References for Power PE Exam Preparations

[Invisible]

Hello Everyone,

I took my PE exam in Texas on October 2018 and I passed it. I came to know about this forum only after I took the test. I wish I knew it before. I wanted to share some useful references and books so that it may help someone.

1.      NEC 2017, NESC, NFPA 70E, NFPA 497, NFPA 499, NFPA 30B – Try your best to get all the standards mentioned in the syllabus. You might get tested in any of the standards.

2.      Stephen Chapman / Wildi for Machines – Both are really good books. I used Chapman and I loved it.

3.      Ned Mohan for Power Electronics

4.      Power System Analysis and Design by Glover and Sharma – This helped me a lot. I would say this book is a gem. Preparing from this book hugely helped in learning stuff faster.

5.      Graffeo – This is a must have book for the exam. Many topics are explained very well in this book. And this is a quick reference for any formula you need.

6.      School of PE – I did not take this course since I did not have much time before the exam. But I have heard a lot of people saying that it is a very good way to start the preparations.

7.      Hand book of Batteries by Linden – This is a great book for batteries. I would recommend just to have it with you before the exam.

8.      Complex Imaginary – I solve all 4 question papers. The problems were pretty easy but helped me to get an idea of the ways we could get tested. It helped me a lot how to focus my preparations.

9.      NCEES Sample Paper – This is a must solve paper. This also helped me a lot in the ways I could get tested.

10.   Camara PPI Practice Exams – I would recommend you guys to solve these questions once.

11.   Engineering Pro Guides questions papers –The difficulty level in these papers are pretty high.  Again I came to know about this paper really late. But I feel solving this question papers might help a lot.

P.S:

1.      I prepared for the test just with the intention of passing the exam. I did not give my best in my preparations. This made me have little panic after the test. I would suggest everyone to prepare in such a way that you are aiming to ace all the 80 questions. This way, you would give your full potential and ace the test.

2.      Take something to eat to snack to the exam hall. I was pretty hungry just after 6 hours of exam and it did affect my efficiency of answering.

3.      After the exams, do not get scared of anything other people would say. Just stay confident for the result.

4.      Even if you fail, do not really worry about that. First of all, you were bold enough to prepare and sit for the exam. And you have failed only in a really tough exam and you have done something very constructive. I prepared for the exam for 6 weeks and I thoroughly enjoyed those 6 weeks. And was waiting for the results for another 6 weeks. I used to just Netflix and chill at home for more than 3 years. But those 3 months, I felt like I am achieving something in life. You guys would feel the same too. So never worry about the results.

Thanks to the forum members:

You guys are doing a great job. I just got my promotion and position hike after my PE.

 

[DLD PE]

Invisible,

Congratulations on passing.  I took it in October and did not pass but I'm taking it again in April.  My score was 43/80 and I was fairly balanced in most categories, getting my highest % correct in Codes and Standards.  Like most people I scored worst in Protection, but I did far worse (4/13 or 31%) in protection than any other category.

I will look at getting some of the materials you mentioned that I don't have, such as Ned Mohan's book.  I have a "Power System and Analysis" book, but it's by Grainger, not Glover and Sharma.  I found the one I have difficult to read, but that's just me.  

Of course I have the NCEES practice exam, but I've never heard of the sample paper.  

Thanks for sharing.

 

[roy167]

 NFPA 497, NFPA 499, NFPA 30B

Thanks for the great write up and summary. Where can you get these references? Other than buying a book for each one of these codes? It's getting expensive buying so many resources. 

 

[DLD PE]

Yeah I bought the first three and took to the exam but not the last four and the ones Roy mentioned.  I haven't even looked at how much they cost.  If they're worth a few questions they're worth getting though.  

 

[Phenomenon083]

Other than NEC how many questions will be on the exam from those references? I am contemplating if I should buy those references.

 

[DLD PE]

I definitely used the NESC for a couple of questions and same for NFPA 70E.  I don't know how much the last 4 on the list would have helped me.  

