FE Help... please?

[EITwannabee]

I am trying to pass the EIT this coming April. Let me start by telling you that I have been out of college for 19 years. I have been reviewing for over 4 months on my own and now am only half way through the mounds and mounds of material (PPI Review books). I was hoping I would get through a lot more of it by now.

So it's really crunch time - less than 9 weeks left!

There is a review course given by Testmasters in Charlotte and Richmond that are possibilities that cram in material over 10 sessions close to test time. Has anyone here done that before? Does anyone have any advise on how to pass for an old EIT wannabee? I'm scared!

 

[Lion06]

If you know one discipline well, you should be fine. You will need to know basic chemistry, math, and physics for the morning session, but if you know one discipline well, you should be fine. I took it knowing only structural engineering. I never had any other engineering disciplines. I had plenty of math, chem, and physics, but I answered "C" to every single thermo and electrical question on the exam and I passed the first time around. Oder a copy of the booklet they give you ahead of time and famliarize yourself with it so you know where to look for things without fumbling around.
Al,so, there are a number of questions that are so basic in concept (a traffic question comes to mind from my test), that it really resembles another kind of problem. In my case it was traffic volume which I analogized to fluids - it worked out well. There are also plenty of questions where you just need to find the equation in the booklet and they give you all the parameters - just plug and chug.
Good Luck!!

 

[COEngineeer]

19 years... wow.. Hmmm... I would do the first one as a test drive. Dont be too upset if you fail.
I would put some effort in studying for the first one but not too much. If you fail, then put a lot more effort.


Never, but never question engineer's judgement

 

[zdas04]

I waited 13 years to take the FE. I got the NCEES booklet (which is the only reference you can use) and an acceptable calculator, and then worked a couple of practice tests (go to my office, lock the door, turn off the phones and computers, work the test in the time allowed for the real test).

During the practice tests I really focused on time management. As I recall I had 2.5 minutes per question and every 10 minutes I skipped to where I should be (i.e., if I was 30 minutes in and only on question 68 then I skipped ahead to 75). I graded the test (with the skips and no guessing) then went back and worked the ones I skipped without a time limit and regraded the test, categorizing each right and wrong question. I used the categories with the most wrong answers to focus the next week's study.

I was like you and signed up for a review course a couple of months before the test--what a major waste of time for me. I learned nothing and wasted a bunch of Saturday's that I could have been sleeping in.

I took the general session in the afternoon (and passed on the first try), figuring that I had already studied that stuff for the morning session, why get current in a specific area for the afternoon?

It worked for me, others may have different approaches that work for them.

Good luck to you, and if you can, try to stay away from PPI.com, it will drag you down without adding anything of value.

David

 

[UcfSE]

I would make sure you learn the reference manual well. You need to be able to go right to what you need in it. They won't ask you anything that isn't in that manual, so there's no use studying the other stuff.

 

[metengr]

EITwannabee;
It is indeed possible to pass the FE even after 19 years because when I took the in 2002 I was out of graduate school for 25 years.

My approach was self-study program that required 3-5 nights a week for 6 months because I was out of school for 25 years. I purchased several reputable self study books and continued to work problem after problem to focus on problem set-up and execution. I also used the supplied FE reference book (this is your trusted guide for all necessary equations) to work each and every practice problem. I also reviewed engineering fundamentals.

There is one point to consider, you absolutely need a grasp of engineering fundamentals because the AM session of the exam contains relatively short, fill in the blank questions or problems that involve easy calculations (120 questions means 2 minutes or less per question). Either you know the fundamentals or you don't. I know this is a rather black and white statement, but it what I experienced in taking the exam in 2002. If you don't have a grasp of engineering fundamentals you will not pass the FE.

I was able to pass on the first try. However, I want you to realize one important life expierence that happened to me and could happen to you; I suffered through giving up part of my family life to conduct my own rigorous self study program, as I mentioned above. I felt that study programs offered by others are for those individuals that cannot manage time for studying on their own.

 

[sms]

I taught for Testmasters for a while. I taught for fun, and extra money to buy guitar gear. I stopped because I just did not have the extra time in my schedule anymore.

I think their program is pretty good, and at least when I taught for them if you didn't pass you could retake the course for free.

Besides you get high quality instruction from people like me! Although I think you will probably get the most value from test taking strategies that they teach..

"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?" Oddball, "Kelly's Heros" 1970

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of the Eng-Tips Forums.

