October 2007 Exam: What you did right

[Jennifer Price]

1. What exam did you take?

2. How many hours did you study?

3. What did you study?

4. Any advice to those taking the exam in April 08?

1. Civil / Transportation PM

2. As stated before, I started studying for the April exam so my time is a ridiculous amount. For the October exam, I probably put in about 250-300 hours including time to organize, tab and put together my folders and references.

3. I read my CERM cover to cover b/c I wanted to know where everything was (especially in the environmental sections since I have no idea about anything environmental). I worked most of the CEPP problems. I worked through the six-minute books for transportation and geotechnical. And I did the full 8-hour practice exam 2 weeks before the exam. My studying, though, was more of me reading through the problem and going through the answers line by line. I wrote down all the answers (b/c that's how I remember things), but as I did it, I went to the place that the equation was listed and to the reference that was given (especially in transportation with all the tables, etc. that you had to know how to do). I did this for all the CEPP problems I worked and by the time I got to my six-minute problems, I was comfortable enough to be able to work the problems without looking at the answers.

4. I think the biggest thing for me is I knew where to go in my references. I didn't waste a lot of time going through indexes or reading through the references to find formulas/tables/etc., so I think I had a bit more time to actually work through the problems. I always carried around problems and/or my CERM to work so anytime I had a down moment, I could pull out my problems (or read through my CERM). I was also very organized with all my material (even had different color binders for each discipline) and I had everything tabbed, so it was easy for me to get through all the material I brought.

It also helps big time to relax during the exam. The day before I didn't even look at my books (they were packed in car). My hubby and I spent a very relaxing day watching The Office dvds. We talked about everything except the exam (that was the rule). I went to bed relatively early, ate a good protein-filled breakfast, arrived on-site early and felt very non-rushed through that morning which took away a lot of the anxiety of that day.

Make use of this Board! I got tons of information from those who had gone before me and would not have been nearly as prepared as I was had it not been for these guys.

Good luck to all those taking the exam in April. We will be pulling for you!

 

[CE0502]

1. What exam did you take?

Civil / Structural PM

2. How many hours did you study?

I'm guessing about 150. I took a review course (which helped a little bit, not a whole lot) and put over 100 hours of studying on my own, maybe more. Definitely more than the 60 or so I put in the first time around, when I failed.

3. What did you study?

I studied:

-Six-minute solutions, breadth and depth for the structural module and just the breadth problems for all the other ones

-CERM Lindeburg example problems, plus a few from the structural companion

-NCEES practice problems CD

-A few Kaplan problems from the review course I took

4. Any advice to those taking the exam in April 08?

Definitely organization is a big thing during the test - organize your notes and references in a way that YOU know you will be able to find things quickly and efficiently. For me, it was lots of color-coded tabbing the CERM (I believe someone here had a very good method of tabbing which I borrowed somewhat, I forgot which member!) and organizing all my study materials into separate, also color-coded binders. All the tips on this board definitely helped. Also, someone mentioned circling units on the problems, and that also helped a lot.

 

[LionCE]

1. What exam did you take?

Civil Transportation - PM

2. How many hours did you study?

All totaled between Review Course, Practice Problems and Compiling and Tabbing References, probably around 300 hours.

3. What did you study?

I studied:

6 Minute Solutions and Practice Exams.

Read Cerm as I went along in my Review Class

4. Any advice to those taking the exam in April 08?

Be familiar with your references (i.e. where things are in CERM, AASHTO, HCM, etc.) the more time you take fumbling around the books the less time you have to solve things. Do lots of practice problems. The 6 minute problems may not be exactly like the problems on the exam but it lets you know what kind of things can be asked and the depth of the problems. Don't get flustered. In the AM the first 2 questions were out of my wheel house so I just kept going until I found a question that I felt comfortable with. Go through the exam, answer the questions that you can solve quickly, skip the ones that you need time with and then go back and answer them when you went through the whole exam. You don't want to leave an easy one go just because you didn't have time to get there. Don't stress out about it, it's kind of like the old Jay Leno Doritos commercial, if you don't pass the first time they'll make another exam.

And here is the strategy that I used. The CERM shows you how the test is weighted in regards to the different disciplines for the PM portion of the test. I concentrated on those portions during my studying. I figured if I felt proficient in those portions I would stand a fairly good shot, since I figured the AM would be more general (i.e. Structural questions in the morning would be Shear-Moment stuff, Reactions, etc.). It may not be the correct way to pull it off but it seemed to work.

