And then, depression set in...

[Katiebug]

I decided about a week ago to move along to fluids and thermo. I did really well in my thermo and fluids classes as an undergrad, so I have no idea why I'm struggling so much with both - maybe because I haven't had to use any knowledge in either area for the past 5.5 years! I've had to pull out my old thermo textbook to try and figure some of these things out.

I'm just having a miserable time looking at many of the thermo problems and not even knowing how to approach them. I know I should know, but I'm way too reliant on skipping forward to the answers in the FERM to see how the problem is done. If I don't do that, then I sit and stare at the page for 10 minutes...

At this point I'm looking at spending another week on thermo, then I really have no choice but to move on...I need to go back to mechanics for another week, do a very quick review of math (another week), and spend the last week before the exam reviewing everything else.

Oh yeah, and in 2 weeks I have to deal with the midterm for the grad school class that I very stupidly decided to take this semester!

 

[mudpuppy]

Keep your chin up, KB. I think it's natural to start having doubts at this stage as the time-till-test starts to dwindle. But it's best to keep a good perspective. In the end, what's the worst that can happen? You fail and have to take it again--not a huge deal. Many people have been there & done that. But I really don't think it's going to come to that. It sounds like you've got your act together and I think you'll do perfectly fine as long as you don't get too stressed and panic. So don't let it get to you!

If it makes you feel any better, I never had a class in fluids and probably got every single fluids question on the exam wrong. And while I did have a thermo class, I hated it and probably got every single thermo question on the exam wrong too.

 

[maryannette]

... as long as you don't get too stressed and panic. So don't let it get to you!

Katiebug,

Mudpup is right. You know that the hardest part of the exam is the discipline and mental control. You are doing everything right. Keep on the same path. Focus on the task at hand. That is to learn how to solve as many problems as possible. Good luck. Feel free to vent and ask for encouragement any time.

 

[maryannette]

Two Frogs

Two frogs fell into a deep cream bowl.

One was an optimistic soul.

The other took the gloomy view.

“I will drown!” he cried, “And so will you!”

So with his last despairing cry,

He closed his eyes and said, “Goodbye.”

But the other frog, with a merry grin,

Said, “I can’t get out, but I won’t give in!

I’ll swim around ‘til my strength is spent.

For having tried, I’ll die content.”

Bravely he swam, until it would seem

His struggles began to churn the cream.

On top of the butter, at last he stopped,

And out of the bowl, he happily hopped.

What is the moral? It’s easily found:

If you can’t get out, keep swimming around.

 

[roadwreck]

When I was in school I purposely put off taking Thermodynamics until the semester before I took the EIT. My thought was that the subject material would be more fresh in my mind for the EIT. When I took the EIT the questions in the Thermo section might as well have been in a foreign language. So I had a pretty row of C's for that section.

 

[Katiebug]

I think it's important that I start forcing myself to do problems in the FERM without skipping forward to the answers. I give up too easily. I've started just last night with looking at the problem and picking which equations I will use to solve it, then checking to see if I was right.

I'm also making some flashcards for thermo and fluids so that when I see a certain type of problem, I know the first step. I find that if I can't think of the first step, I panic and that will not do me any good!

Some of these FERM questions are just so in-depth. No way can the morning Q's be like some of those - maybe the afternoon ones are that in-depth! I especially hate the problems that are 3-4 questions that are all based off of one system - you have to get the previous answers right to tackle the next one. The NCEES practice exam should be more in line with the level of difficulty, I think.

This will help me down the line, because I am a mechanical and thermo & fluids are on the PE exam. It's just that now that we're down to the 4-week mark I'm realizing that I won't have time to devote a full week to E&M (I'll spend a day or two on it but suspect I'll be answering 'C' for most questions on the test) and that I need to spend the rest of the time I have left on those subjects that 1) I can reasonably re-learn, and 2) make up higher percentages of points on the morning section and the General DS.

Maybe this weekend I'll attempt a practice test and see how I do.

 

[maryannette]

Try a practice 8-hr exam, but don't get discouraged if you don't do well. I did terribly on my practice exam, but I passed the real thing. Use the 8-hr practice to see if you are prepared mentally and physically to sit and work problems for 8 hours. Make sure that you have everything you need to take with you. Good luck, Katiebug.

