Answers from previous problems?

[FusionWhite]

Ive been using several different resources for studying for the FE and have a quick question. One book Ive been using has many of the questions grouped e.g. your given a fluid system and then asked questions about it. The first question is to find the velocity, then the reynolds number and then the friction factor etc etc.

One book however always assumes that you got the previous answer right. You have to use the CORRECT answer from the velocity problem to solve for the Reynolds number, then use the correct answer to solve for the friction factor. Another book however always gives you an assumed value. So you solve for velocity and the reynolds number problem says assume velocity = X.

So how is the FE set up? On one hand I sort of like being required to get the right answer because it will let you know if you messed up somewhere, however it also screws you out of several problems if you dont get the right answer at the beginning of a series.

 

[Hill William]

its been a long time but i think the problems are set up independently of each other so you dont miss one and then miss the next five.

 

[FusionWhite]

Ok thanks. I figured thats what it would be. I found it hard to believe they would let you miss 3 or 4 problems in a row because you miscalculated at the beginning. I had a teacher who did that and it pissed me off.

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

its been a long time but i think the problems are set up independently of each other so you dont miss one and then miss the next five.

When I took the FE, it was all stand alone questions. But, that was several years ago.

I was a little nervous about that same issue when studying for the PE. When a problem has 5 interconnected parts to it, if you miss the first one you're screwed. The real test was stand alone however.

Having questions with multiple parts to it is a good way to practice though, because you can answer every conceivable question for a given set of conditions, and you see how things are related.

 

[FusionWhite]

VT by stand alone do you mean all the questions are individual and not related to say a given set of information?

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

Yes. Each question had a new set of conditions and was totally unrelated to the one before it.

 

[SkyWarp]

Last year, I think I remember seeing questions where you'd get the information, and then 2 to 4 independent questions referred to that information.