October 2019 P.E. ELECTRICAL POWER

[RadioBox]

This was my 4th attempt and man the afternoon portion was so bizarre to say the least. I was shocked about how different it was, and how confused I felt about it. I felt really good about my 2nd and 3rd attempts and this one I feel poor to say the least. May luck be on our side folks. I know of a guy who is a ME background and passed the EE PE with 1 day studying/gathering references.. I'm shocked that my luck hasn't been this good yet.. 4 times is taking it's toll on my soul  

I doubt it. I know the type. That guy is just playing the game. What sounds better? I just studied for one day and passed. Or I studied for a year and passed.  Don't believe that B.S.

 

[tmntjmc]

I doubt it. I know the type. That guy is just playing the game. What sounds better? I just studied for one day and passed. Or I studied for a year and passed.  Don't believe that B.S.

I've known plenty of "I barely studied" peeps throughout school and college, and I knew they had this ego thing about them, but trust me this guy could care less about any recognition or attention. Very humble guy. In any event, I pray that we pass!! we deserve it!! I hope lol. This is attempt #4. Let's see what happens. 

 

[Vette388]

Hi All,

This was my second time around, I believe the first try I was around an 45/80. I felt like the morning was much harder than the afternoon. I almost did not want to go back in after lunch. I decided to go in with a positive mind set and try the afternoon. It went a lot better, it was everything I studied, the morning was not at all what I studied, I felt tricked. I still cant find answers to some of the questions. I also did not have some of the reference material for some of the questions. I need to see if the syllabus even listed that.

 

[Road Guy]

This exam period sneaked up on me (new job, lots of travel) so I took the easy way out and just made it where the "member" group couldn't see the majority of the testing forums - Sorry for any chaos as a result of this..

 

[RadioBox]

Also think it's petty that my account was blocked and I was not allowed to see or even post anything about the exam because someone from the boards decided to block my account to keep me from commenting about the exam.  I've NEVER posted any details about the exam nor been accused at any time in the past for violating any agreement.  This is all so petty.  The comment I received was:

"So on exam weekend I shut some of the board down to keep folks from posting exam questions while they are fresh in there head - will be back open tomorrow afternoon-
Thanks!"

That was everybody. They blocked everybody from posting.

 

[Zach Stone P.E.]

So far it seems that the feedback from this exam is similar to the feedback from every exam prior to it: very difficult to really anticipate what exactly will appear on the exam, a lot of curveball questions, and ultimately what I typically call the shock factor. 

Just a reminder, no one ever leaves the exam room feeling confident, and the exam is graded based off some type of cut score, so please keep your head up and enjoy your free time off to relax and pick back up on your social life, family life, and career. 

Best of luck to everyone that took the exam, it is not an easy tasks and I know the vast majority of you put in a serious effort and time commitment. 

 

[a4u2fear]

What makes sense to me about the double question is....they likely had 80 different questions, and for whatever reason, late in the game one was pulled.  Who knows, could be anything.  And instead of further delaying whatever process they have to review and submit a new question, they doubled up on one.

If you think it's easy for them to just put in a new question, read around on this board.  A lot of time and money goes into new questions.   Seems feasible to me 

 

[RadioBox]

What makes sense to me about the double question is....they likely had 80 different questions, and for whatever reason, late in the game one was pulled.  Who knows, could be anything.  And instead of further delaying whatever process they have to review and submit a new question, they doubled up on one.

If you think it's easy for them to just put in a new question, read around on this board.  A lot of time and money goes into new questions.   Seems feasible to me 

Two easy points for those who got it right...sucks for those who got it wrong twice. 

 

[Vette388]

What makes sense to me about the double question is....they likely had 80 different questions, and for whatever reason, late in the game one was pulled.  Who knows, could be anything.  And instead of further delaying whatever process they have to review and submit a new question, they doubled up on one.

