I failed the POWER PE Please Help!

[knight1fox3]

I'm in California it  dos not show me the score!!!!!!!!

TX is the only state that shows score. And trust me, at this point, you're better off not knowing. Keep at it.

 

[HotFudge]

Hotfudge I know exactly how you're feeling now!!! I felt confident going to the exam and almost confident coming out of it! 

Now I'm really confused about NCEES scoring system. Do they calculate the percentages in Texas only considering Texas test takers? Or it is the same nation wide? California doesn't give you any percentage but we have the same diagnostics. I know it doesn't matter right now ... thinking about how close we were to passing only adds to the misery! I have 48/80 based on my diagnostics.

I'm in this with you. I really feel this forum can help us to gather all our motivation and strength again for studying. 

Yes the scores are only calculated for Texas takers from what i know...thanks for the encouragement i am sorry you didn't pass it either and i wish you the best come October as well.

 

[HotFudge]

Fudge-

Sorry to hear about your result, I understand your pain and frustration.  Something to consider, from reading your original post, is not to overwork it by constantly studying.  Granted, you should sacrifice some leisurely activities but I wouldn't say to the point where you are constantly trying to shove your brain full of topics and concepts...because at the end of the day all you've done is be on a 3-4 month cram session.  And to add to all of that, you have a full time job to attend to, if I assume correctly.  At some point, you need to cut loose and let your mind relax!

My advice would be to save your studying and independent review sessions for 3-4 hours a day on weekend days/nights (Friday included)...and maybe skip a weekend or two for an out of town getaway, etc.  After normal study hours, take some time to relax, have a beer/drink, play some Call of Duty, etc.

Next, I would organize all of my notes from school and use those during your independent study along with the references you listed above -- chances are there is LOTS of good information in there that you didn't know you had but you might have already learned...no sense in trying to relearn it using different techniques when it was taught to you using methods that get you to the exact same solution.

I would also consider taking a review course.  I took PPI with Bobby Rauf and found it helpful.  Towards the middle to middle-end of the course, start taking "mock-exams"...meaning wake up early one Saturday morning, sit down in a quiet place at 8 am and start the 8 hour exam split into an AM and PM session each with 40 questions and take a 1 hour lunch.  Try to mimic the exam as much as possible (time yourself and HOLD TRUE to that time, put "Do Not Disturb" signs on the door, turn off your cell phone, etc.)  For the mock exams, I would suggest taking 2 of them and try to take practice exams that you haven't seen before and DO NOT grade them until you have completed both the AM and PM session.

Finally, I would say to try not to overthink things too much and know that your mind needs rest!  Keep at it and you will undoubtedly pass!

Come to think of it you have a valid point, i was pretty much a robot and felt like i was cramming everything. Every problem on the exam i could easily find somewhere to reference it since i was sooo familiar with my personal notes and i knew where everything was (based on organization of topics and formulas). I do need to simulate the full practice exam on a weekend. i will need some new practice exam material since i have done most of the practice exam out there over 3 times. I will be sure to take a break and start afresh with a new mentality. Thanks for the advice 

 

[HotFudge]

HotFudge- I used the exact same materials as you but without Testmasters. I think those materials are enough to get you through. I suggest when you start studying again, take each question slowly. Read the question 3-4 times. Look for keywords as these will determine how to properly solve the problem. Sometimes they give you too much information that makes you think a certain equation will work. Read the given solution 3-4 times also, and understand why it was solved that way. Do NOT simply jot down the equation they used without understanding why it was used in that manner. If you don't understand why it was solved that way, then you've successfully identified a weakness that you need to work on for the next exam.

For example, take a look at the NCEES Power practice problem #110. It is asking for the line current, given a load (unit in kVA) between 2 phases, and ph-ph (line-line) voltage. Normally when we see "3-phase" systems we automatically jump to using the equation I = S / [V*sqrt(3)]. They even toss the "lagging power factor" to further confuse you. You can easily solve this question in 30 seconds if you just pay attention to the details: Given load is already in kVA, not in Watts, so you don't need to use the PF at all. Line-Line voltage is given, not Line-Neutral, so you don't need the sqrt(3) factor either. In the end, the answer is I=S / V where S is the given KVA load and V is the given line-line voltage.

In summary: look for keywords, understand what the question wants. I believe if you approach it this way you'll succeed in October. Good luck.

