NCEES PE exam prep

Pass your PE exam.

Walk in ready, walk out done — prep built for the exact exam you're sitting.

Start your free trial

7 days free · no card · cancel anytime.

  • 1,000+ exam-real problems
  • Grounded AI tutor
  • Full-length 8-hour mocks
  • Handbook-cited solutions
Practice · HVAC & Refrigeration
Exam format
Easy6 min · USCS

4,000 cfm of outdoor air at 95°F mixes with 12,000 cfm of return air at 75°F. Find the mixed-air dry-bulb temperature.

A.77.0 °F
B.80.0 °F
C.85.0 °F

Worked solution

Weight by mass flow, not 50/50 — the outdoor air is a quarter of the stream:

T = (4,000×95 + 12,000×75) / 16,000 = 80.0 °F
Handbook §2.4

The AI tutor

Meet Castor — the tutor that's already worked the problem

Every CastorPrep problem ships with a worked solution written and reviewed before it goes live. Castor is grounded in that solution — so when you're stuck, it doesn't guess. It knows the exact step where your answer diverged, and it cites the Handbook section you'd need on exam day.

And it works both sides of the answer: stuck before you submit, Castor coaches — it probes your setup and gives one nudge at a time, never the letter. After you answer, it debriefs your exact miss.

No generic AI answers: Castor works from the verified solution and the Handbook — not from whatever the internet thinks.

Castor— AI tutor

On a live problem: cooling coil, 6,500 cfm — total load in tons.

I picked A — 5.1 tons. Why is that wrong?
You picked the sensible factor with the enthalpy difference — a mismatch. The problem is that 1.10 is the sensible-heat factor (it pairs with dry-bulb temperature drop), while 8.6 Btu/lb is the enthalpy drop (total heat). You can't pair them. The question asks for the total cooling load, so you need the total-heat factor: 4.5 (from Handbook §9.1.7 at sea level).
Got it — so which relation should I have used?
The one from Handbook §9.1.7: q_total = 4.5 × Q × Δh 4.5 = the standard-air total-heat factor at sea level Q = your airflow (6,500 cfm) Δh = enthalpy drop across the coil (31.6 − 23.0 = 8.6 Btu/lb_da) Once you compute q_total in Btu/h, divide by 12,000 to get tons.

A real exchange with Castor, on a real problem from the bank.

Full-length mocks

Rehearse the full eight hours.

80 questions, 8 hours of timed testing, per depth — pause and resume, so a mock fits your real schedule.

  • 80 questions, 8 hours, timed
  • Pause & resume — the clock holds at 8 hours
  • Pace + score + weak-area breakdown after
Mock · Thermal & Fluid Systems
Q 38 / 80
3:42:10Pause

8 h working time · pauses don't burn the clock

MediumFill-in · SI

An ideal Rankine cycle takes in 2,640 kJ/kg in the boiler and rejects 1,620 kJ/kg in the condenser. Determine the cycle's thermal efficiency.

38.6%
3334353637383940414243444546474849505152
answered current flagged unanswered

The exam

Built for the exam you're sitting.

PE Mechanical

Exam overview →
HVAC & RefrigerationLargest

Heaviest on psychrometrics (~¼), plus equipment and heat transfer.

First-time pass 69–73%Prep for this depth →
Machine Design & MaterialsBroadest

Six areas on a mechanics-of-materials spine — fatigue, the broadest scope.

First-time pass 64–67%Prep for this depth →
Thermal & Fluid SystemsFastest-growing

Highest first-time pass — but power cycles and compressible flow are the traps.

First-time pass 71–75%Prep for this depth →

PE Electrical: Power

Coming soon

One of the fastest-growing PE exams — opening soon on CastorPrep.

Still deciding which to sit? Which depth should you take? →

How it works

Quality you can trace.

Every CastorPrep problem is built to a standard — mapped to the exam, original, solved and checked, and Handbook-cited. The AI tutor teaches straight from that verified work, so the help you get on every problem is grounded and reliable.

The tutor is the payoff of that pipeline — How the tutor works →

Start free

Ready when you are.

Seven days, full access — the full bank of exam-real problems with a grounded AI tutor on every one, full-length timed mocks, and a diagnostic to aim your reps. No card to start, cancel anytime.

Start your free trial

7 days free · no card · cancel anytime.