What's up guys, I just recently passed the FE Civil Exam on my second attempt. In the following post, I will go into detail on how I studied and what I studied for the FE. I will also give a little detail how I did during the exam, as well as give some general tips. This subreddit was very helpful to me when I was studying and I hope I can contribute some to it!
One thing I wanted to say before you get into the post is that it is written from the perspective of an average, to below average, student. To get through college I had to study. I’m not a person who could just show for a test and do really well. I had to study more than others to make up for my lack brain power. So the way I studied for the FE will likely be different than what you have to do. This is perfectly understandable. You will need to tailor how you study for the FE, and what you study, in a way that suits you the best. If that means just looking at the Reference Handbook the night before the test and acing the exam, or spending 6 months going over everything, no one way is right.
The Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam is generally your first step in the process to becoming a professional licensed engineer (P.E.). It is designed for recent graduates and students who are close to finishing an undergraduate engineering degree from an EAC/ABET-accredited program. FE Exam Review Civil Engineering Hydraulics, Hydrology, and Fluid Mechanics Cary Troy, Lyles School of Civil Engineering February 11, 2015. The FE is a closed-book exam, and the FE Supplied-Reference Handbook is the only reference material you may use. Reviewing it before exam day will help you become familiar with the charts, formulas, tables, and other reference information provided. You won’t be allowed to bring your personal copy of the Handbook into.
I believe that the General Tips section at the bottom of the post can benefit anyone who is planning on taking the FE, regardless of your situation.
About Me:
I graduated Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering in December ’16 with a sub 3.0 GPA. I have been working the past year in consulting. I first took the FE exam in February ’17 after studying for less than 5 hours and failed miserably. From my diagnostic, I was above average on just three subjects: Geotech, Transportation, and Hydrology. It was a bloodbath. After taking such a whipping, I didn’t start studying again until December ’17 and learned I passed in mid-January ’18.
How I Studied:
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First off, I didn’t spend any time studying Environmental Engineering, or Dynamics, when preparing for the FE. I hated both subjects in school, and had no desire to study either of them. These two subjects accounted for 10% of my first exam, which isn’t a huge number. I have read where you can pass with a raw score of 55-65%. I have no idea how true that is, but regardless I thought I could do reasonably well on the other subjects that guessing on these two subjects wouldn’t be the difference between me passing and failing.
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I spent more time studying the subjects that were weighted heavier than those that weren’t weighted as heavy. For the heavier weighted subjects (Mathematics, Statics, Mechanics of Materials, Structural Analysis, Structural Design, Hydraulics, Geotech, and Transportation), I spent a disproportionate amount of time studying Mathematics, Statics, Mechanics of Materials, Structural Analysis, and Structural Design. These were subjects that I wasn’t as comfortable with and tried my best to nail them down as best as I could. I already had a very good understanding of Hydraulics, Geotech, and Transportation, so I didn’t have to spend as much time to have them nailed down.
For the lesser weighted subjects, I spent more time on the subjects that I was more comfortable with and felt like I could get some easy points than I did those that I wasn’t as comfortable with. I made sure I had Statistics (with help of the Casio Fx-115es Plus calculator), Econ, Computational Tools, Construction and Surveying nailed down. These were, for me, easier subjects that I felt like I could do very well in with a bit of studying. I didn’t spend as much time on Materials. Other than questions on the Stress-Strain Curve, or the Phase Diagram, I felt like Materials was a “you either know it, or you don’t” subject. I also didn’t spend much time on Fluid Mechanics.
I averaged about 3 hours per-day of studying for approximately 45 days. I work full time, along with other personal obligations, so finding the free time to study was tough. However, it gets a lot easier, in my opinion, if you can get into some kind of study routine that works best for you and stick with it.
Note: The amount of time spent studying will differ based on the person. You don’t have to study for a 3 hours a day for 45 days to pass the exam. I have friends who passed without studying (must be nice). It all depends on the person.
