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.

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