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 professional engineering 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 electrical pe exam is a Stanton 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.

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