Please give me some advice as FE exam is approaching 2

[GeoSmith]

Hi Buddy,

I am going to take the FE exam this Saturday. Since I have worked for several years, I took about three months to prepare this exam. I bought some reference in the market. When I try to do some practice examination, I find some questions are really difficult. But, I have no idea in the real exam, the questions are so challenging??? Is that truth if I answered half questions right, I can pass? BTW, all topics mentioned in the official reference book really appear in the exam? Or part of them?

As FE is coming, as a past examinee, do you have any personal advices that might be useful for me. I appreciate your opinions and advice in advance.

 

[sms]

Yes the test is pretty difficult, yes the reference questions are pretty representative, yes the questions on the test are just as challanging, no if you only answer half the questions correctly you will not pass, not all the questions in the reference book will appear on the exam, but any of them could. They are all fair game.

Don't Panic! Almost everyone who takes the test expects to fail, most pass.

Work as many problems as you can between now and Saturday.

Find one or two good reference books and work from those. If you bring a whole pile of books, don't make the mistake of spending all your time looking through books and thus wasting test time.

When you start the test, take deep breath and relax. Start reading questions. If you can answer a question immediatly (within seconds) do so and move on to the next. If the question is going to take a few minutes but you know you can do it, mark it with an A and go on to the next question. If the question looks really hard mark it with a B and go on. Do not get stuck on a hard question.

After you have read through all the questions once, answering the ones you can answer quickly, go back through again and do the questions you marked with an A. Once you have completed all the A questions, if you still have time start working through some B questions. If you have spent more than 5-7 minutes on any question, you have spent too much time, move on! Get the easy ones first and leave the hard ones for last. At about 10 minutes before end of time guess at what is left. Don't leave any blank.

If you stick to this process, you'll have a good shot at getting a 70% or more.

-The future's so bright I gotta wear shades!

 

[sauba]

You can't take reference material to the exam. I think this used to be the case, but now you are only allowed to use the formula book they provide.

I took the exam in October 2003 and elected to take the General afternoon section. I have BSME, which I thought prepared me fairly well for the General afternoon section. You should know which afternoon section you plan to take ahead of time. I know some people were trying to decide at lunch, which I do not think is a very good strategy.

I used the FE Review Manual and followed the 3 month plan outlined in the book. I was worried going in, and it didn't seem that I was getting 70% of the questions very often in the practice exams, but I passed the test fairly comfortably.

Handle it however you have handled multiple choice exams your entire life. I for one try to answer every question, spend more time on questions I can get right than struggle with questions I will probably miss, and go back and check units as much as possible as engineering exam writers love to throw misleading answers out there that you will think are correct if you do not pay attention to units.

Best of Luck.

 

[Slugger926]

If you run into a question that you know will take and hour or two to answer, skip it for the easier questions until you have answered all of the 3-5 minute questions. If you are about to run out of time on the test, guess or make logical guesses (elliminating totally wrong ansewers in wrong units) on remaining questions.

Some questions may look really hard, and ask for an ansewer in ft-lbs, and only one of the ansewers are in ft-lbs while the remaining answers are in in-lbs. Rather than waist time going through formulas, you should know how to answer these questions.

 

[UcfSE]

Study the FE reference manual. Everything they will ask is in the reference manual the NCEES provides. That is your only reference material allowed so you need to be as familiar as possible with it.

As Slugger926 said, answer everything you know best first. You can flip to different sections and do not have to answer in order. If you know nothing about thermodynamics for instance, don't linger there and miss out on everything you do know. I found that doing this, I had time to go back and study the reference manual equations and figure out many of the ones I didn't know too well. Also, calculus was the biggest section when I took the FE, so study that too. There is no need to waste time on the basic things you should know well already.

 

[ERE]

When recording your responses on the answer sheet, make sure you fill in the circle in the right row. A skipped question opens the opportunity for you to place subsequent answers in the wrong spot. When guessing, use the same answer each time unless you can eliminate some of the choices. You can be pretty sure that some of your guess will be correct in this fashion. This isn't necessarily true if you guess randomly for each question.

Good luck.

 

[bioengr82]

GeoSmith-

In my experience (took April 04), the exam question's dificulty are on par with the sample questions.

When you ask if all questions in the "official reference book" I assume you are talking about the formula book provided for the exam. No, I'd say less than 25% of all that information actually appears on the exam. However, this is irrelevant because you will never know what 25% of that information to study.

And contrary to sms's statement, yes, you will infact pass with 50% correct.

"The FE exam is not graded on a curve, and there is no guarantee that a certain percent of examinees will pass. Rather, NCEES uses a modification of the Angoff procedure to determine the suggested passing score (the cutoff point or cut score).

With this method, a group of engineering professors and other experts estimate the fraction of minimally qualified engineers that will be able to answer each question correctly. The summation of the estimated fractions for all test questions becomes the passing score. The passing score in recent years has been somewhat less than 50% (i.e. raw score of approximately 110 points out of 240). Because the law in most states requires engineers to achieve a score of 70% to become liscensed, you may be reported as having achieved a score of 70% if your raw score is greater than the passing score established by NCEES, regardless of the raw percentage. The actual score may be slightly more or slightly less than 110 as determined from the performance of all examinees on the equating subtest....."

