Friday, January 13, 2012

Fundamentals of Engineering/EIT Exam General Tips

I took the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam in October 2011. Two months later I received the results, stating that I passed (YAY!). Hopefully I can pass on a couple tips from my experience with the test!

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Waiting time to get results: Like I said before, it took me two months to get my results. I took my exam on October 29, 2011 and on December 20, 2011 I got an email saying “Your results from your recent NCEES exam have been released. To access your results, log into your NCEES exam registration account.” When I logged into my NCEES account I was able to see a message stating that I passed. I got an actual letter in my mailbox about a week after that.

Calculator: The most important tip I can give is to get a good calculator and learn how to use it to the fullest extent. I’m partial to Texas Instruments (TI) calculators, so I looked up what was allowed for the exam. I found that, for TI branded calculators, “TI-36” must be part of the name. The most powerful calculator fitting that description was the “TI-36X PRO,” so I ordered it. I did a review of the calculator in a previous post (link). Bottom line is that it is a great calculator for this test. I know that some people take pride in doing calculations in their head, but during the morning portion, you will have so many questions to answer that you will likely be crunched for time. Some of the math questions on the morning portion will simply take a couple keystrokes on the right calculator. This time savings will help you when you reach the subjects you struggle with.


Handbook: The second most important tip I can give is to print out the NCEES handbook (the PDF they give you with all the formulas), get it bound and use it to solve a bunch of practice problems. I know that we are in the digital age where we mostly look at documents on a computer screen, but this is one document where you need to actually have a hard copy. Note that the handbook is over 200 pages, which makes it very unwieldy if it is not bound. Again, like the calculator, some of the questions on the morning exam will be answered implicitly by the handbook. On exam day, when you are struggling with a problem, you will have two resources to help you out: your handbook and your calculator. If you are not familiar with either resource, they won’t be very much help.

Review Manual: My school did not offer a review course, so I bought Michael R. Lindeburg’s FE Review Manual. This book only prepares you for the morning portion but it does a great job. It has practice questions at the end of each chapter and a full 4 hour practice test in the back. In general, I felt like the questions on the actual FE Exam were easier than Lindeburg’s practice questions. Perhaps this was on purpose, but it made me feel confident on exam day. Also, the pages before the first chapter contain very good general information about the exam, such as what to bring and what to expect on exam day. I would recommend getting this book.

Also check out my post on FE Exam Strategy (link)

LINKS:
Lindeburg's Review Manual: http://ppi2pass.com/shop/fe-eit-exam/fe-eit-exam-review-materials
NCEES: http://www.ncees.org/
Great resource site: http://www.feexamreview.com/

23 comments:

  1. that is wonderful what major did you take your exam in? I was graduated for 7 years from out of U.S I am civil engineer looking for study materials for the FE. I checked the hand book I knew much about its content but I still need refresh class to remember all these subjects. Thank you

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    Replies
    1. That's very true, I had the benefit of being in my senior year and having some of that college content fresh in my mind. A review class would probably be very helpful. Especially for content like math which is so easy to forget and it is used so often on the test. Good luck!!

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  2. What did you do to prepare for the afternoon discipline specific portion of the exam?

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  3. are the subjects of the morning and of the afternoon are different?

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    Replies
    1. morning is general (everything) and afternoon is discipline-specific (usually your major). Or you can sign up for the "Other Disciplines" afternoon section which is more of the general questions.

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  4. Hi Nick,
    Super tips.....how long does it take you to prepare for morning as well as noon session?

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  5. Hi Nick,

    Good blog, with very useful info. I know because I scan the net for updated info. I wanted to ask however if it would be possible for you to allow this post for our Exam prep courses for the engineering exams.

    Our website is http://www.schoolofpe.com and we have been giving ncees exam refresher courses since 2004.

    Thank you and good luck in your venture

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  6. Yep. It's all about making sure you've got the necessary tools around. Equally pertinent is getting really good advise along the way, in figuring out the actual material. Because an engineering course, in and of itself, is a mountain climb.

    HomeTutorsSacramento.com

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  7. Nick, I'm taking the FE exam in a couple of weeks. I've been using Lindeburg's review manual as well. I was just curious as to what extent you thought the "FE Style Exam Problems" within each chapter represented actual morning exam questions. Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. If anything, the Lindeburg questions were harder than the actual test. Those practice problems are very helpful!

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    2. Awesome! I've been studying on my own for the last 3 months so I definitely appreciate your posts on the exam. I'm relieved to hear that I more or less stumbled upon the right track here. Thanks again
      !

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  8. Hi Nick, what book did you use to prep for the second half, afternoon exam? did you use another discipline review manual?

    Starting Jan 2014, NCEES website says that "Examinees have 6 hours to complete the exam, which contains 110 multiple-choice questions.
    The 6-hour time also includes a tutorial, a break, and a brief survey at the conclusion"

    Thanks for the post

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    Replies
    1. Dustin,

      I didn't use a discipline review manual for the second half. I reviewed my notes from upper division classes. This worked for me. Thanks

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  9. Hi, where and how to do registration for FE Wisconsin in Electrical major for August 2014. Please give me some initial guide line for preparation material. Thanks a lot, Please inbox if possible: shossain@uwm.edu

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    Replies
    1. Hi

      We will suggest School of PE for the easy registrations and for FE Wisconsin in Electrical major for August 2014.

      Source
      http://www.schoolofpe.com/States=Wisconsin.html

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  10. Please I am a graduate of agricultural engineering, what subject area do you advice me to take in the afternoon.

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  11. I'm a foreign engineering graduate.I graduated from school in 2000.It was a very ardous task to go back and relearn everything I learned in engineering 14 years back.I started small steps one at a time.I started my review in May this year.I first started in Mathematics.Spent three months doing nothing but math (from algebra to differential equations).I excluded laplace transform & fourier analysis from my review.The last three months from August to October ,I studied Circuits,Power,Controls,Electronics,Communications and Computers.I bought two sample exams: NCEES FE Other Sample Exam and the FE Electrical & Computer Sample Exam.I did this for the mathematics,probabilities/statistics and the ethics portion of the exam.As for Circuits,Power,Controls,Electronics,Communications and Computers portion,I searched the internet for anything about FE exam and did almost anything I found there.I did all the electrical topics in Lindeburg Rapid preparation manual.I also bought Kaplan FE Electrical Preparation Manual.However I found that their sample problems are too hard and I had gut feelings that those kind of problems will not appear in the FE exam.I did some of their topics example problems though and i think it helped a little bit in my preparation.
    I spent almost 4 hours a day on weekdays and at least 6 hours on weekends solving every problems that were in the books.
    I spent a good deal of familiarizing the FE Reference manual to the point of almost knowing it by heart.
    Every problem I worked on I always used the FE Reference manual.
    Doing all the above , I did also pray a lot to God to give me the necessary strength and knowledge to continue my review.Praying was the real thing that sustained me all those 6 months that I worked on my FE review.
    In October 16,2014 , I took the FE CBT Electrical & Computer Exam.
    Today,October 22,2014 I received an email from NCEES that I passed the FE Exam.
    Praise and Glory to God.

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  12. Can food science engineer take this exam?

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  13. Thank you for your valuable tips...I am going to take FE/EIT Exam at School of PE...

    ReplyDelete
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