Passed the PE? How dd you do it?

[shezadeh]

Not sure if one of these threads has already been made, but I thought this would be helpful. Perhaps people can reply in this fashion, such that future readers may find it easy to see the information they are looking for.

Exam taken:

Educational background:

How long did you study?

Did you take a prep course? If so, which one?

State:

List of materials you brought into the exam:

List of mateirals you think you should have brought but didn't:

General advice:

I am currently organizing all of the books I used in the exam. Will post once I find them all!

 

[hello1]

Power dicipline

Undergrad in microwaves and antennas Masters degree focused on power

Studied 3 months probably 3-4 time per week. Total study time probably 100 hours

I did not take any prep course. My studying was primarily doing practice problems in the NCEES practice test but doing an in-depth review of the subject matter. Even if I knew the answer to the question I would find it in one of my references and read the section just to refresh my memory on the topic.

I took the test in Utah

Exam Day materials: Calculators(2) only needed 1 but had the back up just in case.

Power Reference Manual from PPI. (Great book to have for the seemingly random topics that will be seen on the test such as probability, reliability, or economics)

Elements of Power System Analysis by Stevenson (some questions on the test were actually examples in this book).

All the practice tests that I worked through. (I did my work in the practice test so it would be easy to find along with page numbers in my references.)

Finally, the National Electric Code Handbook (must have for the power test).

My materials seemed totally adequate, wished I would have had a book more specialized on transformers in the test but don't know what reference that would be.

My only advice is to make sure you learn the topics and don't focus so much on specific questions because those questions will probably not be on the test. The other idea is to be familiar with your references. If are going to use it on the practice tests take it with you to the test. Know your references!!!!

 

[ee_gator]

Exam taken: Power, Oct 2012

Educational background: BSEE, MBA

Professional Background: Power indusrtry, specifically 7 years in the distribution and transmission organizations

How long did you study? 125-150 hours between end of 2012 summer semester and two days before the exam

Did you take a prep course? No

State: FL

List of materials you brought into the exam: NEC, NESC, PPI Power Manual, Notebook of worked problems, PPI sample problems

List of mateirals you think you should have brought but didn't: Book on motors and one on transformers

General advice: Get your sleep the night before and put in the hours of study. Work problems under time limits at home.

Also, I probably had the least amount of reference materials in the room, but I would bet that I knew my refernce materials better than anyone else. Don't take a bunch of materials that will bog you done. Know what you don't know.

 

[bobadrew]

Exam taken: Power

Educational background: BSEE, BBA

How long did you study? 200

Did you take a prep course? Yes, Testmasters (Houston, TX)

State: MS

List of materials you brought into the exam: NEC, NESC (didn't need or use),Wildi Book, NCEES Sample Problems, Spin-Up Problems, Camara Book, Testmasters Notebook with Notes, Handwritten equation sheet from working problems

List of mateirals you think you should have brought but didn't: None

General advice: Work as many problems as you can find. Know your resource material - don't waste time looking through a lot of books. Make your own equation sheet with ones that you need the most or have trouble remembering. Know the code book and those questions will be easy and save you time for calculations. Know buck / boost configuration for transformers.

Good luck to everyone!

 

[Gaussy]

Exam taken: Power, Oct 2012

Educational background: BSEE, MSEE

Professional Background: Applied R&D (energy systems and controls)

How long did you study? 150 hrs

Did you take a prep course? Yes (PPI online; wouldn't recommend; my most useful study time was spent problem solving Wildi and Grainger book problems)

State: FL

List of materials you brought into the exam: NEC, Wildi Book, Grainger Book, PPI Power Manual, PPI sample problems, NCEES Sample exam

List of materials you think you should have brought but didn't: better reference on protective relaying

General advice: Take your time to carefully read the problem; most are very easy to solve. Most of the test is fundamentals. Also, have a strategy such as multiple passes with each pass solving problems of varying degrees of perceived difficulty.

 

[bseepeguy]

Not sure if one of these threads has already been made, but I thought this would be helpful. Perhaps people can reply in this fashion, such that future readers may find it easy to see the information they are looking for.

Hey shezadeh,

I know you passed the Electrical/ Electronics exam. Could you fill out the form too?

 

[DBL]

Exam taken: Electrical & Electronics, Oct 2012

Educational background: BSEE, 10 yrs ago

Professional background: Transportation. Not a lot of sustained, in depth use of power or electronics theory on the job. I was on the fence between EE and Power exams (glad I chose EE).

