PE Exam Tip #1: Take Practice Exams!

Best Tip to Pass the PE: Practice Taking Exams

PE Sample Exams Compiled in one store

The best course of preparation for any event is to practice under conditions as close to the actual conditions as you can produce at home. Buy at least two practice exams.

To take a practice PE exam, gather all the books you need for the exam. Bring your calculator, a bottle of water, a mechanical pencil and every other thing you will require on exam day. At 8 am, be in place at your desk, kitchen table, computer station, or whatever place is available to you.

The space you use for the practice exam should be equivalent approximately to half a picnic table. (In SI units, that is 2.2 times the size of a sidewalk cafe table.)

You should plan to take a minimum of five practice exams during your review. Visit Best PE Sample Exams to review all the highest rated practice exams. Snapshot on right shows page 1.

Now, begin your exam. Leave the time running when you run to the loo. On exam day, if you drink too much water, you will likewise lose the time. If you cheat and stop the clock in your practice exam, you will not appreciate the importance of the time. On exam day, you want to arrive well hydrated, but not sloshing as you walk.

Analyze Your Results

Look at your score. Do not worry that you scored only 40% on this first practice exam. This test provides you with a basis to form your studying. For the next two weeks, concentrate on just two topics.

First: In which subjects have you performed very well? You will study this subject with some emphasis for the next two weeks. In which subject did you perform most poorly? This subject will also become a target of study. In the former group, your strong area(s), study will facilitate relearning equations, variables and applications.

Second, focus on your weak area (Is it geotech for everyone?) You will harvest the low hanging fruit, the easy equations and applications. Work problems in all areas, but especially emphasize the two main areas I just mentioned: Your strongest discipline, and your weakest field as well.

The exam is going to have similar, but different, questions than those you work in your study period. For this reason, studying your strong areas will help you have a greater depth of knowledge with which to correctly answer questions and score passing points.


Taking practice exams will also familiarize you with time constraints. Learn to recognize what four hours feels like. Learn to recognize when you have been working a problem for 6 minutes. After this, you need to determine whether to move on or to dog it out (Hint: best to move on). And, of course, practicing problems in a practice exam scenario will teach you through experience which problems you can do quickly, and which problems should be skipped.

I took six full practice exams during my PE exam review period. I took one immediately, to see where I stood and which topics were strong or weak for me. Then, every two weeks, I took another full exam. There are many exams available. The best-rated, most current are on this Amazon page (where you also get the price prices):

PE Sample Exams