What I Studied:
First off, I am terrible at Statics and Mechanics of Materials. So before I really began with the FE specific review manuals I wanted to obtain a much better understanding of these two subjects. To do that, I watched two video series by Texas Tech professor Jeff Hanson.
Online Statics Course: Jeff Hanson (Youtube) - Can’t say enough about these videos. I never understood Structures in college and it began at the base level (Statics). To have any chance of success on the FE, I had to improve in Statics. I was able to do that with the videos Jeff Hanson posted. He was able to break down Statics in a way that made sense to me. There are a lot of videos in this series (70), but if you struggle in Statics I highly recommend you checking out his series.
Online Solids Course: Jeff Hanson (Youtube) – Solids, or MoM at the university I attended, is another subject I struggled with. However, Jeff Hanson came through again with another awesome YouTube series. It’s another long series, but he does an awesome job of breaking down MoM at the base level that is very easy to understand.
If you struggle with Statics, or MoM, like I did I can’t recommend these two video series enough. I have a much better understanding of Statics and MoM because of Jeff Hanson and the two series he kindly put on YouTube.
After getting an understanding of Statics and MoM, I started studying the other subjects that would be on the FE. I studied through the convictional methods (practice exam, Lindeburg books), but also through YouTube videos. I wanted to be exposed to as many problems, from as many sources, as I could.
Below, I give a short description of the different material that I used to study.
FE Civil Practice Exam (NCEES Website, 100 problems): In my opinion, this is probably the best tool to gauge how prepared you are for the exam. The practice exam does a very good job of giving you questions that are similar in difficulty than what is on the actual exam. If you take the practice exam, and do well on it without looking at the solutions first, you are ready for the real thing! I want to hit home that while the practice exam is very similar in difficulty, it’s not the same test. There were similar problems on the FE exam, but none of them were the exact same (or just had the numbers changed). So while similar, they are also different.
FE Civil Practice (Lindeburg, '17): I probably used this book to study more than any other. It’s great in that it’s just strictly problems, with each section broken into subsections. The problems represented were (in my opinion) more difficult than what you saw on the exam. However, if you are able to work the problems in the book, you won’t have any trouble with what you see in the exam.
FE Review Manual (Lindeburg, ’14. Thick book): This behemoth of a book was a good resource to study. Its intimidating when you first open it up, but it’s a great resource to have if you need more background information. Before each chapter, there is a 10 question diagnostic exam. Following the diagnostic exam, Lindeburg breaks down each chapter in good detail. There are also problems within each chapter after the diagnostic exam. It’s my opinion that the FE, in difficulty, is somewhere between the diagnostic exam, and the problems you see in the section after the diagnostic exam. I did not do a lot of reading within each chapter.
Note: To solve some of the problems in both Lindeburg books, you had to use formulas that were not in the Reference Handbook. From my experience, you won’t receive a problem on the FE that requires memorizing a formula outside of the Reference Handbook. I generally skipped the problems that required using a formula outside of the Reference Handbook.
Marshall University 2015-2016 FE Exam Review (Civil Engineering) (YouTube): Marshall University put out 12, 1-2 hour videos that break down each of the subjects on the FE. The professors in each of the videos did a good job of breaking down all of the problems that they worked. I would pause the video before the professor started working the problem and work it myself. If I got it right, I skipped the explanation, if I got it wrong I’d watch to see where I messed up. This helped cut down on time.
Purdue University FE Review: I did not find out about this resource until a week before the test, so it didn’t help me as much as it could have. However, this is a great resource, with a bunch of practice problems.
How I Did on the Exam:
When you pass the exam, you are not given a diagnostic report that shows how you did in each section. However, while taking the exam, I kept up with the number of problems that I had to make a guess on. By guess, I mean I didn’t get an answer on my calculator, or a conceptual question I wasn’t 100% sure that I got correct. After the first section, I had 7 questions that I made a guess on and after the second section I had 12 questions. Leaving the test I felt very good about it, but the closer it got to Wednesday, the more nervous I was! NCEES creates there answers to have common mistakes, so just because I got an answer on the calculator doesn’t mean I had the correct answer.
