during the test to look over both sections and then decide which one to do. Also, If you are studying the depth in both of those subjects, you may not be able to go as deep into either as you would if you just focused on one.

JohnNevets · May 9, 2007

Cap,

In general I agree with Shaggy, but to be honest you are starting to study well before most people do. So, you have plenty of time to make that decision. But, especially in the last month or so before the test, I found it helpful to know what I was working toward, and what to study more in depth. Now there are others who have waited until test day to decide, but I know I would not have had time to do that. So good luck, with what ever you choose to do, and keep on using us, weather it be about specifics, or general questions.

Have fun,

John

Capt Worley PE · May 9, 2007

Well I studied the Fire Protection stuff and the ME stuff for four months before I realized I'd go with the ME. Going back over some of it, I seem to have more of an inutitive feel for the machine desin stuff, even if I am relearning it, for all intents and purposes.

I am having a good time relearning stuff I used to know. I feel stupid at times, smart at others.

newton · Jun 17, 2007

Annie,

Best of luck on the October exam. I took the Fluid/Thermal depth in April. I took more references than I needed, but it was somewhat of a comfort to know they were there. I found that I didn't have a lot of time to look at the practice exam material. I did work out a few basic example problems to compliment my equation sheets that I had in a 3-ring binder. These proved to be very helpful to me as I became mentally fatigued in the afternoon.

Even though MERM says you won't need basic text books, I found that my Thermo book was extremely valuable because I was familar with the tables and charts. As others have said, make sure that you are familiar with your reference material. I found many of the posts from previous examinees to be helpful.

The references I kept on the table were:

MERM (I struggeled using this efficiently in the beginning of my prep, but tabs helped out tremendously)

Thermo Text (Moran and Shapiro)

Steam Tables (may save interpolation time on some problems)

An easy to read psych chart (I used the one in the ASHRAE fundamentals book)

3-ring binder with equation sheets and photocopies of conversion factors, moments of intertia, etc.

Heat Transfer text (it was a reference I am familiar with)

REA ME Handbook

Everything else stayed in the box.

Of the comfort items I brought (gum, cashews, water,...), I found that a small cushion to sit on worked wonders in the afternoon session. After a few hours, those chairs started to bother me.

Fordman101 · Aug 2, 2007

Including the small cushion, the above are all excellent tips.

After a couple of hours, those wonderful metal folding chairs just raised my stress level a few notches.

I wish I had a cushion to use in April 07.

Sschell · Aug 2, 2007

Shaggy said:
The problems in the "the other board" Practice Problems were the most difficult. They were not representative of problems you would see on the PE, they were however complete problems. The problems on the PE could be considered portions of complete problems.
The problems in the "the other board" Sample Exam were comparable to the problems on the PE exam (machine design) this past April. Relatively the same difficulty.

The problems in the NCEES Sample Exam were slightly easier than the problems in the "the other board" Sample Exam and thus the actual exam.

I would recommend doing all of the problems in the above sources and if time permits, do the Six-Minute Solutions from "the other board" as well. The problems in the Six-Minute Solutions were comparable to actual exam problems (machine design at least).

Bottom line is do as many problems as possible and put tabs in your references so you can quickly find important info. My MERM probably has 100 tabs in it.

I disagree... I found the actual test much closer to the difficulty level of the NCEES Sample Exam.

The "the other board" Sample Exam is out of the ball-park in terms of difficulty when compared to the actual exam.

also concur w/ fordman re: the cushon... I brought a thin one in April and it helped alot... whished Ihad brought a thicker one, as 8 hours is alot of ***-time!

Fordman101 · Aug 2, 2007

The NCEES sample exam is representative of the real exam.

MERM and the Six Minute Solutions have you doing so much calculations as if the intention is to solve all of the world's most obscure problems.

Don't get me wrong, MERM is an excellent REFERENCE manual because it's an abridged version of many subjects. However, I found it difficult to understand some of the solutions, because they make a lot of assumptions which they never discussed within the chapter.

"The problems on the PE could be considered portions of complete problems." - TRUE statement.

At first, I was intimated by all the minutiae in the NCEES sample test problems. Some of them looked like half a page long just to find out they're looking for something simple.

Don't conclude that problem is difficult or deserves a lot of calculations because it appears long.

It could be a "GIMME"!!

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