Review Strategies

[tim1981]

I've got 8 weeks to study for the mechanical (HVAC) PE exam. I'm taking a few days off work next week to make substantial progress, and plan on taking the entire week of the exam off work. The MERM recommends 300 hours of preparation time, but I don't have that. I have to work this into my schedule that already includes a full time job and one graduate class. Here's my plan:

Over the next 7 weeks, skim through each chapter of the MERM, carefully reading the chapters on Fluids, Heat Transfer, and HVAC. At the same time, do every practice problem in the MERM practice problems book. Keep a log of what references I used to answer each question. At this point I plan to take with me the MERM and ASHRAE Fundamentals. I was told be recent test-takers that this is all I will need.

One week before the exam, take the practice test over 8 hours as if it's the real thing. Use that to know what to focus on, and spend the rest of the week (which I'll have off work) focusing on the areas I'm weak in.

I'm taking the test 3 hours away, so the day before I'm going to wake up early and study in the morning, then drive to the hotel in the afternoon, relax at the hotel the night before and get as much sleep as possible the night before.

Questions for those who have taken it:

1) Did you read through the entire MERM, or just jump right into the problems and familiarize yourself with the book by looking for the answers?

2) How many hours total did it take you? I think I'm at somewhat of an advantage because I'm in school now and only took the FE 2 years ago. If 300 hours is recommended for someone who's been out of school for almost 5 years, I think I can do it with 100 hours.

3) What references did you take into the exam with you? Did you use them all? Did you always have those same books with you while studying?

 

[ikesdsu]

I've got 8 weeks to study for the mechanical (HVAC) PE exam. I'm taking a few days off work next week to make substantial progress, and plan on taking the entire week of the exam off work. The MERM recommends 300 hours of preparation time, but I don't have that. I have to work this into my schedule that already includes a full time job and one graduate class. Here's my plan:

Over the next 7 weeks, skim through each chapter of the MERM, carefully reading the chapters on Fluids, Heat Transfer, and HVAC. At the same time, do every practice problem in the MERM practice problems book. Keep a log of what references I used to answer each question. At this point I plan to take with me the MERM and ASHRAE Fundamentals. I was told be recent test-takers that this is all I will need.

One week before the exam, take the practice test over 8 hours as if it's the real thing. Use that to know what to focus on, and spend the rest of the week (which I'll have off work) focusing on the areas I'm weak in.

I'm taking the test 3 hours away, so the day before I'm going to wake up early and study in the morning, then drive to the hotel in the afternoon, relax at the hotel the night before and get as much sleep as possible the night before.

Questions for those who have taken it:

1) Did you read through the entire MERM, or just jump right into the problems and familiarize yourself with the book by looking for the answers?

2) How many hours total did it take you? I think I'm at somewhat of an advantage because I'm in school now and only took the FE 2 years ago. If 300 hours is recommended for someone who's been out of school for almost 5 years, I think I can do it with 100 hours.

3) What references did you take into the exam with you? Did you use them all? Did you always have those same books with you while studying?

I took and passed the HVAC exam so hopefully I can help you.

I read most of the MERM, I did skip over sections like math, statics, dynamics, and plant engineering since it won't be on the HVAC section anyway. I would recommend the 500 worked problems book or the 6 minute solutions books over the MERM problems because the problems in the MERM are much harder than what was on the test. All I brought to the test was the MERM, the solved problems books, and the full set of ASHRAE books. I don't know how familliar you are with the IMC but if you have access to it I would bring one just in case for the simple code questions.

Oh and the fun question, how much should you study? It really depends on how you learn. I took the test twice, and the first time, against my better judgement, I studied the 300 hours they recommend at 15 hours a week. I should have know from my college classes that I can't remember things that long, so I probably lost what I learned from the first two months of studying, and I failed. Well the second time I did my 15 hours a week but I only started three months before the test. For the most part I guess I probably studied around 200 hours the second time and I passed.

I guess that worked for me. I would recommend one thing that really helped me, take the last two or three days off from studying. Use that time to relax (I know easier said than done), or see friend and family, or play with your kids if you have some. Your worst enemy is you being stressed out.

I can elaborate on what I studied if you want.

