How much time does it take for you to complete each practice exam?

Hey guys,

If you don't mind me asking, on average how long does it take you to complete each practice exam or exam session?

After multiple repetitive and detailed practices of the practice exams I have, I started doing timed rounds this week.

I started with the Complex Imaginary practice exams for my timed rounds. On average, for each 40-question exam session from the Complex Imaginary practice exams, I am able to get it done somewhere within 1 hour to 1 hour and 30 minutes... Though I do make some small careless mistakes in a couple of questions.

In my studying experience, when I first started studying for the PE power exam, I started with A.S. Graffeo, then the NCEES PE practice exam, and then the Complex Imaginary and Spin-Up exams. At first, I found a good amount of Complex Imaginary exam questions difficult, but now I can do these CI questions with minimal difficulty (although a few small careless mistakes still get me).

So, just wondering how reasonably quickly you are able to get each practice exam session done.

I'm going to tackle the NCEES and A.S. Graffeo exams in timed rounds to see how quickly I can do these. Then later in the week, I will time myself on the Electrical PE Review and Engineering Pro Guides exams. Afterwards, the Cram for Exam volumes 1 through 4...

Also I should mention that for each run, I start off with the non-code questions. I save the code questions for last.

I took the lates NCEES and the Graffeo practice exams and finished each 40 question session within 3 hours. 

I'm thinking we will have more than enough time with it being CBT now. I took the FE multiple times while in college because I considered them "free attempts". It's just money, and it showed me what I really needed to concentrate on in engineering school. Doing the CBT exam I could determine REAL QUICK if I can answer this or not. Spending 30 minutes wouldn't help me. Like "What component is not involved in a surge protector strip" with 4 silly parts. That isn't going to be in the handbook, and I'm not going to know it. I would give it my best 15 seconds of thinking to see if I heard this in school and if not guess and move on. 

With paper and pencil I would have spent 20 minutes on that going through 30 books looking. Now we don't have that option so I think we will have more than enough time. 

SparkyBill said:

I'm thinking we will have more than enough time with it being CBT now. I took the FE multiple times while in college because I considered them "free attempts". It's just money, and it showed me what I really needed to concentrate on in engineering school. Doing the CBT exam I could determine REAL QUICK if I can answer this or not. Spending 30 minutes wouldn't help me. Like "What component is not involved in a surge protector strip" with 4 silly parts. That isn't going to be in the handbook, and I'm not going to know it. I would give it my best 15 seconds of thinking to see if I heard this in school and if not guess and move on. 

With paper and pencil I would have spent 20 minutes on that going through 30 books looking. Now we don't have that option so I think we will have more than enough time. 

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Sounds reasonable. For the actual exam, my plan is to start with the easy non-code questions. I'll skip any difficult or code questions on my first pass. On the second pass, do the code questions that I am comfortable with. Then on subsequent passes, start to tackle the hard questions and try to take a best guess and reason it out. If I have time, double check my work... That's my plan more or less...

akyip said:

Sounds reasonable. For the actual exam, my plan is to start with the easy non-code questions. I'll skip any difficult or code questions on my first pass. On the second pass, do the code questions that I am comfortable with. Then on subsequent passes, start to tackle the hard questions and try to take a best guess and reason it out. If I have time, double check my work... That's my plan more or less...

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One variable we have, that paper and pencil didn't, is we have 8 hours period to take the entire test, NOT  4 hours AM and PM (if its like how other PEs are). My plan is if the first half seems to be easy, and I CAN finish in 3-3.5 hours then finish it and bank those hours for PM. I would hate to really need that time and not have it b/c i spent so much time scratching my head on AM lol

SparkyBill said:

One variable we have, that paper and pencil didn't, is we have 8 hours period to take the entire test, NOT  4 hours AM and PM (if its like how other PEs are). My plan is if the first half seems to be easy, and I CAN finish in 3-3.5 hours then finish it and bank those hours for PM. I would hate to really need that time and not have it b/c i spent so much time scratching my head on AM lol

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Really? I didn't know this. I thought it will still be split 4 hours for morning and 4 hours for afternoon. Is this in the revised exam specifications on the NCEES website? If so, I should take a look.

