The 2022 exam is now in the past!
Any comments you test-takers have will help future test-takers to prepare. And any suggestions for blog/Guidebook/Companion improvements are always welcome and appreciated. I really enjoy hearing from everyone.
Please remember the blog rule: specific prior PE Exam questions, in whole or in part, cannot be discussed. General topics, resource suggestions, and testing techniques only please. Try not to "cross the line" into discussing specific problems from prior exams, such as comments like: "...several of the drilling questions with probability...” it too specific as per the test-writers. Thanks, folk!
There is a delay between comment submission and when it appears; please be patient.
11-7-22 UPDATE: Thanks everyone for the excellent comments!
If you didn't pass his year and need some help prepping for 2023, let me know in the next few weeks and I'll try to set up a free class or two by Zoom or email. Sometimes all it takes is some basic advice. I do these classes just to keep mentally 'up-to-date', so don't worry about putting me out.
Anonymous, just to be careful, I cut a few minor sentences out of your excellent comment just to be safe we don't get too close to the questions on the exam.
ReplyDeleteI took the Bing / Winrock class and spent 3 months studying for the exam using his notes, your reference guide and the SPE texts, probably around 250-300hrs+ and don't thing I did particularly well. The 'big' subjects Bing suggested we concentrate on didn't show up and there were a number of calculation questions that both Bing and your reference guide don't touch on at all (multiple questions on same subject). So advice would be to study until you have a broad knowledge of....EVERYTHING! [snip] You need to study everything, including things that you would never see or have never even heard of in your daily working life as there's a good chance there's going to be questions about some obscure subjects in there!
[Be prepared for] 'non multiple choice' [snip]...'fill in the empty text box with your numerical answer', not sure if that's the shape of things to come or not!
Anonymous says:
ReplyDeleteVery unfair test I think. [snip] ...focus lacking standard “petroleum engineering” and "facilities".
Hi - I wanted to discuss my experience so that it may help others prepare in the future. First of all, the prep for this was not easy, and honestly was grueling., especially to those engineers who already work full time on top of taking and preparing for this thing. But since this is the second time for me taking the test, I think I have a pretty good handle on how to prepare. I started studying in June of 2022, and firstly, made a study schedule (leaving out Fridays and Sundays to rest). I worked through (mostly) David's 2016, 2017, and 2018 practice exams, along with the 2021 (40 questions) practice problems, to obtain a broad understanding of the concepts. I also worked through the 2005 practice exam. Also, I worked through the question bank (350 conceptual questions) that Olumayoa O. Famodimu recently released (I purchased this on Amazon). I thought this was really neat and helpful. Finally, since I did NOT want to go through another year of studying for this bear of a test, I broke down and paid to take the School of PE prep course (OnDemand). It was WELL worth the money and I felt like the prep course truly helped me grow and learn concepts...not just memorize. As far as the exam goes, who knows how I did...it stinks its only offered once a year. Its very hard to know what to expect with it. Good luck to all who took it!
ReplyDeleteI was a bit disappointed with many of the questions asked on the exam. There was a wide variety, of course, of different topics and "types" of questions, but overall was just a tad different than what I expected. There was also a question or two that in my view were poorly worded and could be interpreted 1 of 2 different ways. Maybe the test writers will work on that. My advice is to be well-rounded in all areas. Don't get too far into the weeds while practicing calculations, but don't be afraid to get into the weeds while studying conceptual material. It's hard to say whether I passed or not as I don't know what the min passing score will be, so I will have to wait until Wednesday to find out. Time was not an issue for me; I finished with ample time remaining whilst working at a relatively relaxed pace.
ReplyDeleteI just received the results and I passed. Yayyee! I want to thank you for setting up this blog and everyone who contributed. This was my third time taking the exam. Personally, I thought this year's exam was lot more harder and concentrated in the area that I don't have exposure through my work experience. Some problems hard to prepare for, either you know it or not. I would rate the last year's exam (2021 easiest and I still don't believe that I didn't pass last year. To be honest, I ran out of material after preparing this exam for twice in row. This year I couldn't spare more time due to personal things and just reviewed my last year's notes. I practiced 2005 exam this year as I did not do that in previous years. I knew how to solve 75 to 85% problems and I believe I got all those answered correct. Reservoir is my strongest subject and tend to do better on those problems. I used this blog and other exams available through SPE to practice for the test. There were few Drilling questions out of reach for me. All other areas were manageable with practice and preparation. Test taking skills are also important, so I would suggest everyone to practice for time management. Most of the time, I ended up spending way too much time on few problems and rush through the others problems and making small errors. Anyway, all is behind me now. Congratulations to all who cleared this year! I would suggest anyone who didn't clear this year to attempt again with some more preparation.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - Your comment you left today encouraged me a lot. This year was my second time taking the test and I found out I did not pass. I probably put in around 250 hours the first time in 2020, and exactly (I logged) 298.05 hours this year. I also took the School of PE course and felt like I came a long way in understanding the material overall. The test, while the problems themselves were not super complex, was very hard to prepare for as there was a lot of material on it that was unexpected and did not show up in prep. I can't help but wonder if maybe studying less and getting more sleep the night before maybe would have changed the outcome. Oh well. I congratulate you for your perservance, and again, have been encouraged by your study tips the third go-around, esp. coming from somebody who failed the second time. Congrats!
