Mechanical Engineering Reference Manual for the PE Exam, 12th Edition,   ISBN:9781591260493

Customer Rating: 

Having read the book cover-to-cover during my preparation for the Mechanical Engineering PE exam, I can understand why this book is so highly rated. It is very comprehensive, yet concise in the information provided. This shouldn't be your only study resource, as much of the presentation relies on fundamental understanding gained from coursework and other textbooks. However, with a general grasp of the material, I used this book almost exclusively while working through sample problems and exams, and opened only one other book during the exam for the Machine Design depth section. I highly recommend that this book be included in any Mechanical Engineering PE preparation.

Customer Rating: 

This manual covers every topic you're going to find on the 8-hour NCEES PE exam. It is married to the Practice Problems for the Mechanical Engineering PE Exam Practice Problems for the Mechanical Engineering PE Exam: A Companion to the Mechanical Engineering Reference Manual, 12th Edition so both books are vital to your preparation. I started studying about 2 months prior to the April '09 exam and worked problems almost every evening. As I went along I created labels for the important sections such as fan equations, pipe flow, fatigue loading, etc. I also used the inside blank pages to write out formulas that I felt I would need during the exam. Keep in mind that you have only 6 minutes per problem and the quicker you can get to the correct formula the better your chances of completing the exam, so tabbing this book is very helpful.

The first page of this manual is conversion factors. I'd recommend adding to this list as you are studying because it is not all-inclusive and many of the exam questions try to trip you up by giving you information in 'strange' units. For instance, they'll give you power in kW and expect an answer in ft/min or they'll give pressure in inches of water and you'll need to convert it to atmospheres. The second page is physical constants like air density and the universal gas constant, R. Add to this list as you study along because the exam will expect you to know the other 'constants' such as the density of steel, aluminum, and concrete.

About two weeks before the exam I recommend taking Lindeburg's practice exam Mechanical PE Sample Examination and the NCEES sample exam (available from NCEES). Treat them as if you're actually in the exam room. Start the exam at 8am and stop working at 12pm; no breaks or interuptions. This will give you a taste of the real exam and how important it is to be able to find your material quickly. Don't be tempted to look at the problems beforehand because you won't have that advantage during the real exam. Study the solutions afterwards and think about why and how you messed up.

My only complaint about this book and the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that after all of my studying the pages started coming out of the book. The exam proctors do not allow loose papers so I was concerned that during the exam I might not be able to use this book. I had to tape the pages back into the binding. Having spent the amount of money on this book that I did, I would expect higher quality.

I passed the April '09 PE exam in Mechanical Engineering (machine design)and I attribute my success to the availability and comprehensive information contained in this book and the related materials.

Customer Rating: 

For starters, I passed the PE (thermal & fluids) the first time.

Overall, this book is great as an overview of all subjects. This is a perfect book to highlight and tab pages for quick reference during the exam. Knowing what I know now, I would still buy it, but I have the following complaints:

1. There are a LOT of questions in the book that don't give you all the information you need in order to solve the problem. For those questions, you need to assume a value for one piece of information. None of the problems in the actual PE are solved like this! Yes, it is a good challenge, but I found it superflourous. Typically, these questions were asked in subjects that I'm not proficient in. If these type of questions are not on the exam, why have them in there at all?

2. Some chapters had too few questions to work through (chapter 34 and 35 for example).

3. My main problem with this book was the lack of explanation for heat transfer. There were some key equations (that were used extensively in the test) that were not explained, or were not derived in a form that is usable. I had a lot of difficulty with this. I ended up figuring out by working out the practice exam that NCEES sells. If heat transfer isn't your specialty, I would recommend looking elsewhere.

Conclusion: The book is still good for reference. I would recommend using this book to review all subjects and to use as a reference guide during the test. For review questions, I would look somewhere else.

Customer Rating: 

I took the PE Mechanical Exam in April, and brought only this book to the test. It is more than complete and contained all the information necessary to answer all questions but one. However, it is very bulky and difficult to flip through quickly so i made separate, spiral-bound copies of the index, the appendices i had used for the sample problems, and a few pages of the text i thought most relevant to my depth section. this helped immensely! I also bought the practice exam by lindeburg, and found it to be of little use since the problems were much more difficult than the actual exam; so if you do them, don't worry too much about how long they take you to complete.

Customer Rating: 

I'm giving this book five stars because I feel it is a must for Mechanical Engineers and the author deserves five stars, but the publisher needs a lesson or two on book binding.
If anyone from the publishing company reads this they may learn something about book binding from "The Penland Book of Handmade Books: Master Classes in Bookmaking Techniques". I know it is geared for the amateur book binder, but judging from the workmanship of this book, I believe you fit into that category quite well thank, you very much. You could make this up to a loyal customer by giving me a new copy. I'm easy to find, just follow the trail of pages I leave behind from this book on my way to work.