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Engineering Fundamentals

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Fundamentals of Engineering Review


Study Plan

  1. Determine what afternoon exam you are going to take. There is both a General exam in the afternoon, as well as discipline specific exams in Chemical, Civil, Electrical, Environmental, Industrial, and Mechanical. The pass rate for Mechanical engineers is about the same whether you take the General or Mechanical specific exam in the afternoon. The pass rate for Electrical Engineers is much higher when taking the discipline specific afternoon exam. This course is designed simply to cover the morning topics, although there is some applicability to the General afternoon exam. You will need to develop your own study plan for the afternoon. There are good resources at http://ppi2pass.com. This company probably has the best review material out there.
  2. Develop a schedule. The schedule for studying for the morning exam is set for you. There are practice problems with due dates every few days. If you are taking the FE exam, you will need to develop a study schedule for the afternoon portion. You should set aside a regular time to prepare for the FE exam, ideally an hour daily.
  3. Develop a strategy. It usually takes answering between 55 and 60% of the questions correctly to pass the FE exam. We will set a goal of answering 70% of the questions correctly, leaving a good margin for error. Note that this really means knowing how to work 60% of the problems, and then successfully guessing on 25% of the remainder of the problems. Focus on areas that you are strong in. Based on past performance, the following table suggests targets in different areas in the morning for different degree programs. These are just suggested targets, and you may choose different goals.
    4. Topic # ques Target % Correct
    Aero Biomed Civil Comp Electr Indus Mat. Sci Mech Nucl
    Mathematics 19 60 60 60 75 75 70 70 60 70
    Probability & Statistics 8 60 60 60 75 70 80 70 60 70
    Chemistry 11 40 60 50 40 40 40 50 50 60
    Computers 8 60 60 60 90 80 70 65 60 60
    Ethics 8 70 70 75 75 75 75 70 70 75
    Engr Economy 10 60 60 60 60 60 90 60 60 65
    Engr Mechanics 13 75 65 80 45 45 50 50 75 45
    Strength of Matls 8 75 65 80 45 45 50 50 70 45
    Materials 8 40 60 40 40 40 40 90 40 45
    Fluid Mechanics 8 75 65 75 45 45 50 50 70 70
    Electricity 11 40 40 40 80 90 50 45 40 45
    Thermodynamics 8 70 60 40 40 40 50 50 70 70
    Overall Average   60.0 60.0 60.1 60.1 60.0 59.9 59.9 60.2 60.0

  4. Work through study materials and practice problems. Use the study materials posted on this web site, the suggested study book, and the online practice problems. A suggested approach is to look at the online practice problems and work as many as you can. For those you have difficulty with, go back and look at the review manual, videos, or notes to learn this subject. Remember the target % correct values from item 3 above. If you cannot work all the problems in an area you have had little preparation in, that is OK. It is better to move on and review other areas than to get all the problems in one area. Work the practice problems using only the FE reference manual so that you get familiar with the manual, and where things are located in the manual.
  5. Take a practice exam. There are several places where online practice exams are available. We would suggest the online interactive exam from the National Council of Engineering Examiners, www.ncees.org/Exams/Study_materials/FE_online_practice_exam.php.