Retaking HVAC October 2019 need help

[Mechanical Ryan]

Hi all, I already accepted my fate with regards to the last exam. I just want to pass like everyone else. if you guys could take a look

at my diagnostic and see if you could recommend any review material / 's. Last exam I use the MERM 13th edition  NCEES sample

exam and ASHRAE books as reference. Looking forward to this next exam and not failing anymore. I appreciate any help with this.

 

[Abogos]

Wow you were really close, you were even better in half of the topics than average person who passed the test. Was there anything on the test that you think contributed to this score? Like not having a reference you needed, topics you hadn’t even seen during your studies, codes, etc. 

I need advice too. 

 

[Mechanical Ryan]

Wow you were really close, you were even better in half of the topics than average person who passed the test. Was there anything on the test that you think contributed to this score? Like not having a reference you needed, topics you hadn’t even seen during your studies, codes, etc. 

I need advice too. 

Actually I really thought I passed the exam but it looks like I got short on systems and equipments 

 

[Ramnares P.E.]

Not to state the obvious but there are four areas where you need improvement - principles heat transfer, energy and mass balances, heating/cooling loads, and systems and components.  The first two you can get from working the MERM companion problems and previous exams.  If you still need help you may need to review those areas in your undergrad texts.  I don't have the 13th edition MERM so not sure how much HVAC material has been added to address heating/cooling loads.

You may want to pick up the Six Minute Solutions HVAC practice book.

 

[Mechanical Ryan]

Not to state the obvious but there are four areas where you need improvement - principles heat transfer, energy and mass balances, heating/cooling loads, and systems and components.  The first two you can get from working the MERM companion problems and previous exams.  If you still need help you may need to review those areas in your undergrad texts.  I don't have the 13th edition MERM so not sure how much HVAC material has been added to address heating/cooling loads.

You may want to pick up the Six Minute Solutions HVAC practice book.

Using the Merm just confused the heck out of me I was watching the youtube videos of Dan Malloy on mass balances heat transfer and I really thought I nailed that during exam as Dan’s videos are really helpful when doing practice exams the system and components maybe is the one I really need more material as I struggled on that during exam

 

[Audi Driver P.E.]

Using the Merm just confused the heck out of me I was watching the youtube videos of Dan Malloy on mass balances heat transfer and I really thought I nailed that during exam as Dan’s videos are really helpful when doing practice exams the system and components maybe is the one I really need more material as I struggled on that during exam

I really recommend going through your undergrad course books if you can. The terminology will be more familiar. I don't know Malloy's vids, but if you thought you nailed it based on what you learned through him, I'd ditch him and go back to the basics and re-learn the underlying principles of those concepts.  My $0.0000000002.

 

[mlavigne]

I watched Dan Malloy's videos too as my main method of studying and passed, finishing very early in each section, so that is a valid method of studying.

I think psychometric are easy points- its mostly about having the right chart:

print (and laminate) the 7 ASHRAE psychometric charts available online (sea level, high and low altitude, high and low temp) AND print the one from engineering toolbox (which loses the SHR gauge in the top left, but adds vapor pressure, enthalpy and dewpoint scales to the right side 'y-axis').

There were a bunch of pure lookup problems- you need ALL 4 ASHRAE books.  the fundamentals will get you most of the questions, but there were several questions that were grade-school difficulty questions, but only if you had the right lookup table, and they were impossible without it.  I think this might help in the "systems" part of your NCEES breakdown.

 

[Mechanical Ryan]

Thats what I told my wife i know i answer correctly all that psychrometric chart questions thats why im confuse i only get half right. During practice exam with PPI and ncees sample exam i got that everything right because most of it is pure look up and plug in the numbers off the chart. Thanks I will look into those ASHRAE charts because during exam i was scared to use my own charts thinking i might accidentally write something on it so I only use the chart provided during exam.

 

[justin-hawaii]

@Mechanical Ryan

A 51 out of 80 is a good score and I am rooting for you to pass in October.  One suggestion that I typically recommend is to go back to the NCEES HVAC practice problems and try to decipher why the other 3 solutions are incorrect.  If you felt like you understood the concepts, then you could possibly be falling for one of the "trick" answers.  For example, one trick that I like, is to give both sensible heat and total heat and ask you to find temperature.  If you use total heat, then you will get the wrong answer. 

In my opinion, a lot of the difficulty with the HVAC problems is due to the extra information.  I often hear from those that have passed, that the exam seemed super easy.  But they were worried because they didn't use all the information in the problems.  

 

[Mechanical Ryan]

@Mechanical Ryan

A 51 out of 80 is a good score and I am rooting for you to pass in October.  One suggestion that I typically recommend is to go back to the NCEES HVAC practice problems and try to decipher why the other 3 solutions are incorrect.  If you felt like you understood the concepts, then you could possibly be falling for one of the "trick" answers.  For example, one trick that I like, is to give both sensible heat and total heat and ask you to find temperature.  If you use total heat, then you will get the wrong answer. 

In my opinion, a lot of the difficulty with the HVAC problems is due to the extra information.  I often hear from those that have passed, that the exam seemed super easy.  But they were worried because they didn't use all the information in the problems.  

Actually i just bought your full exam practice and Holy cow i printed it in the office and it become like a thick book im looking forward to solve and get more information. I just dont know if i have the will power to do this again in October... im drained financially and emotionally from this last exam..

 

[justin-hawaii]

@Mechanical Ryan

You can do it!  You were so close.  Do you work with the ASHRAE Handbooks at your job?  

 

[Mechanical Ryan]

@Mechanical Ryan

You can do it!  You were so close.  Do you work with the ASHRAE Handbooks at your job?  

No not at all thats why probably i get so little of that system and components as there were terminologies that im not familiar with

 

[justin-hawaii]

That is probably another area where you can get some easy points. 

 

[Atf TX]

@Mechanical Ryan Please have a look at the Engineering Pro Guides Practice Exam & Formula Cheat sheet. That will certainly help. Also try solving practice problems over time. I am sure you will ace it this time round! Also print the NCEES PE reference manual that has been released online.