How to Focus on the FE Exam

What is your goal?

We spend a lot of time talking about specific tactics and actions to take in preparing to take the FE exam. This article is going to be a little more strategic than the typical tactical stuff. In fact, we’re going to talk about mindset and attitude. You know, the touchy feely stuff that engineers aren’t really known for (bet you’re excited right?).

But this stuff is important. If you don’t have the right mindset going into your studying and into test day, you’ll have a hard time finding success.

Look, you don’t need to be lectured. If you’re an engineer and you’re reading this you obviously know how to study. If you’re able to get an engineering degree then you have to be somewhat intelligent albeit a little crazy.

But don’t go into this exam and studying with a nonchalant attitude. If you’re going to register to take the FE exam, don’t go into it just to see what happens. It’s amazing how many examinees will come out of the exam and say things like “I didn’t have enough time to finish the last section” or “I spent 20 minutes working that one problem.” Or the biggest mind blower, “I’ll just take the test and see what happens.”

Epic Fail. These are the people that don’t pass and struggle on test day.

What is your end goal?

You should have one main goal going into the FE exam: JUST PASS.

This is not about what grades you got. Not about how smart you are. Not about how good an engineer you’ll make.

And you don’t need to overachieve. It doesn’t matter if you get a 70 or 100. There’s no bonus points or extra recognition for getting every problem right. Your main goal going into studying and taking the exam is to pass. Period.

Ok, so how is this actionable?

DURING STUDYING

It’s not the easiest thing in the world to go and spend a long grinding night studying after doing your homework or a long day in the office. And let’s face it, we engineers tend to procrastinate, get lazy, or just plain blow things off.

Have a study schedule.
Get good study tools.
Be a wizard with your calculator.
Know how to flip through the FE Exam Reference Handbook like a ninja.

You don’t need to study every single concept. But…you need to have a strategy and be prepared to implement it.

ON TEST DAY

Focus on the task at hand that day. You’re just worried about scoring points. Plain and simple.

Be prepared the night before and have a plan for FE Exam Day.
Know how to guess properly.
Know how to manage your time.
Know how to handle subjects you have no clue with.

This may sound like the biggest duh-ism in the world. But it’s guaranteed that you’ll see other engineers go into the test and just wing it. Then wonder why they didn’t pass.

Don’t be one of them.

Have a strategy, be prepared, and treat the FE Exam with purpose. Just remember that the end goal is to pass so you can move on with your life.

You don’t want to have come back in 6 months and pay another registration fee. Yuck.

The Top FE Exam Study Guide

One big question many would-be test takers have is what FE exam prep material they should buy.

Probably the most popular method to prepare is to use a review study guide to do practice problems and review basic engineering concepts. And there’s probably no better guide than the FE Review Manual from PPI.

This big yellow book is the holy bible for FE exam prep. It’s not just among the cheap FE Exam prep books. It’s the number one selling FE Exam preparatory text and is a regular reference for countless prep classes. Why do you ask?

First off, the FE Review Manual is extremely detailed and comprehensive. It goes subject by subject for everything and anything you’re bound to face on FE Exam Saturday.

Every section is broken down with a basic reviews of concepts. Some of it may seem simple depending on your knowledge level, but there is a great overview of the fundamental concepts of each section, whether it be thermodynamics or linear algebra. This is great for those that just want some mind-jogging or haven’t looked at a particular subject in years.

Next there are plenty of practice problems. Check that. A ginormous size set of problems. The text is loaded with example problems for you to work from every angle. And our recommendation for the best way to study is just that; do practice problems.

In the end, we know it can be a drag. When you first start to think about preparing for the FE exam, the thought of going through the FE Review textbook can be daunting. But if you have the time, going through the review manual is a good idea. There’s no way around it; you’re going to have to grind out problems. That is hands down the most effective way to study.

The Bottom Line

The FE Review Manual is a great refresher and an excellent source for practice problems. It provides answers with explanations for all sections of the general exam. It is one of the best ways to prepare for the exam and may even be supplied to you for free through a FE Exam prep class.

How to Find the Time to Study for the FE Exam

Finding time to prepare for the FE exam can be challenging. Some have tight work schedules while others are busy with school assignments. Folks might feel overwhelmed by the fact that it’s going to take a lot of time to review every subject and not all people have that much time. Not to mention it will take much longer to prepare for the subjects you aren’t familiar with or haven’t seen before.

How the heck are you supposed get all this studying in? I mean the last thing you want to do at the end of a long day is whip out a study guide.

