2019 POWER PE SURVEY RESULTS



More Survey Results

2022 Survey 2021 Survey 2020 Survey 2018 Survey 2017 Survey

2019 SURVEY FEEDBACK
FOR THE POWER PE CBT EXAM
Updated in December 2019

Key Takeaways from the 2019 Power PE CBT Version

After every PE exam, I conduct an online survey with as many PE exam test takers that I can find. I primarily ask people who take the Enigneering Pro Guides course, but I will also ask people who have purchased just the Engineering Pro Guides books. The survey provides insight into an estimated passing score, how well test takers do based on experience and number of hours studied, which areas of the exam are difficult or easy. The following is a summary of the feedback provided.

Please see below for a review from a recent Power PE examinee from our course. For more information on pass rates, please see thePower FAQs webpage.

"I purchased the Review/Study Guide and the Practice Exam. Both were immensely helpful in guiding my studies. The practice exam was extremely helpful in diagnosing where I needed more study, and for preparing me to answer questions quickly and accurately."   -Corey, PE [Passed April 2019, 200 study hours]

15% OFF on all Power PE On-Demand Courses Until June 15!

CODE: SPRING15
On-Demand Power PE Course Power Code Exam Power Full Exam Power Final Exam

What do you wish you knew before you started studying?

The most mentioned answer is that the exam had 1. a lot of conceptual type problems. Sometimes people focus on using equations to solve problems, without understanding the underlying concept behind the equation. The PE exam does not have many simple problems where you can just find the correct equation and plug-in values. The next common thread is the 2. The amount of study time There is a huge time committment to studying and passing this exam. The most common responses from those who failed, 3. the actual exam was unfamiliar. Those who fail often say that the exam was like none of the practice exams or that they didn't study enough.



"I wish I knew the exam was going to be very conceptual. I focused a lot of trying to get good at solving the engineering/math kind of problems where you reference tables and bang out a calculation. The exam ended up having its fair share of those, but it equally tested us on if we understood the concepts of the topics, which I wasn't too strong in. I didn't quite understand WHY things worked the way they did, I just knew that they worked and that I needed to use a certain table. So when they ask questions about "what happens if you take/add this thing away from the situation" or "in what case is it best to use this thing" I had no idea what to do!"   -Francisco, PE [Passed October 2019, 200 study hours, 2 yrs experience]

Daniel [Did not pass in April 2019, 200 study hours, 5+ yrs of experience]

I wish I knew to study months ahead of time

Mark [Did not pass in October 2019, 200 study hours, 5+ yrs of experience]

You need 3 months of study time at least

I wish I knew to start studying at least 3 months before the test and have a set timeline/plan. Take several practice exams during that timeline and learn from the questions you answered incorrectly.

Justin [Did not pass in October 2019, 200 study hours, 2 yrs of experience]

I wish I knew that the actual test is far more difficult than any of the practice exams.

Giuseppe, P.E. [Passed October 2019, 300 study hours, 4 yrs of experience]

I think I was very well prepared and kind of knew what to expect on exam day.

Srdjan, P.E. [Passed October 2019, 100 study hours]

More concepts and theory

I wish I knew about Engineering Pro Guides. I bought it just few days before exam. I wish I knew about it earlier, as I could've saved much time.

Kyle, P.E. [Passed October 2019, 300 study hours, 5+ years of experience]

Codes understanding

I wish I knew that a better understanding of how to find information in the NESC and NEC would be required.

Sri, P.E. [Passed October 2019, 200 study hours, 3 years of experience]

More time

I wish I knew that there are lot of topics that will require more time to review. Code book review takes a lot of time. I underestimated the time needed to cover each topics


On-Demand Power PE Course Power Code Exam Power Full Exam Power Final Exam

What do you wish you practiced or studied more?

