As we have not received scores yet, take this with a grain of salt and through a colored visor... but my opinion is as follows:
I agree with you the testing system is bad. But the individual questions are actually very easy if you know the specific angle they are coming from and have experience with it. Will not get into more detail then that.
The problem as I see it is the wide breadth of information that is required to be a component electrical engineer in the eyes of the PE Exam. For instance, if you are doing building systems... you will never jump into Distribution / Transmission systems unless you change job positions. Generation engineering is an entirely separate beast from all of the above. They may or may not use the NEC depending on how badly the Gen/Trans/Dist utility wants to act on its Utility Exemption. They are just completely different job descriptions, requirements and specialty codes and honestly your PE experience in one will not relate to your PE experience in the other. Engineer's can completely specialize in System Studies and never see the inside of a building or open a code book.
Keep in mind I am only talking about the time served at a particular job and not over their entire career, but realistically who isn't going to have to relearn this information after 10 years of not touching it? And almost guaranteed the codes will be different, the type of work you do will be far more in depth then what the PE covers and you are still going to have to study more to become proficient at your new job.
The test wants you to know the basics of everything upfront. And I agree that is not a bad strategy. But where this really begins to grind my gears is the knowledge one needs to comfortable ACE the PE exam cannot be readily obtained from a single library or a limited set of experience. The PE almost requires you to have worked in multiple jobs across multiple industries due to the varied and vague listing of study topics. I take a problem with the premise that there will be some questions you simply cannot answer because you didn't know you needed a specific material or reference.
The other hardship as I see it is is not knowing the limits that test places on the knowledge base needed. Similar to above, but whereas above I am talking about different industries, here I am talking about the nuts and bolts of a specific industry. Take lighting systems for example and the study information from several authors for the PE sample test exams. Some ask you questions about luminaire distribution types, others about color temperatures, others about wavelengths, others about the general calculations, others about ballast types, other about NEC code requirements, others about IES standards. The single field of lighting is not exactly massive but it is pretty huge none the less and is noted a single line item on the syllabus. How far we need to take this? Do I search these topics in regards to Fluorescent and LED only? What about LPS, HPS and Incandescent which are outdated technologies and no longer generally specified... but still prevalent in the field? Do I need to research emergency drivers and egress lighting? Are these questions fair and will I expect them on an exam?
Do not get me wrong. I feel pretty strongly that I passed, but its frustrating when I see questions asked that I know no engineer would ever come across in the field.
Anyways, end of my rant!
but fingers cross 