How long did you study? Probably 150 hrs total, at about 6 - 8 hrs per week on average (some weeks more, others not at all) for 2.5 months leading up to the exam plus full days of cramming in the last week. I think it also helped that I just took the FE in April 2012 so I was fairly brushed up on math and basic EE topics heading in.

Did you take a prep course? If so, which one? Yes, PPI online prep course

State: VA

List of materials you brought into the exam: PPI prep books for Electrical & Electronics (including Camara's reference manual, practice problems & practice exam), NCEES practice exam, NCEES FE Exam Reference Manual, NEC. More on these below.

List of materials you think you should have brought but didn't: None

General advice: Start studying as early as possible, but don't stress if you're not as far along as you would like, a couple of weeks out. I accomplished a lot coming down the stretch by just sticking to the practice exams (primarily NCEES but some work with Camara's practice exam early in the week, as well). While studying the practice exams I added additional detail and notes, as well as subject tabs, to the Camara reference manual, and was able to use this reference almost exclusively during the exam. I didn't have a furniture dolly, and I still didn't open most of the books I brought, at all, including the NEC book and the Camara Practice Problems. I did use these constantly as placeholders, paperweights and to prop up the other reference books, though.

 

[DBL]

Just wanted to add a sidenote regarding backup calculators. Everyone's probably heard the horror stories already, but just in case.

When I took the FE in April, the young guy sitting next to me was kicked out of the exam because he had in his possession a basic 4 or 5 function calculator as a backup to his primary calculator which was on the approved list. The contraband was only in his possession for literally a few minutes after the exam started. It was clearly placed on the desk, not hidden at all. I don't believe he ever touched it before a proctor spotted it. Lastly, and unlike the PE exam I sat for in Oct, they never made a specific oral announcement alerting people to this risk prior to distributing the exams. Apparently none of that mattered and after continuing to work for about 30 - 45 min after the initial proctor removed his calculator, the gentleman was instructed to leave by the main proctor.

Short version: while it may seem obvious, be sure to read all of the exam instructions that are emailed to you carefully, and ensure that ALL calculators in your possession are on the approved list.

 

[fornbera]

Exam taken: October 2012

Educational background: BSEE 2004 and then worked at utility engineering companies. Mostly building power plants (coal, natural gas, solar, scrubbers)

How long did you study? I started about 3 months before hand. I would estimate I spent about 120 hrs studying

Did you take a prep course? If so, which one? No, found them to be ridiculously expensive.

State: CO

List of materials you brought into the exam:

John A. Camara; Power Reference Manual for the Electrical and Computer PE Exam

Complex Imaginary Complete Set (Volumes 1-4)

Homemade Exam 3-ring binder

NCEES practice test

2011 NEC

List of materials you think you should have brought but didn't:

None really, well maybe more snacks. J

General advice:

The best advice I can give is the following:

Step #1: Print out the PE Power Exam Specification Sheet from the NCEES website, which says what is going to be on the test:

http://cdn3.ncees.co/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Exam-specifications_PE-Ele-POW-Apr-2009.pdf

Step #2: Make a 3-ring binder with tab for each of the areas of study that is in the above mentioned index sheet.

Step #3: Gather your materials. Get your hands on as many practice problems as possible. You definitely need the NCEES practice test. I also got the Complex Imaginary Complete Set (volumes 1-4), but I heard the Spin-up practice test are good too. Make sure to bring the latest version of the NEC code. Get yourself a calculator that can handle both rectangular and polar vectors, it will save you a bunch of time and possible screw ups. If you don't, you'll be spending half the test doing pythagorean theorem. I recommend the TI-36X Pro. I believe one of the HP calculators does it as well but the rest of the approved NCEES calculators will not.

Step #4: Practice, practice, practice!! Do as many problems as you can. Every time you have to use a formula, or a weird tid-bit of information comes up, or just something you don’t know first-hand, write it down in your newly minted three-ring binder in the appropriate section. Also, while doing the problems create a spreadsheet that keeps track of your percent right/wrong and the time it takes you to complete the problems. Get a feel for the average time it takes you to solve a problem. It will help you realize when you are spending too much time on one problem during the test. Due further research when you feel weak on a subject

Step #5: Don’t party the night before. The test is a mental marathon. Take mind breaks and bring snacks to the test.

Remember that you are learning how to take the PE test, not how to become a great engineer. Don’t waste your time trying to learn everything there is to know, just learn what is going to be on the test. Hopefully that helps, worked for me.