DeleteResults are out as of this morning. I was fortunate enough to pass. I did not take a course or buy any material other than David's guidebook and the Reference Guide (formula sheet for the exam, so I could practice with it ahead of time). I did the 2005 SPE practice exam and utilized PetroWiki to freshen up on the topics that I was not as comfortable with. I do have experience as a D&C engineer for an operator which helped me on a lot of the questions asked, but I'm not sure I would've passed without some studying and prepping ahead of time.
ReplyDeleteDavid, please re-consider posting my comment from yesterday. My post was the one mentioning that I purchased your guidebook and the SPE reference guide. I think it's important not to censor comments, assuming the comment doesn't break any rules regarding discussion of test content, which I did not do. Folks need to have a wide sample size of experiences from multiple test-takers to use to determine their own study methods. I did not take a course and want others to be aware that a course is not necessary to pass this exam. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteAnon, I'm not sure what post is yours - I post everything I can that doesn't get too close to specific problems that were on the exam (the test-writers are VERY strict and have failed people for posting even the slightest hint of a problem type on these types of forums).
DeleteThank god I passed. I want to share my experience so that maybe my experience can be helpful to some one. My main background is operations,completions, and management. This is my second time taking the test. I would say I had around ~40 hours of study time before I took my first test due to work. I decided to take this test extremely serious because I never wanted to take it again so I roughly put in about ~250 hours of study time for this test. I also took Bing’s course and really think the most helpful thing for me was the actual quiet time to focus on nothing but engineering outside of my busy day ( I would still recommend the course). My study consisted of many of your blog questions and the 2005 practice exam. I also read/practiced the Applied Drilling Engineering from Bourgoyne. As far as taking the test, I would just say have a very broad range in depth of knowledge to include all facets of the primary disciplines of petroleum engineering. I would say this years test was much harder than the 2021 test. My advice for anyone who didn’t pass is truly to work harder on concept through calculation. To all who did, congrats!
ReplyDeleteWow, what an excellent comment - clear, concise, and complete! Congratulations on your prep and success.
DeleteQuestion: did you take any practice tests? Was speed an issue for you, or did you have plenty of time? Do you have any suggestions for me to improve anything, any book or exam or blog? I'm very interested in your opinion, so don't hesitate to tell me what could be improved on my end. It really helps to get suggestions from people who pass because their method worked for them. It's tough to write exams because what is obvious to one person is not to another. I appreciate you taking the time.
Yes I really only practiced the spe 2005 and time wasn’t an issue. I think I went though my questions 3 times in each session. I think you do an excellent job in your blog and appreciate material. Maybe add some photo identification of standard oilfield components from the full O&G operation cycle.
DeleteI’m 16 years out of school and my base degree wasn’t Petroleum it was Civil. So i think each person has different circumstances but like i said have a broad range of knowledge.
Passed on the first try, wanted to share my experience. I used the 2009 SPE Study Guide / Practice Exam & the reference guide and studied for ~8 hours the day prior to the exam. I was a bit surprised at how broad the exam was, but nothing seemed overly difficult. Learning your way around the reference guide (the only material allowed in the exam) is absolutely critical. I finished with around an hour remaining and reviewed both sections multiple times before submitting.
ReplyDeleteI intended to take the exam several years ago but was discouraged by comments through the years on websites like this on the amount of prep people were doing and still not passing. Before the exam, I had accepted the idea that I wouldn't pass, and this was just going to be my chance to see the exam and decide how much effort/money I’d need to put in next year. After taking the exam, I was a bit underwhelmed by the exam given the apparent difficulty some have with it. While my experience seems to be the odd one out compared to most, I want others to be aware that hundreds of hours of studying and thousands of dollars in prep courses aren't necessary to pass the exam. With 8 hours of studying and a $62 reference guide I passed and felt like I did extremely well on the exam. I would encourage anyone interested in licensure to take the exam even if you can’t commit to hundreds of study hours or an expensive prep course, either you surprise yourself and pass, or you get a great idea of what you need to do to pass on your next attempt.
