Electrical: Guide to taking the PE

[singlespeed]

Everyone and their situation is unique - this advice is not directed at you individually, but to a diverse group; use what you will, discard the rest, no worries. Requirements vary by state; requirements are subject to change. There is no magic formula and this is only intended as a guide. I make no claims that this is complete, but I am going to post it now because if you're thinking about taking the April '07 exam you need to start NOW!

Before you start - some things to consider:

Costs - application fees, exam fees, study materials, calculators, review class, travel & lodging, license fees, seals & stamps. In my case: $80 app. fee, $235 exam fee, approx. $400 in study materials, 2 calculators @ $15 ea., $550 review class, $20 in travel, and a $75 license fee - grand total $1390.

Time - budget 250 - 300 hours of study; more for some, less for others.

Experience - can vary by state and degree (BS, MS, etc.); generaly you'll need four years.

References (professional) - can vary by state; generally you'll need five, three from PEs.

Motivation - What are your reasons for pursuing licensure? Chances are, there will be some point on the long journey to licensure that you'll question why you started this whole thing. When you get to that point, will you have an answer? An answer that will keep you going? An answer that your spouse and family can accept because you've become something like Mr. or Mrs. Hyde?

Credits - some folks on this board who have been helpful to me and many others; I have borrowed heavily from the posts of these folks. :thumbsup:

EEs - Kipper, benbo, Luis_O, Art, Wolverine, Frontier05, clay1492

General - RoadGuy, DVINNY, VTEnviro

The exam process - start with NCEES, they will have control of your life for while; their site has links to pretty much everywhere you need to go on the web; some patience required (more when waitng for results). ELSES, EES, and CTS are just three of the exam administrators used by the states.

NCEES

State Licensing Boards

Calculators

ELSES

EES

CTS

PE Exam preparation - specifically produced to prepare for the exam; some products may be useful later as general references.

NCEES Study Materials

"the other board" Study Materials

Kaplan Study Materials

Other References - there are many available; I will try to start some "book review" threads on specific works.

Review classes - availability varies greatly by state; Testmasters seems to be nationwide; other sources include local engineering societies (e.g. Engineering Society of Detroit). I took a review class and prepared for each session; I didn't rely on the class to teach me something new (although I always learned something new); these classes are review classes, treat them accordingly. I personally know people that relied on the class to teach them the material and didn't follow up with homework - they failed.

Preparation strategy - there seem to be two camps

1. Problems, problems, problems - I found that working a ton of problems helped me understand the nuances of the theory involved. It also helped develop quickness and confidence in problem solving - useful on exam day.

2. Theory, theory, problems - concentrate on understanding the theory, then follow up with problems; if you know the theory, you can solve any problem thrown at you.

Choose what works for you.

Preparation logistics

Assemble reference material - you needn't get it all at the start; in fact, it might be better to see where you will need additional materials due to a lack in what you bought, or to provide additional help in your weak areas.

Create a schedule - you're an engineer, for chrissakes B) - make a spreadsheet, plan for contingencies, create deadlines or milestones, track your progress.

Systematic review - take a look at the NCEES exam specification; no sense putting a lot of effort into Controls if you're taking the PM Power depth.

Practice exams - generally considered a good evaluation of where you're at, both in knowledge and speed; take it timed; I did an AM or PM on one day, then did another on a different day about six weeks out from the exam; did both AM and PM on a single day two weeks out from exam; this will help with your endurance.

Evaluate strengths and weaknesses - be honest with yourself, can you work those problems without peeking at the answers? Did you get the problem correct in it's entirety including units? How long is it taking you to complete the problems? Practice exams are very useful here as well.

Work on your weak areas - practicing what you know can be a confidence builder, but.....you'll need to work on what you are having trouble with; review theory and practice problems in these weak areas.

Assemble and tab references for exam - get something with wheels to store / organize your reference materials in; it's sometimes handy to print out indexes of large references separately; some folks like to use lots of tabs, others don't.

Exam strategy - again, opinions are generally in a couple of camps

1. Read all problems, assess and note difficulty; complete problems you know and then work on the more difficult ones.

2. Work the problems you know, skipping those you don't; go back through and attempt the problems you skipped; repeat as necessary.

Helpful hints - read the question and answer it! This sounds obvious, but when you're anxious or in a hurry....

are your units correct?

orders of magnitude?

off by root 2 or root 3?

Guessing strategy

1. Reduce obviously wrong choices.

2. The answer is always C.

3. Create pleasing or chaotic patterns.

I apologize for any errors or omissions; however, there are a number of helpful folks in EE on this board who can set me straight and I'll edit as we go. Comments and suggestions appreciated!

Good luck to all the April '07 examinees!

 

[Dark Knight]

The post by singlespeed is one of the best ones about preparing for the test I have read. Excellent SSpeed

I am not the poster child for success since took me three times to pass

. But I will share with you what I think were the most helpful things for me. I made a choice of the material I used the most on my first two tries and that was what I carried.

