I appreciate the insight. (I did read it all)

8/27/2011 9:18:36 AM

Took my full NCEES HVAC&R practice test for the first time two weeks ago and scored a 67/80 overall. Took the NCEES T&F depth today for more practice and scored a 34/40. I haven't put a ton of focus on MD but I am feeling pretty good overall regardless; I think those scores are more than enough to pass easily assuming the real exam is of similar difficulty. 5 weeks to go and then I should be done with this. Cannot wait.

[Edited on September 23, 2011 at 6:00 PM. Reason : ]

9/23/2011 6:00:13 PM

Got back about an hour ago. After rocking all the practice tests I was very confident, but that test was significantly harder than the average practice test. I know we can't talk specifics but I'll just say this session's morning section was very, very heavy on mechanical systems and materials which was a huge disappointment; to be honest it was probably the absolute worst-case breadth session I could have had based on available topics.

The afternoon also seemed like it focused on a lot of obscure topics instead of the areas I felt like it would.

All in all I think I passed, but it was definitely harder than expected.

10/28/2011 8:44:30 PM

Exam Result: Pass

12/14/2011 3:53:22 PM

congrats!

12/14/2011 6:23:06 PM

congrats! I must have missed your post-PE response.

So did you agree with my earlier posts re: morning vs. afternoon studying? I basically felt, on the CE at least, the afternoon was specifically designed to be impossible for the folks thinking they were going to study 1 small area of the exam and know it well.

As I posted earlier, in my PE experience, the morning session is where I thought the test was "manageable" and where most of my points came from



[Edited on December 17, 2011 at 2:18 AM. Reason : ]

12/17/2011 2:11:03 AM

Congrats!

You have just reminded me that I totally missed the deadline for the April exam. :: At least I have a couple of extra months to study!

12/18/2011 11:21:53 PM

^ which depth will you be taking?

^^^, ^^ thanks guys! I appreciate you both answering some of the questions I had early on.

To answer your question PackBacker the morning was definitely easier even though there was much more ground to cover. By studying the Reference Manual extensively and doing all the example and practice problems associated with the book I felt as prepared as I could have been for the morning portion - even when the luck of the draw in terms of question-types didn't fall in my favor. As long as you know the Lindeburg manual front and back you could look up just about any problem they will ask you in the morning I felt like. Very manageable indeed if you study.

The afternoon was interesting. I had done all 85 Six Minute Solutions HVAC problems, the full NCEES HVAC+R exam, the Lindeburg Sample Exam (w/ HVAC-R depth), lots of problems out of an ASHRAE HVAC college textbook and even the NCEES T+F afternoon since there is a lot of overlap with HVAC-R. Between all of that and my everyday job I figured I would have seen any type of problem they could ask, but they still came up with plenty that I had to take a step back and evaluate how they wanted me to solve it within the scope of the exam and within 6 minutes. I still think I probably got about 30 correct...but I utilized all 4 hours until the "pencils down" call versus < 3 hours for the morning. The afternoon was much more draining.

12/19/2011 8:28:34 AM

^ HVAC

12/19/2011 8:32:09 AM

well, whenever you start studying I think you have plenty of PEs who recently took the exam and did the HVAC depth at your disposal for any questions in this thread

12/19/2011 1:22:59 PM

yeah my turn now too.. . go team spring!!

anyone still around raleigh?

12/19/2011 1:55:05 PM

good luck. I'm sure you'll do fine.

12/19/2011 2:25:03 PM

I passed Civil PE in October.

question though -

When listing your credentials following your name, do you prefer periods after the letters, or not?

i.e.:
Bill Brasky, P.E.
or
Bill Brasky, PE

12/21/2011 8:31:33 PM

I write it "P.E."

12/21/2011 9:59:09 PM

congrats. I prefer just PE; however, right now on linkedin, my resume, and other places I have it stylized as P.E. I see it both ways in articles and in books etc. but on the NCEES website all the staff members have it listed as P.E. which is why I chose that for now. I wish they had something that stated which way it should be listed like LEED AP does.

[Edited on December 21, 2011 at 10:00 PM. Reason : ]

12/21/2011 10:00:17 PM

thanks - kind of a trivial question, but didn't see anywhere that it was supposed to be one or the other.

i kind of prefer PE, it looks less clunky, but it does seem to be that the "unwritten standard" is P.E.

