I am taking the Machine Design & Materials Mechanical PE Exam in less than 2 weeks.
I took the 2016 NCEES practice exam a week ago and passed. I generally felt that it was a "good fight" and some problems I knew, some I figured out, some I struggled with and made educated guesses. I studied my errors and if I took that exam again, I know I would have done much better.
On Friday (2 days ago), I took the 2016 PPI Mechanical PE practice exam. I haven't graded it yet, but I did miserably. It was not a good fight. I was crushed, largely by the morning breadth section. There was TONS of psychometrics, HT, etc that I haven't practiced as much.
So, this being said, the question is what to do for the next 11 days. I have almost unlimited time to study.
When I compare these two different exams, they are fundamentally so different.
The breadth section of the NCEES exam, was geared toward MD&M. When you look at the "Exam Specifications" in the NCEES practice exam, they describe the morning section as "Principles", including basic engineering practice, material properties, strength of materials, etc. Things you would expect from a broad overview of MD&M. There were really no psychrometrics, HVAC, HT, Thermo or fluids in this morning section (maybe 1-2).
The PPI morning section seemed to be breadth in the sense of anything that a ME would study in college (including HT, pyschrometrics, etc.) and because I hadn't focused (apparently) enough in those topics, I did very poorly.
The question is, what is the actual PE MD&M exam like? I am obviously hoping that the NCEES exam is what it will be like. If this is true, I would then keep mostly (80%) focusing on MD&M and the balance on everything else.
What is so odd is that as PPI is a leader in this field, how could it be so far off from the NCEES exam?
Thanks.
I took the 2016 NCEES practice exam a week ago and passed. I generally felt that it was a "good fight" and some problems I knew, some I figured out, some I struggled with and made educated guesses. I studied my errors and if I took that exam again, I know I would have done much better.
On Friday (2 days ago), I took the 2016 PPI Mechanical PE practice exam. I haven't graded it yet, but I did miserably. It was not a good fight. I was crushed, largely by the morning breadth section. There was TONS of psychometrics, HT, etc that I haven't practiced as much.
So, this being said, the question is what to do for the next 11 days. I have almost unlimited time to study.
When I compare these two different exams, they are fundamentally so different.
The breadth section of the NCEES exam, was geared toward MD&M. When you look at the "Exam Specifications" in the NCEES practice exam, they describe the morning section as "Principles", including basic engineering practice, material properties, strength of materials, etc. Things you would expect from a broad overview of MD&M. There were really no psychrometrics, HVAC, HT, Thermo or fluids in this morning section (maybe 1-2).
The PPI morning section seemed to be breadth in the sense of anything that a ME would study in college (including HT, pyschrometrics, etc.) and because I hadn't focused (apparently) enough in those topics, I did very poorly.
The question is, what is the actual PE MD&M exam like? I am obviously hoping that the NCEES exam is what it will be like. If this is true, I would then keep mostly (80%) focusing on MD&M and the balance on everything else.
What is so odd is that as PPI is a leader in this field, how could it be so far off from the NCEES exam?
Thanks.
