I knew I would rub people the wrong way with this. Sorry. I know I can be an arrogant prick, but that doesn't mean what I said isn't true.
mudpuppy, I didn't mention EngineerBoards because I simply don't use it that much. I just remembered that I initially wrote all that stuff here and I knew that people studying for the test come here. What's the big deal?
benbo, I remember talking with you before. Yeah, the book had two volumes, but even Chelapati himself doesn't have the other volume anymore (I think I mention that in my series). As for the other books, yes I think most of them are crap generally speaking. Not because they don't have good content in them, but because even if they have good content, they also have tons more of irrelevant content. So, it's a lot of work to find the good content. I can't recommend spending a lot of time reading 100 pages of material to get 5 pages of helpful material. That is frustrating. It's like bad engineering when you use way too much safety factor. Sure, your design is solid but way too much overkill. Instead of spending the time to organize an efficient study manual, these books just throw everything about basic electrical engineering into their pages and say, "here, study this, it's all in here".
As for myself, there was nothing wrong with what I did. I do have to apologize for making myself seem smarter than I am and gloating a little bit. The truth is this, when I took the test, I was BY TITLE an electrical engineer for just a year. But I had 3 years of experience already as a mechanical engineer which also included 50% of electrical design. It's just my title was mechanical. So, it is legitimate and my sponsors thought so also (I know, anyone signs those things, but still). Also, about studying for a month, I don't recommend that AT ALL. I happen to be a very good test taker. So what. That doesn't mean I recommend people in general to study one month. In fact, I planned to study for 3-4 months, but I spent 2 months wasting time studying poor material and I realized it wasn't helping me. So, yes, sorry about bragging, but I also wanted to show that good study material means less time studying. Also, about my coursework, all that matters is that you have a degree in engineering. It doesn't have to be in the exact major you are taking the exam in.
I never recommended for people to study a month. I did address problems people have when studying so that you are aware of it and perhaps you can address it.
Sorry about the Yarborough/Camara confusion. I'll go back and correct that. I think I was getting the Mechanical/Electrical confused maybe. You know what I meant...those "the other board" books.
Look everyone, I'm sorry for being an arrogant bastard, I guess I can't help it. But when I say I'm a good test taker, there's more to that than just the gloating. And that's what I tried to flesh out in the articles. Being a good test taker is not this mysterious skill that some people are gifted. It really boils down to discipline and knowing what you have to know...maybe a little bit of it has to do with being calm vs being nervous, but I think that's a little overblown. I think people who know their stuff are calm because they know their stuff, not because of some weird personality syndrome. And the test isn't a high pressure test anyway, at least not as far as the time goes.
And about that book. The reason why it's so good is because it's very efficient...there isn't much irrelevant content in there and it's not that long of a book. Sure, you can take other afternoon portions besides Power, but let's face it, most of the people taking this exam are power people and are most likely taking the power portion. That's why I say this book is so helpful. Yeah, if you take another afternoon subject, this book is not nearly as helpful. Given that most of the exam takers have EE degrees, I am very confident that studying and mastering this book alone can make you pass the exam. You just have to be really good at power and just get a few right of the other questions. That's reality. Don't make this test harder than it has to be.
I'm constantly emphasizing the cynical attitude. Resist that urge to study all things electrical. We all have that urge because we don't want to miss anything and it's natural to think that studying and mastering everything will help us pass. But it can be much easier. That's what I'm saying. Study ONLY what you have to, don't spend time with the rest. Pass the exam and go enjoy life. You get no extra points for passing with a higher score. Heck, you don't even know what you get. If NCEES doesn't care, why should you? Bare minimum. That's all you need.
Now, don't get me wrong, I don't do my job bare minimum. But this isn't a job, this is a test. Just pass.
I can't apologize enough for my attitude, sorry. I don't mean any disrespect to anyone, except maybe th authors and publishers of the books, and only constructive criticism at that. Hey, if I do a bad job, people let me know about it, so i can do the same for others. I don't take any offense, unless it's unnecessarily personal.
OK. I should add this somewhere on my website I guess.