Recommend an effective FULL Mechanical PE Review Course for Thermal and Fluids please

[MecEng]

Recommend an effective FULL Mechanical PE Review Course for Thermal and Fluids please

 

[Audi Driver P.E.]

Recommend an effective FULL Mechanical PE Review Course for Thermal and Fluids please

I would seriously look at https://www.slaythepe.com/ if I were you. That recommendation comes with the caveat that I personally did not use their course (or any course) for PE exam prep. However, from what I have seen posted to these forums, their content and support is unmatched for thermal and fluids.

@Slay the P.E. is active on these boards and will certainly help you.

 

[Slay the P.E.]

I would seriously look at https://www.slaythepe.com/ if I were you. That recommendation comes with the caveat that I personally did not use their course (or any course) for PE exam prep. However, from what I have seen posted to these forums, their content and support is unmatched for thermal and fluids.

@Slay the P.E. is active on these boards and will certainly help you.

Thanks @Audi driver, P.E. for this endorsement! 

@MecEng we don't offer a course with lectures (yet). However, our practice problems book presents the solutions to each problem in such detail and extensive discussions and tips that a lot of our customers have not really needed lectures. Self-study is not for everyone, but we have great email support for help with problems as well as a group discussion in Slack.com 

You can preview 80+ pages for free of the book by going here: https://www.slaythepe.com/tfs-cbt-preview.html and see if you like the style of how solutions are presented and discussed. The free preview includes the first two chapters of thermo, the first two chapters of fluids, and the first two chapters of heat transfer -- problems AND solutions. Give it a swirl and let us know what you think.

 

[MikeGlass1969]

I also vote for Slay...  He will have you ready for the exam.  

He is also readily available here on the forums to help answer your questions.   

I spent $1500 on a local review class that met twice a week for 12 weeks.  I realize now that was a waste of money because I still had to commit to 250 hours or so outside the class to practice problems.  I honestly think I could have passed on my own with the same commitment of 250 hours.

My point is no matter what direction you choose you still have invest approximately 250 hours to pass.  You might as well save the money.

 

[OldSquaw]

I haven't used any resources from Slay the PE. But if I had it to do over again I would have used Slay the PE for my practice problems. The PPI learning hub problems are filled with errors (at least in the HVAC section). I deal with heat exchangers almost everyday at my job and I'm pretty familiar with them. There seems to be a common theme on the PPI problems with errors on heat exchanger problem solutions. But there are errors on other types of problems too.

I have also read about a lot of people having to put in considerable amounts of time in addition to taking classes. I opted to skip the class, but that's just me (I haven't taken the exam yet).

 

[Tiger15]

I also vote for Slay...  He will have you ready for the exam.  

He is also readily available here on the forums to help answer your questions.   

I spent $1500 on a local review class that met twice a week for 12 weeks.  I realize now that was a waste of money because I still had to commit to 250 hours or so outside the class to practice problems.  I honestly think I could have passed on my own with the same commitment of 250 hours.

My point is no matter what direction you choose you still have invest approximately 250 hours to pass.  You might as well save the money.

I just want to emphasize that everyone is different. I very strongly dislike overly general statements like the one above. (no offense, just trying to add a different perspective.) Everyone should share their experiences; that's what this forum is all about. But you can't make definite statements about what other people will "have to" do. 

I'm not a TFS guy. But I'm passed the MDM guy on my first try after taking Dr. Tom's course. I 100% knew that I would not be able to pass if I only did self study. That's simply not the way I learn. I don't think anything was special about Dr. Tom's course. Don't get me wrong, it was a very good course. But I'm confident that I would have passed by taking any course. (I haven't taken any other, so I can't compare.) I did absolutely no work outside of the class work (course lectures, assigned readings and problems, and course quizzes). It's not that I didn't want to, but I didn't have any extra time. And I felt very confident about my performance on the test. (You can read my full review of Dr. Tom's MDM course here if you want.)

Anyway, my point is simply to try and avoid overly general statement and speaking for other people.

 

[Tiger15]

By the way. There's a whole forum here just about classes and prep materials. You should definitely check it out.

http://engineerboards.com/forum/22-prep-class-study-material-review/

 

[MecEng]

@MecEng we don't offer a course with lectures (yet). However, our practice problems book presents the solutions to each problem in such detail and extensive discussions and tips that a lot of our customers have not really needed lectures. Self-study is not for everyone, but we have great email support for help with problems as well as a group discussion in Slack.com 

You can preview 80+ pages for free of the book by going here: https://www.slaythepe.com/tfs-cbt-preview.html and see if you like the style of how solutions are presented and discussed. The free preview includes the first two chapters of thermo, the first two chapters of fluids, and the first two chapters of heat transfer -- problems AND solutions. Give it a swirl and let us know what you think.

