In November 2017 NCEES® released a new edition of their official PE Electrical and Computer: Power practice exam (ISBN: ISBN: 978-1-932613-92-6).
In this article we are going to address two main questions:
- If you already have the older edition, should you still purchase the newer edition released in November 2017?
- What does the new NCEES® practice exam tell us about the updated 2018 Electrical Power PE Exam specifications?
The New 2018 NCEES® Practice Exam for the Electrical Power PE Exam
If you were expecting a brand new practice exam from start to finish then you might be a little disappointed the first time you open the new NCEES® practice exam.
While it still is a full-length practice exam with 40 morning session questions and 40 afternoon session questions (for a total of 80), it appears that there are actually only 7 new questions compared to the older edition.
That’s right, except for the 7 new questions every single other question is exactly the same as before.
The same questions are in the same order as the older edition and are word for word, number for number, exactly the same including the provided solutions.
This doesn’t mean it’s not useful. On the contrary, it’s actually very useful because in addition to the new practice exam NCEES® also released an updated version of the exam specifications starting for the April 2018 Electrical Power PE exam.
This means we can use the new practice exam in combination with the new exam specifications to garner more insight into any changes we can reasonably expect to see, if any, on the PE exam in 2018 and beyond.
Without disclosing the seven new sample exam questions (you need to purchase it yourself to see them), I’m going to talk about what categories they fall in.
New NCEES® Practice Exam Question #1
Main subject area:
Demand Calculations.
Exam specifications location:
Demand Calculations is listed under (2) IB. Applications and was also listed under the same primary topic on the older exam specifications.
The question it replaced:
This replaced a question on rotating machine equivalent circuits. The new exam specs decreased the number of questions on rotating machines and this reflects that change.
New NCEES® Practice Exam Question #2
Main subject area:
Grounding.
Exam specifications location:
Grounding was moved to (2) IB. Applications in the new 2018 updated exam specifications but was included in the previous exam specifications just under a different primary topic. See our article on the new exam specifications linked at the top and bottom of this article for more information.
The question it replaced:
This replaced a question on load sharing parallel generators and transformers, a subject that was removed from the updated exam specifications. However, see below under Final Thoughts why you should not ignore load sharing.
New NCEES® Practice Exam Question #3
Main subject area:
Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace: Shock and Burns (NFPA 70E).
Exam specifications location:
Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace: Shock and Burns (NFPA 70E) is listed under (3) IC. Codes and Standards. It is a new subject that was added to the new 2018 updated exam specifications. See our article on the new exam specifications linked at the top and bottom of this article for more information.
The question it replaced:
Similar to the first new question, this one also replaced a question on rotating machine equivalent circuits. The new exam specs decreased the number of questions on rotating machines and this reflects that change.
New NCEES® Practice Exam Question #4
Main subject area:
National Electrical Code (NFPA 70, NEC).
Exam specifications location:
National Electrical Code (NFPA 70, NEC) is listed under (3) IC. Codes and Standards. Nothing new here, NEC has long been a major focus of the PE exam.
The question it replaced:
This replaced a question on Power Factor Correction and Voltage Support. Power System Performance and System Analysis merged to form Power System Analysis on the new exam specifications. The overall number of approximate questions for this primary topic decreased from 16 (combined from the previous two) to 11, so this reflects the new changes.
New NCEES® Practice Exam Question #5
Main subject area:
Energy Management.
Exam specifications location:
Energy Management is listed under (2) IB. Applications in the new 2018 updated exam specifications. Although Energy Management has been broken out into it’s own subject on the new exam specs, it was already listed in the same primary category on the older specifications.
The question it replaced:
This replaced a question on transformers. The primary topic that Transformers is located under is (7) IIIB. Electric Power Devices. According to the new exam specifications, this primary topic actually increased from 6 to 8 questions so it is interesting to see a transformer question removed from the new practice exam, we would expect to see the opposite.
New NCEES® Practice Exam Question #6
Main subject area:
Reliability.
Exam specifications location:
Reliability is also listed under (2) IB. Applications and was also listed under the same primary category on the older exam specifications.
The question it replaced:
This also replaced a question on transformers. This is again surprising because the primary topic that transformers is located under, (7) IIIB. Electric Power Devices, shows an increase of questions from 6 to 8 according to the new exam specifications.
New NCEES® Practice Exam Question #7
Main subject area:
Reliability
Exam specifications location:
Same as the previous, Reliability is also listed under (2) IB. Applications and was also listed under the same primary category on the older exam specifications.
