With 10 days to go, what are you focusing on?

[MechGale]

+1. The survival kit is one of the least discussed, but equally important things for the exam. My kit included klenex, some granola bars, hard candy, some drinks, a seat cushon, a wristwatch (I don't normally wear one), some ear plugs (in case the silent shuffling of papers got annoying), a sweatshirt, my reading glasses (I only need them when working on the comp, but just in case), a backup calculator, and about $10 in loose bills & change (vending machines, parking, etc).
I recommend visiting the exam site the day or two before to scope out parking, access, etc. When I did it, I found out that the other half of the building was hosting a home & garden convention and that there would only be 1 reserved parking area for exam takers. Because of the convention, ALL parking had a $5 fee and since I don't normally carry cash I would have been screwed.

Preparing your lunch the day before and bringing it with you would also be recommended. You don't really want to count on being able to just run down the road and hitup a drive thru.

Get to the exam early. The exam starts at 8, but they want you settled into your seats by 7:45 to start going over the rules, which means you really need to be there between 7 and 7:15. I showed up at 7:30 and was scrambling to get ready in time.

Don't change your normal routine. Eat your usual dinner & breakfast, go to bed at your usual time. Try to avoid caffene (coffee, energy drinks, etc) if you don't normally drink them, and if you do, limit yourself to your usual amounts.

You have spent hours and hours preparing yourself for the material on the exam, the last week should be focusing on preparing yourself for the physical ACT of taking the exam. Be ready to sit in one place for two 4-hour stretches with only a 30-45 minute break (they give you 1 hour, but you need to be back in your seat at least 15 minutes before the session begins). Be ready to adjust clothing as the day goes by because the room temp never stays constant, the adrenaline changes how your temp adjusts and how you feel. Be ready to write for 8 hours. I know this sounds simple, but since so many of us use computers for our day-to-day activities, you forget how cramped your hands can get if you have to constantly write for that long.

Biggest help for me: Take the day off before the exam. I mean COMPLETELY off. No work, no studying, no thinking. Go out and do something you find enjoyable and relax. I actually went out and test drove new cars. Nothing is more fun than absolutely raging a car that isn't mine, then just handing the keys back to the salesman, thanking him for his time, and leaving to the next dealership.

In addition to taking off the day before the exam, I took last Thursday off (Good Friday was company holiday), and I have taken Thursday and Friday off this week to get some more study time in. Also, it gives you chance to try sitting still for long periods of time while doing problems, and you can see how different you work them starting in the morning, as opposed to coming home and studying after a long day at work.

Since the exam is next Friday, I plan on doing a dry run tomorrow morning to see how long it will take to get there, as well as get an idea of where I need to go once there. I will have everything packed to go in the morning, and will get up like it is exam day, targeting being on-site by 7:00 am. I will make sure I have my kit ready to go at the back door, get the car loaded, eat breakfast, and go.

A good idea of what your exam kits should consist of can be found in the MERM Introduction chapter, starting on page XXVIII. Not sure if everyone has seen that or not, but it is a good thing to look at.

 

[jldavis2]

That's good insight folks. I think I have been neglecting to take note of what is hanging me up during timed practice tests on certain types of problems and take specific action to address those issues. I haven't been taking time afterwards to make note of particular hangups. I've been in too big of a hurry to just get on with working more problems and reviewing more text. I think this may be more of the source of burnout and frustration than anything. I have a few ideas now to help keep me from spinning my wheels during timed sessions.

Seems like the challenge is three-fold:

1. technical knowledge of engineering concepts

2. organized references/resources for quick recall

3. test taking and logistics prep

I just wish I had more than 1 week to pull everything together!!

 

[Firefly]

At this point I think I'm losing all of my knowledge. Getting dumber by the second as I re-work these problems. Hurry Up Friday so I can relax!

 

[heath014]

I agree completely Firefly

 

[Shanks]

Four months and 300+ more into preparation and I feel less confident than the last time when I prepped barely for 100hrs...Now I believe more into the quote that "ignorance is bliss".... ...I knew very less last time and was more confident (as matter of fact missed it by 3 pts), now when I can tackle more of the problems I never touched last time, I am not sure if I am there yet...

Well now with less than a wk to the exam, I am almost done with the arrangement of reference material ...got done with red-lining all PPI reference and NCEES sample exam in accordance to errata, something which I should have done earlier. I would recommend everyone to get the latest copy from PPI and NCEES as I found some additions in comparison to December last year.

I also plan on taking AM/PM test tomorrow and hope that it'll help me feeling more confident. For the rest of the week as I might go though the problems based on the exam evaluation plus economics. I've taken Thursday off to drive to the city and take a quick look to the center.

 

[Firefly]

any tips on when to use Log Mean Temp Diff? I'm willing to bet a paycheck it will appear on the test, but I sometimes get confused on when to use it and when not.

It seems that it is used on problems where tube area or number of tubes is required.

Does anyone have a helpful hint for when to use LMTD vs Bulk, etc?

 

[mechgirl]

any tips on when to use Log Mean Temp Diff? I'm willing to bet a paycheck it will appear on the test, but I sometimes get confused on when to use it and when not.
It seems that it is used on problems where tube area or number of tubes is required.

Does anyone have a helpful hint for when to use LMTD vs Bulk, etc?

LMTD is used when calc-ing overall heat transfer for the HX. When given an overall heat trans coeff, that's a big hint. Other hints are fouling factor, # tubes, and tube area. It's not used when calcing heat transfer from one side (one fluid side, just use the fluid enter and exit temps) though the heat transfer for one side is the same as for the other side and the same as overall when neglecting fouling factors, which most of the problems seem to neglect.