 

[whyun]

My advice is be confident.

Though not an easy test, pass rate is relatively high. If you feel you were above average in college, there is a good chance that you will pass.

My next advice is do not attempt to get a "high" score. Whether you pass with a 100% or one point above the passing score, result is a pass. Do make an attempt to get all the easier questions correctly (first half of each section) and attempt to get some of the latter half questions correctly, skipping all the time-consuming ones.

If the exam rules are same as when I took it, there is no penalty for guessing, so fill in all bubbles. Best of luck.

 

[GeoSmith]

Thank you so much for all the advice. I really appreciate it. I think I need to practice more questions as I can and know why I make the mistake in these questions. As I left school for three years, something I learned is forgotten. Specially in thermodynamic, I find it is confusing to do something related to enthalpy, entropy or free enenrgy. Anyway, I will try my best.

My plan is to take the ME part in the afternoon test, as I graduated in ME. I know well in solid and fluid mechanics.

One more question, do you know in the real exam, the questions involve operational amplifiers, or transformers or reasonance? Because I don't find these formula in the formula book, but I find these questions in the outside reference book.

 

[Beggar]

If they're not in the official reference materials then do not worry about it. The very low probability of their appearing does not justify expending any energy on them in preference to study of the fundamantals that you're assurred of seeing.

--------------------
Bring back the HP-15

http://www.hp15c.org

--------------------

 

[Beggar]

Regarding guessing:

While studying for the MCAT, I read that, barring an educated guess, your odds of guessing correctly are better if you stick with the same choice for each guess.

Of course, if you can winnow down your choices by 2 or 3, your odds go way up.

--------------------
Bring back the HP-15

http://www.hp15c.org

--------------------

 

[sauba]

Geosmith,

The following link may also provide some useful info from people who have recently taken the exam.

http://ppi2pass.com/ppi/PPIInfo_pg_myppi-faqs-FEadvice.html

 

[PZas]

http://engineeringregistration.tamu.edu/tapedreviews/FEreview.htm

Everyone please copy these and keep them on a cd (if you need to use them) to pass out. The site is very helpfull as a review and if the bandwith gets too high they might take it down.

I hope this helps all you older guys who need a review.

WARNING: there is over 30 hours of video here so you might want to start tonight if you have to take it soon.

It doesn't have everything....but it will help you pass.

 

[vooter]

1. You've already studied a lot, right? Three months' worth is good.

2. Get a lot of sleep the night before.

3. Think of the test as the final exam in your best subject. That is, you know the material and you're focused on one thing: acing the test. In fact, you love this test!

4. Completing the square is really important - but easy.

5. Matrix algebra is really important - but easy.

6. Engineering economics is REALLY important.

7. Everything in the first portion of the FE reference manual is important to the AM session.

I took (and passed) the Civil FE in the afternoon... It was pretty doggone hard, good thing I studied!

I wish you much success!

 

[GeoSmith]

sauba,

Thanks for your link, it is really useful, but it is a little bit late for me.

 

[sms]

bioengr82: Wow that is facinating! I simply assumed that since the State required 70% to pass, a raw 70% score is required. More other certification bodies require a raw 70% score on their tests as well.

Where can I read more on this process. Is it described on the NCEES web site?

-The future's so bright I gotta wear shades!

 

[GeoSmith]

sma,

Here is the link for the exam score.

"the passing score of that exam is determined by a specially appointed committee of licensed subject-matter experts. "

"Beginning with the October 2005 administration, candidates will receive results of "Pass" or "Fail" only. Failing candidates will no longer receive a numerical score."

I don't think the passing score is 70% raw score, since the passing rate is over 50%.

 

[monkeydog]

Take Friday off.
Get up and drive to the exam site on Friday morning as if you were taking the test. Don't go in the parking lot, as the people taking the PE exam will be going into the parking lot.
That will give you an idea as to how to get to the test site, and how long it will take you to get to the test site. Traffic will not be as bad on Saturday morning, but at least you will have an idea, and not "stress" on the drive.
Do not cram on Friday night. Pack your lunch the night before. Get a good night's sleep, plan on going out to dinner after the test.
Notice - this are not technical advise, you are already there. You need to make sure you are rested, and focused.

 

[CarolinaPE]

Do not spend too much time on any one question, divide the time allowed by the # of questions and keep track constantly during the test. If you cannot get the solution, skip it and come back to it later. With 10 minutes remaining GUESS (B, if you want a letter) on all the ones you have not answered and note in your book which problems you guessed. If any time is left come back to the guesses and work them out or at least eliminate some of the wrong choices if possible. The exam being 70% for a pass is baloney also, I bet I knew the answers to only a handful of my afternoon PE questions. It was impossible.

 

[GeoSmith]

sorry sms,

I forgot to attach the link.

http://www.ncees.org/exams/scoring/

for coming FE exam. new system.

BTW, thanks for all guys giving me excellent advice, I take it on heart.