Customer Reviews

Practice Problems for the Mechanical Engineering PE Exam: A Companion to the Mechanical Engineering Reference Manual, 12th Edition

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you bought the reference book, buy this book. I know it's spendy, but do it. The 12th edition contains several great exam grade problems that anyone taking the PE exam should take time to work beforehand. I worked about 1/2 of the problems in this book, and felt well prepared for the exam. I was hoping the exam problems would be easier, but about half were about the same as the problems in this book (the other half were easier).

My frustrations were that the 12th edition still contains errors, and no errata was published when I bought this book, most were simple and straight forward, but some were frustrating.

The practice problems contain some problems that require references or ideas that are not contained in the reference book (see the problems in chapter 19, fluid power, and note that the book does not contain any methods for calculating hydraulic impedence)... there are only maybe 4 problems like this in the book, so it's not a big deal.

Also, I don't know why the author labeled many problems (1 hour limit)... some were very easy (like 2 minute problems), while other problems that weren't labeled (1 hour limit) took quite a while to compute. It'd be nicer if they were labeled (easy, med, hard) or something of that nature to make studying easier, so you could work all the problems in the area you want to emphasize in, while just doing the 'easy' ones in other areas.

I bought this as a portion of my prep work for the Mechanical PE exam. I could not have prepared and passed without it. The key to passing is to doing as many practice problems as you can get your hands on. It was particularly helpful in the AM section of the exam. ASME publishes a similar product that is more specific to AM and PM sessions, but I didn't use it and have no knowledge of how good or bad it is. I feel that this reference was instrumental in my preparations for passing the PE exam and would highly recommend it to anyone aspiring to take it. Now, one thing worth looking at is the price difference in purchasing this product here at Amazon or directly from [...] as a part of a package. One good thing about purchasing directly from PPI is that if you have any defects with the book, they will replace it for free- I experienced this with my MERM.

I worked through several of these problems before the exam. Most of the problems are harder than the problems on the exam, but that is a good thing.

This, and the on-line practice test from NCEES are all I used to study and I feel I was well prepared. The PPI problems help you get the knowledge of the material; while the NCEES problems give you a feel for timing, and what the exam problems are like.

The only thing that would make this more helpful for studying would be if it had difficulty or time ratings for each question. There were some areas of study I did not want to spend a lot of time on.

Don't take lots of books to the exam. All I used was the MERM (Mechanical Engineering Reference Manual) that accompanies this. It had what I needed to solve every problem except one.

I've been studying for the Wisconsin PE Exam for almost two months now, and this book has really helped me with this task. I find that the problems are very well explained with clear and understandable graphics that match the companion book, Mechanical Engineering Reference Manual (MERM). I also like how in nearly all cases the sources of their information are clearly cited; for example, a formula is cited with the MERM Equation #, a constant referred back to a table #, etc.

I am sometimes sidetracked for 15 - 30 minutes researching why some of the solutions make certain assumptions. For example, a problem may not include enough givens to completely fill out all variables in an equation, so the solution just assumes some values. These assumptions are not always clearly explained or referenced back to the MERM text. Perhaps this is intentional, but it is sometimes distracting.

In summary, this is a great reference manual, and I look forward to using it after the exam as well!

I recommend this book if you are studying for the PE exam. The problems are numerous and relevant. The solutions are easy to follow.

You do NOT need to have Lindeburg's study guide to use the Practice Problems. He does refer to the appendices in his study guide (steam tables, etc) by page number, BUT if you have the reference elsewhere (which you should), you can do all the problems in the book.

I recommend this manual only as a means for working additional problems once you've exhausted your textbook sample problems. I just took the ME PE exam yesterday and the problems on the actual exam should take no longer than 5 minutes to work, IF you know what tools (equations, etc) to use. The sample problems in this book took me, on average, about 35 minutes each to work. 90% of them are far more difficult than anything you'll see on the actual exam.

I think time would be much better spent simply working the "easy" problems out of your old textbooks.

In 10 years of engineering, 90% of my work has been in SI units. Neither system is better than the other, but switching systems is a pain. Other than that, I'll wait until I've taken the exam before I address the applicability of the book, but it seems to have nothing to do with the format of the test as I understand it.

I found that the problems in this book were far more difficult than those on the exam. If you can get through this book, you should be good. The Six-Minute Solutions for Mechanical PE Exam (HVAC and Refrigeration Problems) more accurately portrayed the actual level of difficulty of exam problems.

I passed my ME PE on my first attempt. In preparation, I completed every problem in this book from Chapters 13-58 as well as a handful of other random problems in this book leading up to my test. I feel that this book was an invaluable preparation tool.

Yes, *some* of the problems in this book take more than 6 minutes to complete. This does not mean the book isn't valuable! The point of this book is NOT to provide simple problems that are solvable in 6 minutes. That is what the various *practice tests* are for. This book provides problems that force you to learn your MERM inside and out backward and forward. The problems presented in this book are often very similar to exam problems - just harder and a little longer. They really force you to learn every step of how to solve a problem.

For example, this book may ask you to do a pumping problem where you are required to lookup scheduled piping dimensions, calculate reynolds #s, friction factors, densities, fitting coefficients (or equivalent lengths) etc. along the way to calculating a total system head loss. On the real test, you might get the exact same type of problem but some of those items are already given to you. Thus, a 10 minute practice problem is turned into a 6 minute test problem. This is why this book is important and why the problems are about the best preparation that is out there for the Mechanical PE exam. You never know which items you will be given and which to find on the test so it's better to understand the whole concept, not JUST the most popular 6 minute versions.

Do not listen to anyone saying these problems take 30 minutes to solve. I would say on average they take anywhere from 3-15 minutes to solve depending on if it is your first time doing the problem and whether you are familiar with the topic at all.

I will say that this book is a little light on HVAC problems; however, pick up the 6 Minute Solutions HVAC book as well as work your other HVAC-depth practice problems and you will be good to go if you are HVAC like I was.

The practice problems in this book are difficult, and working through them should prepare you for the exam (taking it next week). However, the solutions to the problems contain a number of errors. For instance, a solution for a problem with compressive stress in the z direction and shear in the xy direction (p. 49-2, problem 7) combines these stresses incorrectly by using the z direction stress as a y direction compressive stress. Tensile stresses due to bending in two planes (90 degrees from one another) are combined as if they occur at the same point. I am strong in mechanics, so I can identify these errors readily, but I'm hoping that similar errors that I don't find in the other sections don't screw me up.

There are errata published online, but it appears that it is not even moderated by the author (I think when people submit errors, they just get posted). I expected more considering the price of this text book and it's companion reference book. Hopefully the publisher reads these reviews and can improve it with the next printing.

It's still prepping me much better than nothing, and it's very convenient to have the different types of problems consolidated. I just wish they would fix the errors.