PE Environmental Exam: My 1st attempt failure, experience and plan
I took the PE Environmental exam and unfortunately did not pass on my first attempt. Trust me, the exam was heavily focused on qualitative and theoretical questions. Now that I’ve experienced the exam firsthand and understand how the questions are actually structured, I’m preparing for my second attempt and plan to retake it in a few months. For mathematical problems, I used resources such as-
- NCEES Practice Exam (Purchased from NCEES)
**I bought it for $40 (I think)
- Sigma YouTube videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHKm4iNu0vE&list=PLhEt0fVgaYTjXqyTG_HI5xiQykBzYJHgo,
**Free
3. PPI PE Environmental Practice – Comprehensive Practice for the PE Environmental Exam by R. Wane Schneiter https://www.amazon.com/Environmental-Practice-Wane-Schneiter-PhD/dp/1591265762/ref=sr_1_2?crid=LZ8JI33JOAR0&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.63Rd-N7Hp3jBRkiLovOmq3ruw9i0hYcSL2DKFKNDmMYSfOAR6zX8_CzjyVfB-yVbFic6Dqo0WnxbqVJmIX8chdbOInlZf9UshYZGgBnvkfFdmriLrd5DYdamMfTSihZYxvZedgc5AiV_1qONEY2l_ePpw2IdOMPZMk4lUuVO1AyH9_X3-oc2-C7_EPCtbhsyTSsSsXN_HtCGfmZwX9nhQfXmqwr49X3RGZunod0btwE.w2dOwoEVOfeDHcslVrmDEo78VkTET-6GIbEy4hNZgBw&dib_tag=se&keywords=pe+environmental+practice+problems+by+schnitzer&qid=1778600479&sprefix=pe+environmental+practice+problems+by+schnitzer%2Caps%2C111&sr=8-2
**This is a bit expensive like $110, but I got a reimbursement from work.
These were recommended to me by a colleague, and honestly, they are excellent resources!! I’ll continue using them for my second attempt as well. Practice the NCEES practice exam questions as much as you can. Try approaching each question from different angles and think about possible variations, including unit conversions and alternate ways the problem could be asked. Trust me, this is one of the MOST IMPORTANT resources for the exam.
The biggest challenge for me was the theoretical questions and probably the reason why I failed. That struggle has been real because there simply are not many good qualitative resources available online for Environmental PE prep. On my exam, there were 24 non-math questions in the morning section and 22 in the afternoon section. One particularly tricky part of the exam was the “Apply All” type questions and "Drag and Drop" type questions where you have to drag the correct options from one side to another -for example, 3 choices on the left and 5 options on the right. For those questions, you really need to know the exact concepts and answers. There were questions that required straight memorization and conceptual understanding. Because of that, I’ve been digging through different resources focused specifically on qualitative prep, and I recently came across one that is entirely dedicated to qualitative practice. The practice book includes topic-wise multiple-choice questions on Air Quality, and the theory and style closely replicates the actual exam questions!! I even messaged the seller to ask whether more volumes would be published soon and they replied yes and told me to keep an eye on the shop. Hopefully the rest of the volumes get published before I take my exam again LOL. I just saw another publication on Health and Safety!!
Posting the booklet links so that it is helpful:
- Air Quality: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4501890276/pe-environmental-exam-qualitative?ref=share_v4_lx
- Environmental Health and Safety: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4503449424/pe-environmental-exam-qualitative?ref=related-3&dd=1&logging_key=4f98bc443dad1d6ceea9cebc9ab280b6a3be9c69%3A4503449424
**I’ll update this post if I come across and use more helpful study materials.