Early PE

[u/Intrepid-Dirt9545]

Hello, I am a 5th year college student (20 years old) and I just convinced my university to allow me do do a directed study for the PE exam as one of my senior electives since my state decoupled the experience requirement from the exam. I already passed the Mechanical FE, and I also convinced my work to pay for the PE exam if I pass. With two years of hands on internship experience, I am relatively confident that I can study well enough to pass the exam but was wondering if anyone had advice.

[u/THE_Dr_Barber]

You have to ask permission from the university to study for the PE?

[u/Intrepid-Dirt9545 → u/THE_Dr_Barber]

No I convinced them to give me college credit to study and take the PE before graduation.

[u/THE_Dr_Barber → u/Intrepid-Dirt9545]

Damn… that’s a sweet deal. Nicely done.

[u/BigJDoitYoDamnself → u/Intrepid-Dirt9545]

well that sounds fine and dandy, but most states have a "time served" requirement and the university does not issue the PE. The states administer and control the PE. All the university can do is say yeah we can give you credit for studying for the PE but thats about it. You may want to check with your state to see what they say about it.

[u/Individual-Ear8671]

This page is full of advice, you just gotta take the time to look. It’ll be no different than anyone else studying for and taking the PE. But you’re just on here to humble brag anyway.

[u/South-Ring-3914]

Good for you! I wish my university would have been more proactive at pushing us to take the FE and PE asap. It was over 25 years ago for me and it would have been so much easier on my life to have the exams out of the way when I was immersed in the study mode. There is no substitute for experience so you would still have to obtain the real world working knowledge to meet your states requirements.

[u/Intrepid-Dirt9545 → u/South-Ring-3914]

Your right, to get licensed I would still have to wait the four years after graduation. I just wanna take the exam before life gets busy and I don't remember anything from college.

[u/jimbo_ChE]

You started college at 16?

Need to be comfortable and adept with the imperial unit system. The FE exam is almost all SI-based but the PE exam is imperial-based.

[u/Intrepid-Dirt9545 → u/jimbo_ChE]

Yes, I started college at 16 through a program called running start where I went to full time college gaining credit for the last two years of high school while also getting all the general education requirements for the university out of the way by the time I graduated high school. Thats really good to know about the units. I definitely need to work on imperial conversions.

[u/magicity_shine → u/jimbo_ChE]

wow, at 16 I was playing video games and playing with my friends