OCTOBER 2017 PE EXAM

[BeefyAmericanMachoMan]

I had the same experience. Guessed on two questions total. Got answers on all the rest. I felt it was easier than the SMS practice test and about on par with the NCEES test.

Y'all both failed.

 

[BeefyAmericanMachoMan]

Cool! The head proctor was the least fun person with a bow tie I've ever seen 

I think his name in the Army was Major McDouche.

 

[Philscrimp]

I am convinced that one of the biggest hindrances to success with the PE exam is indeed being sloppy with units (NEVER write a number down without its units) and also, not practicing unit conversions to become quick at it. 

Additionally, be mindful of the units you are required to answer in. Through your calculations, you might arrive at an answer of 0.5 feet, but the question might have been something like:

... the required thickness (inches) is most nearly:

(A) 0.5

(B) 4.0

(C) 6.0

(7) 8.0

If you’re not careful you might choose (A); 0.5 — because it’s the number you got in your calculations, however in this case the correct answer would be (C). This is unfortunate, but it happens. You might have the concept down cold, but can still get the answer “wrong”.

I understand the importance and I practiced for the exam by including units for every number. A number without a unit is meaningless.. I guess what I was trying to say is that some of it seemed excessive or unnecessary...

 

[Ramnares P.E.]

I found Lindeburg's Unit Conversion book to be very helpful during the exam.  At no point did I find the unit conversions to be overly excessive or unnecessary but to each his own...

 

[Slay the P.E.]

Here’s an oldie but really good story about a costly mistake because of a units mishap: 

http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9909/30/mars.metric.02/

 

[GR8 PLUMENG]

I took the TFS. The morning was very promising. I was able to complete all the questions with about an hour left to go over the ones I answered but wasn't too sure. I even went and had Chinese food during lunch, thinking this is the last time I will ever step foot at Pratt Institute.  Then came the afternoon. Question 1 was easy. So I answered with a smile. But from 2 thru 6 was just a bunch of WTF whispers to myself. Ended up spending too much time on questions i though i could answer if I tried a bit harder. With about an hour left, I still had about 8-9 questions I had't gotten to, and about 5-6 I left, thinking i could revisit. I ended up straight up guessing  ( ini, mini miny. moe type guessing) about 6 questions. Hopefully, the morning part carries me.

 

[GR8 PLUMENG]

The NCEES practice exams we too easy and very misleading. I did lots of SMS problems and also lindenburg questions. Additionally, I got a copy of SlayThePE questions, and did those.  I will say the complexity of the Slay questions are more representative of the actual test. 

 

[enfinity]

I took the TFS. The morning was very promising. I was able to complete all the questions with about an hour left to go over the ones I answered but wasn't too sure. I even went and had Chinese food during lunch, thinking this is the last time I will ever step foot at Pratt Institute.  Then came the afternoon. Question 1 was easy. So I answered with a smile. But from 2 thru 6 was just a bunch of WTF whispers to myself. Ended up spending too much time on questions i though i could answer if I tried a bit harder. With about an hour left, I still had about 8-9 questions I had't gotten to, and about 5-6 I left, thinking i could revisit. I ended up straight up guessing  ( ini, mini miny. moe type guessing) about 6 questions. Hopefully, the morning part carries me.

were you a repeat test taker? If so, did you find this test to be easier, harder, or the same as April 2017?

 

[GR8 PLUMENG]

Yes, this is my second time. The April test was harder in the morning than the afternoon. I will weight both tests about the same. There were more unit conversion problems now than in April. 

 

[jtparker]

Has Everyone received the NCEES email that is asking you to fill out a survey of the exam? I was readying a thread from the April exam on this forum and it has me curious. 

 

[Sheshtawy]

Has Everyone received the NCEES email that is asking you to fill out a survey of the exam? I was readying a thread from the April exam on this forum and it has me curious. 

I have. They send it to everyone who took the exam in 7-10 days after the exam.

 

[casummerlin]

I was kinda worried because I hadn't received the survey, but then I found it in a spam folder.

 

[chickenips]

I also took TFS and also did a lot poorer than I expected.  I felt confident going into the exam based on my studying and having taken a review course (Dr. Toms), but the test really caught me of guard with the level of difficulty. Based on the number I answered with confidence, and the number I guessed on, there is no way I passed. I'm very disappointed.

I took the Dr. Tom's course as well. After the exam, I felt that the course just didn't offer enough in the way of thermo/combined cycles practice problems. Maybe Dr. TOm should sign up for the next exam, if only to get a better idea of how to revamp the course. 

 

[sayed]

reading through these posts, i'm getting worried.

either most of the questions on my exam completely went over my head (now i don't remember what they were) and i misread to completely answer in the wrong way

or

everyone gets a different set of questions.

i thought the hvac test was really simple. But since people are here saying they had many 'wtf moments' i'm thinking that maybe i oversimplified everything in my head.

 

[Sheshtawy]

reading through these posts, i'm getting worried.

either most of the questions on my exam completely went over my head (now i don't remember what they were) and i misread to completely answer in the wrong way

or

everyone gets a different set of questions.

i thought the hvac test was really simple. But since people are here saying they had many 'wtf moments' i'm thinking that maybe i oversimplified everything in my head.

Comments here are by no means representative of everybody who took the exam. If you think you did alright, don't worry about it.

 

[enfinity]

reading through these posts, i'm getting worried.

either most of the questions on my exam completely went over my head (now i don't remember what they were) and i misread to completely answer in the wrong way

or

everyone gets a different set of questions.

i thought the hvac test was really simple. But since people are here saying they had many 'wtf moments' i'm thinking that maybe i oversimplified everything in my head.

Comments here are by no means representative of everybody who took the exam. If you think you did alright, don't worry about it.

also you're talking about the HVAC test, which i think other people also said was very simple.

The "wtf" moment club belongs to all us TFS test takers... 

 

[glowe]

How could it possibly take 8-10 weeks in 2017 to grade the exams!!! The Pilgrims only took 66 days to cross the Atlantic in the Mayflower under the power of the wind. That was in 1620!!! This waiting is killing me!!!!

 

[DoctorWho-PE]

They have made huge improvements since my husband took the exam 11 years ago. And starting in 2018 with CBT, (for select exams of course) results will come even faster!

 

[sayed]

also you're talking about the HVAC test, which i think other people also said was very simple.

The "wtf" moment club belongs to all us TFS test takers... 

lmao

and the people at the dr. tom company told me to take the TFS because it'll be easier since according to them i needed "more intense fundamentals courses to be successful"

 

[enfinity]

lmao

and the people at the dr. tom company told me to take the TFS because it'll be easier since according to them i needed "more intense fundamentals courses to be successful"

lol choosing TFS professionally has always resulted in a harder path for me. For my PhD quals, it was well known that Thermal and Fluids quals were the hardest in Mechanical Engineering, and rumored to be the hardest throughout the entire university.  Now I take the PE exam, and it's one of the harder exams (though I don't know the comparisons that well)