How did you guys make out?

[MetsFan]

I think my results could go either way. My strategy was to read through each problem and if I thought I could solve it in five minutes, I would go ahead and work on it. Otherwise, I would skip it and come back to it on the second run through.

The morning went ok but I blindly guessed on about 3 or 4. I narrowed down another 3 to two or three answer choices. Overall, I would say I missed about 10 counting the guesses and maybe a couple I got wrong along the way. I have to say though, I was feeling pretty down on it until I reached the HVAC questions. That really got my confidence up.

I thought I would make up for it in the afternoon, but there were a lot of questions I wasn't expecting. On my first run through, I had only done about 4 of the first 20 questions. The next 20 went a little better and I was able to get an answer for a good portion of them. On my second run through I was able to get a better understanding of the questions and was able to get an answer for a few more. I went through a couple more times until I had about 30 minutes left. At this point, I had about 10 questions that I either had to blindly guess, or was able to cross out one or more answers.

I felt pretty bummed Friday night. As I thought about it, I was only concentrating on the problems I couldn't get and not on all the questions I think I got right, so I'm hoping for the best. I will be doing some reading here and there though so it stays fresh in my mind in case I have to retake it in October.

How did you guys do?

 

[Krakosky]

I pretty much feel the same as you. Overall, I thought the level of difficulty of the exam was on par with the NCEES practice tests. Tho there seemed to be more "legwork" required on some of the am questions. I flew thru the first 20 problems and was making good time. I didn't skip around and look for the easiest problems bc I was able to solve all of the problems I was coming across. Then I got stuck on a problem which seemed like it should've been straight forward and simple. I spent too much time on it and started to feel behind. The last 20 questions weren't as easy for me although most were doable. I ended up having to guess on about 10 questions bc I ran out of time. The majority of them were HVAC. I know I missed out on an easy question bc it was near the end of the exam and I came to it with 1 minute left.

I skipped around a lot more in the pm section to make sure to get all of the low hanging fruit problems. I went thru all 40 problems and did all the ones I could do right away or with minimal lookup. I ended up having to guess on about 12 problems.

I feel good about the problems I did solve and got an answer that matched one of the choices. I just hope I didn't make a bunch of dumb mistakes. I'm hoping I can scrape by but I'm not so sure.

 

[MizzouMatt]

I took the Mechanical HVAC. I thought that the morning went well. I got answers that I felt good about to every problem except 1. I finished an hour or so early. The afternoon was much harder in my opinion. I skipped about 12 problems on my first pass through but was able to feel pretty good about 35/40 answers in the end and just plain guessed on only 1. I think I probably did ok but who really knows. I could have screwed up units on a whole bunch of problems and I would not really know. I guess the waiting game starts. I hope everyone else feels pretty good about the test.

Metsfan, I agree with you that there were a bunch of problems on the afternoon that I was not really ready for. The first 10 or so really scared me. I had to skip 4 or five of those and come back later. I also started to cruise along on the second half of the morning only skipping a handful of those last twenty. I had about an hour and a half to work on the problems that i had skipped.

 

[Rockettt]

Well i took the Machine design depth. All i can say is the morning HVAC kicked my butt. I was never good nore did i ever like that stuff. The machine design problems, while harder in my opinion than the Practice tests....i whiddled through fine. guessed on 1 or 2. Morning probably 6 or so educated guesses however educated they were haha.

I wish you all the best though. Heres to not taking it again! I got my hopes high but woudlnt be the end of the world to retake. It eased my mind going into it that around EB i knew that i wasnt the only one worried.

 

[ksprayberry]

I'm in the same boat. I felt that the morning session was maybe easier than what I anticipated and had prepared for, which makes me second guess myself. Maybe some of them were trick questions or something. I finished early and went back through trying to check for mistakes I may have made. I think I guessed at maybe 5 or so.

