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Getting mentally prepared for the PE exam can be a tough task, but doesn’t have to be.  The fear and intimidation usually stems from your insecurity about your ability to know the material and perform on the test itself as well as the perceived implications to yourself and to others of not achieving the goal.  You may doubt yourself and you may fear what friends, family and colleagues will think of you.  

If you’re really stressing about this test and constantly thinking about it, worrying over what happens if you fail and losing sleep over it, it’s time to take steps to alleviate this burden.  

The fear of failure can be helpful and motivating up to a point because it can propel you to achieve more and push harder.  But too much fear can be debilitating and hinder your performance and effectiveness in studying.

1: Understanding Your Anxiety

To control your anxiety about the test, you have to identify exactly what it is that is causing you trouble.

It’s important for you to spend some time finding out what exactly it is that is causing your fear.  Spend some time on the way to or from work, in the shower, before bed, doing mindless chores around the house and think about your anxiety and let your mind work through why you’re feeling this way.  Be honest with yourself or you’re wasting your time.  No one will know except for you if you don’t want them to.  

Talking with your significant other, family member or friend can also be an effective way of getting to the heart of the issue.  Talking through issues can be very effective in this way.  There’s something to be said for verbalizing your thoughts by saying the words out loud.  It helps you organize and process what is bouncing around in your head.  You can even say the words out loud to yourself if you prefer. It may sound silly, but don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.  It can be a very effective method of processing your thoughts.  I do it often when I’m driving by myself and I am thinking through important issues.

Make mental notes or write down on paper the specific things that are causing you stress.

Now that we understand the specific things that are causing our anxiety, we can take steps to manage it.

2: Controlling Your Anxiety

To alleviate these insecurities, it’s best to attack them head-on. The best way to do this is to take concrete action to address or reverse the problem we identified.  

For instance, if you found your anxiety is being caused by your fear of being unprepared, take action to spend more time in the study material.  Let that anxiety drive you to actively seek extra time to study.  This action will directly address your anxiety and over time will alleviate and lessen the intensity.  

Here are a few more common sources of anxiety and some steps that you can take to alleviate them.

• Worrying about having the the appropriate amount of time available to prepare.  If you have allotted yourself about 3-4 months to study, you have enough time.  If you’re under 2 months, you may not.  In that case, you always have the option of waiting until the next cycle.  It’s not the end of the world if you do.  
• Worrying about the time and opportunity costs wasted.  You may fear missing out on a promotion and/or bonus if you fail the exam.  Your career will be long and you’ll have many opportunities ahead of you, especially as a professional engineer.  If you miss out on one, it’s not the end of the world.  A good year or a new promotion can make up the difference in no time.
• Worrying that you don’t have what it takes to pass the test or be an engineer. This is silly because you have come this far in your career.  You have passed test after test in college and graduated with an engineering degree, you’ve passed the FE exam and you have been employed as an engineer for several years at least.  You have what it takes!    
• Worrying about the effects of failure will have on your career.  Almost any company will not penalize you, much less fire you or lay you off, if you fail to pass the PE exam the first time.  Passing or failing almost always has more to do with promotions/raises etc. than job security.  Truly, if you were to be fired for failing the exam, that is a blessing in disguise.  You don’t want to invest in that company.  There are plenty of companies out there that value their employees more than that.  Find one of them.  
• Worrying what friends and family will think about you if you fail.  Focusing less on what people think about you in general is a great life skill to possess, but that takes lot of time and effort.  In the meantime to help now, study, study study and you’ll minimize your chances of failing.

In fact you’ll find that the majority of the anxiety that you face stems from your fear of failing the exam. The best way to prevent that from happening is to prepare as best you can.  To do that you need time and great review material.

The three best steps you can take to alleviate your fear and anxiety associated with the exam is to do the following:

• Study, study study using the right study material.
• Practice problems!
• Know the process and what to expect on test day. 

Doing these three things will help to minimize your anxiety about the exam and maximize your chance of passing the exam.  Most of your anxiety and fear stems from the fear of failing the exam so taking direct action to counteract that fear will help you tremendously.  

Concrete action is the best and most effective and reliable way to actually decrease your anxiety for the PE exam.  

3: Getting Your Mind Right for the PE Exam – Bottom Line

These tools for getting your mind right for the PE exam are not feel good, empty self improvement exercises, they’re real, concrete and effective tools to get you where you need to go, which is passing the PE exam with flying colors.  

It’s in your best interest to use these tools because it’s your success at stake.  Utilize these tools and take them seriously and you’ll empower yourself to take control of the process, rendering you more focused, confident and effective.