If you think it's easy for them to just put in a new question, read around on this board.  A lot of time and money goes into new questions.   Seems feasible to me 

That is weird, I re read it about 6 times to make sure it was a double

 

[Orchid PE]

Just a reminder, no one ever leaves the exam room feeling confident

I disagree. Like I said in a different discussion, I surprisingly feel better now than I did before the exam and I still feel pretty confident in my answers. I finished my first pass of the morning and afternoon sessions in 1.5 hours, then second and third passes in about 45 minutes each. Then the last hour of just reading over questions making sure I didn't misread a question, or type something in my calculator wrong.

 

[RadioBox]

I disagree. Like I said in a different discussion, I surprisingly feel better now than I did before the exam and I still feel pretty confident in my answers. I finished my first pass of the morning and afternoon sessions in 1.5 hours, then second and third passes in about 45 minutes each. Then the last hour of just reading over questions making sure I didn't misread a question, or type something in my calculator wrong. I took the test with a friend of mine, so after some discussions we feel very good about our answers.

uh-oh, this has all the telltale signs that you failed. =/ you guys fell for baited answers 

 

[bdhlphcdh]

There are months of preparation for the exam, administered twice a year, therefore I have no way to believe it was a mistake especially from a licencing organization responsible for the health and safety of the public domain.  It just added another layer of weirdness to the exam, why would they allow this to happen?

 

[Orchid PE]

uh-oh, this has all the telltale signs that you failed. =/ you guys fell for baited answers 

I don't believe so. We felt prepared enough to work problems multiple ways to see where they would try to trip us up. For example, working problems using phase vs line voltages, or using 115%, 140%, 156% or 125% multipliers 

I've been fortunate enough to have a very broad background. I spent 5 years working as the only EE at a firm where I had to teach myself the NEC (conduit filling sizing, derating, etc., all before starting my junior year), and then working for 5+ years in generation, transmission, and distribution.

Most of the "theory" questions I was able to use knowledge I've received from spending time in the field.

There's nothing to say I passed, but there's also no reason to believe that a prepared person couldn't feel confident in their answers.

I worked the following exams in preparation:

• Complex Imaginary (1-4)
  
• NCEES Practice (Current and previous versions)
  
• Cram for the PE 1 & 2
  
• Engineering Pro Guides (Final Exam)
  
• Graffeo
  

I'm definitely glad I practiced the Cram #1 exam. Along with NCEES. I feel like the Complex Imaginary and Eng Pro exams weren't very helpful. The Cram for the PE Electrical book was very useful along with Power System Analysis and Design by Glover.

I also took:

• Electric Machinery and Power System Fundamentals (Chapman) - Very useful for studying motors, didn't use on the exam
  
• Power System Analysis (Saadat) - Used for studying, didn't use on the exam
  
• Protective Relaying (Blackburn) - Didn't use for studying or during the exam
  
• Electrical Engineer's Guide to Passing the Power PE (Graffeo) - Used for studying, didn't use on the exam
  
• Power System Analysis (Grainger) - Didn't use for studying or on the exam
  
• Power Electronics (Rashid) - Didn't use on the exam
  
• NEC, NFPA 70E, NESC, NFPA 497, 499, & 30B - Used these
  
• Personal Notes - Used this the most
  

 

[Shamsdebout]

I don't believe so. We felt prepared enough to work problems multiple ways to see where they would try to trip us up. For example, working problems using phase vs line voltages, or using 115%, 140%, 156% or 125% multipliers 

I've been fortunate enough to have a very broad background. I spent 5 years working as the only EE at a firm where I had to teach myself the NEC (conduit filling sizing, derating, etc., all before starting my junior year), and then working for 5+ years in generation, transmission, and distribution.

Most of the "theory" questions I was able to use knowledge I've received from spending time in the field.

There's nothing to say I passed, but there's also no reason to believe that a prepared person couldn't feel confident in their answers.

I worked the following exams in preparation:

• Complex Imaginary (1-4)
  
• NCEES Practice (Current and previous versions)
  
• Cram for the PE 1 & 2
  
• Engineering Pro Guides (Final Exam)
  
• Graffeo
  

I'm definitely glad I practiced the Cram #1 exam. Along with NCEES. I feel like the Complex Imaginary and Eng Pro exams weren't very helpful. The Cram for the PE Electrical book was very useful along with Power System Analysis and Design by Glover.

