April/October 2020 Power PE Exam Prep

[Sparky Bill PE]

This is my first attempt that I can take it. I am having to take it in South Carolina because I graduated with bachelors may 18, and master's may 19. TN you have to have 3 years working experience, south Carolina you don't. I have 15 years of substation design experience, but I understand, it has to be post graduate experience. 

and I don't know your answer about TN, b/c no way in hell I'm doing it for another discipline LOL 

 

[Sparky Bill PE]

Does TN license by discipline? I could look it up...but I ain't gonna. :rotflmao:

On topic: I wasn't really planning on taking a class this round, are you retaking your class or just reusing the printed material? I'm on the fence about a class.

Did you have to pass the FE's of all those discipline to take the PE? You should be ashamed of yourself...now you got me thinking maybe I should do this for another discipline after I get my Electrical Power... 

 

[squaretaper LIT AF PE]

Did you have to pass the FE's of all those discipline to take the PE

Negative, once an EIT, always an EIT...until you level up.

maybe I should do this for another discipline

One thing at a time my friend! Knock this out first, then reassess. And *if* you do go down this path, I would advise definitely don't do it at the expense of your personal/family life. I'm naturally bookish, but I maintain a pretty active social/family life so I don't let any of this extracurricular studying take away from that. It's just that, since I'm sitting around on the bus commuting to/from work anyway, I like to keep my brain active. Some people play Sudoku, I do this.

And, if I may be honest with a group of anonymous internet frens, I did get into engineering later in life so there is a component of imposter syndrome at play here. Just keepin' it real...

 

[squaretaper LIT AF PE]

I have 15 years of substation design experience

Were you a designer/drafter? How'd you get into the game?

 

[Sparky Bill PE]

Were you a designer/drafter? How'd you get into the game?

Yes

I took 4 years of drafting in high school then a year in college after high school. From 18-20 I was an electrician. At 20 I got hired at a big engineering firm as a drafter. Once they realized I knew was conduit/grounding/cable trays/raceways/conductors/etc were they put me on the super fast track to "Physical Substation Design" at a super young age (and honestly I cared more than younger engineers/designers normally do). Like yourself, I really enjoy learning. I LOVE when someone takes time out of there day to teach me something. So fast forward of doing that 7 years, I started engineering school, fast forward 8 years from then I am now a Master Electrical Engineer and a Senior Engineer at my company. 

 

[squaretaper LIT AF PE]

I am now a Master Electrical Engineer and a Senior Engineer at my company. 

BALLER.

From 18-20 I was an electrician.

This is cool, super awesome to have hands on skills. I was a field instrumentation technician for the oil & gas biz for about 5 years before I got my degree. It really helped. Good luck on the exam! I'm just assembling stuff now but I'm not going really to get started until after the new year. Need to recover from the holidays...

Also, SPAM. Don't forget.

 

[Sparky Bill PE]

BALLER.

This is cool, super awesome to have hands on skills. I was a field instrumentation technician for the oil & gas biz for about 5 years before I got my degree. It really helped. Good luck on the exam! I'm just assembling stuff now but I'm not going really to get started until after the new year. Need to recover from the holidays...

Also, SPAM. Don't forget.

SPAM? 

Yeah I been hitting the books HARD since start of November. I will be hitting it hard all the way to April. I am pretty strong-willed. I'm sure after the test I'll be exhausted, but once this train gets rolling it rolls pretty good. 

 

[MadamPirate PE]

Does TN license by discipline? I could look it up...but I ain't gonna. :rotflmao:

On topic: I wasn't really planning on taking a class this round, are you retaking your class or just reusing the printed material? I'm on the fence about a class.

If you take a class, seriously consider Zach Stone’s class. I very much credit my passing to his class. 

 

[Sparky Bill PE]

Yeah I'm in  Zach Stone's class right now and its amazing. 

 

[MadamPirate PE]

Yeah I'm in  Zach Stone's class right now and its amazing. 

His Circuits Bootcamp is amazing. Got me and my sqrt 3 all fixed up.

 

[neaton2]

Everyone,

I've seen a lot of posts all over the place from people studying for the upcoming exam.

I thought it would be a good idea to get an April 2020 thread started for everyone to ask questions, share resources and provide knowledge all in one place.

@BebeshKing @MEtoEE @SparkyBill @pigking8190 @SCU2019 @wiliki @daydreambeliever @Crimsonwar 

If you know of anyone else that is studying, feel free to tag them.

I'll be studying, this will be my 2nd go around. 

 

[Orchid PE]

I'll be studying, this will be my 2nd go around. 

What's your study plan?

 

[neaton2]

What's your study plan?

Plan to start one after the New Years. Going to go back through my PPI class I took last time around. 