 

[RadioBox]

Invisible,

Congratulations on passing.  I took it in October and did not pass but I'm taking it again in April.  My score was 43/80 and I was fairly balanced in most categories, getting my highest % correct in Codes and Standards.  Like most people I scored worst in Protection, but I did far worse (4/13 or 31%) in protection than any other category.

I will look at getting some of the materials you mentioned that I don't have, such as Ned Mohan's book.  I have a "Power System and Analysis" book, but it's by Grainger, not Glover and Sharma.  I found the one I have difficult to read, but that's just me.  

Of course I have the NCEES practice exam, but I've never heard of the sample paper.  

Thanks for sharing.

Same here. My overall score was 42/80 and, of course, I scored lowest in protection. It was 23%.

With code I answered half correctly. If I would have answered the other 6 correctly I would have passed the exam barely. This is definitely an area I can work on for the next time around, and overall taking the real exam gave me insight on how to improve in the other areas I did somewhat good or decent. 

Now when it comes to protection...in 2018, in my opinion, any course prep out there did not accurately match the problems in protection at all. To put things in perspective the pass rate nationally for the October 2018 exam was 54% in power. That is the lowest on record. I am betting it is because of the new emphasis on this topic. Hopefully moving forward the study prep out there will refelect the new changes to the power exam

 

[roy167]

I'm not sure what they ask as far as protection goes but if you are electrical engineer and have been working in an industry for 5 years or more, shouldn't you be able to answer those questions? or get an answer based on the information provided such as answer based on TCC, relay setting  etc? I think it would be better if NCEES provides sample questions which will help folks prepare along those lines otherwise, anyone can ask just about anything.   

 

[RadioBox]

True. The official ncees practice exam is a joke, and at the end of day the responsibility lies on the individual to pass.

The exam is fair in the sense that you’re told upfront that anything is fair game.

 

[LyceeFruit PE]

Other than NEC how many questions will be on the exam from those references? I am contemplating if I should buy those references.

70E is helpful. I don't recall actually using 30B, 497, 499. 

 

[Phenomenon083]

70E is helpful. I don't recall actually using 30B, 497, 499. 

Bought 70E regardless. Already spent more than $1500 for this exam so didn't mind spending $50 extra.

 

[LyceeFruit PE]

Bought 70E regardless. Already spent more than $1500 for this exam so didn't mind spending $50 extra.

70E is definitely the one of those 4 to get. I referenced it more than once. 

 

[roy167]

NEC 2017 code, NFPA70E (2018) and NESC 2017 seems to be what we need for April 2019 exam. Let me know if this not correct. I checked with NCEES and they said they will be using 2018 70E, Many people are under the impression that it will be 2015. Just want to make sure folks are aware.    

 

[Messi]

Hello Everyone,

I took my PE exam in Texas on October 2018 and I passed it. I came to know about this forum only after I took the test. I wish I knew it before. I wanted to share some useful references and books so that it may help someone.

1.      NEC 2017, NESC, NFPA 70E, NFPA 497, NFPA 499, NFPA 30B – Try your best to get all the standards mentioned in the syllabus. You might get tested in any of the standards.

2.      Stephen Chapman / Wildi for Machines – Both are really good books. I used Chapman and I loved it.

3.      Ned Mohan for Power Electronics

4.      Power System Analysis and Design by Glover and Sharma – This helped me a lot. I would say this book is a gem. Preparing from this book hugely helped in learning stuff faster.

5.      Graffeo – This is a must have book for the exam. Many topics are explained very well in this book. And this is a quick reference for any formula you need.

6.      School of PE – I did not take this course since I did not have much time before the exam. But I have heard a lot of people saying that it is a very good way to start the preparations.

7.      Hand book of Batteries by Linden – This is a great book for batteries. I would recommend just to have it with you before the exam.

8.      Complex Imaginary – I solve all 4 question papers. The problems were pretty easy but helped me to get an idea of the ways we could get tested. It helped me a lot how to focus my preparations.

