Reference Material (MD Afternoon Section)

[Anutka2]

I'm signed up for the MD afternoon section and I'm wondering what people took into their exam for references.

I have and am planning to take:

- MERM

- MERM practice problems

- Unit Conversions

- 6 Minutes Solutions (Mechanical Systems only)

- NCEES 2011 test (haven't gone through this yet and haven't been able to find the 2001 test )

- "Mechanical Engineering Design" by Shigley, Mischke, Budynas

- 101 Solved Problems (haven't gone through this yet either)

(I also plan to take my old Thermo textbook, but I'm hoping the MERM will be sufficient for morning questions on HVAC and Thermo/Fluids)

I would love to hear any suggestions on what was more important and not at all used during the exam. Thanks and good luck to everyone studying out there!

-Anya

 

[Rockettt]

Man this is the same questions I was asking just a short time ago!

From my recollection of my April 12 test....

-MERM (did use)

-MERM practice probs (did use i think for 1 problem similar)

-FE equations book (didnt touch ever)

-Machinists Handbook (saved me on 1 question i would have otherwise not gotten)

-2011 NCEES practice test (dont recall using)

-SHIGLEY (Awesome book very simple to use. Next best thing IMO to the MERM)

-Previous review course work which I never completed and therefore never even used on the exam. Wasted space in my suitcase of books

-TI Calculator/ protractor/ rulers etc.

That machinists handbook came in handy on one, phew. But the books you know in and out for studying is the books you will have handy and worn out by the end of studying and the test.

the 6ms i hear were great but I never did anything with them or bought them.

Def use that NCEES test for a practice. I did and opened my eyes 2 weeks before the exam. buff'd up on subjects I got wrong. Plus EB was invaluable resource. sometimes questions arise here that i sit back and say, dang i dont know how to solve that either! Good people round here!

(Theres my sales pitch for EB )

 

[Krakosky]

Passed the April 2012 test first try

- MERM

- MERM problem book (don't think I used)

- Shigley (can't remember if I used, but I had a lot of separately typed up notes that covered topics from Shigley)

- 6MS T/F & HVAC/R (used the 6MS HVAC/R for 1 problem)

- units conversion book (used heavily)

- NCEES FE Reference Guide (saved me on 1 problem, could've also used the Machinery Handbook)

- Machinery Handbook (don't think I used)

- 2001 and 2008 NCEES practice exams (used)

- separately bound the MERM appendices and index (used)

- Bound self complied notes from Internet and various sources (used)

 

[Anutka2]

Great input, thanks!

Rockettt - I've never used the Machinery/Machinist Handbook and I think I'll pass on it at this point.

Krakosky - I'm glad to see what you needed to pass, I'm planning to bring most of the same materials. Are there any topics in particular that you feel were not convered in the MERM but were in Shigley?

I'm also doing some self-prepared notes for equations that I reference all the time and methods of solving problems.

 

[WV_Boiler]

shigley has bearing life stuff and better gear sections than merm.

i could have passed with merm and the unit conversion book alone.

machinery handbook, mark's handbook and shigley i used once each

any problem book (merm practice probs, ncees tests or 6ms) are useless unless you know them flat out cold, you dont have time to be flippin for that example question you did 2 months ago.

could have used 6ms once but let a friend borrow it and didnt get it back (doh!)

all my worked out problem solutions (several binders) were. waste of space but made me feel warm and fuzzy having.

i think having the merm index printed and separetely bound (with an alphabet tab set) is a must, do it now and study with it so you are used using it.

 

[Krakosky]

I also separately bound my MERM index along with several of the most used appendices. I alphabetically tabbed the index for all the books I used and color tabbed the MERM appendix to match the tabbed color coding of my MERM. I color coded my tabbing based on topics (fluids, HVAC, thermo etc). This helped me a lot. I didn't take any worked out problems, just the NCEES sample exams, 6MS and MERM problems book.