I'm currently in the process of studying for the FE that I'm taking in a few weeks (April 9th) and I'm wondering the best way to go about it.

I've been doing problems to try and get a feel for what is going to be on the test, but it covers such a huge range that I'm feeling a little overwhelmed and am starting to get stressed.

I've seen elsewhere the the best way to prepare is to get familiar with the the reference handbook and try to use it combined with context clues to solve the problems. I've got a few practice exams with solutions that I'm going through with the handbook as well.

Any suggestions? I've seen people say they took the test cold and passed it. How? They must be insanely good at reading context clues.

What is your major? I was a MEEN major and took the general portion in both the morning and the afternoon and passed it without studying and passed with no problem.

The formula book that they provide pretty much has every equation you will need and the neat thing about the test is that the answer choices seem to be off by a factor of 10 (at least for the 2nd half). This helped a lot for me especially since I brought the wrong type of calculator and had to do long division by hand.

One thing that I would recommend is brushing up on your engineering economics stuff. I recall (this was back in 2005) there being quite a few questions on this stuff and I pretty much had to re-teach myself the stuff from the equations in the book since I hadn't taken the class in about 2 years.

I had a friend who was a CVEN major and he took the Civil specific section in the afternoon and passed without studying with no problem.

The pass rate for the CVEN department is usually around 90%. Most people do a practice test or something you can buy at Barnes & Noble.

I think you are worrying way too much for this thing, it's not that difficult.

Maybe you're right, but still I would rather not have to take this exam again. I guess part of the reason why I'm stressing a bit is because I don't have an engineering undergrad and I'm worried this may hurt me on the test (I have a meteorology undergrad, so I have the math, physics and chemistry down pretty well). I've taken some leveling courses in statics, dynamics, circuits, solids, thermodynamics and fluids so I have a pretty well rounded background.

Also, I'm doing the environmental for the afternoon part because I'm more familiar with that than anything else due to my current masters degree.

How much did you guys study for the exam?

If you can navigate your way through the reference manual, you will be just fine.

I know the A&M Engineering Dept does a pretty good job in educating their future engineers. Most engineering students from A&M who take the FE Exam don't even really study for it (in my experience) and the engineering department, as a whole, has something like a +90% pass rate. I know you said you don't have an engineering undergrad, but the test is on engineering FUNDAMENTALS. Knowing the basics should be sufficient.

That said, being familiar with the reference manual is definitely helpful, as you only have about 2 minutes per question in the morning and 4 minutes per question in the afternoon. You don't want to waste any of that time trying to find something in the reference manual.

2-4 minutes per question, consistently, over the course of an 8 hour exam takes its toll on the test taker. Get plenty of rest the night before and eat a good breakfast that morning.

Good luck!

I think I got somewhere in the high 80% range on the test, though it doesnt matter what you got as long as you pass.

I did general both in the morning and afternoon because the electrical engineering specific part is brutal. During my prep (flipping through the reference book) I saw what stupid stuff they consider electrical engineering (programming, excel and then deep into computer register theory) and yeah I was like no thanks.

Id check into what formulas/topics the reference book they give you has for your major before you decide to take the afternoon portion of the test for your major.

Secondly, test is easy, you just need to know calculus, physics and have some common sense to the order of magnitude of an answer. Usually each question has 3 answers that have the order of magnitude way out of wack, in fact .. find the two answers that have plausible units (units with the same order of magnitude), then go eenie meenie miney mo and you will get half of those right.

I had to do that with hydrostatic questions or load bearing beams and crap like that, because as an electrical engineer you shouldnt waste your time even trying to figure those out.

So .. in summary
1. Look through reference manual, know where you can find what, for things that you CAN solve
2. Realize there is going to be a ton of crap you have no idea how to solve, try to use clues in the answer to increase your guess chances, but DONT waste your time on crap you cant solve. If you have absolutely no clue and the units arent helping you, GUESS, or bubble C or whatever and move on to stuff that WILL earn you points.
3. CVEN has nice reference material online, but again dont stress out, I didnt study at all.
4. LEARN how to use an approved calculator. Do some calculus and etc with a TI-36x or whatever it is. I use a TI-89 titanium and well I chose an approved calculator with a similar interface and last answer memory as I am accustomed to.

Knowing the manual and your calculator is ALL the prep you have to do, if you didnt learn the crap on the FE, no amount of studying can prepare you for it, thats kind of the point.

[This message has been edited by Randy03 (edited 3/24/2011 4:33p).]

That's actually good to know that that I don't have to know everything on the test to pass because I'm looking over some of the stuff right now (I got the FE Review Manual from Lindeburg) and holy **** my classes never covered like half the **** in the handbook. I mean I can do plenty of statics, dynamics, biology, chemistry, etc. problems but geez, how long do they think the semesters are? It's like the handbook is designed for people who have majored in each specific subject rather than about the fundamentals.

I got and have been using an approved Casio FX-115ES calculator so I'm good there.

I guess I was freaking out a bit because there was simply so much stuff that I just didn't know after going through the handbook (I'm working on my damn masters in environmental engineering and the handbook is even more in depth in environmental engineering than anything I've ever done by a significant margin).

Also thanks for the advice about guessing, I'm going to definitely try and use that method.

Good man, no stress.

I can dig that you dont want to take some crappy 8 hour test again, that was the main worry about me and my buddy who took it.

Hell for break time in the middle of the test, I went home, ate a snack and played some playstation, I didnt want to sit there and think about that test, which would make me uptight and Id do less well.

The test is primarily a Civil test for civils, because the majority of licensed engineers are civils (since public jobs have to be signed off by a PE). There is a lot more civil content on the exam than any other field, which I think environmental is a sub-discipline of civil so you will have an advantage in that.