9.      NCEES Sample Paper – This is a must solve paper. This also helped me a lot in the ways I could get tested.

10.   Camara PPI Practice Exams – I would recommend you guys to solve these questions once.

11.   Engineering Pro Guides questions papers –The difficulty level in these papers are pretty high.  Again I came to know about this paper really late. But I feel solving this question papers might help a lot.

P.S:

1.      I prepared for the test just with the intention of passing the exam. I did not give my best in my preparations. This made me have little panic after the test. I would suggest everyone to prepare in such a way that you are aiming to ace all the 80 questions. This way, you would give your full potential and ace the test.

2.      Take something to eat to snack to the exam hall. I was pretty hungry just after 6 hours of exam and it did affect my efficiency of answering.

3.      After the exams, do not get scared of anything other people would say. Just stay confident for the result.

4.      Even if you fail, do not really worry about that. First of all, you were bold enough to prepare and sit for the exam. And you have failed only in a really tough exam and you have done something very constructive. I prepared for the exam for 6 weeks and I thoroughly enjoyed those 6 weeks. And was waiting for the results for another 6 weeks. I used to just Netflix and chill at home for more than 3 years. But those 3 months, I felt like I am achieving something in life. You guys would feel the same too. So never worry about the results.

Thanks to the forum members:

You guys are doing a great job. I just got my promotion and position hike after my PE.

How did you study from the Textbooks you mentioned ? Did you just look for the topics those particular books are known for or the whole book inside out ? I know Wildi is good for Machines & Transformers and I plan to just touch that, not sure if thats the right approach.

 

[roy167]

How did you study from the Textbooks you mentioned ? Did you just look for the topics those particular books are known for or the whole book inside out ? I know Wildi is good for Machines & Transformers and I plan to just touch that, not sure if thats the right approach.

I find Grainger, Camara, Dunkins useless for me, haven't touched wildi yet. Books are voluminous, hard to retain and doesn't provide as much quick info on a topic as much graffeo and engproguide does. 

I for e.g. try to learn topics such as Per unit, fault analysis, unsymmetrical faults, power factor from outside much better than going through books then do a practice problems. Not sure if this is the right approach. My problem is you can spend a lot of time going through the books and retain very little, often time I find myself skipping text book any way as they are too much into theory. The last thing you want is to spend a lot of time on stuff that really doesn't help you pass other than just a lot of labor. I invite folks to chime in on this as I'm sure we all go through this question of how to study from books, what do you study from books? 

Even without studying from books, I have done reasonably well on spin up, complex and engproguide practice tests. NCEES practice test is not going to be any different. I'm holding off on NCEES for some more time.  But again I have no reference of what the difficulty level is on actual exam and makes you nervous till you pass.   

 More  than studying from books, I believe if you are very good at organizing  key material, that would go a long way than studying from boring books. NCEES  allow you to take any material, as long as you can find it and apply it, you don't have to know anything from memory. Just have to compile the right material. I haven't started on this yet and will be a challenge for me as I am not very creative when it comes to organizing, strategizing.    

 

[Messi]

I find Grainger, Camara, Dunkins useless for me, haven't touched wildi yet. Books are voluminous, hard to retain and doesn't provide as much quick info on a topic as much graffeo and engproguide does. 

I for e.g. try to learn topics such as Per unit, fault analysis, unsymmetrical faults, power factor from outside much better than going through books then do a practice problems. Not sure if this is the right approach. My problem is you can spend a lot of time going through the books and retain very little, often time I find myself skipping text book any way as they are too much into theory. The last thing you want is to spend a lot of time on stuff that really doesn't help you pass other than just a lot of labor. I invite folks to chime in on this as I'm sure we all go through this question of how to study from books, what do you study from books? 

Even without studying from books, I have done reasonably well on spin up, complex and engproguide practice tests. NCEES practice test is not going to be any different. I'm holding off on NCEES for some more time.  But again I have no reference of what the difficulty level is on actual exam and makes you nervous till you pass.   

