Has anyone taken the CBT version of the FE?

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Just curious, I have a co-worker who is going to take it and was wondering how it went. Don't want anything too specific (ie, don't reveal any questions!) but I am wondering how it compared to the previous exam, if you had experiance with both.

 
^ given this is the first exam cycle for the CBT style test, how would anyone have taken it yet?

 
Wow. I stand corrected. Looks like things are moving right along then. Well done NCEES.

 
I just took the CBT FE yesterday. I never took the pencil and paper exam but I studied using the Lindeburg FE exam review book which is still geared towards the old test.

First, the new reference handbook is pretty different. Your screen is split with the handbook in PDF form on the left and the test question on the right. What is nice about the PDF is that there are two tabs - one with a search bar that returns every location of the keyword you type in and one with a hyperlinked table of contents. I found it very easy to navigate the handbook and find the equations and charts I needed. The main downside to the digital handbook is when a question requires you to use a graph. For the MechE FE, I had to use the Psychrometric and Moody graphs. Theyre very busy graphs and I kept losing my place because I couldnt mark it up with a pencil.

The test material itself is much more geared toward your major than the general knowledge questions I studied in the review book. My personal experience was that the general questions were pretty straightforward but there were some in-depth MechE questions which I wasn't fully prepared for. Luckily the handbook was a huge help and I was able to work through them.

If you havent taken a test at a testing center such as Pearson before, its a pretty different experience. Be prepared to not be able to bring anything into the test center except your calculator (no cover) and your photo ID. They take your photo and give you palm scans every time you enter and leave the room. They will also make you turn out your pockets. You can't have food or water in the test room but you can raise your hand and leave at any time. I only left during my alotted 25 minute break at the midway point and it was more than enough time to rest and recuperate.

One hidden benefit that I found to the new testing system is that it seems like the computer grabs questions from a "question bank" for each subject. Unlike the old exam which was curated as a whole, I found that I had a couple of questions which were pretty similar to one another. For example, two questions requiring the use of the same equation but with slightly different givens and asking you to solve for a different missing variable. I'm not sure if this was typical of the old test too. It felt like a result of the test being randomly generated as I progressed from question bank to question bank.

 
I took the Other Disciplines CBT EIT/FE exam last Saturday (Jan 4). It has been 7 days and still don't have the results yet (yes I realize they say 7-10 days). In general, I think it was a better experience than the paper based experience because its not as long (and exhausting). It was more convenient for me as well since we can chose days that work best for us. I took the Practice Exam (50 questions) that was on the NCEES website prior to taking this test, and in general I think it prepared me for the format, but also for the type of questions, although I think the real text was harder than the practice so I am not sure how I did because I think I would have passed had my practice exam score been a real score. (58%) Anyways, good luck to all and I hope to post that I passed very soon.

 
Just found out that NCEES is taking additional time to review the first few days/weeks of tests for the CBT process and first release will be January 22, 2014 of scores.

 
On the CBT can you go back to answer skipped questions or to review your answers

 
Good to read about the new CBT experiences. Thanks for sharing guys. Anyone else that might like to add to the experience? Anyone who has taken the Other Discipline exam? Would appreciate inputs. Thanks!

 
Yes, they did. I failed and the diagnostic report is NOT as good as before. They are now not telling you how many questions you got correct - its a scale between 0 and 15.

 
^ sorry to hear that. But thanks for sharing your experience. And don't give up, stay focused and determined. You'll get it next time!

 
Yes, they did. I failed and the diagnostic report is NOT as good as before. They are now not telling you how many questions you got correct - its a scale between 0 and 15.




How many did you get correct out of the 110 questions?

 
That is what I am saying, they don't even provide that information anymore. Very disappointing to not be able to know that information.

 
maddukes..not sure if you ever took the paper based test...but if you did, could you comment on whether you felt it was easier or more difficult in terms of the quality of questions they asked on the cbt vs paper test?

 
Yes, I took both paper and the CBT - failed both. I would say in general, I liked the CBT version better. Just having the electronic (and searchable) version of the FE reference is a huge improvement. Plus, having a lot fewer questions (and thus shorter day) was nice because I didn't felt completely spent mentally towards the end of the CBT.

I don't have an undergraduate degree in engineering but do have a Master's in CE. I would say I am definitely more at a disadvantage than others so its been a struggle for me to catch up to speed on the topics in the FE that I didn't have with my Political Science degree as an undergrad. Plus, I graduated from undergrad in 98 and didn't get my MSCE until 2008.

 
Wow...it is commendable that you are trying to pass this exam without an undergraduate degree in engg! All the best...and do look at school of pe refresher course. Also, solving a lot of problems seems to be the mantra. Did you find the questions on the cbt harder/easier/same difficulty?

 
I would say, on average (I took the Other Disciplines both paper and CBT) that they were about the same - but I think easier/faster to solve due to electronic FE reference and being able to find answers faster.

 
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