 

[danderson]

Exam taken: Power, Oct 2012

Educational background: BSEE

Professional Background: Power indusrtry, 6 years in the distribution, 2.5 in nuclear

How long did you study? 4 months, a few hours 5 days a week.

Did you take a prep course? No

State: AL

List of materials you brought into the exam: NEC, NESC, PPI Power Manual, Notebook of worked problems, Complex Imaginary exams, Notebook of random reference material I printed of the net.

List of mateirals you think you should have brought but didn't: Books with variable speed drives reference material. WIldi would have been my choice.

General advice: Get your sleep the night before and put in the hours of study. Work problems over and over again.

 

[shezadeh]

Not sure if one of these threads has already been made, but I thought this would be helpful. Perhaps people can reply in this fashion, such that future readers may find it easy to see the information they are looking for.

Hey shezadeh,

I know you passed the Electrical/ Electronics exam. Could you fill out the form too?

Working on it right now

 

[shezadeh]

Exam taken: Electrical and Electronics

Educational background: BSEE, graduated 1.5 years ago. Currently working in power industry, but in an I&C position.

How long did you study? Roughly 6 months. For the first 1.5 months, did about 2 hours a day starting with topics I found interesting. Then went on a ~2 month hiatus... Started again at about an hour a day. For the last 1.5 months or so, did at least 2 hours a day. Did 5+ hours on Saturdays and Sundays for the last month.

I used the PPI books to study. I found them good in many areas, but lacking in some areas that are simply difficult to test on, such as instrumentation. For this, and similar topics, I would recommend referring to additional material. I actually used YouTube to supplement my studies. I feel that some topics, such as op-amps, are easier to learn when you see someone working out problems vs. reading a book (so I say, read book first and then watch videos)

Did you take a prep course? If so, which one? No

State: IL

List of materials you brought into the exam: Casio FX-115ES calculator, PPI Electrical and Electronics Reference Manual, PPI Electrical and Electronics Sample Exam, PPI Electrical and Electronics Sample Problems, NCEES Sample Exam, Digital Logic textbook (Mano/Kime), Solid State textbook (Pierret), Microelectronics book (Sedra/Smith), Transmission line book (Davidson), FE supplied reference book, and a binder with notes on topics I found difficult during my prep period (make sure you 3 hole punch this. You cannot simply write in a wire bound notebook as far as my understanding goes).

List of mateirals you think you should have brought but didn't: Books on basic Power Systems, Communications, E&M (EE style, not Physics), and Control Systems. Bring materials you are somewhat familiar with. The greatest book in the world will not help you that much if you cannot find your way through it. The list of topics on the NCEES website is a good guide for choosing references. I would take one reference for topic. Better to have more that you don't need, than have less than what you need.

General advice:

1. Start early. Cannot stress this enough.

2. Make a week by week, or bi-weekly study plan. List all of the topics on the exam and what week you plan to study them. Make sure you leave some margin in case you get sick or get tired of it all (like my 2 months of nothing)

3. Get good references, they will help you during the exam. Yes, it's pricey, but worth it at the end. You'll be able to sell them on amazon, half.com, eBay soon after the test anyways. This also goes for using good textbooks. Study with these references so you become familiar with them. I restate: The greatest book in the world will not help you that much if you cannot find your way through it.

4. Work on many problems. If you get one wrong, look at the worked out solution, and then try it again without looking. Repeat if necessary. Try to understand what you missed, not just blindly copy over and over.

5. While studying, use tabs on your references! Label these tabs or color code them. Again, you will thank yourself later during the exam.

6. Make a 3 ring binder with material on problems/topics you found difficult. Make this binder as you are studying. Organize it in an understandable fashion. I saw a few others had done this as well. I myself got the idea from these forums a few months ago.

7. Bring every reference you feel you will need, provided you won't find it cluttering. I thought I brought in a lot of books, but I had far less than many people.

8. Bring good snacks and a good, light lunch. My lunch for the FE and PE consisted of water, 2 apples, and granola bars.

9. Earplugs can be useful if you don't find them awkward

10. Focus on material you are weak on. Don't just finish a topic 'just to finish it/mark it off your list'

Hope that helps!

 

[cupojoe PE PMP]

So I haven't received results yet, but wanted to get my notes on here while they are still fresh in mind.