 

[forelsu]

Two things I did right:

Eating fish the night before the test and taking a refresher course.

 

[floridaengineer4now]

1. What exam did you take?

Civil/Transportation

2. How many hours did you study?

130

3. What did you study?

CERM, 6 minute solutions, and School of PE Notes/Sample Problems

4. Any advice to those taking the exam in April 08?

Make sure you spend most of your time reviewing the depth information. The morning is very straight forward and many problems can be answered by simply looking in the index and finding the right section of the CERM. With that said, know the CERM, and be very efficient in using it to answer problems. I took the exam twice and the reason I failed the first time was because I spent way too much time studying the breadth and not enough time focusing on the afternoon portion. If you can take the School of PE course, I highly recommend it as it makes you study and gives you very valuable notes as to what is more important. It also gives you pretty much everything you need for the Transportation portion with very good examples. I can't stress the importance on not digging in to deep to the breadth portion if you are pressed for study time. My last piece of advice, is schedule at least 1 practice exam so you can remember what its like to take exams. I didn't do that the first time I took the test, and it was a rude awakening for me. Good Luck.

 

[TXengrChickPE]

1. What exam did you take?

Civil - Structural PM

2. How many hours did you study?

Estimated 20-25hrs/week for 17 weeks, call it 350-400

3. What did you study?

CERM and the practice problems that are sold separately

6 min solutions for Structural and Geotech

4. Any advice to those taking the exam in April 08?

Make sure your significant other, as well as other family members and friends, understand that once you start studying, you will NOT have free time. The way I handled family was to plan 1 day each weekend for fun stuff. The rest of the time, I studied. I only saw friends if we decided to do something with them on the weekend fun-day. Hubby did the housework, made dinner, got DD ready for bed. It was hard on them, but hubby admits that it was worth it when we found out I passed.

Make a schedule for your studying. Spend the majority of your study time on the disciplines that are on your afternoon module... but don't ignore the stuff you'll only see on the morning section. For me, WR and ENV were worth 10% each (of the total score) so I spent about 35-40 hours on each of those disciplines.

 

[Jennifer Price]

Make sure your significant other, as well as other family members and friends, understand that once you start studying, you will NOT have free time. The way I handled family was to plan 1 day each weekend for fun stuff. The rest of the time, I studied. I only saw friends if we decided to do something with them on the weekend fun-day. Hubby did the housework, made dinner, got DD ready for bed. It was hard on them, but hubby admits that it was worth it when we found out I passed.

I agree with this totally! When I passed, I told people that "we" passed b/c my husband sacrificed as much as I did while I was studying (if not more b/c he was also taking classes for his degree). The upside to it is he learned he loves to cook (and is very good at it) so that is one thing I haven't taken back yet!

 

[SSmith]

1. What exam did you take?

Industrial Engineering PE

2. How many hours did you study?

~100 hours. About 60 hours of that was working problems during lunch at work. The remainder was spent at home prepping during exam week.

3. What did you study?

Review for the Professional Engineers Examination in Industrial Engineering, 3rd Ed. (paperback)

Sample P.E. Exam in Industrial Engineering (paperback)

New Cambridge Statistical Tables (Paperback)

Expanded Interest Tables for the Engineer-In-Training and Professional Engineering Examinations (Engineering review manual series) (Paperback)

Industrial Discipline-Specific Review for the FE/EIT Exam (Paperback)

FE Sample Questions and Solutions: Industrial Discipline (Paperback)

HP 33S Scientific Calculator (F2216A)

4. Any advice to those taking the exam in April 08?

a. There is very little preparation material for IE PE. The Sample PE Exam should be understood completely.

b. Get really familiar with financial tables and interest tables. It will save you a good bit of time on exam day.

c. The IE FE reviews are good supplemental study materials once you have mastered the Sample Exam.

d. If you dont use the HP33S in your day to day work, make sure to use it in all your exam prep.

 

[WarEagleEngr]

1. What exam did you take?

Mechanical - HVAC

2. How many hours did you study?

About 200 hours. I just recently switched from working in the Building Automation Design to Mechanical/HVAC Design so I have had limited experience with HVAC/Fluids/Thermo.