From the November 2020 NCEES Examinee Guide page:

So just a small update on this for whatever it's worth saying. I timed myself on the NCEES practice exam and the A.S. Graffeo practice exam 

NCEES PE practice exam morning session: 2 hours, 5 minutes

NCEES PE practice exam afternoon session: 1 hour, 30 minutes

A.S. Graffeo practice exam morning session: 1 hour, 37 minutes

A.S. Graffeo practice exam afternoon session: 1 hour, 50 minutes

Tomorrow I'll time myself on the Electrical PE Review practice exam and the Engineering Pro Guides practice exam. I have a feeling I'll take a bit longer for these exams since these are a bit more difficult...

I took 4 timed exams last fall: NCEES, the one Justin released last fall, and Zach's twice.

If I recall correctly, I was around 3.5 hours for the morning and closer to 4 in the afternoon.

I wrote down how much time it took but that's at home and I'm not. But I went it treating it as if it were exam day. So I did multiple passes and double checked ones I wasn't sure about.

I also tried to finish with more than 15min left since in the real exam (at least P&P), I could leave the room if there were more than 15min left (I made it more of a point to leave early in the morning than the afternoon tbh) 

@akyip you're fast!!!

my times have varied a lot, and I've been solving tests straight through this time, only skipping if i don't know what it's asking immediately, or if I can tell it's a very involved problem.

At the beginning I still had 7-14 questions left at 4hrs, but now i'm getting completed with time to spare. (yay improvement)

NCEES i finished with about 15min to spare the last time i took it.

The 2nd time i took Zach's test i split up between days, and i think i ended up getting called by work in the middle of the afternoon session, but it was very close to time.

I've been working Cram's more like practice problems this time around, but when i took Cram 1 prepping for April, I think i had 4 problems left in the afternoon.

the Complex Imaginary exams, i've been finishing around 6.5 hours.

The EngProGuides Full I took last month and I was really close to time.

Planning on taking the EngProGuides Final this weekend.

speakeelsy said:

@akyip you're fast!!!

my times have varied a lot, and I've been solving tests straight through this time, only skipping if i don't know what it's asking immediately, or if I can tell it's a very involved problem.

At the beginning I still had 7-14 questions left at 4hrs, but now i'm getting completed with time to spare. (yay improvement)

NCEES i finished with about 15min to spare the last time i took it.

The 2nd time i took Zach's test i split up between days, and i think i ended up getting called by work in the middle of the afternoon session, but it was very close to time.

I've been working Cram's more like practice problems this time around, but when i took Cram 1 prepping for April, I think i had 4 problems left in the afternoon.

the Complex Imaginary exams, i've been finishing around 6.5 hours.

The EngProGuides Full I took last month and I was really close to time.

Planning on taking the EngProGuides Final this weekend.

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Honestly, the only reason why I'm so fast is because I have been re-practicing the practice exam questions over and over during this pandemic period of having to stay at home. As I re-practice, some things get drilled into my head and I find some faster ways to solve problems.

Still though, I am taking the time to write out my solution in the steps needed. Perhaps maybe I can cut out a few steps, but I still try to be thorough enough in writing out my solutions as to not make mistakes...

One other thing I plan to do...

I have extended access to Zach Stone's Electrical PE Review October 2020 live classes. I didn't do this live class at the time since I previously used 2 months of the premium review course.

But next week I'll take some time to go over his live class notes on certain topics I still need to review. I still have access until November 30, apparently.

akyip said:

Honestly, the only reason why I'm so fast is because I have been re-practicing the practice exam questions over and over during this pandemic period of having to stay at home. As I re-practice, some things get drilled into my head and I find some faster ways to solve problems.

Still though, I am taking the time to write out my solution in the steps needed. Perhaps maybe I can cut out a few steps, but I still try to be thorough enough in writing out my solutions as to not make mistakes...

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Lucky you! My work load has tripled since the quarantine, and I've been putting a lot more time in on the job - which has left a lot less time for studying. But I feel like after doing a lot of the initial studying for the April exam, I was a lot more comfortable with all the subjects during this October/December round.

Currently I'm struggling with unsymmetrical component and fault analysis combination problems, and need to spruce up my skills with a few other assorted subjects, either way I feel like I've learned a ton this year. Just super burnt out.

I'm a huge believer in drawing diagrams and writing out most of the steps for solutions. You learn a lot that way!

I complete all test with multipass withing 4 hour time for each session morning and evening. But good is to use full 4 hour by rechecking again and again.

akyip said:

One other thing I plan to do...

