Mechanical PE

[Bman]

I thought the morning was pretty fairly split between the three depths. T&F and HVAC have a lot of similarities though, so it probably seems easier for us. MD is definitely my weakest area and those problems took a toll on me. There were 2 MD questions in the morning that I had to just guess on because I didn't have a clue.

 

[HokieME]

I felt really good about the morning, but only after about 2 hours. At first, I thought "this is so much harder than the NCEES practice exam" but after about 2 hours, I realized I had almost 30 answered. I finished about a half hour early so I had the chance to go back and check my work. The proctors, though, were having a big long conversation about 5 feet from me during the morning session, and I could hear them even with my ear plugs in. I kept looking at them, trying to get their attention, but they didn't see me. Finally, another proctor came over there and told them to be quiet.

Fast forward to the afternoon session, which I knew would be difficult. I took mechanical design depth. I was working along, slowly, and I went to fill in an answer on my answer sheet and my answer sheet was GONE. I, obviously, had it earlier since I had filled out my name, etc. So, I started looking through my MERM to see if maybe it got stuck in there. I looked around the floor to see if maybe it had fallen off the table. Finally, I called a proctor over and told him I couldn't find my answer sheet. He looked at the table and saw the EES questionnaire sitting on my desk, picked it up and said "oh, I must have taken your answer sheet." He goes back to his table and has to search through the stack of questionnaires and finally finds my answer sheet. Meanwhile, I'm not working on any problems because I'm panicking. He brings it back, pats me on the back and says "sorry about that." Clearly oblivious to the fact that I'm almost in tears and my heart is pounding so hard I can't even read the next question. I finally calmed down, but that rattled the heck out of me.

So, all that to say, I have no idea if I passed or failed. I feel good about the morning, but bad about the afternoon. If I failed, I will be so angry. I'm not saying I wouldn't have had a freak out moment in the afternoon, but spending several precious minutes trying to find my answer sheet because the proctor took it contributed to my freak out moment for sure.

 

[Shanks]

[No message]

 

[chaocl]

I felt really good about the morning, but only after about 2 hours. At first, I thought "this is so much harder than the NCEES practice exam" but after about 2 hours, I realized I had almost 30 answered. I finished about a half hour early so I had the chance to go back and check my work. The proctors, though, were having a big long conversation about 5 feet from me during the morning session, and I could hear them even with my ear plugs in. I kept looking at them, trying to get their attention, but they didn't see me. Finally, another proctor came over there and told them to be quiet.
Fast forward to the afternoon session, which I knew would be difficult. I took mechanical design depth. I was working along, slowly, and I went to fill in an answer on my answer sheet and my answer sheet was GONE. I, obviously, had it earlier since I had filled out my name, etc. So, I started looking through my MERM to see if maybe it got stuck in there. I looked around the floor to see if maybe it had fallen off the table. Finally, I called a proctor over and told him I couldn't find my answer sheet. He looked at the table and saw the EES questionnaire sitting on my desk, picked it up and said "oh, I must have taken your answer sheet." He goes back to his table and has to search through the stack of questionnaires and finally finds my answer sheet. Meanwhile, I'm not working on any problems because I'm panicking. He brings it back, pats me on the back and says "sorry about that." Clearly oblivious to the fact that I'm almost in tears and my heart is pounding so hard I can't even read the next question. I finally calmed down, but that rattled the heck out of me.

So, all that to say, I have no idea if I passed or failed. I feel good about the morning, but bad about the afternoon. If I failed, I will be so angry. I'm not saying I wouldn't have had a freak out moment in the afternoon, but spending several precious minutes trying to find my answer sheet because the proctor took it contributed to my freak out moment for sure.

I spent almost a year now and do all of the samples...Lindenberg samples, 101 question, problem set, MERM, 6 mintue for all 3 disciplines, 2001 and 2008 NCEE samples for all 3 disciplines, Kaplan samples for 3 disciplines, old samples and handbook. (I study day and night 7 days a week in last 3 months + I study almost 800+ hrs in the first try)

What can we do???

