PE Agricultural study guide
PE Agricultural · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) Agricultural and Biological Engineering exam is one of the discipline-specific PE exams offered by NCEES, which states that it offers more than 20 different PE exams. NCEES describes the PE exam as testing for a minimum level of competency in a particular engineering discipline, and says it is designed for engineers who have gained a minimum of four years of post-college work experience in their chosen discipline. The PE Agricultural study guide has 5 sections and about 1,687 words.
01Agricultural Production and Processing Systems
Nearly every production or processing item is a material balance wrapped around a machine-management or unit-operation question. Start by defining the system boundary, then list inputs, outputs, and losses.
308 words, about 2 min02Biological and Food Engineering
Biological and food engineering items usually reduce to a mass and energy balance plus a single rate relationship. Psychrometric problems (drying, storage ventilation, HVAC) require you to pin down dry-bulb, wet-bulb, dew point, humidity ratio, and enthalpy, and to recognize that wet-bulb equals dry-bulb at saturation.
346 words, about 2 min03Natural Resources and Environmental Systems
Natural resource questions start at the field or watershed scale. Know the difference between soil erosion (detachment and transport on site) and sediment yield (what actually leaves the field), and between peak-flow estimation (Rational method, TR-55) and volume or continuous simulation (curve number).
357 words, about 2 min04Machine, Structural, and Energy Systems
Expect power-flow questions: engine to PTO to drawbar to implement. Drawbar power (hp) = draft (lb) x speed (ft/min) / 33,000; with speed in mph, hp = draft x mph / 375.
327 words, about 2 min05Professional Practice and Project Management
Professional practice questions test the rules you work under. Know the difference between responsible charge and supervised work, when a seal and signature are required, and that sealing work outside your competence is an ethics violation.
349 words, about 2 min