 More  than studying from books, I believe if you are very good at organizing  key material, that would go a long way than studying from boring books. NCEES  allow you to take any material, as long as you can find it and apply it, you don't have to know anything from memory. Just have to compile the right material. I haven't started on this yet and will be a challenge for me as I am not very creative when it comes to organizing, strategizing.    

I agree with you. I started off my preparation with Graffeo and sample problems rather than going through the text books. I plan on looking at the areas where I dont have proper or complete understanding of the subject and touch those parts from respective textbooks.

 

[Invisible]

I have been working in the field of substation protection for more than 3 years. So I did not study anything related to protection studies.

How did you study from the Textbooks you mentioned ? Did you just look for the topics those particular books are known for or the whole book inside out ? I know Wildi is good for Machines & Transformers and I plan to just touch that, not sure if thats the right approach.

Start with Graffeo or any reference material you have. You would get a good idea what to study and which topics are more imprtant to study. Then go to those topics in the text books & study them. And the solve few sample papers. This would give you a clear idea which one is more helpful for you.

 

[eatsleep]

I find Grainger, Camara, Dunkins useless for me, haven't touched wildi yet. Books are voluminous, hard to retain and doesn't provide as much quick info on a topic as much graffeo and engproguide does. 

I for e.g. try to learn topics such as Per unit, fault analysis, unsymmetrical faults, power factor from outside much better than going through books then do a practice problems. Not sure if this is the right approach. My problem is you can spend a lot of time going through the books and retain very little, often time I find myself skipping text book any way as they are too much into theory. The last thing you want is to spend a lot of time on stuff that really doesn't help you pass other than just a lot of labor. I invite folks to chime in on this as I'm sure we all go through this question of how to study from books, what do you study from books? 

Even without studying from books, I have done reasonably well on spin up, complex and engproguide practice tests. NCEES practice test is not going to be any different. I'm holding off on NCEES for some more time.  But again I have no reference of what the difficulty level is on actual exam and makes you nervous till you pass.   

 More  than studying from books, I believe if you are very good at organizing  key material, that would go a long way than studying from boring books. NCEES  allow you to take any material, as long as you can find it and apply it, you don't have to know anything from memory. Just have to compile the right material. I haven't started on this yet and will be a challenge for me as I am not very creative when it comes to organizing, strategizing.    

Part of the difficulty comes from it being so open within any of the topics. With that being said in order to get better coverage of those topics you just gotta read. I've read from people here, that passing the exam is a combination of doing lots of practice tests and reading a lot about the different  focus areas.

What I've been doing is going through and reading relevant sections in my text books and summarizing important info into a word doc. Helps me better retain some info, plus i get to have a cheat sheet with the weird stuff not on the Graffeo and EPG cheat sheets.

I've read (and skimmed) through most of the wildi book . It's a great reference, its easy to read (unlike grainger and blackburn) and pretty through. I have also found that some of the commonly used text books dont go as indepth as i'd like, thats when you hit the internet. I have many articles or powerpoint lectures that cover some of those odd topics and i plan on bringing these with me into the exam.

 

[roy167]

Electrical Machines drives and power systems by Wildi's book is superb. It is the only book I am enjoying and learning from it. Wildi has given a lots of good problems and answers at the end of each chapter one can expect to help with concept understanding. 

I can't believe someone can write a book like that. The problems are excellent.  

 

[ItsStudyTime!]

Invisible! I agree with a lot of what you said. I wrote in Oct 2017, and also have not found this forum. For those reading this thread, I used a lot of the same resources as Invisible. I wrote about my thoughts on each as well (here). I wrote up a whole thing about the exam on that link because I found myself re-typing the same thing over and over in response to other forum questions, etc. 

I also wrote up my own Table of Contents for the Graffeo book because I found the one in the book pretty useless. PDFs are downloadable from that link. Hope it is helpful for people!