My experience was nearly identical to yours, except I studied for about a week and half before the exam. First time taking the exam and I passed. I don't necessarily think a $3k course or a year of studying is necessary (though I'm sure it doesn't hurt), but like you said, the level of difficulty of the exam is probably a bit lower than what most expect. The breadth of the exam topics is likely what gets a lot of people.
DeleteHey everyone! Thanks to this blog to discuss and learn from other PEs. I took the test in 2022, and I thought the test questions were overall pretty fair, with the difficulty ranging from easy to quite hard. While preparing for the exam, I studied the questions on this blog several times and worked through the Petroleum Engineering PE Licensure Exam Practice Question Bank by Olumayowa O. Famodimu. Both were invaluable resources and I highly recommend working through both sets of questions. The test can be very broad, and you should have at least a basic knowledge of EVERYTHING to at least know where to start when working the problems.
ReplyDeleteI passed the PE exams October 2022. I used a combination of three materials:
ReplyDelete(1) SPE PE online preparation course: (2) Gary Wines, Winrock Engineering, SPE Review Course, both in-class and prep materials; and
(3) Petroleum Engineering PE Licensure Examination Practice Question Bank.
I spent a few hours a week going through all three materials.
For calculations, I spent time on Gary’s materials and the SPE online course, but for practice questions I used the question banks, mostly non calculations content.
Close to the exams I realized there was so much content in the question bank. It was a very useful guide.
Solomon I.
I took the exam this year and passed the first time. I read the SPE Drilling Textbook and the Well Testing textbook cover to cover and did all the exercises. MDavid's book was great for the bread and butter formulae (like (OD^2 - ID^2)/1029) and other essentials like buoyancy factor, Derrick load, well testing, etc. I found practice exams and used Bing's notes a colleague lent me. I took 3months casual studying, 3weeks crash course 60hr/week studying and it worked. Bonus strategy of emphasizing your weak areas to get the steep part of point accrual vs invested time was wise. I spent maybe half a day on my strong areas by ripping through my Ugrad notes. Olamayowa's question bank helped me get more exposure to the broad base verbal questions. I cannot emphasize enough how critical it is to be VERY VERY familiar with the 6th Edition of the SPE Certification/PE license guide. Sometimes equations are all over the place and you have to know where to find them plus know which ones to memorize from M david like max inclination angle for build and hold wells that would be super tedious to manually reinvent versus memorizing the 7 terms that go into it. To MDavid-- this website is a blessing. Thank you for uplifting the profession.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the pass! Thanks also for the 6th Edition SPE Cert guide suggestion. And thanks for taking the time, and for your kind words.
DeleteYou're very welcome
DeleteIf you work at a big company (I work for an IOC) try and line up some major CBTs in the run up to the exam. Some of the videos can be a real bore, but I legitimately think I scored 3 to 8 more points on the exam because I had recently pushed through a campaign of topics related to subspecialty "X", "Y", and "Z". I self-censored in line with the expectations at the top of this page. As others have alluded, see if your employer supports taking formal classes or a short LOA to have protected study time. I raided the company library and had probably 40 books checked out on *Everything* you can imagine. I also made a small log of my studying (day, duration, topic, location, and my self perceived quality factor). I learned this way that coffee shops worked for drilling engineering textbook reading, but I was more productive at home when reading my binders. At the end of the day make a plan and go for it.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot for the careful reply. It really sucks to have to self-censor and I really wish why would just make it like the SAT where they pull from a big enough pool of questions they encourage everyone to talk about specific questions.
DeleteI like the idea of a "log" while studying. That's real discipline! Thanks again for returning and helping everyone out.
Failed it twice. First time 2019 - just used SPE website resources. Second time 2020 - took Bing's class and purchased MDavid's book. Only have experience in Drilling and did not study petroleum engineering. Felt like everything besides Drilling kicked my butt, reflected in grading feedback. Any advice besides the 3 steps below? Thank you.
ReplyDelete1: Purchase the Question Bank (anyone selling?)
2: Go over Bing's course notes
3: Go over MDavid's book and website problems
This is mdavid; Brian thanks for the comment. I try to keep my mind active & so am willing to do some free Q&A or a Zoom review with you before your next round; just email at mdavidgo at gmail if interested.
ReplyDeleteThank you, much appreciated
DeleteBrian, thanks for the comment. I try to keep my mind active & so am willing to do some free Q&A or a Zoom review with you before your next round; just email at mdavidgo at gmail if interested.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know where I can get the 2005 SPE Exam? I saw that David has the link on the bottom left but it seems to have multiple segments of questions that go up to only 40 Questions. I have been having really hard time finding that book so, any help will be really really appreciated.
ReplyDeleteAny thoughts on 2023 exam? I thought it was fairly easy?
ReplyDelete