Preparing for PE

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

Hi,

So I am gearing up to sit for my PE Mechanical HVAC the second half of this year, and I am honestly appalled at the lack of information and materials available for this exam. I get that they are trying to pass people who would be ready for this off the bat (and not those who artificially would study to “crack” it), but there are hardly any books on Amazon, and no real guidance on how to prepare.

How would you recommend me to study for this exam?

Thanks

2

I will offer how I prepped and passed. YMMV.

I bought this book (well, a little but older version since it has been a few years)
https://ppi2pass.com/mechanical-engineering-reference-manual-for-the-pe-exam-merm13.html

And literally worked through it cover to cover. Pulled out college textbooks as needed to work the practice problems, and only took to the exam the books I used to prepare.

3

The PPI Civil Reference Manual is the standard study guide for the civil PE exam. So I would assume that the PPI Mechanical Reference Manual is the standard for the mechanical PE exam. PPI also offers additional workbooks, flash cards, suggested study schedules, etc.
https://ppi2pass.com/shop/pe-exam/mechanical-pe-exam?p=1

One non-PPI publication that I would also recommend is the official NCEES Practice Exam. NCEES is the organization that actually develops and grades the exams. Most people find that the NCEES Practice Exams are very close, in terms of format and level of difficulty, to the real NCEES exams. So you should get one if you want the most realistic “preview” of what to expect in the exam room. You can get NCEES publications from PPI, but they may be cheaper if you order from NCEES directly.