Here are some tips on how to maximize your time to get your study hours in:

FOR FULL-TIME WORKERS:

Finding time to prepare is tough, especially if you are working full-time. A couple things you can do to find more time to study are:

Study during lunch hour. Mark your calendar in Outlook as busy, find a conference room (or stay in your cubicle or office) and study during the lunch hour. Your colleagues will understand if you decline their lunch invitations. Even better, get a study group going in the break room with others taking the exam.
Take an FE Exam prep class at a local university or college. The effectiveness of the teaching may vary, however it forces you to look at the study material. For the 1 to 3 hours you are sitting in that classroom, you are required to dedicate your attention to at least getting into the academic mode. This is the key to success since finding the dedication to just look at material can be tough when you are busy at work.
Get to work an hour earlier or stay an hour later. It sounds simple but head into the office earlier in the work day to get some studying in. Or just stay from 5 to 6 pm to brush up on some concepts. Even if it is just to look at a couple practice problems, it adds up if you do it day after day. Plus your co-workers and boss will see your dedication.
Team up with a co-worker to study. Just like in school, studying can be more fun and more effective with a partner. They’ll also be able to keep you on track on those days when you really don’t want meet to study before work.
Head to a coffee shop in the morning before work, on Saturday, or on Sunday. Feel like you are back in college yet? Coffee shops are productivity offices for many students and professionals alike.

FOR THOSE STILL IN SCHOOL:

Take an FE Exam prep class offered at your school. One big advantage you have over those out of school is that most institutions will offer the classes to current students free of charge or at a dirt cheap price. And lets be honest. A lot of the times the only time you actually pay attention and learn is when you’re forced to go to class.
Mix FE Exam studying in with your own studies. Fortunately you will likely be still familiar with a lot of the material on the exam since you are not far removed from learning it in class. If you have time during your regular studies, whip out your old notes, or brush up on something you may not be too familiar with. It can also be a nice change-up from your regular school-work.

Action Items

These tips sound relatively simple but they can be powerful. The key is to CONSISTENTLY practice one of them and make your study time a habit. Spend just 30 mins or 1 hour everyday. It adds up over time and you’ll find that you’ll retain a lot of the information.

How to Study for the FE Exam Afternoon Session

One of the biggest questions on how to study for the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam is “How do I study for the discipline specific section on the exam?” Remember that the FE exam has a discipline specific section given in the afternoon and consists of 60 multiple choice questions covering only subjects in your core engineering discipline (i.e. chemical engineering, electrical engineering, civil engineering, etc).

NOTE: As of 2010, you must pick which subject to take in the afternoon at the time that you register for the exam. In previous years, you did not have to make the choice until exam day and could decide after looking at all the questions for each subject.

The afternoon section problems will generally be harder in difficulty since they are more specialized and you are provided more time to solve them (there are half as many discipline specific problems as the general problems in the morning. Also keep in mind that the afternoon section problems are worth 2 points each (morning session problems are worth 1 point).

So How Should You Study For It?

Discipline Specific Workbook

One of the best ways to study for the discipline specific portion of the FE exam is to get one of the special books for the discipline-specific test in the Afternoon Session. The NCEES (the folks who make the actual FE exam) actually put these problems together, and in our experience, they are the closest thing to the kind of questions you will find on the exam.

These books are good refreshers for the discipline specific material. They provide answers with explanations, including general section problems. Plus they are also much smaller in size and cheaper than the other giant study manuals.

Civil

Chemical

Electrical

Environmental

Industrial

Mechanical

For the Electrical Engineers, there is also the FE Exam Review EE Study Guide.

FE Supplied Reference Handbook

In addition to a study book, one of the most valuable tools for your study sessions is to get the only resource you will get on test day ahead of time, the FE Exam Supplied Reference Handbook.

This will allow you to familiarize yourself with the handbook so that on the test day, you can quickly flip to the sections you need equations from and avoid having to use it too much. The less you have to use the book means more time you’re using to solve problems.

The handbook is also a very good overview of each subject and is actually good to study. It will help you remember key concepts and help you see patterns on where to flip on test day. During the exam, you want to spend as little time as possible looking in your handbook.

Get the Handbook HERE

Quick Tip:

Take some time to look at both the discipline-specific sections and the general sections of the Handbook
when looking to solve a problem. On many occasions, you will find the information required to solve the general problems in the discipline specific sections or vice versa.

For example, say you are a civil engineer, and you have an electrical circuit problem. Try looking in the electrical engineering section in addition to the “General” section of the handbook.

Or say you are working on the chemistry section, there may be an equation you will need that you can only find in the Thermodynamics section of the handbook.

It sounds very obvious, but too many test takers don’t think about doing this when in the heat of the battle.

Action Items

At the end of the day, there really is no way around it; you’re going to have to review concepts and do practice problems. However use the sample questions and solutions books. They are one of the best ways to prepare for the exam (besides this FE Review Guide ).