12/22/2011 8:35:32 AM

bttt for the wife

5/31/2012 11:58:43 PM

I'm currently feeling like an idiot. Work has been crazy busy the past couple of months and in the midst of all of that, I completely forgot to apply for the PE exam. So, looks like April 2013 it is! Dang it!

On the bright side it will allow me to not worry about that application and take my CxA exam in August! I would take it sooner, but I will be out in the field commissioning for all of July.

5/31/2012 11:59:23 PM

is it only offered in the spring???

per the ncees website...

Registration Status

Registration for October 2012 will begin on June 15th.


http://www.ncees.org/Exams/States/NC.php
How do I register?
You must first apply to the North Carolina board for approval to sit for the exam in North Carolina (deadline: January 2 for April exams, August 1 for October exams). Visit the board’s Web site for instructions on the approval process.

After the board has notified you of your approval, register online with NCEES (deadline: September 6) to reserve your seat for the exam.

6/1/2012 3:15:21 PM

No, it isn't only offered in the spring. Unfortunately, I missed the deadline for state approval. I live and work in California.
California:
October 2012 Exam Final Filing Dates:
Final Filing Date for New PE/PLS Applications May 1, 2012 (Tuesday)
Final Filing Date for PE/PLS Refile Applications July 30, 2012 (Monday)


So, now I focus on my CxA and push for the PE in April 2013.

6/1/2012 9:21:49 PM

Good luck with that CA seismic exam. Hear its enjoyable!

[Edited on June 2, 2012 at 1:47 AM. Reason : For civil, that is]

6/2/2012 1:44:54 AM

^^

sorry about that.. it was just an assumption on my part. I'm taking the structural PE in nc and you had me worried for a second.

Good luck with it.

6/4/2012 1:12:56 PM

^ No worries, I almost wish I was taking it in NC! Good luck on your exam!

6/6/2012 6:39:23 PM

good luck!

I just found out I got my first project that I will be stamping. I already have a full-time long-term project that I've been on for about a year already (no stamping for me on this job since it's an aluminum rolling mill) and I just found out I have 4-weeks to design the entire HVAC system for a 30,000 ft2 office building during the month of July - while working on my current project. Oh, and the building has to get LEED certified

6/9/2012 9:54:26 AM

^ Ouch! I definitely feel your pain. The worst part of your above statement is the LEED portion. I am the LEED/green building guru of the office and I have to say that I loathe projects that come in like that expecting to get certified. ::shudder:: Best of luck to you!

6/9/2012 11:29:24 AM

Thanks! I'm glad you understand then. I've been a LEED AP for a few years but I've never had to use it since we normally do Industrial type facilities. Of course when this job came around (it's for a subsidiary so they are performing the work internally) everyone said "hey you're a LEED AP, you can do the building energy model along with the HVAC system design" even though I've never done a true energy mode lbefore haha.

6/9/2012 11:42:10 AM

Woot! I am officially a certified commissioning authority according to the ACG! Now just need to get that PE....

8/27/2012 11:02:23 PM

congrats

8/28/2012 8:57:48 AM

PE time for me... finally

nervous as shit tho

8/28/2012 9:52:09 AM

You'll be good! Just study

8/29/2012 11:08:45 AM

what books did yall take with you...


any secret dream book that has all the equations i'd be allowed to bring in?

10/4/2012 12:29:11 PM

The key book that you need (and hopefully should have done 90% of your studying from) is the Mechanical Engineering Reference manual (MERM). I brought that, plus the separate book of all the questions and solutions associated with that book. I brought all 3 NCEES official practice tests with solutions. I brought all 3 "6 Minute Solutions" books with questions and solutions.

What you bring after that depends on your discipline. I was taking the HVAC&R exam so I brought:

All 4 ASHRAE handbooks, a crane 410A manual, cameron hydraulic, and a small bound set of personal notes and empirical equations I use at work and such.

The biggest part of the entire exam (in my experience) is having all your references indexed and know them forward and back so that you know exactly where to go to find equations and data.

[Edited on October 4, 2012 at 12:53 PM. Reason : ]

10/4/2012 12:53:04 PM

Did anyone take this Friday?

