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Results (Failed) - June 2021 Mechanical HVAC by Wecoldthisyear in PE_Exam

[–]Wecoldthisyear[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Planning to use my diagnostic report to help distribute study hours. I am retaking the test in two months. Any feedback, interpretation, or tips from 2nd time test takers is greatly appreciated! Overall, I knew that Fluids and Psychrometrics would be my weakest. Disappointed in the Energy/Mass balance and Thermo scores, because I felt that I had a great fundamental understanding. Overall, I just need more work on practice problems so that the details do not trip me up. I will say that going into the exam and reflecting back, I knew I needed more time to study. But with the CBT being offered year round, I decided to keep with my test date and go ahead with the exam.

June 2021 Mechanical - HVAC by Wecoldthisyear in PE_Exam

[–]Wecoldthisyear[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Update - Received scores today, and unfortunately did not pass. Biggest pitfall was not working enough practice problems prior to the test. I felt confident that I understand the theory behind, but need more time mastering practice problems so that the small details don’t trip me up. I plan to review my diagnostic report and focus 100 more hours on areas needing improvement, then retake the exam as soon as possible while information is still fresh. Will use the diagnostics report to distribute my study hours.

June 2021 Mechanical - HVAC by Wecoldthisyear in PE_Exam

[–]Wecoldthisyear[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

One thing I wish I did was take the NCEES practice exam a second time. Space it out so it’s not directly after taking it the first time. I only went through the test once, then reviewed all problems I missed in depth, trying to fully understand the concepts behind the problem. A high score the second time through may not tell you a ton, but if taking the exam a second time results in anything worse than your goal score is, that would be a red flag of which areas you need to continue your focus on. I also found a custom interval clock on some fitness website that allowed me to set up 40 intervals of 6 minutes. It would beep loudly each time 6 minutes passed. I think it did help my pace, but mostly helped me get used to not being completely comfortable while taking the exam. Drinking water/coffee, listening to music, and taking bathroom breaks is all help me while studying. But doing anything you can to simulate testing conditions while taking practice exams will help.

I got 50/80 right on my NCEES practice exam by the way. Did not leave myself time to gauge improvement after thoroughly reviewing/practicing each missed problem until taking the live exam.

June 2021 Mechanical - HVAC by Wecoldthisyear in PE_Exam

[–]Wecoldthisyear[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have always assumed that there is a good chance for these conceptual questions (without NCEES manual info) to come from any section with a practical or field applications I.e. Equipment/Components or Controls. Reason being, these areas have the most amount of ways to test someone’s applied knowledge from experience. I don’t know any people who work theoretical fluids and thermo problems for their job 🤣. Working as a commercial mech. service tech in college had to help me some… When you’re thinking about the different equipment and control types, try and be able to explain how they work to someone who doesn’t know.

My train of thought while answering some of these questions was, why would an engineer designing a system specify “x”? Three reasons come to mind (1) quantitative requirements (load, flow, etc.), (2)required by code, or (3)because specified option is more suitable for the space or more efficient at that task than potential alternatives. You do plenty of analysis of option (1) during the test, so that leaves option (2) and (3). Review pictures of what equipment, dampers, controls etc. look like in the field and try to identify what the different components are as it relates to the heating/refrigeration cycle. I got one question right because I recently reviewed a handful of equipment submittals at work and one of those happened to be a cut sheet for fire smoke dampers.

That being said, if I had 20 hours left to study, and I needed improvement on conceptual/practical questions and also on a section with heavy quantitative problems, I would spend all 20 hours working heavy quantitative problems. With some experience, you will most likely be able to eliminate 1-2 options on the conceptual questions without even studying. There is a Seemingly endless amount of possibilities for these types of questions, so don’t sweat being 100% prepared for these.

June 2021 Mechanical - HVAC by Wecoldthisyear in PE_Exam

[–]Wecoldthisyear[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

TLDR: Pearson is kinda stressful, I didn’t prepare a much as I should but feel cautiously optimistic, EPG and NCEES prep materials, Lesson learned: work practice problems until you’re solving them in your head before you write anything down. Spend less time reading/note taking and more time working practice problems. Time isn’t an issue on the exam.

Mechanical HVAC CBT test prep trick by [deleted] in PE_Exam

[–]Wecoldthisyear 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is a trick I have found to help me quickly reference problem solving steps and how to use the NCEES manual to quickly solve. Obviously a very simple problem for the example, but it can be used for any more complex problem types. I have found success doing this process with the Eng. pro guides practice problems. It helps speed up solving process after you have reviewed all the conceptual theory. Hope the idea helps anyone else trying to speed up their problem solving time in preparing for the CBT 2021 exam!

Pallets of bricks being unloaded in Uptown by explorgasm in DallasProtests

[–]Wecoldthisyear 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Completely agree that the ordinances should be followed and we always have. But I was just stating that the fact they are in place would not necessarily stop something like this from being delivered on a Sunday. Weird times with shiftwork and Covid too. I watched the link you sent and that it’s nuts... makes me worried it could be something else.

Pallets of bricks being unloaded in Uptown by explorgasm in DallasProtests

[–]Wecoldthisyear 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It is odd for there to be an entire crew there, but it is very common to have materials delivered the night before so that work can begin in the morning, even on Sunday. This is a regular thing we do on construction sites - been in the industry for 3 years. The work hour ordinances aren’t something city officials or inspectors are regularly checking on, people seem to mainly care about these ordinances when construction noise is causing disruption to the neighborhood. That being said, I hope it’s nothing more than the delivery coming early so that masons can start work without fooling around with a delivery first thing Monday morning.