3. What did you study?

MERM

Six Minute Solutions - HVAC

Sample exams

4. Any advice to those taking the exam in April 08?

I agree with JenEvans and TxEngrChick. Get your family to understand how important it is for them to take over majority of the household functions. My hubby was extremely supportive and took care of our daughter, who is 4. He even took her away for two weekends so I could stay behind and study. It was hard to explain to my daughter that mommy would be studying every night and daddy will have to read her stories and give her a bath. She is very much a mommy's girl. Now I dont have to worry about explaining to her again about studying for a big test. Now she tells me I am too old to study.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

1. What exam did you take?

Mechanical/Machine Design

2. How many hours did you study?

Hard to say. I started studying early last year in both Fire Protection and Mechanical to decide which exam to take. After deciding on Mechanical, I familiarized myself with the MERM in April/May, then took a break for the summer. In Augus, I started putting 3 hours a day in on work days and would skim though my references on the weekend.

3. What did you study?

MERM

NCEES sample exam

Shigley and Mitchell Machine Design

4. Any advice to those taking the exam in April 08?

Organize your material you are taking to the exam and know how to get to the info you need quickly. Shaggy had a good thread on tabbing your MERM, which I followed with a few modifications. It really worked well for me.

 

[C-Dog]

1. What exam did you take?

Metallurgy

2. How many hours did you study?

~15 hrs per week for 3 months (Aug - Oct)

3. What did you study?

The TMS practice exam, work, and just read the topics in depth.

4. Any advice to those taking the exam in April 08?

No, Metallurgy is only offered in Oct. Know your reference materials and do the TMS practice exam.

 

[ClemsonEngr]

1. What exam did you take?

Civil, WR

2. How many hours did you study?

200 hours (Aug - Oct)

3. What did you study?

NCEES Study book

Class questions from Prep Class

6 minute solutions from the bad guys

4. Any advice to those taking the exam in April 08?

Buy your references early and start looking through them using the NCEES outline as a guide. This gave me a good feel for what you may need to study the hardest. Spend 70% of your time on your depth area since this is the area that you will see the most questions from. Get the low lying fruit from the other areas and ignore the tough stuff. You will be suprised at how many of these questions you can pick up just by looking over these areas a little bit.

Spend the night in the hotel where the test is offered if you live far away. A girl next to me got kicked out for being late. (She tried to sneak in).

On the test, don't be afraid to skip questions that you don't know. Hit the ones that you can do fast first. Don't leave any questions blank!!!!! Also there was a rumor from my prep class that there will be roughly the same amount of A's B's C's and D's. So if you have to guess, guess smartly.

 

[jartgo]

1. What exam did you take?

Civil - WR

2. How many hours did you study?

probably 60, definitely less than 100

3. What did you study?

-NCEES sample problems

-6 min. solutions for WR

-limited CERM practice problems (specifically the enviro problems)

-various problems posted on this site that people were doing or having trouble with

-I also read several chapters in an environmental engineering text book...I believe this was a great help to improve my familiarity with water and wastewater treatment processes.

4. Any advice to those taking the exam in April 08?

I firmly believe that anybody can pass the test, but preparation requirements vary greatly depending on your specific experiences and familiarities.

General study advice is to study in short bursts (2 to 4 hours max. at a single sitting), solve problems, solve problems, solve problems.

 

[StructuralPoke]

1. What exam did you take?

Structural 1



2. How many hours did you study?

evenings and weekends for a month and a half (both times I took it). Full days Wednesday and Thursday before test (2nd time only).

3. What did you study?

SERM

6 Minute solutions

NCEES practice exam

Old class notes/homework if it was applicable to new codes.

Bought the 256 solved problems, but didn't find it helpful.



4. Any advice to those taking the exam in April 08?

Study productively. Don't get half way through a problem, then check the back to see if you are doing it right. Get all the way through the problem before checking your answer. If you have the will power, answer as many questions as possible before checking your answers to simulate exam conditions.

Make sure you are comfortable at the exam. Wear loose clothing and comfortable shoes. Bring snacks and fluids. Take plenty of bathroom breaks -- keeps your mind off your bladder and lets you stretch a little. I think I went to the bathroom at the 1 hour and 3 hour mark each session. Bring tylenol or migraine medicine (if applicable). Drink lots of water in the days leading up to the test if you are susceptible to migraines. I am and I did drink a lot of water -- but I still started coming down with one after lunch. Migraine drugs FTW!!!

