PE exam - October 2011

[JagdishRawat]

Hello all:

I recently came to know about this forum while searching for the tips on PE exam in metallurgical engineering. I have following questions for this exam -

1) Is anyone taking the exam in October 2011?
2) Is it really tough exam?
3) Historically, passing rate is between 50% to 65%. Is it because that it is a tough exam or because examinees take it lightly?
4) Is Transport Phenomenon still part of the exam? If yes, which book will you recommend? Does it come with solution manual?
5) I am going through the chapter on casting, forging, machining etc. Do i have to know the positives and negatives of different methods e.g. drawbacks of open die forging and/or types of hammer used in forging etc?

Thanks for your time.

Met1CO

 

[EdStainless]

If you take the EIT while still in school there is no strategy, ti is what you have been doing for three years, you just do it.

When you study for the PE use post-its to flag pages of interest.
When you are done you should have a stack of books that is as large as you can carry in one trip.
Among them you should have 15-20 things flagged (2-3 per book). You will know where some others are also but this should be enough to get you close. I did take a couple of ref books so that if I had time and couldn't solve a problem I could try from scratch.

There were two problems on my test (not required) that I had never even heard of the subject and knew that no book that I owned covered it.

Keep cool and don't get upset, just keep working.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Plymouth Tube

 

[salmon2]

Met1co, I did eit after I got my phd and already stRted to work. I knew that I can be exempt from eit but just lazy to go through the procedure to get exempt and decided to sit in the exam and figured it is a good exercise for later PE exam. Then I got delayed for my PE. My strategy is just getting the manual of eit and I spent about 3 months, I am slow I admit, a lot of things I picked during the preparation so it was worth it even if I got a phd lol. I am not sure if I can pass if I didnot prepare. And specifically I took general session for both am and pm. That time, I was in mechanical field and now I am more interested to get PE in metallurgy.

 

[JagdishRawat]

Upstairs-Downstairs Inside-Out Formula.

Crazy name...lol..

 

[JagdishRawat]

http://engineerboards.com/index.php?showtopic=15165&pid=6869401&mode=threaded&start=#entry6869401

So, i was reading this post. One of the guy mentioned that 38% of the exam is from other discipline. Similarly, someone (in metallurgical PE exam discussion) mentioned that 25% of the content is general knowledge. And most of the metallurgists struggle in it.

My question is that what comes under general knowledge when we look from the eyes of a metallurgical engineer?

Thanks

 

[JagdishRawat]

It was 'metengr' who mentioned about general knowledge. See link and excerpt below -

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=115368

"metengr (Materials)
15 Feb 05 8:56
alwilliams;
In my opinion, the Hertzberg and the Transport Phenomena books should be obtained as references. As CoryPad indicated, the Application of General Knowledge makes up about 22% of the exam, and is probably the most difficult component of the exam. The problems that are typical in this section consist of heat transfer, diffusion and oxidation kinetics. The Transport Phenomena book has relevant data and equations."

 

[metengr]

Met1CO;
Go to the NCEES web site below and look for the Metallurgical and Materials PE exam specification. All of the information that will be covered by topic is provided, including percentage of questions.

http://www.ncees.org/Exams/PE_exam.php

 

[JagdishRawat]

Thanks metengr

 

[JagdishRawat]

I already have the print out of the PE exam specification for metallurgical exam. I was just wondering if there is something different under the name of 'General Knowledge' which is not covered in the exam specification.

It is hard to know that where does the science end and metallurgical engineering starts.

For example, Gaskell (thermodynamics) is full of problems and equations on vapor pressure but it does not answer that what are colligative properties. But, when i read the Chemistry (by Chang)i get the answer of my question.

So, 'General Knowledge' is enormous. Therefore, i asked the question.

Thanks.

 

[JagdishRawat]

Dear all:

I got stuck on one of the problem in Fracture Mechanics (Ch 11)in Dieter. The problem number is 11-2. I can not solve this problem till i know the E (Young's modulus) for the ship steel. I can solve the problem if i know plane stress fracture toughness for the ship steel.

But, i do not have either young's modulus or the plane stress fracture toughness for ship steel. And there is nothing in the appendix or the tables in the chapter regarding ship steel.

How to solve it? Is there a solution manual for Dieter? I tried to find it online but it is out of print.

Thanks

 

[cloa]

Steel is mostly all the same E- its 200 GPa- ship steel would standard E.

 

[JagdishRawat]

Thanks Cloa. You are right on the E for the steel.

I was pulling my hair on this problem because i was sure that it can not be solved without knowing the value of E. And i don't have the value of E for ship steel.

