# October 2008-FE-Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



## suryan (Aug 26, 2008)

Hello...

I am taking my FE exam this October 2008. I'm still not decided about what discipline to choose for the afternoon session.

Has anyone had any experience taking the Environmental section? I am an Environmental engineer but dont have much knowledge in hydraulics/ air pollution stuff and water resources. My Masters degree focussed more on Drinking/waste water and Remediation. I did my Bachelors in Chemical engineering and am also toying with the idea of taking chemical in the afternoon. Lastly, how easy is the general exam?? Is there another manual for the General exam (PM seession) other than the Lindburg Manual which would prepare me better for the General PM section? Also, are the questions on the environmental Linburg manual close to the real exam????

I would be really really thankful if you guys could reply as soon as possible!

Thanks a bunch!


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## EM_PS (Aug 26, 2008)

I am taking FE this oct., civil DS, but will attempt some of your quests. There is no other manual that will more adequately prep you for the General other than the FERM by Lindeburg. There are certainly other problem sets you could work, but the FERM is pretty much all you need for general. For your pm selection, i would lean towards the chemical DS, unless you don't feel adequately up to speed on the material. Get a chem DS manual, or just plan on taking the general, and studying the FERM cover to cover. Remember, nobody's academic background completely covers the content of the FE exam, that's why we review so sickenly much for this ultra-broad exam. Also, it really doesn't matter if you do DS or general in terms of current job, or PE goals. passing the FE is job 1, regardless of your discipline. Good luck.


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## Casey (Aug 26, 2008)

For me, I love the General!!


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## Katiebug (Aug 27, 2008)

I'm a mechanical, which apparently helps since I remember all that pesky thermo and fluids and mechanics stuff. It also means there seems to be quite a bit of subject overlap between the General and the Mechanical DS. I may not decide until the day of the test.

I tend to be strong in thermo and can handle fluids. I can handle statics/dynamics/mechanisms in my sleep - my problem is that 5+ years out of school, I keep looking for some kind of twist or complication in those problems that just isn't there. I have to remember this is a BROAD exam that is not going to go into the kind of depth I'm used to going into from work.

My strategy is to plow through the general exam subjects (except biology, because I honestly will just fill in random bubbles for those if I do the General DS) and then hit the Mechanical DS prep book to see how I do. I'll do a General practice test about 2 weeks out from the exam, and use that to guide the remainder of my preparation.

Every time I crack open my FE Review Manual, I get a sickening feeling that I'm going to be doing this again in April. I don't know how to shake that, either.


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## EM_PS (Aug 27, 2008)

Katiebug said:


> I'm a mechanical, which apparently helps since I remember all that pesky thermo and fluids and mechanics stuff. It also means there seems to be quite a bit of subject overlap between the General and the Mechanical DS. I may not decide until the day of the test.
> I tend to be strong in thermo and can handle fluids. I can handle statics/dynamics/mechanisms in my sleep - my problem is that 5+ years out of school, I keep looking for some kind of twist or complication in those problems that just isn't there. I have to remember this is a BROAD exam that is not going to go into the kind of depth I'm used to going into from work.
> 
> My strategy is to plow through the general exam subjects (except biology, because I honestly will just fill in random bubbles for those if I do the General DS) and then hit the Mechanical DS prep book to see how I do. I'll do a General practice test about 2 weeks out from the exam, and use that to guide the remainder of my preparation.
> ...


Katie - you're strong in the areas which can atypically bring down an average score in a hurry. I wouldn't think too much that you're gonna be a repeat taker next April.

For me, having taken the FS last April gives me a boost of confidence in already having been subjected to an 8 hr NCEES test; and in already having been exposed to a plethora of civil eng based quests. Everyone always said the practice exams are more difficult than the real thing; i found that to be patently false with the FS. When you take practice exams, treat them as if they were the real thing - I know Lindeburg's material is more indepth than what is reportedly on the FE, so if we can knock his exams down, we should be golden!

At the most, should i be a repeat taker next April, my mantra is that this is the last time i will be studying for the FE during the summer months, what remains of it anyways. Now the PE / PS, thats another story. . .


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## Katiebug (Aug 27, 2008)

error_matrix said:


> Katie - you're strong in the areas which can atypically bring down an average score in a hurry. I wouldn't think too much that you're gonna be a repeat taker next April.
> For me, having taken the FS last April gives me a boost of confidence in already having been subjected to an 8 hr NCEES test; and in already having been exposed to a plethora of civil eng based quests. Everyone always said the practice exams are more difficult than the real thing; i found that to be patently false with the FS. When you take practice exams, treat them as if they were the real thing - I know Lindeburg's material is more indepth than what is reportedly on the FE, so if we can knock his exams down, we should be golden!
> 
> At the most, should i be a repeat taker next April, my mantra is that this is the last time i will be studying for the FE during the summer months, what remains of it anyways. Now the PE / PS, thats another story. . .


I have heard that Lindeburg's sample problems are tougher than the actual exam (at least the morning part), and I have the NCEES practice test materials as well. I plan to capitalize on my strengths and max out my scores in the areas where I'm strong, and to review enough in my weak areas that I should be able to get _some_ of the questions right. I think a lot of my worries are because this is an unknown experience, and because I've been out of school for so long (grad school doesn't count, IMO).

I like your mantra, I think I'll adopt it, too.

I'm quite sure that the PE will be a full year of preparation on my part, and it likely won't be happening for a few years yet since Mr. Bug and I want to start a family. I'll start prepping this time next year with the goal of taking the PE in October 2010 (perhaps). THAT one will be a nail biter for sure!


