If you passed (for us that failed)

[user 30371]

Thanks, this is what I need---what practice problems everyone is doing to study. I failed twice and did improve the second time studying School of PE notes for the AM but I think I need to do more problems to improve me PM.

Anyone who passed the Civil/Structural, if you can break down what you studied from--- that is super helpful. I signed up for EET and will probably just do tons of problems in between classes to help drive theory and concepts down. I can't tell you guys how valuable everyone's advice is. 

My main sources of problems were the NCEES practice exams and the School of PE problems for the afternoon section. I would rotate through all of them so I didn't start memorizing problems. My main source of conceptual study material for the afternoon was also the School of PE notes, but I also had all of the references pretty early on so I tabbed the **** out of those and made an index based on those tabs (google "spec and ref" technique). I think my two keys to success were that I was familiar with the process of answering the questions and that I was super familiar with all of the references that I had so I could easily find the information I needed. I don't think I ever spent more than 20 seconds looking for something before I found it.

 

[DontStopBelieving]

Mechanical HVAC and Refrigeration. First time and passed! I started studying too late and had to cover a lot within a short time. I started studying after labor day and went hard-body. By the time October 29th hit I clocked in over 240 hours.

I got bogged down in the extraneous material of MERM and probably wasted 60 hours or so in the process.

I took NCEES practice exam twice and PPI practice exam once; however, too late. These were done on exam week. Bad idea. I had no days off prior to the exam and felt like I needed another week. 

My advice to future takers/repeat takers: focus on solving problems rather than reading through theoretical jargon. It is enriching at times but too costly and not a priority on the exam. Spend at least half of your time studying in your discipline; your discipline may well make up 60% of the entire two-part exam. So it is worth that time. I think it is best to study your discipline after the other sections so it is most fresh in your mind going in to exam day. Finally, take as many pertinent practice exams you can weeks before the exam and zero in on trouble areas. Trick yourself to believe that the exam is 2 weeks before the actual date and prepare like it. This way you won't make the mistake of starting your studying late.

 

[chusker15]

I passed the Chemical PE on the first attempt (Texas). I have been out of school for 10 years before taking the exam. I decided about a week before the application deadline that I thought it would be a fun challenge. I had to really get all of the references and SERs together fast in order to get the application in before the deadline. Found out in August that my application was accepted and I registered for the October Exam in Houston. 

I started studying in the beginning of September. At my office I have every other Friday off. So I was coming in on my Friday's off in September and October for about 4-6 hours each time. During those study sessions I was only doing problems from the NCEES practice exam. That was the only studying I did until a week before the exam. Five days before the exam I started studying 1-2 hours a night at home. 

I brought a Banker's Box of books to the exam (probably about 11 books) along with my trusty HP 35s. I struggled through the morning session but felt okay about it. I haven't done any reaction engineering since college so the kinetics portion was hard for me. In the afternoon, I felt really well. I was moving very fast through problems and had everything but 5 "tough" questions solved with an hour to go. That gave me time to really work those problems in the remaining hour.

I felt like I had about a 60% chance of passing. I really didn't study a lot and there were probably 5 problems that I knew I didn't get right after doing some checking after the exam. 

Got the results about a week ago and found out that I passed with a 92. I was pretty surprised. I think the fact that I've been working in industry for 10 years really helped. I do mostly technical work at the office so I guess you could say I've been studying for the past 10 years without really knowing it.

 

[JunZ]

National test:

Review class with EET-California,  average 2-3 hours per day. { Construction, but my background is structural, Pass the test on my frist try in April 2015).

Seismic with EET-California, 1 hours per day. pass the test on my first try in April 2015. 

Surveying, failed on my first try in April 2015 ( I took the online review class), then I took reza mahallati review class and passed on my 2nd try this Oct. ( Reza class was really good, and I only spent my time during the class, basically, 40 hours or so)

 

[HCrum87hc]

I started studying the first week of August.  I figured that would give me about three months.  I borrowed some review class notes from a friend that passed the exam last year.  I spent one week on each topic, basically just copying the notes and working the example problems.  At the end of each topic, I'd do some practice problems from his CERM problems book and an old practice NCEES test that my boss gave me.  I probably spent 2 hours a weeknight and 3 hours each Saturday and Sunday doing this.

My SoPE classes started September 12 and lasted until October 18.  After the weekend sessions, I would spend all week doing the SoPE practice problems and more problems from Mike's morning practice exam. I also did a lot of problems from the Water Resources practice problems book by Timothy Nelson.  This took up around 1-2 hours each weeknight, plus the two 8 hour classes each weekend.  I'd say I probably studied a total of 240-250 total hours.  The SoPE review class was golden, along with the practice NCEES exams.  In my opinion, a good review class, the right references, and plenty of practice problems will allow you to pass the exam.  The weekend before the exam, I took the latest NCEES practice test (also given to me by my boss) and treated it as a simulated test.  I had not looked at these problems before.  Based on how I did on that test (71/80), I spent the last week focusing on topics that I missed.

Speaking of references, the main ones I used were the CERM and my SoPE notes.  During the PE exam, there were at least 3-4 problems that I could look directly up in one of my textbooks.  It's important to have some good textbooks for your discipline for questions like these.  Good luck to those that did not pass.

 

[Superlaker24]

National test:

Review class with EET-California,  average 2-3 hours per day. { Construction, but my background is structural, Pass the test on my frist try in April 2015).

Seismic with EET-California, 1 hours per day. pass the test on my first try in April 2015. 

Surveying, failed on my first try in April 2015 ( I took the online review class), then I took reza mahallati review class and passed on my 2nd try this Oct. ( Reza class was really good, and I only spent my time during the class, basically, 40 hours or so)

How did you study for all three exams at the same time? How many months did you study?