How I reviewed for the Philippine Registered Mechanical Engineer Licensure Exam
My journey preparing and taking the exam towards becoming a full-fledged engineer
Congratulations, you graduated! You’ve spent years taking a ton of courses, solving problem sets, building things for your lab projects and thesis, and now one step away from practicing what you’ve learned. The Mechanical Engineering License Exam awaits.
What is the Mechanical Engineering Licensure Exam?
The Philippine Regulatory Commission (PRC) requires mechanical engineering graduates to take a licensure exam in order to practice the profession. There are exams for Professional Mechanical Engineer, Registered Mechanical Engineer, and Certified Plant Mechanic (Note: I’ll be talking about the Registered Mechanical Engineer Exam)
The Registered Mechanical Engineer exam is a written exam divided into three topics: 1) Mathematics, Engineering Sciences, Mechanical Engineering Law, 2) Power and Industrial Plant Engineering, and 3) Machine Design and Shop Practice. All questions are multiple choice, and can be classified into “Elements”, where you have to select the correct concept or term being described or asked for, and Problem Solving.
I spent four to five months of review, and attended a review school during the weekdays. Feel free to make a plan of your own, take the tips you find helpful and disregard those that are not or may not apply to you. Let’s get started!
Reading through review materials and creating personalized reviewers
I spent the first two months gathering review materials, going through each of these, and generating my personalized review booklets. What was important to me was to quickly paint a complete picture of what the exam would cover. I used the books from my review center as my primary material as these were the most comprehensive and were tailored for exam prep. I also had my own college notes, old review books from professors, and other formula sheets as supplementary material.
After gathering all these resources, I then read through each of the review center’s books cover-to-cover. For each of the three key topics, I created a booklet and wrote a list of formulas and a list of concepts/elements, particularly obscure ones, by hand. I used my supplementary material to fill in any formulas or elements that weren’t covered by the review center books.
Writing a list of formulas and challenging elements made the exam seem less daunting. While doing it may be a big effort, it was reassuring to see that the entire exam, from Algebra, Engineering Economics, Analytic Geometry, to Boilers, the Rankine Cycle, HVAC/R, to Gears, Materials, and Machine Shop, can be summarized in a few sheets of paper. These personalized review booklets were also useful as I continued to refer to and enhance these lists for the rest of the review.
Summary: Spend the first stage of your review gathering review materials, prioritizing which materials to focus on, reading them cover-to-cover, and creating written lists of formulas and elements/concepts. If you are enrolled in a review center or school review, prioritize what material they provide, then turn your attention to the other materials you have.
Repeating for familiarization, understanding, and fewer mistakes
For the remainder of the review, it was all about repetition. My goal was to get exposed to as many problems and questions as possible, as many times as possible.
For problem solving, I would periodically read through your list of formulas. Then I would get a sheet of paper and write all the formulas I knew for “Math”, then for “Power Plant”, then “Machine Design”. I found that actually writing these formulas was an effective way to see if I knew them by heart.
Aside from writing formulas down, I also kept solving and re-solving problems provided during the review sessions. By doing so, I became more familiar with the problems and the approach to solve them, and was able to solve some of these almost mechanically (pun intended) through time.
For elements, I would periodically read and re-read my list of elements, and repeatedly solve identification questions. The key was to do as many rounds of reading materials. For a book of elements on Power and Industrial Plant Engineering for example, I would scan from one question to the next regardless of whether I got the correct answer or not, finish the book, then scan the book again. I preferred this approach rather than spend all my time getting all the questions for one chapter correctly before moving to the next chapter.
The process of repetition helped me track my progress. By rewriting formulas, and using these for problem solving, I found which formulas or problems I wasn’t too familiar with. By repeatedly reading elements and elements questions, I got to a point where I was able to associate the correct answer to keywords in the question, and was finished reading the review materials in less and less time.
Having enrolled at a review center, I would attend both the morning and afternoon sessions to reinforce what was being taught for the day. I would also occasionally attend the weekend sessions, particularly as the exam drew near. I was also always punctual, and I cannot stress how simple yet effective this habit is. Showing up at class a few minutes late means a question/problem/concept missed, and these missed knowledge adds up!
Summary: Preparing for the exam is a matter of repetition and familiarization. Keep cycling through formulas, problems, and concepts.
Leading oneself
I began reviewing in October and took the exam in March. While the exam was my top priority, I wanted to put in structure while making time for other things like tennis during the weekends, job screenings and interviews, TV-show binges, Christmas parties, and catching up with family and friends. Reviewing for the exam also means taking care of these areas:
Managing your time. I spent the weekdays taking the morning class at the review center, and the afternoon spent reviewing in college or at home. I kept a schedule of what I was supposed to accomplish for the week to manage changes and ensure I was making consistent progress.
I also personally decided to enjoy the Christmas break, knowing I needed time to refresh (and I wouldn’t be motivated to study over the holidays anyway). Create a concrete schedule and anticipate other commitments and priorities so you can study ahead of time and avoid procrastinating.
Managing your health and energy. I made time to play tennis during the weekends, took a daily dose of multivitamins, and maintained a regular sleep routine and tried my best to get some shuteye on the nights before the exam. As in life, but more especially in the days and weeks approaching the exam, consider your diet, exercise, and sleep.
Managing your environment. Two months before the exam, I deactivated my Facebook account and logged back in when the exam was over. If you spend hours a day on social networking (as I did), consider reducing of completely disengaging from these.
I was also particular about being in an environment that is conducive for review. I studied in the newly built college library, and turned our dining room into a “war room”, complete with posters of power plant cycles and formulas draped on the walls. I also spent time studying with friends for motivation, and as a way to teach and improve each other’s understanding.
Summary: Manage your time, health, energy, and environment in a way that works for you.
Setting up for success on exam day
It’s exam day. At this point, it was about making sure I was in the best condition to take the exam, and that the day would go as smoothly as possible.
Have breakfast. As anxious as I was, I made sure to hydrate and have breakfast in order to have the right energy to take the exam. I stay with safe foods and drinks (safe for your stomach).
Come to the exam venue early. Ensure you know the exact route from your home/hotel to the venue, and come in ahead of time. I got to the exam venue more than 45 minutes prior to registration, enough time to call family and for a few minutes of silence.
Follow instructions. I read and reread the instructions. To be absolutely sure, I even had the proctor come over to my desk to ensure I had filled-up all my information on the exam forms correctly.
Easy questions first. At the beginning of each exam session, I took a moment to scan the exam booklets to see all the questions. After scanning all the questions, I solved the easiest questions first before deciding to solve from first to last. For very difficult questions, I eliminated any obviously wrong choices, set-up the given information and formulas, and moved to the next question when I got stuck. It became easier to revisit the difficult questions later on because I had put my initial ideas down.
Don’t discuss questions and your answers after the exam. It’s in the past, and comparing answers after the first exam would have made me more nervous, especially when we had to take the rest of the exam the next day.
Performing in the exam is about putting in a good effort and reminding yourself that you have what it takes to ace it. Trust in the process, focus on your efforts, and know that you probably solved more difficult problems in college. Good luck!