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## snickerd3 (Aug 27, 2008)

If you are deciding between Chem E and general afternoon, I would take a very good look at your strength or weakness in the general topic areas. I took the Chem E afternoon for the FE because I knew I didn't remember enough about the mechanics statics...basically anything physics related. At least when I took the FE, there wasn't a whole lot of FE Chem E review books...lindberg didn't write one, the book I bought was from a no name publisher, but it worked well enough. I don't think I finished an entire set of problems on the afternoon part (need to sovle part a, b &amp; c correctly in order to solve part d,e f etc...) but I still passed thanks to the morning part. Having the Chem E degree you have a very strong background in the parts of the morning portion that count the most Math and chemistry.


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## squishles10 (Aug 28, 2008)

I took the environmental- I didn't think it was bad at all. I don't have a strong env background but a strong hydro background instead and I was fine. Just KNOW THE EQUATIONS. There are some weird air pollution and epidemic ones in there that I had seen before but in very atypical situations. If you have questions about them, let me know.


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## suryan (Sep 27, 2008)

snickerd3 said:


> If you are deciding between Chem E and general afternoon, I would take a very good look at your strength or weakness in the general topic areas. I took the Chem E afternoon for the FE because I knew I didn't remember enough about the mechanics statics...basically anything physics related. At least when I took the FE, there wasn't a whole lot of FE Chem E review books...lindberg didn't write one, the book I bought was from a no name publisher, but it worked well enough. I don't think I finished an entire set of problems on the afternoon part (need to sovle part a, b &amp; c correctly in order to solve part d,e f etc...) but I still passed thanks to the morning part. Having the Chem E degree you have a very strong background in the parts of the morning portion that count the most Math and chemistry.


tHANKS FOR YOUR REPLY.. Right now I'm breakin my head over Dynamics! Do you remember if the AM exam focused more on Statics or Dynamics? With just 4 eeks left I've barely done anything!


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## Katiebug (Sep 28, 2008)

suryan said:


> tHANKS FOR YOUR REPLY.. Right now I'm breakin my head over Dynamics! Do you remember if the AM exam focused more on Statics or Dynamics? With just 4 eeks left I've barely done anything!


AM isn't broken down into statics vs. dynamics; the NCEES specification just refers to "Mechanics" and includes statics, kinetics, kinematics, etc.

AM should be pretty simple questions - remember, there are 120 questions and only 240 minutes in which to solve them. They are not going to be super-complex. I am told that the FERM questions are more challenging than the AM questions and probably more in line with the PM general questions.

Remember that the goal of the FERM is over-preparation. If you get better than 50% on the diagnostic for the section, don't keep bashing your head against the subject; move on!


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## PinoyCE (Sep 28, 2008)

Katiebug said:


> Remember that the goal of the FERM is over-preparation. If you get better than 50% on the diagnostic for the section, don't keep bashing your head against the subject; move on!


One more advantage of over-preparation is that it speeds you up during the actual exam. You had encountered hard problems so you can easily go through the easy ones.

I think FE will be a test of how broad your knowledge are and not how in-depth in a specific discipline. If you'll stick on a specific area, you'll tend to lose on the other parts.

25 days left. But I still I think I got rough edges. bump


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## PinoyCE (Sep 28, 2008)

PinoyCE said:


> One more advantage of over-preparation is that it speeds you up during the actual exam. You had encountered hard problems so you can easily go through the easy ones.
> I think FE will be a test of how broad your knowledge are and not how in-depth in a specific discipline. If you'll stick on a specific area, you'll tend to lose on the other parts.
> 
> 25 days left. But I still I think I got rough edges. bump


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## STEEL MAN (Sep 28, 2008)

I hope all of you guys will pass this Oct 2008...not like me I failed 4 times, good luck.


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## klk (Sep 28, 2008)

I took the FE with the enviro PM session the first year it was offered, thus there was very little information or review materials when I took the exam. The only thing I could find was the NCEES sample exam problems for Envr PM session and I became somewhat comfortable with the level of difficulty of the questions. Many of my friends went into the exam not sure which session they were going to do, and most selected general PM because they were unsure of the envr session. My friends told me after the exam that they thought the general PM session was just a more difficult version of the general AM session and they had wished they took Envr in the afternoon.

The one thing I could recommend is to be very familiar with the supplied reference handbook. My coworker told me she missed a problem or two because the handbook didn't have any equations for a few hydrology types of problems. It turned out that the equations she needed were in the Civil engineering section, not environmental or fluids sections.

Good luck! I hope you all pass!!


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## Guest (Oct 14, 2008)

Casey said:


> For me, I love the General!!


Now, that thar is just funny !!! :lmao: :lmao:

I took this test back when there was ONLY a general exam ... ld-025:

JR


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## mudpuppy (Oct 14, 2008)

^Dang you're old!


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## EM_PS (Oct 14, 2008)

My brain's approaching terminal velocity or something. . . its like my linear algebra teacher used to say "i don't know if I've had too much coffee, or not enough"

thus, "i don't know if I've studied too much now, or not enough" - end result feels the same


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## PinoyCE (Oct 21, 2008)

same goes for me too! but its more on, did I prepare enough? lolz


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## EM_PS (Oct 21, 2008)

Problem i've been having of late is that all these practice probs / tests are like being at the driving range. . .i just get bored with 'working on the mechanics' without the challenge or risk inherent in actually 'golfing a round'. I'm f'n ready for this POS test! Lets do it!

just let me study these few things a bit more first. . .


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