Metallurgical & Materials PE Exam

[Hayms]

Hello,

I wanted to see if anyone has recently taken the new Metallurgical/Materials PE exam CBT and if they could provide some guidance as to what to expect and the most helpful textbooks to use as the resources seem limited. I have the practice questions from TMS, PPI, and NCEES but I am currently using the Materials Science and Engineering by David G. Rethwisch and William Callister Textbook as my only refresher. Would it be ideal to focus on ferrous and nonferrous material questions since those seem to be the bulk of the test?

Any tips or suggestions would be great.

Thanks

 

[Maui]

I was 15 years out of school when I took the metallurgical PE exam 20 years ago. And I walked in cold. There was no review text available for this particular exam back then. An average of about 50 people across the United States took this exam in any given year, so about one person per state. And approximately half of them failed it if they took it for the very first time. Repeat test takers fared even worse: only about a quarter of them passed. I passed on the very first try because I had a strategy. You need to walk in with a strategy and stick to it. You only have so many minutes per question on average, and so I did a quick read through initially and identified the questions I could answer right away. Then on the remaining questions I crossed out the answers I knew were wrong to narrow down the possibilities. And for the questions where I had no clue I simply guessed. My strategy worked because I passed. Good luck to you.

 

[MadisonCameron]

Hames
Time Distribution: Distribute your preparation time evenly between different topics, especially those that form the bulk of the exam, such as ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Pay special attention to issues related to these materials.
Learning Resources: In addition to Materials Science and Engineering by David G. Rethwisch and William Callister, explore other textbooks and resources that can help you gain a thorough understanding of materials and metallurgy.

 

[weldstan]

I took the exam 28 years after uni and passed it. Answer the questions within your expertise first. I took Vol. 1 of the ASM Handbook with me as well as other materials science books and studied up with my old Clark and Varney Text and a few others. Only one other materials engineer stood for the Exam with me in Austin. TX. But that was 26 years ago and I know the exam has changed. Good luck.

 

[EdStainless]

And the reason that I didn't answer earlier is that I took mine 31 years ago, fortunately only 20 years out of school.
I had to wait until I moved to a state that even offered that test, many didn't.
I also passed first try with a strategy similar to above, focus on what you know and triage what you can guess at, and skip what you don't know.
Time management is the biggest factor, don't get bogged down in a question.
In the old format there was a set of questions (answer 3 out of 4) and a fixed block of time.
Then you went to the next section.
Is there still a required engineering economics question? Time value of money or that sort of thing.
I took four or five books with me and only used two of them, Metals Handbook and thermo.
There was one question on my test that I knew nothing about and had never seen in any text.

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P.E. Metallurgy, consulting work welcomed

 

[swall]

I took mine in 1981. Back then (Indiana) there was not a specific test for metallurgical engineering--the test was just for general knowledge that an engineer would be expected to have. One reference book I used the most was the Bosch Automotive Handbook. My experience was similar to to what EdStainless described and I managed to pass on the first try. I had not done the EIT exam prior to the PE exam and I took them back to back on two consequtive days. Interestingly, the PE exam was on the first day.

 

[EdStainless]

In those days at Purdue virtually every engineering student took the EIT.
They made it easy for us.
I had a Prof that would give you 100% on your homework portion of your grade if you took it.

I graduated in '80 and lived and worked in IN but waited until the early 90's to take the test because I was living in OK.
I wasn't taking the general test because I am never working another refrigeration problem in my life.

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P.E. Metallurgy, consulting work welcomed

 

[mrfailure]

Because of the amount of my rekevabt work experience, my state (Delaware) allowed me to take the PE and pass in 2011 without first taking the EIT. Interestingly, I subsequently lived in two states that would not grant reciprocity for my license because they required also taking the EIT, and that is not worth it to me since my education on general engineering was a long long time ago.

 

[MortenA]

... sounds like there's going to be a shortage of metallurgical PEs? ;-)

--- Best regards, Morten Andersen

 

[EdStainless]

There always has been.
It isn't a very large field, and there are only a few places in the country where you could find another job locally.
Why I can still pick up consulting work while retired.
Once upon a time the specialty steel companies had experts that you could talk to.
But they have all been fired to save the CEOs bonus.

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P.E. Metallurgy, consulting work welcomed

 

[weldstan]

Ed, so true. When I started in a fully integrated steel mill, there were at least 2 metalallugists in each seperate mill therein. When I moved to an EPC company, I could talk to numerous experts from specialty metals industries and welding suppliers and petrochemical companies as well as in my company. Such a great learning experience. We would also gather together in monthly dinner meetings with all the materials engineers of the refieries (except Texaco) in and around the LA area.

 

[Maui]

"Once upon a time the specialty steel companies had experts that you could talk to.But they have all been fired to save the CEOs bonus."

Yes they have Ed. I'm one of them. So I decided to start my own company. I officially launched it in January of this year.