The question it replaced:
Once again this also replaced a question on transformers. Which is surprising because the primary topic that transformers is located under, (7) IIIB. Electric Power Devices, shows an increase of questions from 6 to 8 according to the new exam specifications.
Other Interesting Findings
Although the subject Wattmeters was removed from the updated 2018 exam specifications, there is still at least one wattmeter question on the new 2018 practice exam.
This supports my hunch that it may just be lumped under the primary topic (1) A. Measurement and Instrumentation. Although if NCEES®’s reason for updating the specifications was to be more clear about the expectations of what you need to be prepared for then I’m not sure why they would have removed wattmeters from the updated specs.
Main take way is if you’re not a fan of wattmeters I’d still be ready to face one on any upcoming PE exam since it still appears in the newly updated practice exam.
Load Sharing: Parallel Generators or Transformers is another subject removed on the newly updated specifications and just like wattmeters, at least one problem in this subject still appears on the updated practice exam.
Just like with wattmeters be sure to be prepared even though it is not on the updated specs since it is included in the updated sample exam. If I had to guess I would assume Load Sharing: Parallel Generators or Transformers may be lumped under the primary topic (8) IVA. Power System Analysis.
Last but not least there was a number of new subjects added to the updated specifications such as:
Single-phase circuits
DC circuits
Single-line diagrams
Hazardous area classification
Capacitors
Since none of the new 7 questions on the updated practice exam included any of the newly added subjects to the new specs it further supports my hunch that the primary reason for NCEES® to release an updated version of the exam specifications is to be more clear about what they are going to test you on.
Each of the newly added subjects above are all, in my opinion, subjects that were more than likely already showing up on previous versions of the exam.
Final Thoughts
If you haven’t taken the PE exam before and don’t already have the older NCEES® practice exam from before November 2017 then you are going to want to purchase the newer version. It is by far the most important resource you should have by far.
If you already have the older version (ISBN: ISBN: 978-1-932613-92-6), then you should consider if the $39.95 price is worth having access to 7 new questions from NCEES®. It’s a tough call to make since preparing for the PE exam is already expensive and with that money you can purchase a new full length third-party practice exam.
However, the key point to keep in mind is that no other author will ever come as close to the makers of the PE exam themselves when it comes to making true PE exam-like practice problems to study from so decide wisely and choose in your best interest.
In case you missed it, here are some helpful links:
Electrical PE Review – Changes to the 2018 NCEES Exam Specifications
Electrical PE Review – Recommended Refernce Books for the Electrical Power PE Exam
Did you find anything else interesting about the new NCEES® practice exam that you’d like to share with us? Comment down below and let us know! We respond to all comments.
Awesome explanation of the new NCEES practice exam and specifications. I’m glad you discussed the problems that were replaced. I didn’t realize that they removed two transformer problems from the practice exam but added two transformer problems to the NCEES Power specifications.
Glad you enjoyed it Jason.
This was very informative. Thanks
You are most welcome Mini.
Thanks so much for breaking down the new specs. Now I can use more of my time to study and work problems than worrying about the new changes. You’ve laid it out for everyone!! 🙂
Thanks for the update Zach
This article really help demystify the new 2018 NCEES requirements compared to the 2017 NCEES requirements! The breakdown of each problem helped me create my study plan!
Glad to hear it was useful Tyesa, best of luck on the PE exam.
Zach,
Thanks for posting this article as it helped me take a look at the list of topics I needed to spend more time on.
Thank you for taking the time to go through and note the changes. I purchased the new practice exam, and was lucky enough to have a colleague who had a past practice exam i could borrow.
It’ll be very helpful to maximize my time and know which problems are a repeat/different as i wrap up all my last minute studying
You’re most welcome Anthony. Protection is the subject with the most questions now.
Timely Info!
Zack I’m glad you discussed the problems that were replaced.
Thank you for highlighting the changes. It helps target the appropriate material.
This helped me look at other topics to study for. Without access to the new practice exam, atleast I still have a chance to prepare for the new stuff.
I read this to make sure I had all the references I needed for my binder. Thank you Zach once again for demystifying!
ha, great article explained the changes. Coming from already taken the exam in prior year and a different format this article helped pave the way of understanding the changes even tho they seemed minor.
thanks Zach.
This is good info. Thank you for taking the time to examine the changes. I thought there would be more stuff to study up on.
Thanks for the update. As it approaches test time this was a good reminder on where to focus my practice efforts towards.
Thank you for the in depth review of your findings!
This may sound silly, but this article is one of my favorite you’ve done (it took a lot of research to make this). It really helped me relax when i heard they changed the test around. Using older practice tests and other resources still is viable!
Good to know about all these changes – impressive attention to detail.