Ace the PE Exam » Nine Tips for PE Exam-Day Success

Nine Tips for PE Exam-Day Success

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Nine Tips for Making Your PE Exam a Success

The PE Exam is an 8 hour exam, and requires adequate preparation for in order to do well. But there are some exam-day tips that may allow you to be more efficient and effective in taking the PE Exam.

The Most Important Question
The first thing you have to do when you take the PE Exam is fill out your personal information.  Just make sure all of that is correct and obviously the information regarding what discipline, and or what depth module you will be taking in the afternoon.  If you get that question wrong, then I can assure you that you will not pass the PE Exam.

Morning Hero
The PE Exam has a morning and afternoon section.  I found that the afternoon exam tends to be slightly more difficult than the morning exam. If you can get some momentum in the early part of the exam and especially at the early part of the AM exam, then I think it will give you confidence for the afternoon exam.

Guess Away
Make sure that all bubbles for the portion of the exam you are taking are filled in.   The PE Exam is a multiple choice exam, and there’s no penalty for guessing.  So when they announce that you have just five minutes remaining, you will want to make sure you have every single bubble filled in, and filled in cleanly.

Pick a Bubble, Any Bubble
The PE Exam is a Scantron type format, with the answers being recorded onto a bubble-in form. Obviously, it is important to take your time when you bubble it in so that the scanner picks everything up properly. Also remember to enter the answer in the right place, and try not to erase answers because it may pick up the erasure  mark.

Units Units Units
Make sure your units are correct .  For example, you might have solved the problem in psf units, but they give the solution in  psi units. In that case you would be off by a factor of 144.  And it is possible that both solutions are provided as possible answers.

Problem Solving
As you work a problem, just kind of think through it, come up with a strategy for the solution and then work it.  You can write out the related formulas and think about each of the parameters in the formula.  Then  consider what the question is asking for, and try to come up with a solution.  It’s not a trick exam, per se, but they want to make it reasonably difficult.  They’re going to put all the possible ways to solve the problem. So just think through the problem, solve it with confidence,  and you will do fine.

Don’t Get Bogged Down
If you feel like you’re taking too much time on one problem, then just move on rather than get bogged down on one problem.    All the problems are weighted equally, so it is okay to skip a tedious problem and come back to it later.  You don’t have to answer every single problem in sequential order.  If you do skip around to different problems that you make very sure that the answers are bubbled into the form correctly.

Check Your Work
Try to allow a few minutes to check through your work and also ensure that your answers are all recorded properly.  A few minutes here could make a big difference in whether you pass or fail the exam.

Time’s Up, Pencils Down…
Once they say begin the exam, the first thing to do is check your clock an note the time, if you have a stopwatch mode that is even better.  The morning and afternoon exam both allocate 4 hours to work the exam, so you will want to make note of that.  Then take a deep breath and get focused, and start the exam.  Usually they will announce that you have 30 minutes remaining, 5 minutes remaining, and time is up.  Of course, when they call time on the exam, make sure that you put your pencil down immediately, and wait for the next instructions.

These are several things that should help you with your test day, and hopefully one or all of these tips will help you to get the best results when you take the PE Exam.

What do you think?
Do you have any other tips for exam day?

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