I don't feel that the material I used to study by or practice exams accurately represented the types of problems I encountered on the test. I started and right off the bat I had the wind knocked out of my sails. I felt going in that I had a good handle on the HVAC and would have a hard time with the morning session. I couldn't have been more wrong. I started and jumped around quite a bit. I had seen some of the problems before, but they threw that extra twist in there to complicate it a little more. Emiril Lagasse must have written the test.... "BAM! Kick it up a notch" I jumped around and answered the easier ones and mustered a little more confidence and settled in on the harder ones. I know there are several that I got just plain wrong, but there were 5 or so that I problably guessed at straight out. I used the whole time in the afternoon. Even in the last minute I noticed that I had skipped one...So I guessed at it.

We'll see. I can't tell. If I had to guess, I would say I'll be taking it again in October. At least I know more about the process and how to go about it all. Now comes the long wait.

Thanks for the help.

Kelly

 

[Rockettt]

One thing I do notice this go around at a test, Is i had a good group of friends back in school. We all studied together. Studying alone makes it tough. sometimes you just get stuck and cant get through a problem. I coulda used a few people to kick me in the gut and get me straightened out lol. Plus i used to help alot of people get through their homework as i usually knew what i was doing. So that helped get me even more familiar with the material. By the time I got to the test it was a breeze. Was great to have people here thats for sure. And to the veterans around here too gave all the help!

I think if i had to Ill scope out a review class and hopefully dig up some people around here to maybe study with. hope wont have to be done but....

 

[gaurav0323]

I am a proud PE Exam veteran . This was my second go for PE Mechanical systems and Materials. If I have to grade Oct 2011 VS April 2012 exam I would give 9.50/10 and 9.45/10 for Oct 2011 morning and Apr 2012 morning. For Afternoon I would give 9.50/10 and 9.60/10 for Oct 2011 and Apr 2012.

Last time there were equal percentage of problems on MD, Thermal and HVAC in morning. I was not that well prepared in HVAC and scored poorly. This time around I really crunched on HVAC in my study time, but alas to my surprise there were very few probelms on HVAC. Also very few problems on MD and thermal and lots of them on general engineering. I feel that I did better this time than Oct -11 for morning.

MD- evening was a nightmare. I did lot of silly mistakes which are un-pardonable. I feel that my afternoon section went the same way or better than afternoon compared to last time.

I remember last time I was only able to get through 20/40 problems in evening and guessed on remaining 20. This time around I was atleast able to go over all 40 and guessed on 6-9 problems. I feel that I will make it through.

PS. I got 68% last time and was one-step away from finishing line. I hope that this time I am through. This is my last chance, my wife is frustrated and cannot take this anymore.

 

[Krakosky]

If you don't mind me asking what was your # correct last time? You said you got a 68%. How many right was that? Overall how many did you guess on last time? I feel like I had to guess on a lot bc I ran out of time but the ones I did answer I feel confident on. I guess it can go either way...

 

[gaurav0323]

Krakosy,

I scored 44/80 last time and 46/80 was the passing score. I remember one of the guy in this forum scored 69% with 45/80 correct (MD-Depth). Looking at Apr -12 exam I feel that again 45-46/80 will be the passing score because it was of same/more difficult than Oct -11 exam.

If I dont make it this time I will go to the Himalayas and attain nirvana or become a buddhist priest.

 

[Krakosky]

Wow. That's a lower cut score than I thought. Maybe I actually have a shot. I also took MD depth.

 

[Rockettt]

Wow really? that seems low. I was shootin for 70% ! hmmmmm..... now you got my dander up.

Hope NYS gets into high gear and gets the info movin along!

 

[MizzouMatt]

I guess I am confused on how a 46 / 80 is a 68%.

 

[aneesu786]

Here are some post on the way people felt about the Mechanical PE from Oct 2011 right after they took it:

http://engineerboards.com/index.php?showtopic=17486

Personally i remembered feeling good and confident when i left the test site. But I knew I had guessed on 6-7 on the AM and an equal number in PM sessions.

I would recommend taking some notes on what you can remember about the questions you guessed on and how you would go about solving them, in the scenario where you might have failed the exam.

Also from last October, the people who posted on EB were pretty confident about doing good and did end up passing. However, this does not say that those who felt mediocre failed. If your study habits were disciplined, then the scores will reflect it. Based on the people's post on this Mechanical Board, I would say that many of you will pass as it was consistent with the study habits from the test takers in the Oct '11 exam.