I took my test on a Friday and found out my results the following Wednesday at 9:00 A.M. Central.
Approximately 10-15% of the test was conceptual. To study for those you could read the Lindeburg book cover to cover, or just hope for the best. I hoped for the best and got about 50% of them.
General Tips:
Fe Review Manual Pdf Download
The first four tips, in my opinion, are the most important.
Know your calculator and let it help you as much as it can. Going even further, buy a Casio Fx-115es Plus Calculator. I used a TI-30XS MultiView throughout college and during my first attempt. I begrudgingly switched after nearly every FE tips guide suggested the Casio. I’m glad I did. The Casio is cheap (less than $25), and also has a quick learning curve. It made matrices, vectors, linear regression, and other problems that aren’t hard, but take a while to solve, and turns them into simple plug and chug. Each second of the FE is precious, so having a calculator that will save you time is worth its weight in gold.
Know your UNITS: Knowing your units is very important for taking the FE exam. This cannot be stressed enough. Know what the units of Pa or N like you know your name. I had ~5 problems that were simply converting what was given to the correct units and solving. No formula needed. I can’t stress enough how important it is to know your units.
Be Familiar with the Reference Handbook: All of your studying for the FE should be done with the FE Reference Handbook pulled up (located on NCEES website).
Time is of the Essence: During the FE. It is very easy to get caught up into a single problem and spend 15 minutes on it. Don’t do that! If you don’t immediately know the answer, or where the formula is, skip it! Don’t think twice about it. FE exams have been failed before because people spent too much time on a single problem(s) and had to make guesses on problems they would have otherwise gotten correct. This tip is easier said than done, I didn’t listen to it on my first attempt, but I did on my second.
Take advantage of the time between sitting down at your computer and starting the exam. I did not start my exam until 15 minutes after I sat down. During this time, I wrote down any important information that I thought would help me on the exam that I could possibly forget when I got into it. Not only was this beneficial in giving me a “cheat sheet” it also helped calm my nerves before I started the exam. By the time I actually began the exam, I was not nearly as nervous and I believe it helped greatly.
Work Problems: Sounds easy enough, work as many problems as you can. The more problems you work and understand the better off you will be for the exam.
Don’t Overthink It: This is a very important tip to remember not only during the test, but when studying too. Don’t stress if you see a solution in one of the Lindeburg books that takes up two pages and think “I’ll never be able to solve this on the test”, You’re right, you won’t, because it won’t be on there! That’s one thing about the FE, no problem is that difficult if you can find the formula, or know your units.
Don’t Memorize Solutions: This may be common sense, but it’s something I forgot during my first attempt. Don’t memorize the solutions to the practice exam, or any of the other problems you’ve worked when studying. It doesn’t matter if you’ve memorized the solutions to the practice exam, and every other practice problem you’ve worked, you will still fail the FE if you don’t understand what you are doing.
Don’t study the day before the exam: See 11 10.Get a full night’s sleep the night before the exam: See 11 11.Eat good before you take the exam: The FE is a 5 hour and 20 minute long marathon. Not only does your mind need to be prepared for the questions being asked, but your body needs to be well rested, with a full stomach, before taking the exam. 12.Bring Snacks: Even after eating before my exam, I was starving after the first section. I didn’t have snacks with me, but I wish I’d brought some.
Last Thoughts:
Fe Review Manual Civil Engineering
The FE, for me, was a beast, but it’s not unpassable. The phrase “if I can pass, you can too” gets used a lot, but it applies here. If I can pass, any of you reading this post can too. You may have to work harder than some, but you can do it. Even if you have taken it multiple times, have faith and keep pushing. If you have any questions, please comment below and I will do my best to get back to you as quickly as possible. Also, if you see any major writing mistakes, please call me out and I’ll make the edit.
Thanks for reading my post, and good luck to all who are preparing to take the FE Exam!
-John