Bring any book you think will help, but only plan on using the ones that you become familiar with through studying. There were 2 questions I didn't know how to work and I had to rely on a textbook I hadn't opened in years. Those 2 were the last questions worked because I didn't know where in the book to find the answer and I didn't want to "waste" time until the end.

Contrary to a lot of people's advice, I'd say work front to back. Don't skip around looking for easy problems. 6 minutes/problem isn't much and skimming problems to see if they are easy wastes time. I wouldn't even say look for all of the the steel questions, then look for masonry questions, then look for .... Work the problems in order. If after working on it for a few mintues, you have no clue, use your best engineering judgment, put an answer down, mark the page in the book with a big star or something so you can find it later. If you have time at the end, try to get through the starred problems.

Bring a watch. Both times I took the test, the rooms didn't have clocks. But, don't be obsessed with time. Only look at the clock at certain milestones. My milestone was 10 problems since that was a theoretical hour of exam time. In the morning session (2nd try), I realized that I was about 5 minutes ahead of schedule each milestone so I could get to some of the starred problems. The afternoon session (2nd try), somehow I hit my first milestone at 30 minutes! That relaxed me and let me think through the rest of the problems a lot better. I finished the exam with ~7 minutes left. At that point, I closed the answer book, sat back and relaxed. You usually won't be able to get up with less than 15 minutes remaining. If you do finish that early, wonderful -- enjoy your day. If not, DON'T START PACKING YOUR BAGS UNTIL THE TEST IS OVER! It is really distracting to the rest of the room and that 2 minutes longer that you have to wait around won't be the worst part of the day.

Books -- The structural 1 required a lot of references. The best thing I did the 2nd time was use a rolling suitcase instead of carrying them in by hand. It was easier to stay relaxed rolling the bag than straining with all the books. I brought 2 milk crates to set up on the desk to hold the most-used books. If you have binders, clearly mark the spines. And tab the living jeebus out of everything!

One of the most helpful things I made to study with was a binder full of all of my reference's indexes. I still use it today.

Talk with your bosses/supervisors. They know what this exam is all about and the stress involved with it. See if they will lighten your load leading up to the exam. Then afterwards, make it a point to work really hard and possibly even late a week or so to catch up and to show your appreciation to bosses for their understanding.

Hope that helps!

 

[roadwreck]

1. What exam did you take?

Civil -- Transpo

2. How many hours did you study?

~150 hours

I'd try to study 2 hours a night Mon-Thurs, take Fri & Sat and Then study all day Sun.

3. What did you study?

Mostly the CERM and the practice problems for the CERM.

4. Any advice to those taking the exam in April 08?

Some of the most helpful things I did for or during the exam was to print out the CERM index and put it in a separate binder so I didn't have to flip back and forth and I read and tried to find information on each problem (in order) and if I felt the problem may be more difficult for me to answer (outside my area of expertise) I would write down the references and page numbers I had already looked up for that problem and wrote them down in the margin of the test booklet, so that when I came back i didn't have to go looking through the index searching for information I had already looked up. This kept me moving, prevented me from getting bogged down in problems I may not know the answers to and allowed me to not waste time looking for information later on. It also meant that when I did get to the end of the problems I had a good idea of how many problems I still had left to answer and since I had read them all and briefly looked up information on them I knew which problems to go back to first (which problems I felt most confident I'd be able to answer).

 

[gymrat1279 PE]

1. Civil - Structural PM

2. ~250 hours, late July through October

3. CERM, Practice problems for CE PE Exam, Structural Depth Reference Manual, Practice Exam

4. -Make a study schedule and stick to it!

-Build days off into your schedule or you'll get burned out.

-If you're taking a review course, study the general stuff that will be covered in the review before the class starts. Study your depth depth during the same time frame that your review class is being held. That way you will get a nice refresher of all the general subjects that you had studied before and all of the depth material will be fresh in your mind since you studied that most recently.

-I waited to tab my CERM until I was close to being done studying. I'm not sure if that was a good idea or not. It was more organized and a good review, but that was a lot to tab at the end.

-Work a sample exam.

-Although you are concentrating on your depth section, do a good amount of studying for the morning section. I may have over studied a lot of the general subjects, but I felt very confident about almost all my answers in the morning.