The most mentioned answer is that people wished they studied more on (1) NEC. The codes and standards topic is well known by consulting engineers, but you need a lot of experience to be able to quickly navigate the codes & standards to get the correct answers. The NEC was mentioned by 20% of the engineers in the survey. The next most mentioned answer is (2) Protection. Protection is a very large topic and can also at the same time be very detailed. Engineering consultatns rarely practice different protection schemes outside of sizing circuit breakers in accordance with the NEC. This topic is also very practical, meaning that engineers rarely study the protection concepts tested on the PE exam in college. Protection was mentioned by 12% of the survey responses. Next, the Applications/Measurement & Instrumentation topics. These topics cover a wide range of smaller topics like engineering economics, grounding, insulation testing, illumination, lightning protection, ground testing and reliability. The large amount of small topics makes this area of study difficult. A surprising amount of responses also referenced motors and motor theory like motor starting.



"I really like that the Engineering Pro Guides are affordable and separated into multiple pieces so you can pick and choose what you want. The Power References Exam was very helpful as I felt like I couldn't get enough practice with the codebooks. Many other practice exams out there have NEC, but rarely have NESC or NFPA practice problems. The Technical Guide was also very helpful. I liked the format and structure of the book, separating chapters similarly to that of the exam specifications. The content is very similar to Graffeo at half the cost! Very glad I picked up this book! Also stumbled upon Justin's YouTube that had a few practice problem videos. I'd have loved to watch more of those!"   -Ryan, P.E. [Passed October 2019, 200 study hours, 5 yrs of experience]

Gary, P.E. [Passed October 2019, 200 study hours, 2 yrs experience]

I wish I had studied DC Motors, NEC and Batteries more.

TJ, P.E. [Passed October 2019, 100 study hours, 2 yrs experience]

I wish I had studied Codes, batteries, and protection more.

Nate, P.E. [Passed October 2019, 200 study hours, 4 yrs experience]

I wish I had studied Relay protection schemes more.

Rongzhi, P.E. [Passed October 2019, 300 study hours, 5 yrs experience]

I wish I had studied motors, breaker/fuse coordination, batteries and voltage drop (sag) more.

Rongzhi, P.E. [Passed October 2019, 300 study hours, 5 yrs experience]

I wish I had studied motors, breaker/fuse coordination, batteries and voltage drop (sag) more.

Additional comments or words of advice for future test takers?

The most common words of advice from past test takers are as follows, (1) Study the codes a lot. Next, (2) do as many practice exam problems as you can. It is very important to not look at the solutions, but to really struggle with each practice exam problem. You need to develop the skills of interpreting the problem, analyzing and narrowing down the solutions and finally making sound decisions with your understanding of the concept. (3) Lastly, study the concepts behind the equations. Many people spend hundreds of hours studying the vast amount of topics on the power pe exam.



"I recommend purchasing the Engineering Pro Guide practice exams. The complexity of the questions are similar to the real exam which gives you good practice and shows how ready you are for the exam. Furthermore I would research and read up on the topics that you are not familiar with. A lot of the exam questions were based on in-depth knowledge of the subject matter "   -Giuseppe, P.E. [Passed October 2019, 300 study hours]

Dan, P.E. [Passed October 2019, 300 study hours, 5+ yrs of experience]

Repeat practice problems as much as possible. Understand the concept.

Corey, P.E. [Passed October 2019, 100 study hours, 4 yrs of experience]

Understand the theory

Study and understand the theory behind the equations you're using to solve problems. Get exposure to as many types of theory and computation questions as you can. Do multiple practice exams if possible, and become comfortable solving those questions in a timely manner. The NCEES practice exam is easier than the real exam, so seek out other practice exams that will be more of a challenge.

Brian, P.E. [Passed October 2019, 200 study hours, 3 yrs of experience]

Take as many practice exams as you can. They help the most of anything

Casey, P.E. [Passed October 2019, 100 study hours, 2 yrs of experience]

NEC NEC NEC

Amrita [Did not pass October 2019, 300 study hours, 5 yrs of experience]

Study weak areas

Study the Rotating Machines and Electric Power Devices, Transformers testing, short circuit and open circuit test

Joe [Did not pass October 2019, 200 study hours, 4 yrs of experience]

Study theory behind each topic

If you are not exposed to a particular topic day in and day out at work, then do it on your own. Know the theory behind each topic so that when you see a new problem you're not stumped. The brute force approach by doing more and more problems is pointless and time consuming.

More Survey Results

2021 Survey 2019 Survey 2018 Survey 2017 Survey
TOP -->