 

[daydreambeliever]

I thought it would be a good idea to get an April 2020 thread started for everyone to ask questions, share resources and provide knowledge all in one place.

Thanks for the add. Looks like I'm late for the party! I really did unplug over the holidays. Today is my first day back and work and I have been on the struggle bus all morning. My bed did not want me to leave it!

 

[daydreambeliever]

The "threading" that I mentioned was also a lifesaver, it's all an effort to reduce the mental load and wasted time on exam day.

I've been reading through all these posts. I'm a multiple test taker here and not because I want to pass ALL the PE exams like others in this thread  JK, but seriously I just want to pass the Power PE and continue on with my life. The threading method you mentioned. Can you go into some detail about it? I didn't really find any info on it when I did a google search. I found Dr Tom's website but not much detail outside of exam prep courses.

I am going to give this exam another go and I'm trying to get into the right mindset. If there is better way of organizing my references I would love to spend some time doing that before I start into the deep abyss of working problems. I currently have about 4 3" binders and I have my topics organized by NCEES topics. I tried to put everything into 1 or 2 5" D ring binders but it was just too much paper in one place. It seemed bulky and took too long to flip to the section I needed.

 

[DLD PE]

I currently have (2) 4" binders.  They may be 5", I'll have to look.  I found the largest one I could find which is still a complete circle.  The 5" with the straight (slant) rings make it too difficult to turn/flip pages quickly.  That's why I ended up with (2) "go-to" binders for the exam, and it proved to be quite useful.  I used @ItsStudyTime! method for organizing the binder.

Avery makes binders with differently shaped rings to make it easier to flip between sections.  I may look into these:

https://www.zumaoffice.com/Products/Durable-Non-View-Binder-with-DuraHinge-and-EZD-Rings--3-Rings--5-Capacity--11-x-85--Black__AVE07901.aspx?ix=18&fc=L3C&pq=+binders +5 +inch

 

[Orchid PE]

Y'all are putting my little 1/2" binder to shame.

I've been told it's not the size of the binder that matters, but how you use it. Idk if that's right, though.

 

[MagicSmoke]

For prep for the Oct 2019, I took the PPI OnDemand course.  I took the holidays to just relax and get back into a positive mental space.  Now that the new year is here, it's study time.  I have the printouts of all the slides and problems that were worked in class, bound and tabbed by topic.  Based on recommendations from people here, I picked up Graffeo and Complex Imaginary complete set.  I had ordered the Electrical Machines by Wildi and Power System by Glover, et al. but they didn't arrive until after the October test so I have those at my disposal as well.  I"ve also seen recommendations for the 'Cram' books by Flanagan as well as a couple of study guides/practice problems by Justin Kauwale; I may pick up some of those if I need additional practice problems.  Since I already paid for a study course, I don't really want to slam down another ~$1,000 for another one.  I'm going to spend 2-3 times a week ~2 hour sessions, an additional one on the weekend if I can squeeze it in just cranking through practice problems.  I'm planning on taking leave the last two weeks before the test to dedicated full time to studying during that time as well.  I tried that last time, but ended up with three project submittals during those two-three weeks before the test; it utterly destroyed my last two weeks of studying (which was the time I was going to dedicate to practice tests).  This will be my second attempt at the power exam.

 

[Orchid PE]

For prep for the Oct 2019, I took the PPI OnDemand course.  I took the holidays to just relax and get back into a positive mental space.  Now that the new year is here, it's study time.  I have the printouts of all the slides and problems that were worked in class, bound and tabbed by topic.  Based on recommendations from people here, I picked up Graffeo and Complex Imaginary complete set.  I had ordered the Electrical Machines by Wildi and Power System by Glover, et al. but they didn't arrive until after the October test so I have those at my disposal as well.  I"ve also seen recommendations for the 'Cram' books by Flanagan as well as a couple of study guides/practice problems by Justin Kauwale; I may pick up some of those if I need additional practice problems.  Since I already paid for a study course, I don't really want to slam down another ~$1,000 for another one.  I'm going to spend 2-3 times a week ~2 hour sessions, an additional one on the weekend if I can squeeze it in.  I'm planning on taking leave the last two weeks before the test to dedicated full time to studying during that time as well.  I tried that last time, but ended up with three project submittals during those two-three weeks before the test; it utterly destroyed my last two weeks of studying (which was the time I was going to dedicate to practice tests).  This will be my second attempt at the power exam.

If you can keep up a good schedule, it sounds like you'll be able to get it this time.

 

[MagicSmoke]

If you can keep up a good schedule, it sounds like you'll be able to get it this time.

Thanks.  Just gotta stay on top of it.  Keeping my eyes on the prize...