I also took:

• Electric Machinery and Power System Fundamentals (Chapman) - Very useful for studying motors, didn't use on the exam
  
• Power System Analysis (Saadat) - Used for studying, didn't use on the exam
  
• Protective Relaying (Blackburn) - Didn't use for studying or during the exam
  
• Electrical Engineer's Guide to Passing the Power PE (Graffeo) - Used for studying, didn't use on the exam
  
• Power System Analysis (Grainger) - Didn't use for studying or on the exam
  
• Power Electronics (Rashid) - Didn't use on the exam
  
• NEC, NFPA 70E, NESC, NFPA 497, 499, & 30B - Used these
  
• Personal Notes - Used this the most
  

I also had the Power System Analysis and Design by Glover book and found it very helpful.

 

[Orchid PE]

I also had the Power System Analysis and Design by Glover book and found it very helpful.

I found this book and ordered it, got here the 23rd. I read some topics on my flights in (6.5 hours out from testing center). He had some awesome examples and worked everything step-by-step. I enjoyed reading his explanation on phasor diagrams.

 

[Shamsdebout]

I found this book and ordered it, got here the 23rd. I read some topics on my flights in (6.5 hours out from testing center). He had some awesome examples and worked everything step-by-step. I enjoyed reading his explanation on phasor diagrams.

Oh wow, that was close but glad it worked out well.  I used this book for some of the concept questions as well.  

 

[roy167]

What makes sense to me about the double question is....they likely had 80 different questions, and for whatever reason, late in the game one was pulled.  Who knows, could be anything.  And instead of further delaying whatever process they have to review and submit a new question, they doubled up on one.

If you think it's easy for them to just put in a new question, read around on this board.  A lot of time and money goes into new questions.   Seems feasible to me 

I think that was a trick question to see if same person comes with  same choice after due diligence  in the morning and in afternoon session, otherwise you know that person was playing some video game.  

 

[RBHeadge PE]

Do you guys find the last problem is the exact same as the third to the last in the PM session? 

You were not fooled. That is correct, and I know I got that one right so I hope they count it twice!!!!

And funny things was same question came twice.

The duplicate question is really shocking to be quite honest. Because I feel like that was either by error or done with intent to purposely fool people. 

For an organization responsible for licensing, I am still completely baffled at how or why they would allow a question to appear twice, talking Power Afternoon session.  As controlled as the exams are, I find it very difficult to believe it slipped through their proofing process. 

All, please report the duplicate question to NCEES. In the past there was an option on their website or on your dashboard to report things like this. These sorts of mistakes happen and they can take actions so it won't adversely effect the final result.

What makes sense to me about the double question is....they likely had 80 different questions, and for whatever reason, late in the game one was pulled.  Who knows, could be anything.  And instead of further delaying whatever process they have to review and submit a new question, they doubled up on one.

If you think it's easy for them to just put in a new question, read around on this board.  A lot of time and money goes into new questions.   Seems feasible to me 

It was probably just a simple mistake. It happens more often that you'd think.

That is weird, I re read it about 6 times to make sure it was a double

I think that was a trick question to see if same person comes with  same choice after due diligence  in the morning and in afternoon session, otherwise you know that person was playing some video game.  

No, nothing like that. I would expect it to be an accident.

 

[Saul Good]

I just reported it to NCEES.  I’m sure they are well aware of it by now but just Incase they weren’t they should be now.

 

[RBHeadge PE]

Hi guys, is there any way to check my score before result publish?

Nope.

Wonder what the cut cut off will be.  I will certainly be close. 

Don't bother trying to figure out the cut score. It's pretty meaningless in the scheme or things, and it really really doesn't matter at this stage.

One should study as if the cut score is 80/80.

We won't know. If people guessed correct on a lot of the conceptual questions it will probably be 55-59.

If everyone as a whole did poorly, probably 50-54.

Just my thoughts.

The cut score will vary between sessions and disciplines. It's based on the difficulty of the individual exam and what the average minimally competent PE would be expected to get on that test. The cut score is NOT based on how the other examinees perform.

Not that at it matters, but for a major exam, like EE/Power, we'd typically see something like (~51,57]. And it's probably closer to the high end of that range.