 

[Slemory]

I’m glad (but not really glad) to hear others had a similar experience to the one I had. I thought the morning session was very fair, although I realized immediately afterwards that I missed a couple of problems. I still think I did ok. I went in to the afternoon T&F session feeling pretty confident, but afterwards I wanted to commit suicide. It was tough, but not impossible. Despite that, I’m pretty sure I tanked it.

NCEES, please have mercy on us.

 

[gaidox]

I felt really good about the morning, but only after about 2 hours. At first, I thought "this is so much harder than the NCEES practice exam" but after about 2 hours, I realized I had almost 30 answered. I finished about a half hour early so I had the chance to go back and check my work. The proctors, though, were having a big long conversation about 5 feet from me during the morning session, and I could hear them even with my ear plugs in. I kept looking at them, trying to get their attention, but they didn't see me. Finally, another proctor came over there and told them to be quiet.
Fast forward to the afternoon session, which I knew would be difficult. I took mechanical design depth. I was working along, slowly, and I went to fill in an answer on my answer sheet and my answer sheet was GONE. I, obviously, had it earlier since I had filled out my name, etc. So, I started looking through my MERM to see if maybe it got stuck in there. I looked around the floor to see if maybe it had fallen off the table. Finally, I called a proctor over and told him I couldn't find my answer sheet. He looked at the table and saw the EES questionnaire sitting on my desk, picked it up and said "oh, I must have taken your answer sheet." He goes back to his table and has to search through the stack of questionnaires and finally finds my answer sheet. Meanwhile, I'm not working on any problems because I'm panicking. He brings it back, pats me on the back and says "sorry about that." Clearly oblivious to the fact that I'm almost in tears and my heart is pounding so hard I can't even read the next question. I finally calmed down, but that rattled the heck out of me.

So, all that to say, I have no idea if I passed or failed. I feel good about the morning, but bad about the afternoon. If I failed, I will be so angry. I'm not saying I wouldn't have had a freak out moment in the afternoon, but spending several precious minutes trying to find my answer sheet because the proctor took it contributed to my freak out moment for sure.

So that is why I was saying that who ever guess more correct answers in the afternoon will pass. I was thinking a 12 year old kid can did better than us.

I spent almost a year now and do most of the samples...Lindenberg samples, 101 question, problem set, MERM, 6 mintue for all 3 disciplines, 2001 and 2008 NCEE samples for all 3 disciplines, Kaplan samples for 3 disciplines, old samples and handbook. (I study day and night 7 days a week in last 3 months + I study almost 800+ hrs in the first try)

What can we do???

Pray and hope..i guess..

I think beside hardwork..we still need some "luck" that at that time (exam) we pulled out something we dont know, or we somehow encounter most of what we've studied, or we correctly guess the answers...

But it looks you really grind it all to pass..hope you pass it this time..

so are we..

hope for the best..

 

[buick455]

Not to get off topic here, but I have seen a few of you mention in this thread and others that "I just missed passing and got a 68, 69 or 65"...etc. This was my first time taking the exam in April, but I was just wondering what exactly that means when you say you didn't pass and got a 68. A 68 is 54 correct questions (which is pretty good...) Does your failure notice tell you what the passing score was for that test, or do you always need 56 or more correct answers to pass?

Thanks-

 

[HokieME]

Does anyone else have the problem of seeing the entire world as an engineering problem? I pour myself a glass of ice water the other day and when condensation appeared on a portion of the outside of the glass, I started thinking about heat transfer coefficients and surface temperatures and relative humidity!

 

[ChemORME]

I took the HVAC afternoon - I felt the morning was on par with the sample exams and felt good going into the afternoon, like I was well prepared. Then...the afternoon! It was definitely much more difficult than I expected and I struggled on many more problems that I had during my preparation - several more guesses than I had in the morning session. A friend of mine who took the ME depth had exactly the reverse opinion (which mimics what I'm hearing here).

But hey - at least I know I'm free until I get my results back - and I'm optimistic that I passed at this point...we'll see!