10/29/2012 8:33:54 AM

Good luck to everyone. I took the Civil on Friday. I feel like it could go either way for me...

10/29/2012 11:03:24 AM

good luck! The wait from the test to results can be rough but it'll be here before you know it. I'm sure if you made an effort to study that you'll be fine.

10/29/2012 11:09:16 AM

yeah i'm feeling iffy as shit too...


i felt solid on the first half but really felt like there would be more psychometrics and less ice storage BS on the second half.

10/29/2012 11:28:07 AM

Passed

12/13/2012 9:22:01 PM

nice! congrats dude.

12/13/2012 9:22:50 PM

failed...

damn. Bad strategy, don't listen to the NCSU professors and take geotech if you are structural.

12/14/2012 7:58:57 AM

thanks CTA....

dude if you're ever in raleigh we need to get drinks.

sorry kl...

it was kinda bitter sweet for me cause everyone i know failed so when i tried to plan a we passed the p.e. party i just felt like a huge ass.

and i studied the least again.....

12/26/2012 9:25:27 PM

^ for sure. I was planning to be in Raleigh for the next couple days but I'm not sure if it is going to happen since most of the people I was planning to visit are not around :/ I'll be up there again at some point though

12/26/2012 10:16:25 PM

I am a structural engineer and took geotech. then again, i work nearly as much with geotech equations as i do with structural.

structural questions are typically less in depth, whereas geo questions are high difficulty just due to the fact that structural has the lowest passing percentage and geo is typically 2nd highest only to transportation. structural is a much much harder and broader subject matter than GEO. Not sure if picking GEO is the right strategy, but it worked for me.

12/28/2012 12:53:13 AM

Cert showed up today... thanks to my parents for having the fore-sight to get me just one more random frame that matches my diploma for nothing.

this bitch is going on the wall asap.

2/14/2013 11:42:31 AM

I'm a structural engineer and I took (and passed) the Construction Exam. If you can do take-offs and scheduling then you can do half the questions on the exam

2/15/2013 9:49:59 AM

Taking the PE Mechanical - HVAC in April. I work in the HVAC field in consulting engineering and been around the industry my entire life.

Originally took it 2 times over 6 years ago and honestly didn't prepare anything like I have this third time. Since January 7 I have started in Fluids in the MERM (Ch 14) and worked straight through all the examples then practice problems. Due to work most of my time spent studying occurs during the afternoon on Friday and weekends, with a couple of hours a night during the week. I am up to Materials Science stuff now in Ch 47 but starting to feel some mental fatigue.

For anyone that has taken the PE HVAC recently, what point did you give up on going through machine design and switch over to more of a review of previous topics? (strengthing HVAC or maybe going to re-review fluids & thermal systems stuff) Note that I do have a copy of the 6 min solutions that I plan to use as my review material.

2nd question is that I was planning on doing 2 practice tests. One next Sat from the Lindeberg one and then the week before on April 6 with the NCEES version. Is this overkill or appropriate?
I just want to do everything possible to make sure I never have to take this again lol. Thanks for the thoughts!

3/16/2013 8:49:56 PM

bttt

Did anyone take the Mechanical exam in April? I am kind of in the waiting game mode and second guessing everything I can remember doing on the exam. Anyone remember how long it took them to release the exam results?

5/13/2015 8:57:16 AM

you'll show up in the licensee lookup before anything gets mailed out.

https://www.member-base.net/ncbels-pub/public/dosearchdb.asp

5/13/2015 10:25:38 AM

For the April Exam I found out that I passed right before Memorial Day. Glad I passed it the time I previously posted

5/13/2015 1:59:59 PM

Quote :

"you'll show up in the licensee lookup before anything gets mailed out. https://www.member-base.net/ncbels-pub/public/dosearchdb.asp"

I'd heard this was the case for NC. Are you notified when NCEES releases scores to the state and then you wait for North Carolina to send you a notification?

5/14/2015 8:23:35 AM

You receive an email from NCEES saying your results are ready and to check the website to see them. If you pass it will tell you that since you passed your score is not posted. On mine there was a subsection of the letter of the NC Engineering Board congratulating me. My name was not on the NCBELS website the day my score was posted but by the next day it was on there.

5/14/2015 3:00:02 PM