When calc'ing LMTD, I always draw the direction of flow, with temps at each side, for each fluid. This helps when the system is counter flow.

 

[mechgirl]

Bulk temp is the ave temp, which is used to find properties, density, cp, etc.

 

[Bman]

Good info to have, thanks Mechgirl. I haven't seen too many of these problems yet, so I'm not too worried about them. I think I've finally got a good hold on the power cycles/psychrometrics which is a big part of the HVAC depth, so I got a little boost of confidence yesterday. I'm starting to get a little anxious at this point and can't wait to just get this over with already.....

 

[gaidox]

any tips on when to use Log Mean Temp Diff? I'm willing to bet a paycheck it will appear on the test, but I sometimes get confused on when to use it and when not.
It seems that it is used on problems where tube area or number of tubes is required.

Does anyone have a helpful hint for when to use LMTD vs Bulk, etc?

LMTD is used when calc-ing overall heat transfer for the HX. When given an overall heat trans coeff, that's a big hint. Other hints are fouling factor, # tubes, and tube area. It's not used when calcing heat transfer from one side (one fluid side, just use the fluid enter and exit temps) though the heat transfer for one side is the same as for the other side and the same as overall when neglecting fouling factors, which most of the problems seem to neglect.

When calc'ing LMTD, I always draw the direction of flow, with temps at each side, for each fluid. This helps when the system is counter flow.

she's correct. If your dealing with Heat exchanger, you will need LMTD for heat transfer. Its' best to draw the flow especially for Counterflow for knowing temp diff. easily.

BUlk temp is normally used for getting film temp and film coefficient or other prop. for tubes. Its just the ave. temp of Tin and Tout.

For quick refresh go to merm 36-5 and merm 36-32.

I think its beneficial to refresh this area of heat transfer especially t&f depth.

 

[jldavis2]

if you have the NCEES 2008 practice test, Problem 508 of the T&F depth module is a good exercise in understanding and calculating LMTD. I'm hoping that one of the questions will be on this because a lot of the rest of heat xfer is just not staying with me. I wish I had a college text on the subject because I don't feel that MERM is thorough enough in this area in the way it covers other fluids/energy principles.

At this point is anybody working brand-new problems or just reviewing worked problems and working on organization? I have my hands full just with that.

 

[Bman]

I'm mostly just focusing on problems I've already gone through. Particularly the NCEES and SMS (HVAC-all, T&F- breadth, MD-breadth). These problems I have worked several times and I am pretty confident that I can solve any similar types of problems that show up on the exam. Feeling somewhat confident, but fearing the worst at this point. I figure any new material is just going to throw me off my game at this point. I feel like I've worked hard, learned a lot, and should have a good chance at passing as long as I take my time, check my units and calculations, and just don't freak out in general....

 

[gaidox]

At this point, I'm just reworking stuff that i've gone through but missed (Ncees, Lindeburg, SMS T&F Depth) especially those short ones. As I go through it, I browse those topic on merm and refresh a little bit. I think at this point of time (less 3 days), we have to focus on our strength and make sure we count them on during exam day. Lot's of us are already burned out (or on a brink) and new stuff (especially long/or complicated ones) will just burn us more. The more new probs you solve the more you get frustrated and feel fatigue and not ready. We've done a lot for past months. We just have to believe on all the efforts we did. We need a fresh mind, high spirit, and good mood come friday.

Organization is important now and make sure we could find stuff easily.

 

[gaidox]

I plan to end my prep and review on thursday afternoon. Plan to have a nice dinner with family,watch a good movie, and sleep early. Thursday morning will just few probs, quick refresh, and organization.

Anyway, Good luck to all of us. We can do it.. have faith.

 

[jldavis2]

yeah I too feel like I've worked hard and learned a lot. Been at this thing like a part-time job since Dec 1. My challenge is going to be making myself skip problems that I don't have a clear solution plan for, even if there's quite a few. I did a bad job of this on my timed test and ran out of time and STILL had to guess.

I'll try to keep myself from much review at all Thursday.

Going into this thing with a negative attitude doesn't help anything. Indeed let's keep the faith and know we are able to do this.

 

[tsumi]

Good Luck to everyone taking the exam! This forum has been a great help and mental sanity check! We all studied hard, and can pass this test!

Good Luck to all!

 

[ikesdsu]

I plan to drink a beer becuase I passed the PE test last April :laugh:

But in all seriousness, I took the test twice and the second time I took it my supervisor recommended I take the last couple of days off from studying and help clear your head. I took the last three days off and did things like watch my favorite TV shows, played with the kids, went for a run and didn't worry about the test. I was amazed how much more relaxed I was when I took it a second time. He told me "If you don't know it three days before the test you won't know it the day before the test. A clear relaxed mind it better that a crammed tired mind." Well I think that was the reason I passed the test the second time. I wasn't stressed out.

Try it, it just might work for you.

 

[mandileng]

Please please , could anyone help me to find out free mechanical (Hvac ) PE sample exam . I'm preparing for October exam .

And is it possible to find free PDF of ncees or 6 minute solution .

Thanks and regards

 

[roadwreck]

^^

I'm pretty sure you aren't going to find free copies of those publications, unless you find someone who will lend you a copy. Ask co-workers or colleagues if they have any exam prep material that they used still around? You might find used copies online if you want to save some money on buying them new.

 

[nsgoldberg]

I'm focusing on what kind of whiskey I'll be drinking Friday night... After I smoke this exam.