What is the real secret to pass the PE Exam? Is there a secret, or is it just good preparation? In this article (and video above), I ask that question to a practicing engineer Mason Mallard. Mason is a former professional baseball player, now a mechanical engineer who works for EMA Engineering in Texas and just turned 25 years old and recently passed the PE HVAC exam in January!
Here Are the Tips From Mason Mallard on How To Pass the PE Exam:
Question:
Can you briefly introduce yourself to our listeners and tell them what type of engineering discipline you are in?
Answer:
I graduated from Louisiana Tech University with a degree in mechanical engineering in 2019 and also played baseball throughout the time when I was giving that degree. I continued playing baseball professionally with the Tampa Bay Rays organization and was with them from the end of 2019 until June 2020. With the COVID situation, I decided to pursue engineering full time and to get my Professional Engineering license.
Question:
You recently passed the PE Exam. Take us through the preparation process, from the moment you decided to take the exam up to where you started to study for the exam.
Answer:
My plan A was to play for a series and to then take the test in October, and to study for the test while I was playing. But with the onset of everything changing my day academy move around a little bit and that affected me in a negative way. So I would definitely say pick a date and stick to it, even when things are moving all around the place. As far as the process goes, there was Dan Molloy’s Mechanical Engineering Prep Course. It was incredible and it helped me to walk through the fundamentals and really understand what I was walking into. I worked through a 16-week course at a fast pace just because I started with it in December, and took the exam in January. T
Question:
Would you recommend that engineers take a review course to prepare for the PE exam?
Answer:
Yes. The advanced course really lined out the process to learn the fundamentals and be able to implement practice problems and videos so that you have the fundamentals and right information.
Question:
What about networking? Did you get together with fellow students or qualified PE’s to get some tips or inspiration from them to help you pass the PE exam?
Answer:
Yes, fortunately, I work in the engineering headquarters in Texas where we have about 150 employees, and out of them about 23 Professional Engineers. I was able to count on them and had some of them at my disposal that helped me a lot in my preparation. As far as the older PE’s, they were about to share information on test strategy, study prospectors even encouraged me. As hard as the test is and as big as the study process is, seeing people around you who have taken the test, encourages you to work harder for it. If you are out there and you have access to other PE’s around you, talk to them, even if they did it 10 years ago as they can still encourage and motivate you a lot.
Question:
How can one prepare for actually sitting in the exam?
Answer:
Everybody keeps telling you to study hard and to do more practice problems, but no one really tells how how you have to go into the exam and perform. The exam is 8-hour long and it is rigorous and makes you very tired. I left the test feeling terrible and that I was constantly getting beaten up from the test, but I trusted that it was the process to get there. You have to trust in the practice and the process and perform to win the game. You have to be extremely prepared and you have to be ready to expect the unexpected as well. So studying a lot is an expectation and important but you also need to be able to perform well on the spot. You must also be prepared to expect things to not go your way and battle it personally the whole time.
Question:
What does the process look like now that you have passed the exam, and what are the next steps you will be taking to secure your license?
Answer:
For me, it is to continue in the field of engineering experience that I have and to being intentional on what I am working on and documenting that process. Earlier when I got this job, I didn’t know I had to document the work I was working on, so I had to go back and really think about the engineering decisions that were made and some of the processes I went through. At this point, I have about a year and a half left to fill out my application and provide 4 years of good engineering experience on my application.
Question:
What advice would you give engineers out there considering taking the PE Exam?
Answer:
Just go and get Dan Molloy’s course. He is awesome. I really appreciate his work that he puts into his videos. He is a great guy and just like a mentor from afar. Whatever tests you have, make sure that you really get a good grasp on the fundamentals of the test. Lastly, be able to perform and put yourself in a test-like situation, treat it like a game and go out there and get the job done.
I hope you found this week’s video helpful. The key takeaway is that you must be able to perform on test day.
We publish videos weekly on our Pass the PE Exam YouTube Channel. Be sure to visit our page here and click the subscribe button as you’ll get expert tips and tricks each week – to ensure your best success – that you can’t get anywhere else. Believe me, you won’t want to miss a single video.
Lastly, I encourage you to ask questions in the comments of the videos or on this page and I’ll read and respond to them in future videos. So if there’s a specific topic you want me to cover or answer, we have you covered.
I’ll see you next week.
Anthony Fasano, P.E.
Engineering Management Institute
Author of Engineer Your Own Success
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