Now just wait and hope for the best....

 

[gaurav0323]

MizzouMatt,

Nope 46/80 was passing score for MD last time around. 44/80 was 68% and 45/80 was 69%. PE exams are graded on a curve and not on number of correct answers. If it was graded on number of correct answers like getting 56/80 correct = 70% I would have never made it through .

Krakosky, Rockett,

Reading your posts you guys did far better than what I did last time. I guessed on 30/80 questions in Oct -11. I am pretty confident you guys will make it through.

 

[MizzouMatt]

I guess I always had heard that you need a 70% and took it to mean 56 / 80. I hope you are right.

 

[snickerd3]

NO ONE knows the cut score. People hypothesize based on the diagnoistic reports they get and certain states (very few) send the score.

 

[Jonhnny123]

My immediate thought after the PE exam was "I think I did OK". Much better than my thoughts after the FE exam last year, which were, "Oh god, I failed. That was the worst test I've ever taken!"

I took the Mechanical - Thermal/Fluids Exam

The morning went well. I didn't think it would be too productive for me to read through each problem and rank them based on difficulty. I just started at number 1 and worked straight through. If I knew how to solve the problem, I'd do it. If I was unsure, I'd look around for a formula for a minute or two. If I still couldn't figure it out, I'd guess an answer and mark that question. I was able to go back and verify the answer to two of the 6 questions I was unsure about leaving me with just 4 that were complete guesses. I was done in two hours, so I got a nice extended lunch break. I decided to walk around a bit since it was such a nice day out. I felt confident about the exam at that point and the walk helped clear my head for the afternoon session.

The afternoon wasn' nearly as smooth. The first 15 or so questions I just couldn't answer! I definitely started panicing! I was only spending a couple minutes on each, because I could pretty much tell right away if I knew what approach to take. Thankfully after that stretch, there were a bunch of questions in a row that I was able to confidently solve. There was one question towards the end that I probably spent a little too much time on simply because I knew what needed to be done, but I just could not get the right answer. Anyways, I reached the end and started working on the ones I guessed on. I was able to get it down to about 13 questions that I still didn't feel confident about.

I wish there were more fluid related problems though.. It'd be nice if each exam was tailored to our strengths, wouldn't it?

Of course, I could have gotten more questions wrong than just the ones I guessed on, but I at least feel comfortable. Considering there's always going to be a couple of topics on the exam that you didn't fully study, I felt that my efforts didn't go to waste. I was a nice feeling to see a problem and immediately know what needs to be done. And it happened more often than not with this exam, so I'm happy about that. I just really hope I pass and never have to do it again though haha!

 

[Krakosky]

Aneesu786,

I wrote out the notes from what I can remember on 59 of the problems. I can't remember all of the details but at least the problem layout, what info was given and what was asked. I did this in attempt to get the questions out of my head. It's hard to make my mind stop thinking about the ones I couldn't come up with an answer for or 2nd guessing the ones I did. At least I'll know what types of problems were asked and what to expect in October if it comes down to that.

 

[MetsFan]

I thought about writing some notes on the problems I missed, but I think that would make me more depressed. I also read somewhere that they only "recycle" about 20% of the questions so chances are you won't see the same type of problems. I was thinking while working on the exam that I should've studied everything that wasn't on the practice exams.

I do want to say thank you to all of you. You guys definitely helped me get through the week leading up to the exam and it was nice talking to other people in the same boat.

 

[ksprayberry]

I hate to ask, but as far as the confidentiality, we agreed to not divugle any of the specifics about the test and materials right, specifically questions and answers. Do you think it would be ok to give a review of the test site, the conditions, seating conditions temperature, I know that sounds crazy, but I think if there was anything that made me nervous, it was the not knowing what I was doing or where I was going. I don't want to say too much and be in trouble over it. I think it woudl help someone in my position taking it for the first time....Like I couldn't find my seat at first. I was the dunce that had to be escorted to my seat. Someone was blocking the little seat charts that was on the front row. DOH!

KS