FE EXAM EXAM PREPARATION STRATEGY Overview Everyone needs to prepare for the FE Exam in one way or another. Regarding the question “What's the best way to study for the FE exam?” the advice given by recent examinees is virtually unanimous: work practice problems, find out where your weaknesses lie, study those areas, and then work more practice problems. Taking a timed practice exam (or a partial exam) is a popular strategy. This not only gives the examinee more practice solving problems but also lets you find out how well you perform under pressure. The FE is a timed exam. In addition to knowing the subject material, an examinee must be intimately familiar with the NCEES Supplied Reference Handbook (the formula booklet that is only resource allowed during the exam). The examinee must be capable of answering test questions quickly, under pressure. And to avoid "reading things into" problems and making the test more difficult than it actually is, the examinee must have exposure to the types of problems on the exam. The Texas Tech University College of Engineering encourages all of our engineering students to prepare for and successfully take the FE Exam during their senior year at Texas Tech. We do not encourage students to approach the FE exam in a cavalier fashion, to make “trial runs” at the exam, or to take the exam without preparing for it.
Strategies for Study The following strategies will help you to prepare for the morning session:
FE Exam Preparation Strategy August 2006
1. Recognize that the five topics with the most exam questions – Mathematics, Chemistry, Engineering Mechanics, Engineering Economics, and Electricity & Magnetism – account for 51 percent of the AM exam. 2. The remaining seven topic areas – Computers, Ethics & Business Practices, Engineering Probability & Statistics, Strength of Materials, Material Properties, Fluid Mechanics, and Thermodynamic – account for 49 percent of the AM exam. 3. Spend the majority of your time reviewing material with which you are most familiar, with due consideration given to the point allocation identified above. The idea is to reinforce the things you already know. Don’t try to digest new subjects you have never encountered. 4. Obtain your own copy of the NCEES Supplied Reference Handbook, 7th Edition, to use when you study. Do NOT use older editions of this handbook, but instead, “practice like you will play.” Get intimately familiar with this handbook. Review the basic equations and schematics. Know the book as well as possible. Remember, this is the only reference you will have during the exam. About the FE Supplied Reference Handbook The FE Supplied Reference Handbook is somewhat confusing. It includes about 100 pages that cover the General subjects (AM) and another 120 pages or so that cover the six DisciplineSpecific (PM) subjects. The trouble is that the AM and PM subjects are intermixed! Page 1 of 3
Students should read the relevant parts of the NCEES Handbook thoroughly and be able to find formulas they need without searching. The following sections of the NCEES Handbook are NOT relevant to the General AM portion of the exam even though they are interspersed with most of the General topics.
Heat Transfer Transport Phenomena Computers, Measurement, and Controls
We recommend that you boldly mark the pages that cover the general (AM) subjects, plus the sections for your own discipline-specific PM exam. As you prepare, we encourage you to familiarize yourself with the location of the equations you need most, so you will be able to quickly locate those equations in the Handbook during the exam. You will find this particularly helpful since the Handbook is filled with plenty of extraneous material. If you do not train yourself in this way, you may well find it difficult to quickly locate the appropriate equations during the exam. Outline of a Good Study Program for Quick Progress For a senior enrolled in an engineering program and who has a busy schedule, we recommend 4 weeks as a minimum study period. During those 4 weeks, you must be willing to perform a fairly concentrated study. You should set aside blocks of 3 hours at least 2 days a week. NOTE: For those of you who have been away from the material for a while, or if you took the FE Exam previously but did not pass, the minimum length of study should be 8 weeks at the same intensity. Adjustments to the length of your study period should reflect the number of years you have been away from school and your own memory capability. See “Repeat Takers” section below.
FE Exam Preparation Strategy August 2006
Halfway through your review, take a Practice Exam. The Mock FE is designed to serve this purpose and attempts to simulate the true FE Exam experience by offering a half-length version of the real FE. Upon scoring your Practice Exam, you should be able to select no more than 5 key areas out of the 12 subject areas that need the most additional review. If you are weak in more than five areas, you need substantially more study. Be sure not to select subject areas that are tested lightly as your key areas of concentration. For the next half of your study period, depending on how prepared you are, you may need to adjust your study level. If you are reasonably prepared, then 2 hours at least 2 days a week may do it. Or, you may realize that you need to study an additional day a week or increase your study session to 4 hours. By now you should have a definite plan of how much time you will commit to each key subject area, and distribute your study time evenly throughout the 4 week period-an even, consistent study schedule builds skills best and minimizes stress and fatigue. Preparation is the key to success! Two days prior to exam day, review all subject areas briefly, using your highlighted handbook of equations and tables. Be sure you can quickly find the equations you will use most often in the unmarked booklet you will be given on exam day.
The day before the exam, relax and go to bed early. Do not cram or perform any panic studying. By now, you are as prepared as you can be for the exam. Repeat Takers Is this your second (or later) attempt at the FE? If so, it is critical that you realize the following: NCEES data strongly indicates that second (and third and fourth) time takers historically do no better on their later attempts at the FE Exam than
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they did the first time they took the exam. In fact, NCEES data shows they do the same! It is a fallacy to attribute failure on the exam to “first time jitters.” This is typically not the cause. The reason (apparently) that examinees do not fare better on later attempts at the FE Exam is that they do not prepare any differently for these later attempts than they did the first time they took it. NCEES data strongly bear this out. Does this mean you are doomed to continue to fail the FE Exam if you did not pass it the first time? NO! It simply means – now get this – you must prepare differently than you did the first time. If you took the exam the first time without preparing, this means you must prepare this time. If you prepared only a little, this means you should prepare more carefully. Heed the advice to first time takers: Everyone needs to prepare for the FE exam in one way or another.
Some Texas Tech University Nuances In reviewing previous exam results, we have found that certain topics present more of a challenge for our students. We believe it is best to inform you of these findings and suggest you study for all the topics but spend extra time working on the topics we have identified and listed below as being problematic.
Morning (AM) topics for which our Civil Engineering students seem to consistently perform at a level below that of our peers:
Engineering economics Material properties
Morning (AM) topics for which our Civil Engineering students seem to consistently perform at a level similar to that of our peers
Chemistry Engineering Probability & Statistics Ethics & Business Practices Fluid Mechanics Mathematics Strength of Materials Thermodynamics
Afternoon (PM) topics for which our Civil Engineering students taking the Civil Engineering PM Exam seem to consistently perform at a level below that of our peers:
Materials Construction Management
Afternoon (PM) topics for which our Civil Engineering students taking the Civil Engineering PM Exam seem to consistently perform at a level similar to that of our peers:
Hydraulics & Hydrologic Systems Structural Analysis Structural Design Surveying
RELATED DOCUMENTS FE Exam Day Guidance… What to expect the day of the FE Exam FE Exam Taking Tips… Tried and true advice for taking the FE Exam
FE Exam Preparation Strategy August 2006
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