 

[JStephen]

My experience, for what it's worth, from several years back: I got all of the sample-question type stuff I could from NCEEs. I went through and saw what it looked like I needed to brush up on and what I felt like I was covered on, and worked on the topics that I needed to. (I still had most of my engineering text books from college). I never got any of the review books or took any courses. I took the EIT about 13 year after I got my BS.

 

[xnuke]

Don't Panic!
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
Douglas Adams

Seriously. Panic is the enemy of the test-taker.

PAUL

(inner voice)(struggling to compose himself)
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear... I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
"Dune"
Film by David Lynch

Don't just review the material. Review test-taking methods. Learn some anti-anxiety techniques. The brain is like a muscle in a lot of ways. If it isn't relaxed and stretched, it can cramp up. The material review you've been doing is like an athelete's training. It'll help in the heat of the moment, but only if you don't let your mind freeze.

Take a few deep breaths! One now, one immediately before beginning each test session, and one after it's all over!



xnuke
"Live and act within the limit of your knowledge and keep expanding it to the limit of your life." Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged.
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[Twoballcane]

Check out "

http://www.engineerboards.com/"

for more FE/PE stuff.

Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."

 

[Maui]

I was out of school for about the same length of time when I took the exam. I passed it easily. You can too. I recommend the FE Review Manual by Michael Lindeburg. You can buy it on Amazon.com at

http://www.amazon.com/Review-Manual...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203740289&sr=1-1

There are several threads that pertain to this subject. You may want to review

thread404-198688

thread731-119480

There are many others that cover this subject as well for the PE exam. If you perform a site search, you will find a wealth of useful information.

Maui

 

[Qshake]

Decide which areas are best for you and focus on those areas of the exam which you excel at. Know where to find reference formulas and material in the NCEES material.

For those areas that are not your cup of tea, select an letter by default and use it wherein you can't answer simple definition questions. If you struggle at all, then use the default letter.



Regards,
Qshake

Eng-Tips Forums:Real Solutions for Real Problems Really Quick.

 

[Gymmeh]

according to my calendor there is only 7 weeks left

 

[Sideswiper]

I took the test as an electrical engineering undergraduate and really had no clue or even interest in other fields of engineering. I just showed up without studying just to see if I got lucky.

I think I passed based primarily on this strategy: If you don't know the answer, pick the answer with the most in common with the other answers.

Example:

Blah blah blah fluid dynamics blah?
A) 93.12
B) 93.13
C) 931.2
D) 34

The answer is A because it ends with 2 and has a decimal after 2 numbers.

Unless they've caught wise and changed the test, that strategy works wonders.

 

[Gymmeh]

LOL, intersting stratage.

here is a good site to practice while at work, on brake of course.

http://www.eitexam.com/QuickTest/Quiz11.asp

 

[COEngineeer]

My strategy was similar to sidewiper LOL. I just find a formula that has almost all of the coefficient known. Plug them in. Of course... you wont get the answer. But I just choose whichever closest. More than likely the answer is within the range. I know.. i know.. I didnt know most of the answer but I am sure I wont use most of the questions on FE. If I did, I will have plenty of time to research it and get the right answer. But a PASS is a PASS. Ill take it .

Never, but never question engineer's judgement

 

[jistre]

For that test, the NCEES reference booklet you'll be given is the best reference you've got. If it's needed for the test, then it's in that booklet. Period. If there is something in the booklet you need, then if you know what to look for, when to look for it, and how to use it, you're golden.

Spend time really familiarizing yourself with that booklet. It makes sense when you realize that it's your only reference. If you know what's in the booklet pretty well, you should have basic principles pretty well covered since you often have to know those to understand the equations. If you know that booklet, you're a long way to passing the test.

In fact, that booklet is useful for the PE exam as well. I just passed that one and the NCEES reference book for the FE exam was my biggest resource other than my Machinery's Handbook and thermodynamic tables.

Know that booklet.

 

[metengr]

Sideswiper;
Interesting strategy. How do you know the answer is not 34, the the other answers are distractors?

 

[OCI]

If you study what you need to you will pass this test. I have had no formal education past high school. I studied all the subjects on the FE exam using PPI resources and other text books on my own and passed easily on my first try! The electronics and thermo is very basic.

 

[Sideswiper]

metengr:

Well, this is a guessing strategy. If you can work the problem, that is the better way! But you have limited time to spend on each question, and in some cases it may be better to guess than to waste time.

So I wouldn't know that "34" wasn't the correct answer, but based on my PASS, I don't think that it was. I believe that my strategy worked for almost all of the problems because I think the pattern held even for the ones I knew and worked out.

It's been 9 years since I took the FE Exam though so maybe I'm just exaggerating.