Deciding Between TF & MD

[tmacier]

I am curious what your study approach was.
How many hours of study did you put in and over how many months? Did you work that many problems?

I took a refresher course at a local college and spend three months preparing.

Mostly working thru problems and reteaching myself many areas that I had forgotten -

Total time studying was about 150 hours.

Not to make excuses, but to offer myself some mental justification - I was pretty busy with work 3rd quarter, we had just moved into a new home and my wife gave birth to our daughter the week before the exam -

Jan, Feb and March are pretty slow personaly so I have begun the process.

I need to focus on the heat tranfer arena -

I spent alot of time working thru many problems (NCEES and SMS) - I plan to purchase some more problems and continue work them all -

This method forces you to learn were everything is in your referances -

Let the fun begin!

Tim

 

[mechitsimple]

Tim,

Good luck with the exam this time, I am sure you will pass.

I took the same T&F exam in October and I passed (with a score of 80). I prepared for 3-4 hrs a day for 1.5 months. I felt that I did well in the morning session of the exam and I did badly in the afternoon session. The afternoon session was much harder in the sense that there was not much time and the problems were hard! At the end of the exam, I felt that even if I had put in more preparation, it may not have been possible to do better in the afternoon session as some of the problems were too hard to solve given the time constraints.

Based on my experience, it helps a lot to do well in the morning session where the problems are shorter and relatively easier. It is also absolutely critical that you know how to find information quickly from the books you have, and maybe its a good idea to just take a few books with you.

I am curious what your study approach was.
How many hours of study did you put in and over how many months? Did you work that many problems?

I took a refresher course at a local college and spend three months preparing.

Mostly working thru problems and reteaching myself many areas that I had forgotten -

Total time studying was about 150 hours.

Not to make excuses, but to offer myself some mental justification - I was pretty busy with work 3rd quarter, we had just moved into a new home and my wife gave birth to our daughter the week before the exam -

Jan, Feb and March are pretty slow personaly so I have begun the process.

I need to focus on the heat tranfer arena -

I spent alot of time working thru many problems (NCEES and SMS) - I plan to purchase some more problems and continue work them all -

This method forces you to learn were everything is in your referances -

Let the fun begin!

Tim

 

[Clydeman]

I am curious what your study approach was.
How many hours of study did you put in and over how many months? Did you work that many problems?

I took a refresher course at a local college and spend three months preparing.

Mostly working thru problems and reteaching myself many areas that I had forgotten -

Total time studying was about 150 hours.

Not to make excuses, but to offer myself some mental justification - I was pretty busy with work 3rd quarter, we had just moved into a new home and my wife gave birth to our daughter the week before the exam -

Jan, Feb and March are pretty slow personaly so I have begun the process.

I need to focus on the heat tranfer arena -

I spent alot of time working thru many problems (NCEES and SMS) - I plan to purchase some more problems and continue work them all -

This method forces you to learn were everything is in your referances -

Let the fun begin!

Tim

Wow that is a lot of stress having a baby and being busy with work. I sympathize.

I started studying very seriously toward the end of November. I find (for my schedule and having a family) it works best for me to get up really early (around 4:30 or 5) and put in a few hours every morning and then try to study more at night. I put in around 100 hours in December (got up early every morning except for 2 days). Being 14 years out of college, I feel I might need to study more than most.

I am no expert (as I have not passed this thing yet) but I find that making flash cards works pretty well. As I am reading through the chapters, I make flash cards covering key concepts or equations. Then I review the flash cards throughout the day (and then re-review a few days later). I am no expert at learning but it seems as though this will help to get concepts more into long term memory rather than short term. So I will get out the flash cards at work and go over them in my mind (while I am working on things in Solidworks, running on the treadmill or during other lulls in my day). I got this idea from the PPI PE Exam Flash Card App for the iPhone.

Also I checked out the ASME PE review courses from the library. I am not that impressed. Some of the lectures are okay, but some are downright horrible. I would definitely not spend the $500 ASME is asking for them.

I start a PE refresher course at the local university tonight.

I am currently going over heat transfer in MERMS. It seems to me that this area is not covered well. Also I do not feel the practice problems are very good (and there are not many of them). I am going to have to go find my Incropera/Dewitt textbook.