Thinking back on the exam i probably got baited into using the errant information in the problems because i had an answer for almost every question and i felt ok about the test. Thanks for the tips...some questions i was able to eyeball and i use my references to solve however, i will be more careful reading the questions over and that should help now that i have been in the exam setting i know what to expect.

 

[HotFudge]

Hang in there, Fudge, you can do it. Do you work in a field where you work with three-phase power or use codes and standards?

Thanks bud! Yes i do but only use the NESC, i did a bunch of problems with NEC and i got a good hang of it, the problems on the test were just topics i never covered based on the problems i practiced with.

 

[HotFudge]

I will add two other bits of advice. Get a copy of the Spinup sample test book. The problems drive home basic concepts and the introduction has an excellent approach to taking the test. Also, the NEC portion can be challenging but if studied and approached properly is something you can get almost 100% correct. Complex Imaginary publishes a NEC drill book that is excellent. If you just work a third of the problems I think you'll be in good shape. It teaches you how to approach the problems so that you can find the answers quickly in your NEC book.

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Good advice from the earlier posts. Three things that I will reemphasize are

Try a review class,

Prepare a very thorough note sheet. Take your time on this. It took me 2-3 weeks. Helps to drive home the concepts.

Organize your notes. Cross reference your information with sample test problems. Sometimes the key thing is being able to find stuff quickly.

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The look up problems were nice and easy to find but I didn't solve the NEC drill book problems i will be cranking those out for sure since i came across some problems that i had never seen before on the test. What review class would you recommend? I have my notes organized and tabbed each topic area. Formulas, concepts are highlighted and i know where to find them. I just need to get the spin ups and get the basic concepts down. i was soo worried about this exam being soo hard and i might have missed out on the basics that i was supposed to know. 

The look up problems were nice and easy to find but I didn't solve the NEC drill book problems i will be cranking those out for sure since i came across some problems that i had never seen before on the test. What review class would you recommend? I have my notes organized and tabbed each topic area. Formulas, concepts are highlighted and i know where to find them. I just need to get the spin ups and get the basic concepts down. i was soo worried about this exam being soo hard and i might have missed out on the basics that i was supposed to know. 

 

[HotFudge]

This was my 2nd time taking the exam and luckily, this time I passed. The first time around (last October), I took the School of PE course and failed with a score of 45/80. This time around I retook the School of PE course, using the free repeat, and used the diagnostics from the previous exam to study harder on the areas I did poor on. Overall, I think the School of PE course is worthwhile. They provide a ton of notes and example problems, and these were one of primary resources I used in the exam. I also created sheets that organized all example/practice tests problems, so I could easily find similar problems to what is being asked in the exam. In addition to the School of PE material and problem sheets I created, I took the NEC handbook, NESC, ANSI device number wikipedia page, complex imaginary practice tests, NCEES practice test, and Power Reference Manual.

Looking at your diagnostics, I would suggest taking a review course of some sort and try not to get discouraged. 

 Absolutely will look into SOPE everyone i asked about the PPI course said the instructor read word for word from the slides so i thought i'd just get the materials and self study instead. Is SOPE more structured and do they actually teach rather than read slides to you? 

 

[Owism]

 Absolutely will look into SOPE everyone i asked about the PPI course said the instructor read word for word from the slides so i thought i'd just get the materials and self study instead. Is SOPE more structured and do they actually teach rather than read slides to you? 

I took SOPE last fall as well as this spring. Depends ont he instructor. last fall all the topics were covered by Dr. Nieves and I and others complained a lot about his method and SOPE got us new instructors, one new instructor per topic. Two were great, the other two were doing the whole reading slide thing but I benefited a lot from the other two. No doubt. highly recommend. 
 

The most important part is tabbing all the notes, i used those notes the most this time around but didnt do so last fall. I tabbed it so much and used it a lot during my practice tests. (HIGHLY RECOMMEND Complex IMaginary practice tests and code drill book)

HOpe that helps. Keep it up. Practice lots. youll get it. 

 

[KatyLied P.E.]

I really liked the GA Tech review course. The videos are a few years old but I still found them useful. The instructor checks his email and will respond to questions within 24 hours. G Tech and SOPE seem to get the best reviews on this forum. I've stated this in many posts before but if there is something you can't just understand Google or look on YouTube. I attempted the test twice in the late '90's and did not pass. When I finally passed it in April '14 the biggest difference was the Internet and taking a review course.

