I noticed that the MERM has a pretty decent sized Fe-C phase diagram. I might have to make a copy of that also and put it into the materials binder. Then i need to figure out how i'm going to tote all these binders into the room. I guess i'll just roll them in with a carry-on suitcase.
Machine Design & Materials Oct 2018
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That's exactly what I did, I had everything in a medium-size suitcase PLUS a milk-crate to store everything on the floor and keep it from falling over...
just realized something from doing the practice questions and cementing my knowledge of where specific info is in my reference binder. As I use it to find one equation/note say, it gets left open at that particular page as i do the sample question. Soo, some of the tabs I have added are now facing down because I've flipped the pages over. I have to then flip those pages back to read the tabs which = time!
I'm going to write on the back of my tabs - so they are readable from both directions. Only works on non-translucent tabs but will save me a bit o'time. My tabs are colored and I know which color is specific to a main subject but I've only got 6 colors!
As for the practice problems/book work - driving me nuts a bit. Some of this 'knowledge' (the theory/concepts) I was taught 28yrs ago!. And training what's left of my grey matter is.....
lost track...
......
I'm going to write on the back of my tabs - so they are readable from both directions. Only works on non-translucent tabs but will save me a bit o'time. My tabs are colored and I know which color is specific to a main subject but I've only got 6 colors!
As for the practice problems/book work - driving me nuts a bit. Some of this 'knowledge' (the theory/concepts) I was taught 28yrs ago!. And training what's left of my grey matter is.....
lost track...
......
I was 22 years out of school when I took the PE so I definitely know how you're feeling right now. Hang in there... and good luck next Friday !
Well, the Oct 2018 MDM test is done. I have absolutely no clue on how I did. I kind of feel like I got beat up a little bit. There were a lot of problems that I think I did well with (esp. in afternoon), and there were several that I just didn't understand very well (both morning & afternoon). I guess the wait begins. I know I don't want to take it again though.
Anybody else have no clue about how you did in the end, or do you feel like you nailed it?
Anybody else have no clue about how you did in the end, or do you feel like you nailed it?
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Fingers crossed @monty01! I felt great after my first two attempts and bombed them. Then felt horrible for my passing attempt. So...nothing to be learned here. Just take a break, self-medicate, and gear up for the SPAM!
Hi All,
First time poster here. I took the MDM test in California yesterday. Monty, similar feelings to you. Struggled more on the first part, felt a little better on the second part. First part there were 3-4 where I didn't have a clue, second part only one or two. I did the self study route, and am glad I did. Felt like I knew how to do most all of them, problem I ran into was most of my answers were very slightly off from the multiple choice options, so not sure if they are right or not. I really only started intensely studying about 2 months before. My only regret is I should have taken a different practice exam and joined this forum BEFORE the test. Only practice test I did was NCEES.
My big issue is units and calculator skills. I didn't pay attention enough to the units they were asking for, and I always seem to mistype or mess up when I am trying to do a long calculation.
Like you, no clue. I felt "ok" initially after leaving, but now as I dwell on it (as I always do) I feel that I may not have passed. I could think of 2 near the end that I thought I got right when leaving, but realized I didn't due to rushing and units as I thought about it more that night. I think I will be very close to the cut if I do. Wish I left feeling like I passed, but that is not the case. I have a coworker who passed last October and he said the test was very similar to the practice exam. Personally I think this one was quite a bit harder.
I guess we will see first or second week of December. It is going to be tough for me not to dwell on it for 6 weeks. I don't feel very confident right now.
-Joe
First time poster here. I took the MDM test in California yesterday. Monty, similar feelings to you. Struggled more on the first part, felt a little better on the second part. First part there were 3-4 where I didn't have a clue, second part only one or two. I did the self study route, and am glad I did. Felt like I knew how to do most all of them, problem I ran into was most of my answers were very slightly off from the multiple choice options, so not sure if they are right or not. I really only started intensely studying about 2 months before. My only regret is I should have taken a different practice exam and joined this forum BEFORE the test. Only practice test I did was NCEES.
My big issue is units and calculator skills. I didn't pay attention enough to the units they were asking for, and I always seem to mistype or mess up when I am trying to do a long calculation.
Like you, no clue. I felt "ok" initially after leaving, but now as I dwell on it (as I always do) I feel that I may not have passed. I could think of 2 near the end that I thought I got right when leaving, but realized I didn't due to rushing and units as I thought about it more that night. I think I will be very close to the cut if I do. Wish I left feeling like I passed, but that is not the case. I have a coworker who passed last October and he said the test was very similar to the practice exam. Personally I think this one was quite a bit harder.