 

[Clydeman]

Tim,
Good luck with the exam this time, I am sure you will pass.

I took the same T&F exam in October and I passed (with a score of 80). I prepared for 3-4 hrs a day for 1.5 months. I felt that I did well in the morning session of the exam and I did badly in the afternoon session. The afternoon session was much harder in the sense that there was not much time and the problems were hard! At the end of the exam, I felt that even if I had put in more preparation, it may not have been possible to do better in the afternoon session as some of the problems were too hard to solve given the time constraints.

Based on my experience, it helps a lot to do well in the morning session where the problems are shorter and relatively easier. It is also absolutely critical that you know how to find information quickly from the books you have, and maybe its a good idea to just take a few books with you.

So you were able to cover depth sections with MERMS alone? You did not need thermo and fluids textbooks.

 

[principal]

Tim,
Good luck with the exam this time, I am sure you will pass.

I took the same T&F exam in October and I passed (with a score of 80). I prepared for 3-4 hrs a day for 1.5 months. I felt that I did well in the morning session of the exam and I did badly in the afternoon session. The afternoon session was much harder in the sense that there was not much time and the problems were hard! At the end of the exam, I felt that even if I had put in more preparation, it may not have been possible to do better in the afternoon session as some of the problems were too hard to solve given the time constraints.

Based on my experience, it helps a lot to do well in the morning session where the problems are shorter and relatively easier. It is also absolutely critical that you know how to find information quickly from the books you have, and maybe its a good idea to just take a few books with you.

So you were able to cover depth sections with MERMS alone? You did not need thermo and fluids textbooks.

Nathan-

I passed T/F, I thought MERM was sufficient for the depth sections. I had a fluids text that I did not use. I wanted a thermo book when I was studying but didn't think it was necessary. I did buy some steam tables...

 

[MadDawg]

Tim,
Good luck with the exam this time, I am sure you will pass.

I took the same T&F exam in October and I passed (with a score of 80). I prepared for 3-4 hrs a day for 1.5 months. I felt that I did well in the morning session of the exam and I did badly in the afternoon session. The afternoon session was much harder in the sense that there was not much time and the problems were hard! At the end of the exam, I felt that even if I had put in more preparation, it may not have been possible to do better in the afternoon session as some of the problems were too hard to solve given the time constraints.

Based on my experience, it helps a lot to do well in the morning session where the problems are shorter and relatively easier. It is also absolutely critical that you know how to find information quickly from the books you have, and maybe its a good idea to just take a few books with you.

So you were able to cover depth sections with MERMS alone? You did not need thermo and fluids textbooks.

Nathan-

I passed T/F, I thought MERM was sufficient for the depth sections. I had a fluids text that I did not use. I wanted a thermo book when I was studying but didn't think it was necessary. I did buy some steam tables...

I passed T&F as well and used the MERM for 79/80 questions on the test and 99% of my (non-sample exam) studying. The only other reference I used was a steam tables book, which I definitely could have just used the back of the MERM but didn't feel like flipping back and forth.

Textbooks are more driven towards deriving formulas and the theory behind it--stuff that is hard to ask in multiple choice format and even harder to do within the time constraints of the exam. Look through the NCEES-provided breakdown of the test topics and look through the NCEES sample problems and you'll get a good feel for the kind of questions you can expect.

 

[mechitsimple]

I used the MERM alone.

Tim,
Good luck with the exam this time, I am sure you will pass.

I took the same T&F exam in October and I passed (with a score of 80). I prepared for 3-4 hrs a day for 1.5 months. I felt that I did well in the morning session of the exam and I did badly in the afternoon session. The afternoon session was much harder in the sense that there was not much time and the problems were hard! At the end of the exam, I felt that even if I had put in more preparation, it may not have been possible to do better in the afternoon session as some of the problems were too hard to solve given the time constraints.

Based on my experience, it helps a lot to do well in the morning session where the problems are shorter and relatively easier. It is also absolutely critical that you know how to find information quickly from the books you have, and maybe its a good idea to just take a few books with you.

