Fundamental of Engineering (FE Exam) is a two to three hour computer-based test which is your first step in the process of becoming a professional licensed engineer (P.E.). I gave this exam two years ago while I was completing my Masters from Purdue University. The exam is also a plus for recruiters as it shows your clear intent for pursuing a career in engineering. The current blog discusses the exam from a civil engineering point of view.
As the name suggests, the exam is not too tough and is structured to test your knowledge about the fundamentals of the overall subject. It usually requires 1 to 1½ months of honest preparation to do the following:
- to brush up the old concepts, which you might have studied in school/college but would have forgotten by now (for example: Mathematics, Statics, Dynamics, Mechanics etc.)
- to learn new topics you might not have encountered until now (for example: Ethics, Environmental Engineering etc.)
- to revise concepts you might have already studied in your Bachelors (for example: Geotechnical, Structural, Surveying etc.)
When is the right time to give the exam?
There is no as such timeline for the examination. Whenever you happen to have time during your graduate school, you can prepare for the examination and attempt it. NCEES allows examinees to take the exam once during each two-month period and up to three times per year, so you don’t need to worry about failing the exam if you were unprepared. Remember where you faltered and give the exam again! I personally took the exam in my third semester of my MS program before applying for jobs in the upcoming career fairs.
- FE Exam Handbook
FE exam is an open book exam and this is the handbook which will be available during the examination in the form of a searchable PDF (printed copies are not allowed in the examination hall). My advice would be to avoid printing the PDF and doing your prep with the PDF version. It will help you to familiarize yourself with the charts, formulas, tables, and other reference information, which you can later easily search for during the exam.
2. Online lectures
Most of the syllabus is already covered in depth in the handbook discussed above. Nevertheless, there were few topics like Engineering Economy and Ethics where I found video lectures to be more helpful and informative. I referred to Marshall University’s video lectures on FE exam for my prep. Although the videos are a little dated, they cover the syllabus and are sufficient.
3. Calculator
NCEES has a policy on calculators and only these calculators are allowed in the exam hall. A good tip would be to download the “User’s Guide” of the calculator you have and learn to do some complex tasks with them beforehand, for example: multiplying matrices, solving determinants, calculating permutations and combinations, standard deviations, averages, sumproducts etc. This is what “User’s Guide” my calculator looks like. Doing this will prevent clerical errors and will save valuable time during the exam which can be used to solve lengthy or difficult questions later.
4. Question banks
There are lot of question banks/practice problems available online like this. After going through the whole syllabus using the above resources, I went through these question banks a week prior to the exam to practice and test my solving speed.
I hope the blog helped in guiding you through the essential points of this exam. Feel free to reach me out if you have any other queries regarding the same.
A 'Harsh' point of view 