A few starting thoughts, which should help you decide if you want to read further. My stance is that the Professional Engineering (PE) Exam is a preposterous way to decide who should and should not be licensed to practice engineering. I view it as a pathetically inept attempt to judge competence. It is just one more way that a bunch of gatekeepers are ‘sorting’ a population unfairly and ineffectively. If you disagree strongly with this sentiment, you may find you also disagree with my approach to the PE Exam. If we have gotten this far without an argument, then read on!
Because of that belief, I approached this exam with disdain. I reminded myself regularly;
‘This exam in no way judges your value as a human being, or your competence as an engineer.’
I did not approach studying with the mindset of actually trying to learn the theory behind all of the subjects. I approached studying with the mindset of learning how to pass the PE exam.
I took the Electrical & Computers: Power Exam. I have no experience with the other disciplines; however, I tried to write this from a ‘method’ perspective, so hopefully you find it useful if you are taking a different discipline.
Why only 9 weeks?
I had decided not to pursue a PE license so I had not looked into the exam, nor did I really know anything about it. Then, on the last possible day to register for the October 2017 exam, I learned that you could take the exam before you had completed four years of experience*. Without a lot of time to decide, I registered! Hence why I only had about 9 weeks to get ready. I am hoping to provide a unique perspective on studying by elaborating on how I used my 63 days I had to prepare.
The first thing I did was go looking for a forum post, or blog, or something to help understand how I should approach the PE exam. Mostly, I found people asking the same questions I had, or I found people trying to sell me things (courses, books, videos, and cheat sheets), which wasn’t what I was looking for. I am writing this because it is the information I wish I had found when I signed up to take the test and searched ‘how to pass the PE.’
Things to be wary of…
On the note of people trying to sell you things: be wary of scare tactics. Fear is a huge motivator. Someone who wants to sell you their $1000 course is financially motivated to scare you into thinking you need it to pass the PE exam. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t take a course (that is up to you) – I’m trying to make sure you don’t let the overwhelming amount of marketing material out there scare you. Keep your head on straight, keep your emotions in check.
Another thing to be wary of is ‘other people who have taken the exam’ – whether they passed or failed, it is natural to ‘talk up’ the experience. The exam ended up being basically exactly what I expected (once I had fully prepared) but even I catch myself wanting to ‘embellish the story’ when people ask about it. The true response is ‘it was exactly what I expected after preparing adequately, and it was fine.’ But, the more fun story to tell is, ‘Oh man, I worked my butt off and it was exhausting and it was a harrowing eight hour experience and I had no idea if I passed or failed and I slept for like two days after because I was so exhausted and I am just so glad I passed because I never want to do that again it was so hard and scary and miserable.’ The second story gets a much more fun response from the listener. The takeaway here is to keep this in mind when people are ‘giving you advice’ about the exam.
TLDR…
This entire preamble was intended to try to help you wade through the mental muck that will seep into your life as soon as you say “I’m taking the PE’ or search ‘how to pass the PE exam” online. Keep your head on straight, keep your emotions in check.
‘This is just another engineering problem I need to solve. This exam has no effect on my value as an engineer, or as a human.’
*Decoupling of the exam from the experience requirements. (disclaimer: this link is from 2018, you must verify the experience requirements directly with your local license board before taking any action.)