So i started to search the solution manual online. I could not find the solution manual. But i found the SI version of Dieter online. I thought to have a look on the same problem in SI version. And in the online SI version, the value of E was provided in the question statement. It was E = 205 GPa.

After that, solving the problem became piece of cake.

Do we get the same type of problem in the PE exam? And 'same type' means that if you know the formula to be used (and pay attention to the units), you can solve the problem.

Thanks

 

[salmon2]

Getting familiar with E of common material is pretty handy in daily work.
Such as steel roughly is 200Gpa or 30mpsi and heat treatment condition
Does not matter. Stainless has about same number but slightly lower.
Ni based alloy has slightly higher E. Ti has about half of steel's, etc.
Hope this helps.

 

[WidowMakerSB]

I took and passed the Metallurgical PE exam in October 2010. It is broad based and you will need to be familiar with lots of engineering fundamentals as per the identified spec sheet.

That being said, my recommended review process would be to work through the EIT prep-book again and relevant chapters. It is good to have the other books recommended by TMS for reference (especially the ASM Metals Handbook). You will use the reference books to look up information DURING the exam because there is no way to know it all.

I walked out of the morning session feeling confident, and out of the afternoon session less confident. I would also recommend bringing some Advil/Tylenol to take around lunch time. My back started killing me in the afternoon due to the poor chairs we had to sit in. It was far more distracting than anything else and forced me to leave before time expired.

 

[JagdishRawat]

WidowMakerSB:

What was your experience level when you took the PE exam? Which year you finished your bachelor degree? When did you take your FE exam? What were your thought after FE exam (e.g. morning was easy able to do 120/120 but afternoon was hard etc). Were you working in steel/metal industry when you took the PE exam?

Your post made it sound like PE exam is somewhat like FE exam?

 

[JagdishRawat]

Book - Transport Phenomena in Materials Processing
Chapter 2 - Laminar Flow and The Momentum Equation
Problem # 2.16 -

Problem Statement -

Molten aluminum is degassed by gently bubbling a 75% N2-25% Cl2 gas mixture through the melt. The gas passes through a graphite tube at a volumetric flow rate of 6.6 * 10^(-5) m3/sec.

Calculate the pressure that should be maintained at the tube entrance if the pressure over the bath is 1 atm.

Tube Length = 0.9 m
Tube inside diameter = 2 mm
Temperature of aluminum melt = 973 K
Density of aluminum = 2500 kg/m3


Please tell me that we don't get these kind of problem in the PE exam? I saw the solution of this problem in the solution manual and i thought to myself that i am going to puke if i see these kind of problems in the PE exam.

 

[metengr]

Met1CO;
Yes, you might see a similar problem. Puke, and go on to the next problem.

 

[JagdishRawat]

Dear all:

I am trying to solve the chapter-end problems in Transport Phenomena book by Poirier & Geiger. I am realizing that the problems are really time-consuming (and frustrating) to solve even if you know how to solve it. It is taking me around 20 minutes to solve a problem.

Are examination questions as tough and lengthy as they are in this book?

Thanks

 

[HSCMIE1]

Met1CO...I'm also taking the exam in October, so I feel your pain.

 

[JagdishRawat]

uh ha...finally, there is some else taking this exam in October. How is your study going? What is your background (e.g. bachelor, master, experience etc)? When did you take your FE exam? What books are you working on currently?

One thing is very surprising to me that the scope of the exam is as big as this universe is.

First you have to clear your fundamentals on - extended dislocation, nucleation and growth, diffusion, stacking fault energy, bainite transformation, fatigue, creep, powder metallurgy, super alloys, GP zones, slip systems in HCP crystal, fracture mechanics, heat treatment, strengthening mechanism, vacancy, dislocation climb and cross slip, casting, testing, microscope and statistics to name a few. And then, you have to solve infinite number of problems where problems in Transport Phenomena (TP) book are lethal...The TP book should have a warning sign on its cover saying - 'Enter at your own risk'.

How can examinees do all this in 3 months or 6 months? Some people are even able to pass this exam after 2 weeks of study. And on top of that, the passing rate is between 50% to 65%.

I think that the passing rate is too high considering the scope to cover.

The actual exam must be real easy otherwise passing rate cannot be so high.

Frustrated.

 

[HSCMIE1]

Background is Bachelor in Mat. Sci & Eng. in 2002 (same time I took FE). Starting Masters at Ohio State in the fall (Welding Eng.).
Right now I'm focusing on Dieter and Geiger books for problem solving as well as Smith and ASM Metals Handbook for general review.
Experience is primarily in testing/construction.