Chemical Engineering Reference Manual for the PE Exam

Rating:
Summary: Very straight forward manual, problems could be better
Review: I am currently using this book to review for the PE exam. The main chapter material is wonderful and very straight forward. I wish I had this book when I was in school. Several reference tables and figures are great for making quick work of routine problems and problems a young engineer like myself normally solves with a computer. The main downside is the end of chapter problems. If you're reviewing for the PE, you MUST buy the solutions manual to make the questions worth while. Some of the problems aren't stated clearly and you'll need the manual to clarify what is being asked for. It is common for problems to use ambigous units such as psi (instead of psia or psig) and unit in terms of other variables (per cubic foot of bed, or per pound formula weight). When you do get the solutions manual, the problems are solved without units. This is difficult on problems with mixed english/SI units (but a good review). Dispite the difficulty with the problems, this is the best of the review manual in my opinion and I wouldn't want to go into the exam without it.

Rating:
Summary: Virtually the only resource I used
Review: I found this book to be extremely helpful both in preparation for and in taking the Chemical Engineering PE examination. While the practice problems are a good review, I thought they tended be more difficult than the actual test. Additionally, the book covers all the high points that are on the exam. The layout is excellent and with a little familiarity (and some page tabs) I was able to find every reference I needed in very little time during the test.

Rating:
Summary: This book is solely intended for PE exam review.
Review: I wrote this book soley as a study guide for preparing for the professional engineerng exam in chemical engineering. When I teach the course for this subject, I tell my students that the only way to learn how to prepare for the exam is to do the problems. This book is not intended to be the "single sourcebook" for the exam. Instead, as you do the problems, you will determine what other standard books YOU will need. I am aware that Engineering Economics is now not part of the PE exam, but I keep it in the book because there still have been questions on the exam that have some aspects of econcomics in them. I rate this 5 stars not only because I wrote it but I have seen how it gives confidence to those preparng for the exam in my classes. I have all but finished the next edition-expanding to 42 chapters from 19- but its publication is still in doubt with the same publisher at this time. The few remaining chapters will be finished after completing my PhD in 1999. We'll see what happens then.