First off, i am not sure if this is the appropriate section to post my MERM and few other books for sale, but essentially having passed my PE in October, i am selling my books and will take paypal Email me at rgyvel at hotmail if interested. I have:
- 13th (latest) Edition MERM book. Aka the bible. - $200 shipped. Basically new condition and not written in it at all. Hardcover
- 6 minute solutions - HVAC & Refrigeration by Elder - latest edition - $60 shipped
- NCEES Practice Exam - HVAC & Refrigeration - $40 shipped
Now i will take a few minuted to share my experiences about the PE Exam.
I passed on my first try...I spent a great amount of time preparing for it, but now having taken the exam realize i could've probably gotten away with it having spent half the time. I will explain later
First off to study, i did the following:
1. Read most of the MERM chapters and looked at/tried solving their practice problems. I think i did Chapters 13-55 or something like that. Didn't bother with the math, or plant engineering, although i advise you to skim plant engineering as there were a few of those questions on the exam. This book took the longest time maybe 3 hours on average per chapter. As i went chapter by chapter i wrote down all the relevant formulas and facts on a notebook, for exam reference.
2. After reading the MERM, i had about 1.5 months left for practice problems. I started out doing the six minute solutions. They were nothing like the MERM problems, and if anything were more like actual exam problems. For me, the SMS was a great resource because it really got me thinking in the right direction in terms of how to solve these problems. It's neat too because they explain to you why the other multiple choice answers were wrong, and show you how the exam tricks you, either on unit conversions or otherwise.
3. After the SMS, i had about 2-3 weeks until exam and i did the NCEES practice test. Got 50 out of 80 correct, but 8-10 of them were on REALLY stupid mistakes and that was a great teacher because now i knew not to make those mistakes on the exam. Mistakes i speak of were half unit converstions, and half not reading the problem carefully enough and writing down all the givens and all the variables. I will add that on the exam, in almost all the problems, they give you abundance of information, and it is up to you to realize only what you need to solve the problem.
4. After i completed the practice test, i redid the SMS problems and the practice test problems one more time, which further solidified the knowledge.
On exam day, the hardest part is staying focused for so long and being time efficient. The more practice problems you do, the better you will be managing your time.
My recommendations:
- Read the MERM and write down your major formulas in a notebook.
- Do not get scared by looking at the MERM practice problems. 90% of those questions won't be on the test, and most certainly not the 1 hour problems. But still look at them and try to do them or at least look at solutions.
- Do as many practice problems as you can. If money is not an issue, i suggest buying all 3 practice exams (machine design, fluids, hvac) and all 3 Six minute Solutions. That will REALLY help you out. The SMS and especially the practice tests you really need to spend good time to really understand how they are solved, because of the test you will get similar problems, just in a slightly different variation, so if you understand the principle behind the problem, solving it will be very easy.
- After you solve the problems, a week before exam, solve them or look over them one more time to refresh.
- Use engproguides.com as study material. they have EXCELLENT pdf material of the formulas and brief concept explanations. It's almost like it was created by someone on the exam board. On the exam, and exam preparation, i found myself referencing their material the most.
- Buy my books
As for the exam itself, it was pretty difficult and i was definitely challenged by it. The AM portion was more general but covered all the topics: machine design, fluids, hvac, refrigeration, unit conversions, economics, etc. That's why it is a good idea to do SMS and practice exam problems on all three topics. The more points you can get on the AM exam, the better your chances of passing are. PM exam was much more detailed and concentrated on HVAC & Refriferation although about half the problems were on Fluids and Thermodynamics anyway. I always heard of people complaining about the PM exam like it was a killer but i think i may have even done better on the PM, as opposed to AM. There were like 5 questions i had no idea how to even go about answering, but other than that the principle behind the question was consistent with the engproguides and the basic theories.
The MERM really becomes useful on the exam because you constantly need to reference the tables. But also, there were maybe 5-8 questions on the exam that initially i had no clue how to answer, so i quickly used MERM appendix to find the topic, was fortunate to find the page, read up on it real quick, and answered the question. Those were problems in machine design, plant engineering, etc, basically topics i didn't spend too much time on.
Last thing, i took the HVAC exam which requires you to have some knowledge of ASHRAE books and hvac/plumbing/fire protection codes. I didn't have access to the books, so i downloaded pdfs of all the books and printed out the sections which i felt were relevant. Must haves are the chapters on refrigeration, as there were questions about types of refrigerants. Also, print out NFPA 90, ASHRAE 60.1, 90.1, ASHRAE 15. Make sure you have the tables on freezing times of foods, as that will be an easy one to answer if you do. Overall., i would say about 10-12 questions required you to have some knowledge of the codes or required you to look it up.