So you were able to cover depth sections with MERMS alone? You did not need thermo and fluids textbooks.

 

[tmacier]

I agree that the MERM should be enough -

I did poorly on the HEAT MASS areas - I know I was week there - just need to study more.

Anyone use the Passing Zone as a studying tool?

I only have six minute solutions and the NCEES practice problems. I would really would like more problems to work similiar to ones in the PE.

I am not a rocket scientist engineer so I need to work problem after problem to drill in the concepts.

Tim

 

[DynaMechEng]

I agree that the MERM should be enough -
I did poorly on the HEAT MASS areas - I know I was week there - just need to study more.

Anyone use the Passing Zone as a studying tool?

I only have six minute solutions and the NCEES practice problems. I would really would like more problems to work similiar to ones in the PE.

I am not a rocket scientist engineer so I need to work problem after problem to drill in the concepts.

Tim

I did MD and passed in October, and the key for me was exactly what you said... work problem after problem until you know it inside and out. There's really only so many different types of problems they can ask...work enough of them and you'll be fine.

I studied for three months and used a tiered study method. The first month I studied 10 hours a week, the second month 20 hours a week, and the third month 40 hours a week. That's 300 hours. My wife hated that I stayed home every weekend and studied instead of going out and doing things, but she understood that she was better off if I put the time in and did it once instead of doing it again and again.

Best of luck in April! I'm sure you'll knock it out of the park.

 

[wongdaisiu]

I took the T/F and passed. To be honest, I guessed on a lot of it. There was a concept that NCEES harped on that I did not learn back at U, but was mentioned in MERM. I brought a few of my old text books mainly for the refrigerant tables, and steam tables were easier to use. Both Lindeburgh practice books did have long problems and definitely were not indicative of what was on the exam. However, when you are looking at a power cycle or a boiler feedwater system, NCEES will give you a portion of it, and you will need to know what the assumptions are, so having those huge problems beat it into you is a plus.

Good luck.

 

[Clydeman]

I agree that the MERM should be enough -
I did poorly on the HEAT MASS areas - I know I was week there - just need to study more.

Anyone use the Passing Zone as a studying tool?

I only have six minute solutions and the NCEES practice problems. I would really would like more problems to work similiar to ones in the PE.

I am not a rocket scientist engineer so I need to work problem after problem to drill in the concepts.

Tim

There are brand new 2010 NCEES Sample exams (unfortunately they now break them up into three separate books, by depth, to make more money). So if you get this new exam and mange to track down the 2001 & 2008 test, that should give you quite a few problems to work. This combined with the SMS books should keep you plenty busy.

Also pull out your heat transfer and thermo textbooks and try working some of the more simply problems out of there.

I am going to make sure I know power cycles inside and out. Sure they are long (and you will get an abbreviated version on the test) but you really need to feel comfortable and be able to jump into those problems at any point and solve for the remainder.

I think I am like you in that I have to solve a lot of problems and feel very comfortable for my confidence level to be high.

 

[Trev... P.E.]

I agree that the MERM should be enough -
I did poorly on the HEAT MASS areas - I know I was week there - just need to study more.

Anyone use the Passing Zone as a studying tool?

I only have six minute solutions and the NCEES practice problems. I would really would like more problems to work similiar to ones in the PE.

I am not a rocket scientist engineer so I need to work problem after problem to drill in the concepts.

Tim

There are brand new 2010 NCEES Sample exams (unfortunately they now break them up into three separate books, by depth, to make more money). So if you get this new exam and mange to track down the 2001 & 2008 test, that should give you quite a few problems to work. This combined with the SMS books should keep you plenty busy.

Also pull out your heat transfer and thermo textbooks and try working some of the more simply problems out of there.

I am going to make sure I know power cycles inside and out. Sure they are long (and you will get an abbreviated version on the test) but you really need to feel comfortable and be able to jump into those problems at any point and solve for the remainder.

I think I am like you in that I have to solve a lot of problems and feel very comfortable for my confidence level to be high.

The 2010 exams are the exact same questions as the 2008 books, just broken up by afternoon session. So now you have to buy 3 books if you want all the questions. The morning session is the same across all three.