I guess we will see first or second week of December. It is going to be tough for me not to dwell on it for 6 weeks. I don't feel very confident right now.
-Joe
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I felt the opposite about my October '18 MDM exam. My morning went very smoothly, didn't feel rushed, was able to read through all of the problems at least twice. The afternoon felt like a meat grinder. I wasn't shy about skipping problems to come back to later, and I skipped far more on my first pass in the afternoon. Also had a couple of problems I could not get to come to one of the multiple choice answers. Guess I'm glad both the morning and afternoon are weighted equally. Maybe my morning will overcome my afternoon.
There is one non-quant problem that I feel ashamed about. It was late in the afternoon and i guess at that point, i broke out the "**** it" stamp. Sigh 
Based on that, they're never gonna let me become a real enginerd! Lol.
Based on that, they're never gonna let me become a real enginerd! Lol.
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squaretaper LIT AF PE
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Hello Guys;
I took the PE Mechanical - MDM module in October 2018. I want to share the exam experience, not the questions, with you guys. What do you think about the exam difficulty? I think the exam was much harder than practice exams or previous years' exams. Don't you think so? I am very certain that I got 40 questions out of 80 completely right. I have to think hard and even guess rest of the questions. I think this is a very low rate, haa? I was expecting a question from certain areas that MERM and practice question books talk a lot, but I got questions about the subject which I don't even study for.
What is your opinion and experience about the exam?
I took the PE Mechanical - MDM module in October 2018. I want to share the exam experience, not the questions, with you guys. What do you think about the exam difficulty? I think the exam was much harder than practice exams or previous years' exams. Don't you think so? I am very certain that I got 40 questions out of 80 completely right. I have to think hard and even guess rest of the questions. I think this is a very low rate, haa? I was expecting a question from certain areas that MERM and practice question books talk a lot, but I got questions about the subject which I don't even study for.
What is your opinion and experience about the exam?
Felt the same. Thought it was much harder. From what I have read and heard, it is hit or miss. Some tests are much harder, while others are of similar difficulty to the practice exam. They strayed quite far from core concepts on a lot of questions. There were quite a few questions that had very little relation to machine design/materials, so that was disappointing. I thought I did ok after, but by the next morning I lost all confidence and felt I failed. Just trying to keep myself busy so I don't think about it. Been working pretty well so far. Will probably get results in 3-4 weeks. Nice thing about expecting failure is if you pass it's a great early Christmas present, but if you fail, it was kind of expected and you can regroup and start preparation for the next one.
I will say, it was a great learning experience and studying will go a lot faster next time. Being 7 years removed from school, most of my studying time went to relearning all of the concepts. For the next one I just need to do more problems, improve my calculator skills, and pay more attention to units. I knew units was going to be a big issue going into it, but I got rushed and know I still missed a few because of it.
I saw some good advice somewhere on here where someone said just focus on problems, problems, problems. That is what you can control. For the conceptual material, you either know it or you don't, and that's where having a very organized reference manual is useful because sometimes you can find the answer quickly even if you know nothing about the subject.
Just gotta make sure I pass before 2020, because I think it's transitioning to a computer based exam which will throw a whole new wrench into the mix.
I will say, it was a great learning experience and studying will go a lot faster next time. Being 7 years removed from school, most of my studying time went to relearning all of the concepts. For the next one I just need to do more problems, improve my calculator skills, and pay more attention to units. I knew units was going to be a big issue going into it, but I got rushed and know I still missed a few because of it.
I saw some good advice somewhere on here where someone said just focus on problems, problems, problems. That is what you can control. For the conceptual material, you either know it or you don't, and that's where having a very organized reference manual is useful because sometimes you can find the answer quickly even if you know nothing about the subject.
Just gotta make sure I pass before 2020, because I think it's transitioning to a computer based exam which will throw a whole new wrench into the mix.
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Dear ct27gt;
What percent of the question did you get correctly? How many questions you did in the first run, and the second run? What do you think the cut score is? Did you ever encounter any wrong questions int he exam?
Best Regards
What percent of the question did you get correctly? How many questions you did in the first run, and the second run? What do you think the cut score is? Did you ever encounter any wrong questions int he exam?
Best Regards
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So in the morning, I didn't have a clue on 3-4. In the afternoon, only 2. Problem is there were a bunch where I was close to the answers, but not exact. Then there were also those that I hit the exact answer, but because of units or a small oversight, it may have actually been the wrong one. They do this a lot, where they anticipate an oversight, and provide that answer as one of the options, making you think you got it right, but you actually got it wrong. In addition to the 2 that I didn't have a clue on in the afternoon, I came up with 2 more that night that I KNOW I got wrong (I thought I got right while taking the test) due to units or a small oversight. So in short, I have no clue on the % I got right or wrong, because there were probably a bunch that I thought I got right, but really got wrong.