That's it guys and girls. That's all i got. Email me with any questions you may have or post on the forum, i will try to check it from time to time.
Adios
- 13th (latest) Edition MERM book. Aka the bible. - $200 shipped. Basically new condition and not written in it at all. Hardcover
- 6 minute solutions - HVAC & Refrigeration by Elder - latest edition - $60 shipped
- NCEES Practice Exam - HVAC & Refrigeration - $40 shipped
Now i will take a few minuted to share my experiences about the PE Exam.
I passed on my first try...I spent a great amount of time preparing for it, but now having taken the exam realize i could've probably gotten away with it having spent half the time. I will explain later
First off to study, i did the following:
1. Read most of the MERM chapters and looked at/tried solving their practice problems. I think i did Chapters 13-55 or something like that. Didn't bother with the math, or plant engineering, although i advise you to skim plant engineering as there were a few of those questions on the exam. This book took the longest time maybe 3 hours on average per chapter. As i went chapter by chapter i wrote down all the relevant formulas and facts on a notebook, for exam reference.
2. After reading the MERM, i had about 1.5 months left for practice problems. I started out doing the six minute solutions. They were nothing like the MERM problems, and if anything were more like actual exam problems. For me, the SMS was a great resource because it really got me thinking in the right direction in terms of how to solve these problems. It's neat too because they explain to you why the other multiple choice answers were wrong, and show you how the exam tricks you, either on unit conversions or otherwise.
3. After the SMS, i had about 2-3 weeks until exam and i did the NCEES practice test. Got 50 out of 80 correct, but 8-10 of them were on REALLY stupid mistakes and that was a great teacher because now i knew not to make those mistakes on the exam. Mistakes i speak of were half unit converstions, and half not reading the problem carefully enough and writing down all the givens and all the variables. I will add that on the exam, in almost all the problems, they give you abundance of information, and it is up to you to realize only what you need to solve the problem.
4. After i completed the practice test, i redid the SMS problems and the practice test problems one more time, which further solidified the knowledge.
On exam day, the hardest part is staying focused for so long and being time efficient. The more practice problems you do, the better you will be managing your time.
My recommendations:
- Read the MERM and write down your major formulas in a notebook.
- Do not get scared by looking at the MERM practice problems. 90% of those questions won't be on the test, and most certainly not the 1 hour problems. But still look at them and try to do them or at least look at solutions.
- Do as many practice problems as you can. If money is not an issue, i suggest buying all 3 practice exams (machine design, fluids, hvac) and all 3 Six minute Solutions. That will REALLY help you out. The SMS and especially the practice tests you really need to spend good time to really understand how they are solved, because of the test you will get similar problems, just in a slightly different variation, so if you understand the principle behind the problem, solving it will be very easy.
- After you solve the problems, a week before exam, solve them or look over them one more time to refresh.
- Use engproguides.com as study material. they have EXCELLENT pdf material of the formulas and brief concept explanations. It's almost like it was created by someone on the exam board. On the exam, and exam preparation, i found myself referencing their material the most.
- Buy my books
As for the exam itself, it was pretty difficult and i was definitely challenged by it. The AM portion was more general but covered all the topics: machine design, fluids, hvac, refrigeration, unit conversions, economics, etc. That's why it is a good idea to do SMS and practice exam problems on all three topics. The more points you can get on the AM exam, the better your chances of passing are. PM exam was much more detailed and concentrated on HVAC & Refriferation although about half the problems were on Fluids and Thermodynamics anyway. I always heard of people complaining about the PM exam like it was a killer but i think i may have even done better on the PM, as opposed to AM. There were like 5 questions i had no idea how to even go about answering, but other than that the principle behind the question was consistent with the engproguides and the basic theories.
The MERM really becomes useful on the exam because you constantly need to reference the tables. But also, there were maybe 5-8 questions on the exam that initially i had no clue how to answer, so i quickly used MERM appendix to find the topic, was fortunate to find the page, read up on it real quick, and answered the question. Those were problems in machine design, plant engineering, etc, basically topics i didn't spend too much time on.
Last thing, i took the HVAC exam which requires you to have some knowledge of ASHRAE books and hvac/plumbing/fire protection codes. I didn't have access to the books, so i downloaded pdfs of all the books and printed out the sections which i felt were relevant. Must haves are the chapters on refrigeration, as there were questions about types of refrigerants. Also, print out NFPA 90, ASHRAE 60.1, 90.1, ASHRAE 15. Make sure you have the tables on freezing times of foods, as that will be an easy one to answer if you do. Overall., i would say about 10-12 questions required you to have some knowledge of the codes or required you to look it up.
That's it guys and girls. That's all i got. Email me with any questions you may have or post on the forum, i will try to check it from time to time.
Adios