-People said I didn't need as many books as I brought to the exam, but I felt it was better to have them and not need them than not have them and wish you would have brought them. On both the sample exam and the real exam there were a few look up questions that I got easily because I brought a certain code or book with me.

-Find a place that works for you to study. I found when I was just reading the CERM, I could go to a coffee shop and get in some good studying. It didn't work for problem solving, but it provided a change of venue and got me out of my apartment.

-I'm sure I'll think of more advice, but that's it for now.

GOOD LUCK APRIL 08 EXAM TAKERS!

 

[Longhorn ChE 02]

1. What exam did you take?

Chemical Engineering PE - got an 85

2. How many hours did you study?

25 hours (starting the weekend before the test).

3. What did you study?

Studied with the official practice problems from NCEES and some other ones. Six Minutes Solutions had questions that were way too long and much more difficult than the actual test. While studying, towards the end I was just reading questions and then the solutions without working problems.

4. Any advice to those taking the exam in April 08?

Take a practice test first to determine how bad you are and then decide how much you need to study. If you went to a good school and did pretty well there, I don't think excessive (100s of hours) of studying is required. Also, I had most of my textbooks from college and the CheRM. Also, bring a rolling suitcase to the test with your books and not a laundry basket... that thing gets heavy carrying it though the Reliant Center parking lot.

 

[Keith]

1. What exam did you take?

Chemical PE

2. How many hours did you study?

Approximately 350-400 hours

3. What did you study?

Worked problems from Six Minute Solutions, NCEES, and other material.

4. Any advice to those taking the exam in April 08?

Develop handwritten notes bound and segregated by subject.

Tab frequently used tables in references

Maintain legible copies of solutions to reference when re-working practice problems.

ON THE TEST AND DURING PRACTICE:

Underline units given in problem statement,units asked for, and units given in answer choices. Attention to detail in this area cannot be emphasized enough. It is possible that you may work the problem exactly correct, but breeze by the units given in the answer and therefore pick the wrong answer.

Develop your own formal strategy to manage your time during each session of the test to ensure that you give yourself the opportunity to answer all short answer and easy problems prior to running out of time.

Luckily, although I am a slow test taker, I had prepared enough that time was not a problem for me. I finished early and had time to review my work. This was probably what surprised me most about the test.

I hope this helps someone,

Keith

 

[NCcarguy]

Well...First off, THANK GOD I can reply to this post this time!!!!! SINCE.... ASSED2: <-- I love doing that!

1. What exam did you take?

Transportation PM

2. How many hours did you study?

There is NO WAY to determine...

3. What did you study?

I spent a lot of time on the Water Resources problems, and the Geotechnical problems, but mainly working units!

4. Any advice to those taking the exam in April 08?

- Organize the materials you have.

- Become VERY familiar with the CERM

- Make sure you can work any unit to any other unit.....Work this over and over!

- TAKE YOUR TIME on each question! You can NOT afford to miss even 1 easy one. I KNOW on the previous attempts I made dumb mistakes

- Make sure you are well rested when you go into take the exam!

- I actually drank a "6 hour Energy" drink before the test, and another one at lunch....I was completely juiced through the entire exam

- Don't take the previous item as advice unless you try it first!

Honestly, I think the best advice I can give is to TAKE YOUR TIME on every question like I listed above! I now honestly think that about 80% of the people that go into that exam are prepared enough to pass it, yet about 50% pass.....I really think that even those that fail, fail by a small margin typically ( I know I did THREE times ) so if you really think about that, you realize that EVERY question is important, you don't want to make a stupid mistake on even one that you can answer.......so make sure you don't!!!!

I really slowed myself down this time, and made sure that I read each problem, and made sure I understood the UNIT that they wanted the answer in. It made a difference!

 

[Texas Aggie '02]

1. What exam did you take?

Mechanical with Thermo-Fluid PM

2. How many hours did you study?

Probably around 150, including practice problems

3. What did you study?

Reviewed MERM extensively, worked all the NCEES practice problems, and some of the "the other board" problems.

4. Any advice to those taking the exam in April 08?

Get familiar with MERM. I used this reference the most during my test.

Get some gas tables. I tried to use my college Thermo (Cengel and Young or something like that) and the MERM, but there was just not enough info in the appendicies to cover what was needed for several problems given the time available, IMO.

Texas Aggie '02