I'm taking the Mech PE on the 24th. I started some light studying back in January, but I've been super busy and haven't done any super serious studying; maybe 3 Saturday's worth. During my last semester of undergrad I had to take the FE, my school had a nearly 100% FE pass rate for nearly a decade and they were very proud of that so they made us all take it. Since I was taking 22 credit hours (CS minor and Co-op overloads your class schedule) I was completely swamped and my brain was about to melt so I didn't study at all for the FE. I passed, but I don't think I had much room to spare.
I took the PE PPI practice exam morning section last Saturday. I felt pretty good about it until I graded it. I got 20 out of 40. Although I went back through and at least 7 of those were really stupid "Doh" mistakes that I think they're looking for. Not "finishing" the problem once you finish the big calculation, forgetting to convert units, etc. Since there is actually an answer that corrisponds to a simple mistake, it's really easy to get fooled into stopping there and moving on. There were about 7 problems that I think I really need to study hard. I've decided to get the NCEES practice test and the 6 minute problem books. I'll take the next 3 Friday's off and study 2 full days every weekend. I'm wondering which afternoon section I should take. I worked in lower power train design for a huge construction machine mfg for 5 years, and statics/dynamics/machine design has always been very natural for me. However, my thermo/fluids teacher in undergrad was fantastic and I feel more comfortable with those types of problems.
I think I'll study for both (should help the morning section) and choose at the test. Is there a problem doing this? Should I choose before hand? Also, if I get done early in the morning (I take tests very quickly. Finished the FE in 3.5 hrs total) can I look at the afternoon sections so that I can decide early?
I took the PE PPI practice exam morning section last Saturday. I felt pretty good about it until I graded it. I got 20 out of 40. Although I went back through and at least 7 of those were really stupid "Doh" mistakes that I think they're looking for. Not "finishing" the problem once you finish the big calculation, forgetting to convert units, etc. Since there is actually an answer that corrisponds to a simple mistake, it's really easy to get fooled into stopping there and moving on. There were about 7 problems that I think I really need to study hard. I've decided to get the NCEES practice test and the 6 minute problem books. I'll take the next 3 Friday's off and study 2 full days every weekend. I'm wondering which afternoon section I should take. I worked in lower power train design for a huge construction machine mfg for 5 years, and statics/dynamics/machine design has always been very natural for me. However, my thermo/fluids teacher in undergrad was fantastic and I feel more comfortable with those types of problems.
I think I'll study for both (should help the morning section) and choose at the test. Is there a problem doing this? Should I choose before hand? Also, if I get done early in the morning (I take tests very quickly. Finished the FE in 3.5 hrs total) can I look at the afternoon sections so that I can decide early?
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