Oh - forgot to mention - the books that I took were (* denotes used)

*MERM

MERM Prob Solns

*SMS HVAC

SMS T&F

*HVAC Equations/Data/Rules of Thumb

*Keenan & Keyes Steam Tables

*ASHRAE Books (pretty sure I used all four of them - Fundamentals pretty heavily)

*Psych Charts (ones I printed off the web)

*Mark's Handbook

*NCEES 2001 Sample Exam

NCEES 2008 Sample Exam

Lindeberg Sample Exam

Anyhow - thanks to everyone for their support and postings - it was helpful in my preparations...now time for the waiting game!

 

[randy]

Does anyone else have the problem of seeing the entire world as an engineering problem? I pour myself a glass of ice water the other day and when condensation appeared on a portion of the outside of the glass, I started thinking about heat transfer coefficients and surface temperatures and relative humidity!

LOL...That's me! It has been driving my wife nuts for the past 3 days!! I think I was finally able to turn it off in my head last night when I finally had a good night's sleep for the first time in a quite a while. 9 1/2 hours....and could've went more but had to go to work.

 

[jldavis2]

"Since I felt good about the AM, I knew I was going to get it once the PM started. I underestimated. I worked the problems I could do in about 2 hours (20 of them). I came back and knocked out another 6 or so. The last 15 or so, I didn't feel good about. I probably guessed on 8. "

Ditto here, except my first pass took close to 3hrs. Heat Transfer (my nemesis) came out in force. Fortunately I stuck to my strategy and skipped those problems and gave myself every opportunity to answer easier/quicker problems. But I still probably had 10 complete or partial guesses in afternoon.

Just glad that the dreams of enthalpies, coefficients, and HHP have as of last night finally ended - for now....

 

[chme]

I thought the exam was tough overall when compared with the sample NCEES exam. Some questions were way too hard for me. I used MERM, MED-Shigley, NCEES Sample Exam, Machinery Handbook and Mark's Handbook as a reference material. MERM and Machinery Handbook came in very handy every time. I also printed out index of MERM and MED separately in a three ring binder and it was very useful for quick look-ups.

I have mixed feelings about the results and every time I think about how I did in the exam, it makes me feel more and more nervous about the results. A month and half wait now....keeling my fingers crossed...

Wish this exam was computer-based!

Good luck everyone!

 

[Rob8rich]

This was my third consecutive attempt. I am in Texas, so I was given my grades, and a diagnostic from NCEES, which everyone who fails receives. My discipline is Mechanical and my afternoon was Thermal & Fluids Systems for all three exams.

My first attempt was April 2009 and my grade was a 63 (humbling). My second attempt was Oct 2009 and my grade was 69 (ouch). Using the grades, the NCEES diagnostics, and the NCEES exam specifications, I was able to see exactly how many right/wrong answers I had for each category. This also allowed me to know my "raw score" and the factor used to compute the "adjusted score."

Last week's exam was similar in difficulty level to the April 2009 exam, in my opinion. I seemed to breeze through the morning, and the afternoon was another killer (congratulations NCEES, you have outdone yourselves again).

I think I passed this time, but we shall see.

I still awake every night, then spend several hours tossing and turning, half asleep and half awake. I dream of solving problems, or struggling through problems, from the exam. This has happened each time after the test. About two weeks of broken sleep, dreaming of problems. This too shall pass, then I can return to a normal life for six weeks, until the results come back.

I pray that I passed. I hope that I passed. (I hope and pray that we all did)

 

[cityeng]

I felt terrible about the afternoon, I am glad in a miserable sort of way that I am not the only one. I felt like I worked about 25 on each morning and afternoon(T&F). mabey it was enough with lucky guesses to get me through this time. I really dont want to take this a third time.

 

[Shanks]

It's good to be back home

 

[Kephart P.E.]

Morning was a breeze. I'm not sure about the afternoon. It was harder then the AM for sure, but I may have pulled it off. Not sure. The vibration stuff gave me trouble since I didn't study it as much as I should have. I found the NCEES prep material pretty accurate and useful. I don't want to wait for results for the next 2 months.

Took it a year ago, same feelings, barely got answers for the afternoon. Passed first time.