Exam taken: Electrical - Power

Educational background: BS Electrical Engineering (Missouri S&T)

How long did you study? 4 months

Did you take a prep course? If so, which one? Yes, schoolofpe.com

State: Missouri

List of materials you brought into the exam:

-My own Crib Sheets

-EPRM

-NEC 2011 Handbook

-Power System Analysis (Grainger)

-Electrical Machines, Drives and Power Systems (Wildi)

-SchoolofPE notes

-SchoolofPE practice questions/solutions

-NESC

-IEEE C37.2 (ANSI device numbers, etc)

-All the sample problems that I worked (PPI, NCEES, etc)

-NFPA 70E - didn't use, but I'm fairly familiar with it

-Electric Machinery (Fitzgerald, Kinsington, et al) - Didn't use/need

-Power System Analysis and Deisgn (Glover, Sarma, Overbyte) - Didn't use/need

List of materials you think you should have brought but didn't: I wish I would've spent more time relearning power electronics.

General advice:

If there is one piece of advice I would give, get both the Wildi and Grainger books. These books are absolutely key. I found several questions verbatim out of the text of these two books that I would not have had good answers to otherwise. If you have to beg/borrow these books from a coworker for a few months, do it. Tab the heck out of it. It will pay dividends.

My personal crib sheets were great for the 'easy stuff' It was nice to have the simple things like voltage regulation eqn and change of per unit base listed right there. To me these are only useful if you write them.

The School of PE class was good but I haven't decided if I'm sold on it. It really helped with the NEC portions. I was disappointed by how they just read the slides to you. Also many of their slides come out of the NCEES, PPI, Grainger, and Wildi books. It is so bad that some of the diagrams are difficult to read because they are pixelated from the scan. That all said, it did help focus my studying. Especially on the code section they asked several questions that made you look at several of the exceptions, which is really helpful. The circuit analysis week was the second best week (week 2), followed by the T&D week (week 4). The 3rd week, motors and drives was disappointing, there were lots of mistakes in the equations in the notes. They did have really good explanations & practice problems for autotransformers. They also added an extra 2-3 hour engineering economics session. This was extremely helpful and was worth the extra study. Overall, I liked the focus/accountability it gave me, but some of the other things were annoying. YMMV.

Have solid worked examples (in your own handwriting) of per unit conversions. Also, try to get in the habit of always working in single-phase PU. Maybe that last part is bad advice, but when I started doing that I seemed to get more practice problems right.

The EPRM is good, but can't be your one-stop shop. I'd buy it again, but don't for a second think you can get by with this book. But it did help with a few questions. There is a lot of fluff in this book.

I took a copy of the NESC, and I'm glad I did.

Some people on here have suggested Ugly's pocket reference. I own one of these and think it is the single worst reference in the world. If you try to size a cable based on this book, it will be wrong since it doesn't take into account proper deratings.

I bought 7 days of the PPI exam cafe a few days before the exam. I will never see that $35 again. I might as well have ripped it up in the shower, because I would've wasted less time. Do not buy this product.

 

[iahim]

Some people on here have suggested Ugly's pocket reference. I own one of these and think it is the single worst reference in the world. If you try to size a cable based on this book, it will be wrong since it doesn't take into account proper deratings.

Are you kidding? The crane hand signs helped me out a lot! Joking aside, for the last AM problem, the answer was in Ungly's. None of my other references had that info.

 

[cupojoe PE PMP]

Haha, yeah, there are some

Some people on here have suggested Ugly's pocket reference. I own one of these and think it is the single worst reference in the world. If you try to size a cable based on this book, it will be wrong since it doesn't take into account proper deratings.

Are you kidding? The crane hand signs helped me out a lot! Joking aside, for the last AM problem, the answer was in Ungly's. None of my other references had that info.

Haha, there is some useful info in there. I guess my point is, there is much more that goes into determining cable ampacity than what that tiny book could cover. More of a pet peve of mine from work.

 

[Redskinsdb21]

I took ppi...and GaTech...GayTech binder helped me more than anything...but I had to put extensive time in learning it and thats what you have to do for this exam...after the binder...I studied CI, Spinup and NCEES exam and could do them all in a couple hours...thats what helped me pass it no problem

 

[iahim]

...GayTech binder helped me more than anything...

Good to know...

 

[Ship Wreck PE]

...GayTech binder helped me more than anything...

Good to know...

Where is this school???

 

[ali1361]

What is EPRM, CI, Spinup?

 

[EEpowerOK]

I graduated with a BSEE in 1990 so I had to some catching up to do. I used all the test practice exams (Comples, Spinup, Kaplan, NCEES) and NEC code book. I think Kaplan was the best test book for preparation of the Oct exam.