 

[Chucktown PE]

Katie,

This should be encouraging to you; but I though the "the other board" practice problems were way more difficult than the acutal exam. I breezed through the exam with a 94 but I struggled mightily against those damn practice problems. I have given the same encouragement to another guy in our office who is studying.

 

[STEEL MAN]

I failed FE 4 times now, again I studied like crazy as usual, the exam itself is too broad specially in the AM section I have a hard time with Thermo, Chem and Elect. I will give it a try this Oct 2008 and see what happens next. Good luck to all Oct testee.

 

[Vishal]

If this makes you feel any good, I did not even attempt to study Fluids and Thermo. My problem was that I was running short on time and I could not afford to learn these subjects when the probability of me getting them correctly on the exam was next to zero. I decided to spend time on my stronger areas (Math being on of them and it alone covered 60% of morning exam). Now I am not saying that this is the best way to go.. but this is how it worked for me. For thermo and Fluids and some other questions I picked the letter "A" since that was my exam booklet series alphabet!! I had decided to mark B but I saw the "trend" on my answer sheet and went with A.. how scientific!

Bottom line is, don't panick. If you want to move on just move on. It is OK to not know all the problems on the test. You have to just know enough on the test.. so play by numbers. Pick up the topics that has higher % of questions on the test and ace it.. I think Math still rules the test.

 

[EM_PS]

The thermo section in the FERM seemed to go on forever, and i just would get so apathetic about even trying to legitmately solve the probs that i would skip to the solution almost out of anger. The only thermo i had was in chemistry & physics (no stand alone class). I think i know enough to make a small dent in the subject matter - like other posters here have advised, i just wanna kill the subjects i'm comfortable with, give the college-try towards ones I'm weak in, and flat out guess on the ones i don't even wanna know the solutions to. Its getting down to crunch time, time to gird up your strengths, not sweat your weaknesses - one & done people, there are no retakes

[ok there are, but only if you really need to]

 

[Katiebug]

I think part of what frustrates me so much is that I'm a mechanical - I should know thermo and fluids.

Honestly, I don't feel 100% comfortable with ANY of the subjects...the only chapter of FERM that I sailed through was the one on friction/pulleys because that's what I've done every day at work for the last 5 years. Statics and kinematics I'm fairly solid in, chemistry I can probably hit 70%. Math...well, I should be OK for the morning but I have weaknesses there, too (namely, probability and DiffEq). Engineering econ should be just fine. Ethics should be OK. Materials should be OK. E&M will be a bloodbath, but I know that going in and won't waste much time preparing for those questions.

This weekend I'm going to take a morning practice exam - just a 4 hour one. From the "other board" practice book, no less. The week before the test I'll do a full practice exam and then spend the last week hitting areas where I think I can pick up points.

Several of my coworkers took the FE right before graduation and sailed through it with no preparation (it was required by their schools that all seniors take it as a measure of how good their education was). They know I'm taking it, they've seen me spend every lunch hour for the past 2 months with my head buried in the FERM. Because of that, I do feel some pressure to pass on the first try.

 

[wilheldp_PE]

... at work for the last 5 years.
Several of my coworkers took the FE right before graduation and sailed through it with no preparation (it was required by their schools that all seniors take it as a measure of how good their education was). They know I'm taking it, they've seen me spend every lunch hour for the past 2 months with my head buried in the FERM. Because of that, I do feel some pressure to pass on the first try.

I think you just nailed the problem. The longer you go without taking the FE, the harder it will be. I took it my senior year in undergrad, and sailed through it with hardly any studying and 12+ beers at lunch. I bet there is no way I could pass that test today. I have long forgotten a lot of the non-electrical stuff that was fresh in my brain the year I took the exam.

But don't despair...once you get past the FE, the PE will seem like a piece of cake for you.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

I think part of what frustrates me so much is that I'm a mechanical - I should know thermo and fluids.

If it makes you feel any better, thermo was my weak point. hat's why I took MD depth. I had a lot more background and interest there.

 

[benbo]

I have read it on several places, including a state board website that the cut score for the EIT is around 50%. That's not Gospel, but unlike the PE I think that is probably pretty accurate.

So you don't have to know everything. If you can read the probs quickly, and recognize when you are taking too long you should be okay. Believe me, there was a lot I didn't know on the EIT exam and I passed. So just keep plugging and you should do okay.

 

[Environmental_Guy]

Glad to hear I'm not the only one struggling a bit with thermo. Some of those questions are nuts!