The key to test, any test for that matter, is to get 100% credit for what you can solve, not to waste time on crap you cant and to guess as well as you can on problems that lend themselves to higher probability guessing. There certainly isnt enough time to solve each question on that test individually, you will have to guess or skip questions (dont leave any blank, its not the SAT, "C" is better than nothing)

[This message has been edited by Randy03 (edited 3/26/2011 3:38a).]

I was ISEN and even I passed the test. Needed it for future consulting. Don't stress out about it - just know how to use the formula book.

+1 on familiarizing yourself with the manual.

Eat breakfast. Take a leak before going in. That is a long SOB.

You will pass with out problem.

How long do you have between the morning and afternoon sessions?

about 30 minutes, if I remember correctly...

My UG was not in engineering but my MS is in MEEN. All I did was briefly look at the equation book before and took it without really studying. Taking the actual test, remember you have quite a few problems to solve so don't sit on one question thinking you can solve it if you stare at it long enough. Don't cram the night before - get a good nights sleep, eat a good breakfast and then take it! Honestly, if you have been paying attention in your classes, you should pass no problem.

I feel like the FE exam is going to be pretty hard...especially for someone like me who had to scrap by in all of the classes.

Mechanics of materials...Beason was cool and easy but I didn't learn much. Those questions are going to rape me and the economics problems are pretty tough as well. Oh well. I'll figure it out.

If the fe is hard for you you might want to consider a different field of work. Especially if your discipline requires a PE

Sounds good. I'll just quit engineering when I have 4 weeks left to graduate.

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Sounds good. I'll just quit engineering when I have 4 weeks left to graduate.

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You can get a degree in engineering, but may have to work in a different field. People do it all the time. The is the FUNDAMENTALS of Engineering exam. If you don't know the fundamentals well enough to pass, then you probably should consider working in a different field.

People trust their lives to competent engineers, and not knowing the basics equals not being competent. Having said that, A&M prepares their engineering students pretty well. Getting an engineering degree from A&M means you should easily pass the FE exam.

How'd it go for you guys?

Morning was pretty hard. Didnt read about 10 problems that I just straight up guessed on.

And if I went through and solved a problem and couldn't find the answer...I just guessed.

I think I did well enough to pass though.

I thought the morning wasn't too bad, guessed on about 10 problems or so. I took the environmental for the afternoon and man they threw some curveballs and most of it wasn't in the handbook at all. I'm not sure how they expect me to answer questions that, not only have I never seen and have no experience with, but aren't anywhere in the handbook. All in all I guessed on about 15 to 20 for the afternoon section.

Given that the passing scores recently have been like 110 out of 240 (below 50%), I think I passed. Sucks we have to wait so long for the results though, but I guess that's not a bad thing since the curve the results.

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Given that the passing scores recently have been like 110 out of 240

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Whoa, didn't realize they curved it that much.

And don't listen to the people who say this test is any indicator of your work performance.

I'm a civil guy. I don't need to know anything about thermo, very little electrical stuff, no chemistry. The FE is like most standardized tests, you prepare a few days/weeks for it and then after the test, you can forget it.

[This message has been edited by The Pilot (edited 4/10/2011 9:28p).]

Heh, yeah I figured that out during the test. Though the environmental section was basically the opposite, some of the questions were ridiculously specific to the point where if you hadn't had a class on it, that you could forget about answering it (I'm guessing those were some of the "experimental questions".

Also, yeah those passing rates are from the FE Review Manual from Lindeburg that I bought to prepare for the exam. I was pretty surprised about that as well, but if the passing rates are anything to go by I probably shouldn't be surprised.

They can't grade it too hard or else no one could ever become an engineer, and there is already a shortage as it is.

Again, the test is on basics. You won't use everything on that test, but the material shouldn't be too hard for you. A&M engineering students have something like a 90%+ pass rate. I wouldn't sweat the results.

I thought there were 180 questions. Did they change it? Used to be 120 in the morning and 60 in the afternoon. 110/180 is about 60%. That seemed to be about the same passing grade back in my day. Usually anywhere between 55%-60% correct was where they drew the line for a passing grade.

No it's still the same, 180 questions. I was quoting the actual score, not percentage right. Since the questions in the afternoon are worth 2 points and the morning questions are worth 1 point, the overall passing score has been around 110 out of 240 possible points.

As for the test being about the basics, you would be right if you were just speaking about the morning. The afternoon environmental one was pretty specific at times, but overall I'm not too worried and I still think I passed.

Man I told you the afternoon major specific sections are wacky. I wasnt sure before I got into the test back when I took it, so when I got into the test, I peeped into the EE specific afternoon part and was like F that.

The afternoon would have been fine if it was like the practice stuff from Lindeberg of NCEES, but it had numerous questions that were not in the handbook at all. I'm not too worried because I doubt many people were able to solve those problems.

I don't really understand why they would throw questions out like that? If it's not in the handbook and I've never seen it before even in the prep material, how can I be expected to solve it? Critical thinking will only get you so far on those types of problem and with only 4 minutes per problem, it's near impossible to derive any equation. It was basically, either you know it, or you don't.

I was honestly just laughing at some of the problems because they were so ridiculous. Took one look, said "nope" and guessed.

1) I bet its in the handbook somewhere

2) 4 minutes/question is the avg. You should answer enough through your knowledge/process of elimination that you have time to work the harder ones.

3) part of being an engineer is to adapt, and learn

4) don't sweat it, I just filled in the last few because I was tired of taking the test. You will probably be ok

I passed. I wonder what my score was though, I wish I could see what I missed.

Get your score at



http://www.tbpe.state.tx.us/index.htm

I passed as well man. I graduated with a terrible GPA but it just goes to show how great of an education I received where I can literally just show up to an exam and pass.

Got a low GPA but I learned a ton.