 

[tim1981]

Thanks for the reply, ikesdsu. I'm pretty impressed with the MERM thus far. I went into this thinking the PE would be like the FE in being a contest in irrelevant number-crunching, but the information in the MERM really covers the important material well. It summarizes the theory in a really straight-forward way by giving you the practical equations with just enough explanation to jog your memory and/or give you the necessary buzzwords to continue your more in-depth research elsewhere. When I'm doing work for my graduate classes, I always find myself needing a simple explanation for specific things mentioned in the class (e.g. what is a Biot number again?). The MERM is the perfect resource for that. I also read a few things in it today that made me think it will be a great resource to keep with me in the office: Explanation of the different types of pipe insulation, a great overview of how cooling towers work, etc. All in all it has me really excited to take the exam, and thinking that this is a very worthwhile process to go through not just to prove something about yourself, but to become a better engineer.

I'll check out the 500 solved problems book. I have the 101 solved problems book and the 6 minute solutions book borrowed from a coworker, but he wrote a lot of the answers in them. If you feel like elaborating on what you studied, please do. While taking the test, did you reference the main chapters in the MERM a lot, or did you just use the tables an charts in the appendix? Did you actually use any of the ASHRAE books except Fundamentals? The other books seem to be more articles, while Fundamentals has more reference data (duct fitting friction loss tables, for example).

 

[ikesdsu]

Thanks for the reply, ikesdsu. I'm pretty impressed with the MERM thus far. I went into this thinking the PE would be like the FE in being a contest in irrelevant number-crunching, but the information in the MERM really covers the important material well. It summarizes the theory in a really straight-forward way by giving you the practical equations with just enough explanation to jog your memory and/or give you the necessary buzzwords to continue your more in-depth research elsewhere. When I'm doing work for my graduate classes, I always find myself needing a simple explanation for specific things mentioned in the class (e.g. what is a Biot number again?). The MERM is the perfect resource for that. I also read a few things in it today that made me think it will be a great resource to keep with me in the office: Explanation of the different types of pipe insulation, a great overview of how cooling towers work, etc. All in all it has me really excited to take the exam, and thinking that this is a very worthwhile process to go through not just to prove something about yourself, but to become a better engineer.

I'll check out the 500 solved problems book. I have the 101 solved problems book and the 6 minute solutions book borrowed from a coworker, but he wrote a lot of the answers in them. If you feel like elaborating on what you studied, please do. While taking the test, did you reference the main chapters in the MERM a lot, or did you just use the tables an charts in the appendix? Did you actually use any of the ASHRAE books except Fundamentals? The other books seem to be more articles, while Fundamentals has more reference data (duct fitting friction loss tables, for example).

You are right, the MERM does a good job helping jog your memory. I only used the main part of the MERM for the equations, i had the book open to the back tables for most of the test. I had the chapters tabbed and labled with things like "fuilds", "compressed flow" ect so i could flip right to it and grab the right equation. I did use more than just the fundamentals book, I used the refigerant book on things like classifications of refrigerants and life safey on refrigerants and I used the systems books for some rules of thumb for doing rough and dirty calcs on heat loss.

I guess what I would recommend, only becuase I am the type of person that doesn't memorize things like equations well, is to be smart and selective on where you focus your time. Yeah there may be dynamics or materials problems in the morning but if you know where the equations are at in the MERM you will probably get them. You should focus on sections that you know are going to be represented heavy on the afternoon test like power cycles, pump flow, and psychometrics. Know those sections in and out. Know when you look at any problem, "ok I should use this equation" without looking for it in the book, the math is the easy part, remembering what equation to use is the hard part. Lastly be sure to brush up on the electrical sections. Those kicked my butt both times.

That is at least what helped me pass the second time. Good luck, you can pass this test and then you can join us PE's that torment the test takers the last week before the results are released.

 

[ongreystreet]

That's a tough time frame but doable. My advice would be to rearrange your schedule some, take the week off before the week of the test, not the week of the test. So like Sat 1st practice, week off, Sat 2nd practice, work week, test. Take day or half day before test also. If you wait til week before test to take practice and don't do well, you might not have enough time to figure it out. Also, the practice tests can be just as strenuous as the real thing.

If you are going for condensed studying, a few tips, word problems are too vast to study, they can ask you about types of valves, motors, materials processes, etc, the answers to most of these type of questions can be answered with a glossary search in less than 6 minutes, and don't take any study time.

Look at practice tests to see how code questions are asked, they should give you the code text in question (in other words, if you don't have time to study codes, it doesn't matter cause you probably don't need to)

I only spent 1 day on economics, almost skipped it cause I was running out of time, but one day of studying and I knew enough to answer most pratice questions.

80% of your test is on 20% of the MERM, find that 20% and stick to it.