NCEES Practice Exam

(Link for free FE mini exam is at the bottom.)

Preparation for the FE exam or the PE exam, both prepared and administered by NCEES, absolutely requires taking practice exams.

There is really only one place to begin your search for preparation materials. This is the bookstore I put together of the best PE exam materials on Amazon. I hear people saying they invested 150 hours and more to prepare for the FE and more than 300 hours for the PE. You need the right materials to make your time effective.

I studied much less, and- get this - I do not have an engineering degree! (California is one of the states which allows experience and knowledge to qualify a person for the FE and for the PE exam.)

How did I pass when so many with expensive 4 and 5 year degrees could not? (Only about half of those with engineering degrees ever take the FE, fewer than this take the professional engineer exam.)

The reason I passed is simple. I know how to prepare for an exam. (Plus the required years of work experience, of course.) To prepare for the FE exam, I bought a fat book from Great Lakes Press on Amazon. I also took many practice exams, using the book I purchased. I studied by focusing on my strongest and weakest topics- a strategy to consolidate my base of points, and to glean the easiest additional points.

Really, it was the PE practice exams which really made the difference. There are several reasons why.

1. Practice exams familiarize you with the time constraints of 6 minutes per question on the PE exam morning and afternoon sessions, and with the 1.92 minute allotment in the FE exam (5 hours, 20 minutes for 110 questions- the CBT format.)
2. Practice exams remove stress. Once you are comfortable with the format, and have scored enough to pass (based on statistical history and rumor) on two or three PE practice exams, exam stress will be eliminated or nearly gone. Stress works against the examinee. Being relaxed frees your mind and allows good circulation for body and brain. 
3. Practice exams show you which subjects are your strongest, and which subjects are your weakest. (There is a lot about this in my book, Pass the PE like a Pro.)
4. The explanations for the solution to each of the problems allows you to immediately review mistakes. 
5. Psychology has shown through experimentation: Information given in exams is remembered far better than information covered in cram sessions, homework, or lectures. (This is why teachers are encouraged to put more True answers on exams than False. People who thought the false information on the exam was true tend to believe it years later.) Taking a practice exam, or taking one a mini-quiz with questions in subjects you choose, is a more effective learning technique than sitting at Starbucks with your CERM and attempting to work problems. 
6. Schedule your practice exams (FE or PE) regularly. Study in between. This will show you how effective your study has been. If you slack off between practice exams, your score will warn you immediately. Bad feedback will motivate you. Good feedback will encourage. But, you need to invest in some practice exam books. Buy from at least two authors/publishers.
7. I reviewed all the offerings on Amazon. Click the link above to go see pages and pages of current, top-rated PE review books. They are listed by exam topic: mechanical, civil, geotech, etc. 

Prices vary slightly month to month on Amazon. But, availability for PE Practice Exams definitely dips in the 6 weeks before the April and October exams.

Many people like to have a hard copy to take practice exams. There are good reasons for that. For one thing, you can take the practice exam anywhere you want. Here is a link to the best PE sample exams available, with reviews and explanations of why you should buy or not buy them:

Best PE Sample Exams

If you need a break, check out these engineering jokes.

PPI2PASS Discount Code

PPI2PASS Discount Code

Note: This code is good until forever. 

To receive a discount on your ppi2pass purchase, enter discount code (See below to save more than 30%!) before you checkout. This discount code applies to almost anything published by PPI.

Reasons to buy from Amazon and not from ppi2pass: 

1.) Prices are cheaper on Amazon. Amazon policy forces every seller to sell at or lower than any price anywhere else, even on the publisher's own site. 
2.) Amazon gives free shipping on orders over $35. PPI waits until $350 for free shipping.
3.) PPI ships 10-day slow. Amazon has faster options, such as 2-day shipping. And, if you are a member of Amazon Prime, 2-day shipping is free. Follow the link to get a free 30-day membership, and you will receive 2-day shipping for FREE. Sign up for the free 30 days. You get a free ebook loan per month; free 2-day shipping with no minimum;  instantly watch 40,000 videos and tv episodes. Cancel after 30 days with no cost.
4.) Even if you buy one of PPI's bundles, you still pay more than if you buy on Amazon.

Enter the promo code during checkout to receive discount.

PPI2PASS discount code: ff1212

Compare total cost for Civil Engineering Reference Manual, 2015:
Amazon: $274.89 + (shipping = free) = $274.89
PPI: $275 less 20% discount = $220 + (shipping = $20.63) = $240.63

So, this is a big surprise. Sometime in the last year or so, PPI massively reduced their prices. This is good news for PE examinees. For now, it appears you can get good prices on the PPI website. However, Amazon's policy still requires that sellers not sell lower on their own sites. This will end some future time, when Amazon learns about it. But, for now, you can get better prices at the publisher's site. Enjoy. 

How to Save More
Most of the books published by PPI (maybe all) are also for sale on Amazon.com. I compiled the best PE Exam review books on a collection of pages, all located at the other end of the in-text link in this sentence. You will find the books organized according to specific PE exam specialties. There are pages for:
Mechanical PE exam
Electrical Engineering PE exam
Civil: Structural
Civil: Geotechnical
Transportation
Environmental and Water Resources
California Special Surveying Exam
California Civil Seismic Principles Exam
PE Sample Exams

 and just about all the various exams. Each page lists the best-reviewed books first, then in descending order. Only current editions are listed.


To find the cheapest sources for the California Seismic books recommended by bpelsg, click here:
California Seismic Exam Study Books.

Reasons to buy from Amazon and not from ppi2pass: 

1. Prices are cheaper on Amazon (even after a promo code.)
2. Amazon gives free shipping on orders over $35. PPI waits until $350 for free shipping.
3. PPI ships 10-day slow. Amazon has faster options, such as 2-day shipping. And, if you are a member of Amazon Prime, 2-day shipping is free. Follow the link to get a free 30-day membership, and you will receive 2-day shipping for FREE. Sign up for the free 30 days. You get a free ebook loan per month; free 2-day shipping with no minimum;  instantly watch 40,000 videos and tv episodes. Cancel after 30 days with no cost.

ABSOLUTELY BE SURE TO PURCHASE: 

Pass the PE like a Pro

If you plan to pass the PE exam, I highly recommend this product:

1. Civil Engineering Reference Manual, the Lindeburg book - Buy Civil Engineering Reference Manual.


Purchase your books early. Learn what they give you. Acquire two calculators, here's why: PE Exam Calculators, why you need two, and how to choose them.

Be sure to share this with your friends on Facebook and Twitter! They'll thank you, and be encouraged to share similar opportunities with you.

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