What to Expect on FE Exam Saturday

Ok, so you’ve studied hard and reviewed everything in one of the popular FE exam study guides. You bought your approved calculator and are ready to take on the FE exam. But maybe you’re a little nervous when the lights are on and a real score sheet is in front of you. Knowing what to expect and having a plan for test day can go a long way in calming your nerves so you can focus. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Here are a few tips leading up to game day:

Day Before Exam:

• On the day before the exam, it is recommended you take a vacation day off from work (assuming you are a working professional).  You don’t want to be working late or be stressed out from a long day.
• Make a test run to the exam site. Make sure you know the route to the test location and have an alternate route ready. The exam is held on a Saturday so traffic shouldn’t be too bad, however prepare for the worst. Murphy’s law could rear its head on test day.
• Find out where the parking is, whether you’ll have to park in the street or if there is an open lot. Figure out where the building and entrance are. Scope out the building if you can get in.
• Fill your car with gas. Again, you want to be prepared for everything.
• Pack your lunch for the next day. Get breakfast ready if you can, and set the coffee maker on auto-brew.
• Take some time for your mental health. Go to the gym or go for a jog outside. Go shopping, or just go hang around the house and relax. DO NOT STUDY! It’s like cramming for an exam, if you don’t know it by now it won’t matter. Plus, you don’t want to stress yourself out. You want to go into the test cool, calm, and collected.

When you get there on test day:

• Check in with the admission folks and make sure you know where the door to the exam room is. There will be a lot of people standing around waiting for the exam so just relax.
• Go to the bathroom. You don’t want nature calling when you’re sitting down cranking out answers.
• Once the doors open, find your assigned seat in the room. Make sure you have all of your materials ready (calculator, etc).  Usually this will be a very large room with rows of chairs and desks lined up in an ordered fashion. A proctor is usually assigned to a section.
• You will be supplied with your NCEES materials (pencil, reference book, etc) by a proctor.  You’ll be instructed by the proctor and/or a moderator for the whole room on what to do.

Once this is completed it’s time to get to work. Hopefully by taking care of all of these items you’ll be ready for battle.

Should I Take an FE Exam Prep Class?

One question you may be contemplating during your FE exam preparation is if you should take the time to take a formal review class. These are often offered at your local university or college and in many cases are open to anyone, not just students.

Question is though, is it worthwhile to go? You may have to invest multiple nights during the week or possibly come into a class on a Saturday. Here are some things to consider to determine if taking a prep class is for you:

A Prep Class Forces You to Study

Let’s be honest, finding the motivation to whip out a review manual and study is not the easiest thing to do.  If you’re a current engineering student, the last thing you want to do after you’ve finished that ridiculously long physics HW is to study more. And if you’re an engineer currently working in industry, are you really going to want to sit down at home to study after a long day at work?

One good thing about a class is that it forces you to sit down and focus on one thing: getting ready for the exam. For that couple hours that you’re in that classroom, you are 100% focused on review material. Even if that’s the only time you spend studying, it gets your eyes to look at problems. If you’re one of those people that has a hard time forcing yourself to study, a class can help.

Reminds you of Content

A review class is designed to do just that; review material. It’s hard enough remembering how to do that multi-variable calculus problem from Sophomore year when you’re in that class. Imagine how hard it is after you haven’t seen it in a couple years as a senior? Or what about when you’ve been out of school for a few years?

Taking a class that goes over basic fundamental concepts from school will remind you of things you studied (and some that you didn’t). You’ll be saying, “Oh yea, I remember that” and things will come rushing back to you.  It reactivates all those concepts you spend time learning and will help you find holes in your knowledge that you need to brush up on.

A Source for Review Material

Most review classes will supply a FE Exam review manual, test day handbook, and maybe a few other study materials. Usually this is the same stuff you would buy anyway if you wanted to review on your own and is included with the cost of the class. If you are going to need to buy the review material anyway, why not just get it with a class?

One of the more valuable pieces content is that often times it’ll be taught by a professor who comes up with additional content for you to learn. Maybe special review sheets or actual problems that you work in class. Not only is this additional material you won’t find anywhere else, but it’ll often outline their tips and tricks. Maybe even point out easier ways of doing problems that are more digestible than the thick review manual.

Generally Inexpensive

Usually these classes aren’t terribly expensive as they are offered regularly at the local college. If it includes the cost of study materials, it’s an amazing deal. What’s a couple hundred dollars to have to stress less over such an important exam? Some companies will also help pay for the class. Remember, it’s an investment in your education and professional development; it’ll often qualify as an educational reimbursement.

Often times these review classes are also offered at a huge discount to students at that school, sometimes it’s even free. If you’re a current student, why would you pass that up? You don’t have to go to every single class session and you likely pick up something from it that’ll help you on test day.

Wrap-Up

The decision to take a FE Exam review class is going to up to your individual study needs. Do you need help reviewing? Do you want extra study material? Are you confident you can prepare on your own? It will vary between engineer so keep these benefits in mind.

The Most Important Factor During The FE Exam

It is a simple concept, but is there is one common reason why examinees fail the exam: Time. If there is only one thing you remember going into the exam this should be it.

You Must Actively Manage Your Time During The test

Many students who struggle with the exam will say that time was an issue. You will be surprised at how many examinees complain of not completing every problem and running out of time in the end. This is a BIG mistake.

There are 4 hours for the morning session, and 120 questions. That equals to only 2 MINUTES per question. That is not a lot of time to spend scribbling on your scratch paper, punching numbers in your calculator, and flipping through the reference manual. The problems in the morning section take no longer than 2 minutes to solve. If you get stuck on one, you are probably reading too much into the problem, perhaps overlooking some very simple generalization.

Action Items

With that said, you need to start fast. Work quickly and do not spend too much time on one single problem. If you get stuck for any extended period of time (more than a few minutes), stop and move on. You can’t afford to waste valuable time.

Yes, your natural instincts as an engineer is going to be to grind it out until you get it right. Big mistake. It is the same pitfall of a sprinter who gets off the blocks slow, or a football team which goes down a few touchdowns early in the first half. You will not be able to recover if you spend too much time up front and leave valuable points off the board.