Reference Materials:

"the other board" Study Materials (see post by SSpeed)..by the way... :"the other board":

EE PE NCEES Sample Exam

Kaplan's EE PE Sample Test (that was the difference.Did not help me during the test but in my prep I had to dig deep while studying these problems...Is excellent

Schaum's Basic Circuit (Basic Circuit killed me on my second round)

Schaum's Power Systems Analysis(that one helped me for the prep and used it a couple of times during the test)

Review Material from my USF On-Line Class and another one from a review the company paid for us. I had these in two different binders organized by topics. Also had a set of equations to calculate fault currents based of types of faults that a P.E. co-worker gave to me. It helped me to answer two problems

Books

NEC 2005

Power Systems Analysis - Grainger

Electric Machinery Fundamentals - Stephen Chapman( I love this book..

)

Basic Electronics - Boylestad

Your references are going to be as good as how well you know to use them

so don't overload yourself. Too many things to look at can be distracting and time consuming. I am not going to write about calculators because mine was banned for future tests(Casio 115 ES). Personally don't like HP-33 and I tried both. Casio was cheaper and way much better than HP.

Did it anyway.

Do not let your guard down with Economics and Probabilities. Easy money!!!!! Practice and review it.

I remind you what SSpeed wrote at the beginning of his post: "Everyone and their situation is unique - this advice is not directed at you individually, but to a diverse group; use what you will, discard the rest, no worries. Requirements vary by state; requirements are subject to change. There is no magic formula and this is only intended as a guide. I make no claims that this is complete, but I am going to post it now because if you're thinking about taking the April '07 exam you need to start NOW!"

Good Luck and let mem know if I can be of any help.

One last thing I want to say...

 

[singlespeed]

Thanks for the kind words Luis!

And thanks for your input to this thread specifically, and to the EE forum in general. It's the folks like you, Art, Kipper, clay, grover, et.al. that make this board what it is. (Now where is that clap clap clap smiley?)

 

[Dark Knight]

Here you go my friend....

Art, Kipper, clay, grover, et....

guys.....Benbo...sorry...did not mean to leave you out.......

too

 

[Art]

good stuff Luis & Singlespeed...

 

[Kipper]

Singlespeed & Luis, thanks for the kind words. :wub:

Wow did I really use that smilie? I think I am the first.

When I first joined EB, I really had not intended to be here this long.

But this board has taken on a whole new meaning for me now.

Luis, you are one of the main people that inspire me. I remember what you had

to go through on the other board and the class you showed. As well as the way you stayed with

the PE exam and passed in April.

Singlespeed you have truly put into words the way I studied. It is great posts like that, that will make this board

a must link for future PE wannabees.

And Luis you rock(insert emoticon from Luis's post here).

Okay enough of the love fest. We have other future PE's to encourage.

Thanks guys for making this an enjoyable place to be a part of.

And yes, always,

BRING IT ON I love it Luis.

 

[Kipper]

good stuff Luis & Singlespeed...

Art, loving the slide rule. Do you know how to use one?

 

[Art]

Art, loving the slide rule. Do you know how to use one?

yep, learned on one...could not afford a $300 calculator in school, they were a new fangled thing

I like to freak guys out when I interview them for a job with us..

I hand it to them and tell them they must know how to use it to be hired...

you should see the faces on these 20 something year olds :wub:

 

[Kipper]

yep, learned on one...could not afford a $300 calculator in school, they were a new fangled thing :lmao:
I like to freak guys out when I interview them for a job with us..

I hand it to them and tell them they must know how to use it to be hired...

you should see the faces on these 20 something year olds :thumbs:

:waitwall: :waitwall: :waitwall: :waitwall: :waitwall:

That is a good one.

My dad used one all the time. By the time I was 14 TI came out with their wonderful

calculator so I never learned.

He was real fast with his, he would use the slide rule for some calculations and the TI for others.

When I got him a Casio that he could program he put the slide rule in its case for the last time.

I want to put it in a coffee table display for him, sometime soon. :reading:

 

[grover]

Costs - application fees, exam fees, study materials, calculators, review class, travel & lodging, license fees, seals & stamps. In my case: $80 app. fee, $235 exam fee, approx. $400 in study materials, 2 calculators @ $15 ea., $550 review class, $20 in travel, and a $75 license fee - grand total $1390.

And know what else stinks? Even taking the PE and FE the same year, we *still* don't spend enough to break the 2% cap required to be able to deduct the cost on our income taxes.

 

[singlespeed]

And know what else stinks? Even taking the PE and FE the same year, we *still* don't spend enough to break the 2% cap required to be able to deduct the cost on our income taxes.

Yes, fortunately or unfortunately . You can look at it both ways. I'm just glad to have some free time again. Between studying, classes, filling out forms, and writing checks, I probably put 800 hours into the FE and PE process in 2006. And untold hours on this site

 

[grover]

Yes, fortunately or unfortunately . You can look at it both ways. I'm just glad to have some free time again. Between studying, classes, filling out forms, and writing checks, I probably put 800 hours into the FE and PE process in 2006. And untold hours on this site

According to TaxCut, I was in the 10% bracket this year after the deductions and everything, and I'd imagine most of us are similar. Without the asinine 2% limit, that's $140 in your pocket and probably $100 in mine. I couldn't get my employer to pay for it, but thought SURELY it's tax deductable, right??
Dammit :wacko: