FREE HVAC PE EXAM STUDY RESOURCES!

1: But First, A Word of Encouragement

When you’ve worked so hard on something and you fall short, it’s natural to feel like the wind has been knocked out of you.  I don’t recommend fighting these feelings initially.  You need to go through the natural process of emotion.  But don’t let those feelings linger forever.  

The test doesn’t define your self-worth or value as an engineer, employee, husband, wife, mom, dad, son, daughter, etc.  The sky hasn’t fallen and you’ll be just fine.  

What’s done is done.  It’s time to forget the results of the test and look forward to achieving your goal of becoming a professional engineer.

You’ve had a setback in your goal.  It boils down to that.  Everyone does and it’s part of succeeding.  We all go through setbacks to get what we want in life.  

It’s not time to wallow in depression or frustration.  It IS time to sit down and figure out what went wrong and what we can do to improve our processes to achieve success.

2: Understanding What Went Wrong

You may have a sense of what you struggled with on the test, whether it was certain subject matter areas, time management, test day stress, or a combination of those things and more.

Thankfully, NCEES provides you with a diagnostic report that helps you understand the subject matter areas of the test that you struggled with.  You’ll receive it in the mail shortly after scores are released in your state.

Analyze this document and crunch the numbers so that you fully understand what subjects you need work on and what you did well on.  Use this information to your advantage.

3: Adjusting Your Study Process

Now that you understand the areas that you struggled with, you can adjust your study plan to focus on these areas when taking the PE exam for the second time.  Focus and spend alot of time on these areas and less on the areas that you did well on.  

I recommend dividing your time roughly by 80% on the areas you need improvement and 20% on the rest (areas you did well).  You don’t want to completely ignore the areas you did well on, you want to “cruise” or maintain your level of skill in these subjects while devoting the majority of time on your weaker areas.

4: Advantages of the Taking the PE Exam for the Second Time

Taking the exam for a second time does present a few advantages.  It’s up to you to utilize these to the fullest:

• You have seen the test before.  Yes, it will be different questions, but you know what type of material to expect when you open the test. You know the process and what to expect on test day.  In general, the fear of the unknown is lessened, which can lessen anxiety about the test.
• You know what areas you need work on.  The first time around, you had to take a shotgun approach which means studying really hard and focusing on everything.  This time, you know what you did well and what you need to work on.  You are able to drill down on certain subjects and shore up your weak areas.  Knowing the areas you did well helps free up additional study time for the problem areas.
• You’ve had additional study time.  By the time you sit for the second exam, you’ve had twice the study time that you had for the first time you took the exam.  No matter what, you should feel more prepared than you did the first time because you have seen the material for twice the amount of time.

5: Keep Positive

Throughout the process of taking the PE exam for the second time, keep positive.  Don’t let negative thoughts drag you down.  

Remember, ALL YOU NEED IS TO PASS IT ONCE.

Once you get your license, no one knows or cares how you got there and how you did on the exam.  There is not a tally mark on your stamp showing how many times you took the exam.  Stay positive, pass the test and then forget it.

6: Final Thoughts

Taking the PE exam for the second time is a frustrating setback to your goal of becoming a professional engineer.  

Take the time to sit down and understand the areas you need improvement on and take the extra time to study those areas.  Use the test experience and study time from the first exam to your advantage the second time around.