Hi @Slay the P.E.

Thank you for the preview, the few chapters are already an excellent study material and actually looking to purchase the full version.

To be honest, I actually bought your solution already in the past but feel the need to study again the concepts. I unfortunately just got laid off and wonder if you could provide a discount code for COVID-19 affected engineers. I would like to take advantage of the time now to study for the PE exam, please send me a private message in case.

Appreciate your help in advance in this difficult times. Stay well.

 

[Slay the P.E.]

Hi @Slay the P.E.

Thank you for the preview, the few chapters are already an excellent study material and actually looking to purchase the full version.

To be honest, I actually bought your solution already in the past but feel the need to study again the concepts. I unfortunately just got laid off and wonder if you could provide a discount code for COVID-19 affected engineers. I would like to take advantage of the time now to study for the PE exam, please send me a private message in case.

Appreciate your help in advance in this difficult times. Stay well.

Hi. Please check your PMs.

 

[MecEng]

Hi. Please check your PMs.

Thank you for your message Slay The PE. Stay well.

 

[peachgalaxy]

I also vote for Slay...  He will have you ready for the exam.  

He is also readily available here on the forums to help answer your questions.   

I spent $1500 on a local review class that met twice a week for 12 weeks.  I realize now that was a waste of money because I still had to commit to 250 hours or so outside the class to practice problems.  I honestly think I could have passed on my own with the same commitment of 250 hours.

My point is no matter what direction you choose you still have invest approximately 250 hours to pass.  You might as well save the money.

nice

the slay material looks nice and straight forward. reminds me of the justin kuwali book

i would also go for simply taking additional books from which to study rather than go for a review course

 

[JG3]

As someone who just took the CBT T&F Exam, I would rate the PPI program at a C- from my expectations going in due to a few things:

1. The MERM practice problems are pretty much unrelated to the exam content (almost always use outside information or formulas not found in the handbook). Quiz questions in the learning hub suffered from the same problems as well (around 1/5 questions).
   
2. The Practice Problems and quiz problems in the learning hub have quite a few errors (I loosely remember 1/4 or 1/5 of the problems having an error in either the question, the solution, or the answer choices).
   
3. 1/4 of the questions were just too long
   
4. The PPI learning hub sections didn't match the chapters relevant to T&F in 4 or 5 sections. PPI still hasn't resolved this or any other tickets I put in.
   
5. I barely touched the six minute solutions (maybe the first 6 problems) before I realized they also suffered from the same issues as Item 1 above.
   

Overall, it seemed that only 1/3 questions were relevant in terms of accuracy, content, and length. The current hub seems like a rushed project (along with their problems). Additionally, although PPI promised all the books by January, I didn't receive the Practice Problems until February/March.

The most beneficial portions were the two practice exams (one is the same as the book one published) since you are able to upload the handbook for a very similar side by side interface (excluding being able to draw lines on psychrometrics).

The most rewarding resource, by far, was the NCEES Practice Exam. I was worried it was too easy going into the exam, but I would say it was 95% spot on (other than having 3/4 questions that are a tier more difficult).

I don't have any other references to compare against (probably everybody has this issue), but I would not recommend PPI based on the above. The time wasted figuring out their errors and the psychological hit of scoring poorly on their exams/quizzes just don't bode well for the marathon that is studying.

 

[ME_PE_WANNABE]

I took the TFS exam in October 2016 (geez, time flies!) when it was still paper and pencil and passed on my first try. I used Dr. Tom's method and it was very helpful, although the exam was slightly more difficult. I did not follow the MERM questions because it was overkill and I felt it did not reflect the exam, but I did used the MERM as a reference. The 6 Minute Solutions and prior NCEES problems booklet were the foundation of Dr. Tom's course.

 

[FLOrida]

don't recommend dr tom because they are very condescending, same goes for the mods here, pretty terrible quality to have

 

[Mike M PE]

I would suggest school of PE. I took the HVAC and Refrigeration (note I'm a Building Automation and Controls Guy) and it was very good.