IAAWVU05,
The MERM has just been updated to a new edition so it is unlikely it will be updated again within 3 years. Crane will not change and Cameron might be but the information will not change significantly. You would not want to start "studying" now but definitely start looking for a good deal on these references (ebay or a bookstore) and get them (don't forget the steam tables by keenan, et al). Start looking through them and using them and you will be way ahead of the game when exam time comes. You also will spread out the cost of your references so it's not such a big hit all at once.
And I thought I saw steam tables in Crane. (My company has crane, but I am likely going to get a personal copy as well) Are the steam tables in Crane limited compared to other printings of the steam table?
Yes, try to get your employer to pay for as much as possible. Even if an employer does not pay for the exam or other fees, they can justify purchasing some reference materials and will usually accomodate you.
Brand new, the best deal on the MERM will come from PPI, the publisher. Used, they will show up on ebay occassionally at a pretty good price (50-60% of new). There will be a rash of them right after people start getting their pass letters. You need to watch that you are getting the edition you want and it's in good shape. Also, a local university library may have some of the references you want without purchasing them; such as cameron, shigley's, steam tables, etc.
Regarding the steam tables in Crane or Cameron, they will probably work for the exam with a little interpolation or approximation necessary for some problems. If you get the Steam Tables by Keenan, you will never have to interpolate, just get your values and go. However, if you look at the NCEES "practice" exam, you will see that the answers are seldom close enough that you need to know the exact enthalpy (or energy, etc.) to the decimal place. So, yes you can probably use Crane but if you can pick up a cheap copy of 1969 Steam Tables (the newest version in english units is still for sale for $250 new!) from ebay ($5-$10) or a library, it is nice to have.
Unless they've improved it (and I hope they have), AVOID the ASME study materials at all costs.
I bought their books & videos to study for the Mechanical ENgineering PE exam in NY. The ASME books were full of the same sort of errors that the Kaplan books were accused of having....missing tables, tansposition errors, shifted decimals, etc. It was so bad that I called ASME and complained. They said if I could write them up an eratta on the engineering economics section (personally, I gave up on the books after dealing only with that section), they would reimburse my cost. So I did....and they did.
Of course, by writing up the eratta, I learned engineering economics so well that I breezed through it on the exam! (ASME had gone as far as to say "Eng Ec" wouldn't BE on the exam. It most certainly was.