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[KatyLied P.E.]

G Tech also does a good job of teaching the basics and he reviews a significant number of NCEES sample test problems.

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[knight1fox3]

lusone:  for GA Tech power PE review course.

 

[HotFudge]

I took SOPE last fall as well as this spring. Depends ont he instructor. last fall all the topics were covered by Dr. Nieves and I and others complained a lot about his method and SOPE got us new instructors, one new instructor per topic. Two were great, the other two were doing the whole reading slide thing but I benefited a lot from the other two. No doubt. highly recommend. 
 

The most important part is tabbing all the notes, i used those notes the most this time around but didnt do so last fall. I tabbed it so much and used it a lot during my practice tests. (HIGHLY RECOMMEND Complex IMaginary practice tests and code drill book)

HOpe that helps. Keep it up. Practice lots. youll get it. 

So my questions for you now is that how many hours on avg / day did you study the second go around? Did you start afresh or only focused on areas you struggled with?

 

[HotFudge]

I really liked the GA Tech review course. The videos are a few years old but I still found them useful. The instructor checks his email and will respond to questions within 24 hours. G Tech and SOPE seem to get the best reviews on this forum. I've stated this in many posts before but if there is something you can't just understand Google or look on YouTube. I attempted the test twice in the late '90's and did not pass. When I finally passed it in April '14 the biggest difference was the Internet and taking a review course.

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lusone:  for GA Tech power PE review course.

I need some sort of review course to help out for sure I will have to pick from SOPE / GA Tech...hopefully more people that passed can weigh in on what courses they would best recommend.

 

[knight1fox3]

I need some sort of review course to help out for sure I will have to pick from SOPE / GA Tech...hopefully more people that passed can weigh in on what courses they would best recommend.

In addition, if you do a quick search in this sub-forum for either course, you should be able to find a number of previous threads that provide some decent reviews on these courses.

 

[KatyLied P.E.]

IMHO, assuming you have heard of it, I would not use the MGI prep course. There is a reason it is half the cost of courses like GA Tech. The problems are not similar to actual test problems. Supposedly it is endorsed by NSPE. Which amazes me.

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[KatyLied P.E.]

I know this because I bought it because it was cheap. I was fortunate that my company footed the cost for the GA Tech course.

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[HotFudge]

Never heard of MGI before...i guess there's a reason for that. Luckily my company is willing to pay for the costs for a review course...i have seen positive reviews about GA tech and SOPE so far. I will be signing up for one shortly.

 

[Math]

TX is the only state that shows score. And trust me, at this point, you're better off not knowing. Keep at it.

Thanks

 

[Owism]

So my questions for you now is that how many hours on avg / day did you study the second go around? Did you start afresh or only focused on areas you struggled with?

well the second time around I used CI as my guide to studying things I didnt know. Just went through it, 4 hours a day, 5 days a week. If i came across something I got wrong, I looked it up and fully understood it. Printed out anything I found online that helped me understand it, watched youtube videos explaining it.  I also signed up for the On demand School of PE course so I could watch recordings from last season and had access to the workshop problems, so I could go through them before the live classes started then I asked any questions during hte live classes. SOPE also allows you to email the instructor if you have a question outside the live classes.

The first time around i fully relied on the course to guide me through problems, I like the course workshop problems, but more problems the better and CI did it for me. I think I will sell it if anyone wants to PM me for it and other items I have. I'll do an advert as well i guess.

Also make sure you sit down one week before the exam for 8 full hours and take atleast one full practice exam, I tried to do two 8 hour exams in a row but i crashed so I stopped, but it really gets you in the zone on using your reference material and fixing anything you didnt tab properly before the exam

 

[Ken PE 3.1]

Never heard of MGI before...i guess there's a reason for that. Luckily my company is willing to pay for the costs for a review course...i have seen positive reviews about GA tech and SOPE so far. I will be signing up for one shortly.

GT has better notes unless SOPE really had an overhaul in the past few years. Less errors in the notes as well from what I remember.

If you get GT, use the binder as a template to build your own resources. Fill in the 'holes' with additional materials to supplement the material. Then of course, study your ass off.

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