 

[dneva]

I took the HVAC afternoon - I felt the morning was on par with the sample exams and felt good going into the afternoon, like I was well prepared. Then...the afternoon! It was definitely much more difficult than I expected and I struggled on many more problems that I had during my preparation - several more guesses than I had in the morning session. A friend of mine who took the ME depth had exactly the reverse opinion (which mimics what I'm hearing here).
But hey - at least I know I'm free until I get my results back - and I'm optimistic that I passed at this point...we'll see!

Oh - forgot to mention - the books that I took were (* denotes used)

*MERM

MERM Prob Solns

*SMS HVAC

SMS T&F

*HVAC Equations/Data/Rules of Thumb

*Keenan & Keyes Steam Tables

*ASHRAE Books (pretty sure I used all four of them - Fundamentals pretty heavily)

*Psych Charts (ones I printed off the web)

*Mark's Handbook

*NCEES 2001 Sample Exam

NCEES 2008 Sample Exam

Lindeberg Sample Exam

Anyhow - thanks to everyone for their support and postings - it was helpful in my preparations...now time for the waiting game!

Thanks for providing the books you used. I'll be taking the Mechanical PE next time, hopefully after I get my results from the Civil PE.

 

[dneva]

This was my third consecutive attempt. I am in Texas, so I was given my grades, and a diagnostic from NCEES, which everyone who fails receives. My discipline is Mechanical and my afternoon was Thermal & Fluids Systems for all three exams.
My first attempt was April 2009 and my grade was a 63 (humbling). My second attempt was Oct 2009 and my grade was 69 (ouch). Using the grades, the NCEES diagnostics, and the NCEES exam specifications, I was able to see exactly how many right/wrong answers I had for each category. This also allowed me to know my "raw score" and the factor used to compute the "adjusted score."

Last week's exam was similar in difficulty level to the April 2009 exam, in my opinion. I seemed to breeze through the morning, and the afternoon was another killer (congratulations NCEES, you have outdone yourselves again).

I think I passed this time, but we shall see.

I still awake every night, then spend several hours tossing and turning, half asleep and half awake. I dream of solving problems, or struggling through problems, from the exam. This has happened each time after the test. About two weeks of broken sleep, dreaming of problems. This too shall pass, then I can return to a normal life for six weeks, until the results come back.

I pray that I passed. I hope that I passed. (I hope and pray that we all did)

How many problems correct when you got a 69?

 

[Rob8rich]

This was my third consecutive attempt. I am in Texas, so I was given my grades, and a diagnostic from NCEES, which everyone who fails receives. My discipline is Mechanical and my afternoon was Thermal & Fluids Systems for all three exams.
My first attempt was April 2009 and my grade was a 63 (humbling). My second attempt was Oct 2009 and my grade was 69 (ouch). Using the grades, the NCEES diagnostics, and the NCEES exam specifications, I was able to see exactly how many right/wrong answers I had for each category. This also allowed me to know my "raw score" and the factor used to compute the "adjusted score."

Last week's exam was similar in difficulty level to the April 2009 exam, in my opinion. I seemed to breeze through the morning, and the afternoon was another killer (congratulations NCEES, you have outdone yourselves again).

I think I passed this time, but we shall see.

I still awake every night, then spend several hours tossing and turning, half asleep and half awake. I dream of solving problems, or struggling through problems, from the exam. This has happened each time after the test. About two weeks of broken sleep, dreaming of problems. This too shall pass, then I can return to a normal life for six weeks, until the results come back.

I pray that I passed. I hope that I passed. (I hope and pray that we all did)

How many problems correct when you got a 69?

I had 21 of 40 correct in the morning, and 24 of 40 in the afternoon. Totals for the exam was 45 of 80 correct. That computes to 1.53 points per correct answer.

1.53 x 45 = 69

This is only valid for the Mechanical - Thermal & Fluids Systems, given in October, 2009.

FYI- for the April, 2009 exam I had 43/80 correct. The factor for that exam was 1.465 x 43 = 63.

 

[Shanks]

When I took exam in October 2009 (MD Depth), I found 1.5 to be an average multiplier. Had I got 2 more problems, I would have passed and I hope that I got that many (~47) correct this time....