I have extended access to Zach Stone's Electrical PE Review October 2020 live classes. I didn't do this live class at the time since I previously used 2 months of the premium review course.

But next week I'll take some time to go over his live class notes on certain topics I still need to review. I still have access until November 30, apparently.

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The live class session for October was really nice because Zach ended up included a lot of the handbook stuff, plus I enjoyed having something to keep me on a schedule and motivated. (there were a few weeks this round when the only studying I did were live class related )

Definitely recommend going through the live class as many things are in the live class that aren't in the online course. 

Update on my progress - it took me:

3 hours to do the Electrical PE Review exam morning session

2 hours to do the Electrical PE Review exam afternoon session

2 hours and 15 minutes to do the Engineering Pro Guides morning session

Tomorrow I'll finish the Engineering Pro Guides afternoon session. Then I'll get to the Electrical PE Review October 2020 live class notes (at least the subjects I'm still not quite 100% comfortable with).

Also, Zach Stone just released an AIT-style exam consisting of 18 questions. I'll do that as well as his Live Class #11 end-of-class exam.

akyip said:

Update on my progress - it took me:

3 hours to do the Electrical PE Review exam morning session

2 hours to do the Electrical PE Review exam afternoon session

2 hours and 15 minutes to do the Engineering Pro Guides morning session

Tomorrow I'll finish the Engineering Pro Guides afternoon session. Then I'll get to the Electrical PE Review October 2020 live class notes (at least the subjects I'm still not quite 100% comfortable with).

Also, Zach Stone just released an AIT-style exam consisting of 18 questions. I'll do that as well as his Live Class #11 end-of-class exam.

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I took the EngProGuides Final exam yesterday. Finished the AM session with about 15 minutes left on the clock, went a little over on the PM session, but i got majorly stuck on 3 questions, that i spent a while reworking to get them correct. (probably lost like 30-45 minutes here... cause I was on track to finish early before that) Going to go over what i missed later this week.

This morning I worked on the AM session of CRAM 2 (didn't time it though)--- i feel like the conceptual questions are good in the CRAM exams, but to me CRAM 1 seems like it matches the NCEES guidelines the best.

Going to spend this afternoon reviewing some of Zach's course --- I apparently still can't remember P = I^2*R 

Planning to go through the NCEES exam 1 more time (probs will take it next weekend), go through Zach's practice exam 1 more time (thinking Wednesday), and redo a bunch of Zach's course quizzes.

Test day is Dec 1. 

speakeelsy said:

I took the EngProGuides Final exam yesterday. Finished the AM session with about 15 minutes left on the clock, went a little over on the PM session, but i got majorly stuck on 3 questions, that i spent a while reworking to get them correct. (probably lost like 30-45 minutes here... cause I was on track to finish early before that) Going to go over what i missed later this week.

This morning I worked on the AM session of CRAM 2 (didn't time it though)--- i feel like the conceptual questions are good in the CRAM exams, but to me CRAM 1 seems like it matches the NCEES guidelines the best.

Going to spend this afternoon reviewing some of Zach's course --- I apparently still can't remember P = I^2*R 

Planning to go through the NCEES exam 1 more time (probs will take it next weekend), go through Zach's practice exam 1 more time (thinking Wednesday), and redo a bunch of Zach's course quizzes.

Test day is Dec 1. 

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Good luck!

speakeelsy said:

I took the EngProGuides Final exam yesterday. Finished the AM session with about 15 minutes left on the clock, went a little over on the PM session, but i got majorly stuck on 3 questions, that i spent a while reworking to get them correct. (probably lost like 30-45 minutes here... cause I was on track to finish early before that) Going to go over what i missed later this week.

This morning I worked on the AM session of CRAM 2 (didn't time it though)--- i feel like the conceptual questions are good in the CRAM exams, but to me CRAM 1 seems like it matches the NCEES guidelines the best.

Going to spend this afternoon reviewing some of Zach's course --- I apparently still can't remember P = I^2*R 

Planning to go through the NCEES exam 1 more time (probs will take it next weekend), go through Zach's practice exam 1 more time (thinking Wednesday), and redo a bunch of Zach's course quizzes.

Test day is Dec 1. 

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Dec 5th here. I wish you the best. 

I also was "questioning" myself last night studying I couldn't remember if P=I^2R for 3ph and 1ph or not. Another reason I hate not having our notes with us, something so simple we would have in front of us but if we don't memorize it we screwed.