FREE HVAC PE EXAM STUDY RESOURCES!

1: Basics of the Exam

The Mechanical HVAC and Refrigeration PE exam is administered twice a year in April and October by the National Council of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors (NCEES).  The test consists of 80 total questions in one 8 hour day.  The exam tests you over the topics covered in the NCEES exam specifications. It is divided into two sessions, a four hour morning session and a four hour afternoon session.  The morning session questions are considered less in-depth and quicker to solve while the afternoon questions are designed to test your knowledge more deeply.

So you’re looking at 40 questions in the morning and 40 questions in the afternoon. There are 80 total questions over 8 hours which means you have 6 minutes to spend on each question.

There are no penalties for guessing.  

NCEES has rules for what you can and can’t do during the exam in their Examinee Guide.  Take the time to read and fully understand it.

All of the rules are important, but there is one rule which you should keep in the forefront of your mind at all times.

2: Rule of the PE Exam

The number one rule of the example is simple.  A rule that if understood and internalized at the beginning of your study process will help you tremendously as you study for the exam and on test day.

The rule?  

THE PE EXAM IS A GAME.

It’s really just a game.  It’s like any other game.  It has it’s own rules.  It has a scorecard.  There are winners and losers.  There are those that know how to succeed at the game and those that don’t.

It’s simply a game you have to play to achieve your goal which is to become a licensed professional engineer.  It doesn’t determine how good of an engineer you are, how good you are at your job, your self worth, or if you’re as smart as your peers.

It’s simply a game that you must learn to win.  Nothing more, nothing less.

Never forget the number one rule!

Accept it for what it is and learn how to be successful at this game. And once you pass the test, you win the game.  Simple as that.

YOU WANT TO BE SOMEONE WHO KNOWS HOW TO WIN THE GAME!  

That’s why you’re here.  PEExamCoach.com was created for one purpose and that is helping you study for and pass the PE exam.  

A coach is someone who has been there before and knows what it takes to be successful and can inform, motivate and inspire you to achieve your goal.  That’s what I’m here to help you do.

Check out the rest of the articles on this site for valuable content on how to achieve your goal of passing the PE exam and becoming a licensed professional engineer.

2.0.1 What NCEES Is Trying To Achieve

The creators of the test also have a goal.  Their goal is to prove that you know enough about your engineering discipline to trust you with a license and seal.  

They do this in a number of ways.

2.0.2 They want to show that you follow directions and pay attention to details.  

A common tactic they use is to ask for the solution to a problem in an obscure unit. If you’re not careful, you’ll select the wrong answer because you didn’t double check the units they asked for.

2.0.3 They want to test your ability to find the answer to a problem by using common reference material.   

If you know how to find the information they’re asking for in the book, it’s a simple plug and chug calculation for an easy answer.  That’s why it’s so important to bring the correct reference material with you to the exam!

2.0.4 They like to give you more information than you need in an effort to confuse you.  

They want to test your ability to sift through alot of information to get to the solution to the specific question they are asking. Be aware of this and don’t let the extra information make you nervous or unsure about yourself.

2.0.5 They want to test you on how quickly you perform under the pressure of a time constraint.  

There is an average of 6 minutes per question which doesn’t leave you much spare time when tackling some of the more difficult questions. You must be efficient with your math as well as searching for data in your reference material.  Planning ahead and lots of practice go a long way to help in this regard.

The tactics that NCEES use on the test and the strategies for how to best approach them are discussed in more depth in this article.

3: How to Approach The Test

Now that we know that the PE exam is a game and what the test makers are trying to achieve, we can learn how to approach the test to win it.

Here are the best strategies to follow in order to win:

• You have 6 minutes per question. Limit the time you spend on each one, move on to the next. Come back if you aren’t able to work the problem out quickly the first time.
• There are no penalties for guessing, so save 5-10 minutes at the end of each session to go back and fill in answers for the questions you weren’t able to answer.  Don’t leave any answers blank!
• You know that the test will try to trip you up by asking for the answer in different units than what the problem stated or is typical, so get in the habit of checking the problem to see EXACTLY what they are asking for. 
• They will likely provide you with more information than is necessary in order to make you unsure of yourself.  Read the problem statement and use only the information that you need to solve the problem.  Don’t worry about the rest!
• The PE exam can only test you on certain concepts and at a certain difficulty level in one 8 hour day.  If you properly prepare for the exam, you can go into the test with confidence that they aren’t going to be able to throw you too many crazy problems that you haven’t seen before.  The fact that there is so much information to cover is good because they will want to cover most of it. To do that they will have to limit the depth of time of difficulty that they can spend on the question.  The fact that the questions are limited to an average of 6 minutes each also limits how time consuming they can make the questions.
• The more you practice a game, the better you get at it.  Practice, practice, practice!

4: Don’ts of the PE exam

• Don’t waste your time studying subjects that won’t be on the exam.  Nothing that you know other than what’s on the exam specs matters for the test. 
• Don’t dive deeper into the subject matter than you need to.  Don’t waste time on questions that are more than 10-15% harder than what’s on the exam. A source of quality practice problems is critical.
• Don’t violate the rules of the game and get disqualified (i.e. kicked out of the exam room).

This is just the beginning of what you’ll need to know to be successful on the test.  Check out the other articles in the HVAC and Refrigeration section to dive deeper.

5: The Philosophy of the PE Exam – The Bottom Line

The PE exam is a GAME.  Your goal is to win the game, so spend your time wisely by learning the rules and focusing only on those activities that will help you WIN.  Understanding the philosophy of the PE exam is your first step in making sure you win!