As for cut score, it is a pretty safe assumption that if you get 70% (score of 56/80 on the test), there is a high likelihood you will pass. No one knows or will ever know the true cut score unless they are affiliated with scoring that particular test. I think there was only one reported score of 56 that I can find that was a fail, but that was across all tests in all different disciplines.
There was a question on there where I know for sure they were missing a piece of information, but it was a pretty universal material property value that is used in a lot of calculations, so I guessed it was that value and I am pretty sure I got the answer right. One of the few questions on the test that I am 99% sure I got right. That is the only one I can think of off the top of my head that was glaringly missing information. I was able to "try" to solve the rest, but didn't notice any other problems missing necessary information.
As for cut score, it is a pretty safe assumption that if you get 70% (score of 56/80 on the test), there is a high likelihood you will pass. No one knows or will ever know the true cut score unless they are affiliated with scoring that particular test. I think there was only one reported score of 56 that I can find that was a fail, but that was across all tests in all different disciplines.
There was a question on there where I know for sure they were missing a piece of information, but it was a pretty universal material property value that is used in a lot of calculations, so I guessed it was that value and I am pretty sure I got the answer right. One of the few questions on the test that I am 99% sure I got right. That is the only one I can think of off the top of my head that was glaringly missing information. I was able to "try" to solve the rest, but didn't notice any other problems missing necessary information.
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ct27gt
Thank you very much for your answer. It was very explanatory. Unfortunately, I had missed much more than 3 or 4 questions. I am sure I got 40 or 43 questions certainly correct out of 80 questions. I was about to scream in the exam. I think there were 2 incorrect questions at least, which I have to explain to NCEES. NCEES does not want to confirm that those two questions were incorrect, and probably they will credit to students. I am not sure if I passed the exam. I am almost certain that I failed. A lot of people I talked got around %70 of questions correctly. Perhaps I will try again next year.
Thank you very much for your answer. It was very explanatory. Unfortunately, I had missed much more than 3 or 4 questions. I am sure I got 40 or 43 questions certainly correct out of 80 questions. I was about to scream in the exam. I think there were 2 incorrect questions at least, which I have to explain to NCEES. NCEES does not want to confirm that those two questions were incorrect, and probably they will credit to students. I am not sure if I passed the exam. I am almost certain that I failed. A lot of people I talked got around %70 of questions correctly. Perhaps I will try again next year.
You just have to be careful when people say they got a certain percent correct. Just because the answer someone got was there, doesn't mean it was actually the correct one of all the choices.
My advice would be not to think about it or dwell on it. What's done is done, and if you end up not passing, hopefully you came out with a more focused and efficient game plan on how to study for the next time. I am just trying to keep myself too busy to dwell on it. I really won't start getting anxious for the results until middle of the first week of December, because that is the absolute soonest they will come out.
My advice would be not to think about it or dwell on it. What's done is done, and if you end up not passing, hopefully you came out with a more focused and efficient game plan on how to study for the next time. I am just trying to keep myself too busy to dwell on it. I really won't start getting anxious for the results until middle of the first week of December, because that is the absolute soonest they will come out.
How in the hell do people know what percentage of problems they got correct? Not only would it have to be verified to know (which we are all so patiently awaiting), but are people keeping track of past problems with 79 or less left to go? During the exam? Wtf???
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@ monty01. It is called "confidence." When you do something right, you know you are doing right. It is just a gut feeling. Also, you have to keep track of how many questions you completed and calculate remaining time.
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Have you sold are are you willing to sell your study materials or can you share what you printed in binders versus what was purchased? I am starting my journey and will be taking my exam April 2019.
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I can understand having confidence in your answers. But there are quite a lot of traps to fall into on these exams. With the time constraints, I think it is fairly easy to pick a "gotcha" answer. That's why i think it is absurd to "know" what percentage of questions you got right before you get your results.@ monty01. It is called "confidence." When you do something right, you know you are doing right. It is just a gut feeling. Also, you have to keep track of how many questions you completed and calculate remaining time.
Also, i kept track of time zero times during this exam. I worked the problems that I knew how to work, and moved on from problems that were out of my lane until later. Then went back and tried them again.
If i were keeping track of past problems and bean counting, plus keeping a timer in my head for 8 hours, I would have gone insane by lunch time.
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