Club for people who passed April 2015

[sunny777]

People who are jumping with joy - join the club for congratulating each other and to tell how u guys studied to pass the exam.

 

[zm83]

I started signed up for the exam February 18th. I ordered some books and practice exams on eBay. I tried to focus on some PPI sample exams but didn't like their format and wasn't getting anywhere with the NCEES practice test. Books arrived in March and I started studying usually nightly for an hour or so working practice problems. All I did was problems. Took a good few days off prior to the exam and went and took it. So I had a good month into studying I'm glad I didn't devote months like others do.

 

[sunny777]

@zm83 - how much is your passing score now? and is this your first attempt?

 

[Monza]

I passed April 2015 Mechanical T/F first time. I'm still giddy but here are a few thoughts regarding my study habits.

I ordered the MERM back in November or December. The first few weeks were spent worrying about my application and waiting to be approved to sit the exam. Once that was done, I started into the MERM. Early on I also bought Dr. Tom's Exam Day Companion (EDC) for $95. It was money well spent. As I would go through studying and working problems, I would add notes to the EDC, all of which was kept in a 3-ring binder. When working a problem or taking a practice test, I would first go to the applicable section of the EDC. Only when I needed to look up tables, properties, etc. would I crack open the MERM. This really helped me to organize my notes and to focus on what would be on the exam.

I took the NCEES practice exam about 5 weeks before the exam and then the Lindburg practice exam about two weeks out. I spent the last two weeks going through ALL of the practice exam questions and working them again to make sure I understood how to solve and to quickly sort out where to go in my EDC.

During the actual exam, the only references I used were my EDC, the MERM, a separate copy of the ASME Steam Tables, and (for one question) an Engineering Dictionary. I had also brought the SMS, 101 Solved Problems, and the two practice exams but never touched them.

Here's hoping many more of you join the club!

 

[zm83]

1st attempt. KY doesn't release scores

 

[allanford86]

1st attempt...2015 Mechanical HVAC...Congrats to everyone else who passed.

 

[CJMaul13]

1st attempt Civil Structural - Passed.

I made studying my hobby and frequently visited engineerboards for advice and motivation to keep my eye on the prize. I convinced myself I would only take the test once. You really got to put in the time and invest in a refresher course, in my case it was PPI. Good luck to everyone else. Congrats to those who passed!

 

[matt267 PE]

Congrats CJ

 

[Ken PE 3.1]

Congrats

 

[mcjohn4]

First try, Water Resources Civil - Passed

I basically started at the beginning of February. Started trying to work the CERM companion questions, found them to be way too hard and not worth the trouble. Purchased the All-in-One sample exams, the NCEES sample exam, and went through the notes for School of PE. Studied for 2-3 hours a night, 3 or 4 days through the week. And then on the weekend I would devote Saturday or Sunday to solid studying, at least 6-8 hours.

Felt I over-prepared as the test was a breeze. Finished the afternoon section in 2 hours, checked my answers for 30 minutes and then got on the road back home.

 

[Porter_]

i'm not an APR 2015 exam taker so i'm not in the club, but a couple thoughts on some interesting posts:

I'm glad I didn't devote months like others do.

personally i felt like i came out a better engineer after putting in time that some would consider 'over-studying'. as an efficiency-minded engineer (we all are; it's innate to the field) i understand your point of view though.

and frequently visited engineerboards for advice and motivation to keep my eye on the prize.

yeah eb.com really helped keep me motivated when i was in the thick of studying last year. congrats on passing the civil-structural exam by the way, that was a bear of a test (or at least last year's was).

 

[LWhitson2]

First try, Mechanical - Thermal and Fluid Systems

I started studying in February, but I have been working on my PhD for the last few years in Computational Fluid Dynamics. I feel like that gave me a little bit of an advantage going into the test as I have been immersed in the academic aspects for quite a while. Wishing the rest of you luck in completing your exam.

 

[MGSmith519]

Second try, Civil - Transportation - Failed Oct. 2014, PASSED April 2015! I started studying in mid-February, and by March I had refreshed everything I had studied for Oct. exam. A solid 5-6 weeks on studying this time, and mainly focused on highlighting and tabbing all reference material and getting familiar with what table/equations apply when and where. This is most important for Transportation exam in my opinion, as there are many, many reference materials you need to have. By knowing what book to use and what section to turn to, I was very confident and able to answer most PM questions within 1-2 minutes.

Thanks to everyone for tips, tricks, sample questions, etc.

It was awesome to update my e-mail signature at the office this morning with "P.E." after my name instead of "E.I.T."!!!

FYI - I took the test in Charleston, West Virginia. They don't release scores for passing results.

 

[John QPE]

Ewwwww .... you use the periods??

 

[Porter_]

Ewwwww .... you use the periods??

i use P.E.

d.e.a.l. w.i.t.h. i.t. arty-smiley-048:

 

[Road Guy]

congrats to all who passed!

This is about the time I shamelessly ask that if you think this site helped you out to think about becoming a supporting member or hitting that donate button to the right of the main screen.

Shameless I know, but I could buy a nice car with what this site cost every month!

Again congrats to those of you who passed!

 

[OffShawz]

I've decided that it just looks effing pretentious with all the suffix letters. I'm a "P.Eng" in 2 Canadian provinces, Texas as of 2 hours ago, and will be a "CEng" with IChemE once I get my interview scheduled.

Bottom line is Mr. Offshawz PE, P.Eng., CEng looks really stupid.

As for studying I took a class through AIChE, but it was the hours outside of class with the study groups from class that helped. I'm an "upstream" guy so I knew SFA about distillation and separations, so had to relearn all of that.

Started studying about 8 weeks out. It got really ugly from week 4 onwards. Used 2 reference manuals (5th and 6th edition) and Perrys, and that's it. Tabbed everything like a Bawz.

Get used to banging out problems again and again. And tab the crap out of Perrys for all the appendix info.

 

[TxTrot73]

First try, chemical. Starting studying at the beginning of February and took the PPI course.

The PPI course was ok, if nothing else it kept you on track to study certain subjects within a given timeframe. I found the NCEES practice exam to be a much better guideline for studying, and I tried to find and work similar problems in the PPI manuals and my textbooks for practice.

Usually spent about 3 days per week, 1-2 hours per night studying and at least one day out for weekend studying about 6-8 hours that day.

I'm pretty excited that I was able to pass it the first time. I had a promotion to a department manager position riding on this test so the pressure was defiantly on.

 

[nolatrader]

Third try. Not a young guy, out of school 23 years, Texas PE Water Resources with 83%. EET, Test masters, Past NCEES exams, and Goswami helped me a lot

 

[andrewm24]

Civil Water Resources / Environmental

First time taking the exam. 22 years after passing the FE. Haven't done much engineering for the past 18 years. Mainly environmental consulting. I knew this would be very tough, but it really wanted to do it. Took both PPI review courses: Civil with Andy Richardson and Water Resources Depth with someone else. Andy is awesome!! Both classes forced me to do lots of homework plus practice tests to qualify for their guarantee, which I fully expected to need. Got all the books that came with the classes. Pretty much the only materials I used. I rented Metcalf and Eddy, but never used it. No real secret, except for lots of studying and practice exams. Andy said to shoot for 200 hrs of prep time. I didn't keep track, but I was probably somewhere around that.

Just glad this is behind me. Now to get my NCEES record.