# Help: FE Exam- Oct. 2011



## Bengoshi (May 29, 2011)

Hello,

I am using the Lindeburg (3rd Edition) to study for the FE Exam in October. I plan on taking the general exam. Are there any chapters in the Lindeburg book that I can skip or pay less attention to provided that I do not have enough time to study? With that said, are there any chapters that I should look more closely at?

Thanks


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## Exception Collection (May 29, 2011)

Bengoshi said:


> Hello,
> I am using the Lindeburg (3rd Edition) to study for the FE Exam in October. I plan on taking the general exam. Are there any chapters in the Lindeburg book that I can skip or pay less attention to provided that I do not have enough time to study? With that said, are there any chapters that I should look more closely at?
> 
> Thanks


Probably not many, or rather not many by default. I'm not familiar with that exact book, but I do know that the exam (when I took it) was pretty well distributed throughout the subjects.

That said, I suggest starting by taking a practice exam, then studying, then taking a second practice exam, studying, repeat until you get a reasonably high score (75-80%).

And of course, if you are absolutely abysmal in one particular section, try to improve - but if you run short on time, you can skip one or two of the less important sections, and just assume you'll take a hit on the final score. That's what I finally ended up doing on the Electrical section questions; for some reason I just couldn't wrap my brain around all of it in time to study.

It helps if you know specifically what kind of P.E. you want to get - in my case, I want a Structural as my primary, Civil as secondary, and (cash / time available, which is highly unlikely) Geotechnical, Mechanical and finally Electrical licenses. Since the EE is my least-important subject, I decided it wasn't a big issue if I wasn't as good at it as I could have been.


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## DS58 (Jun 2, 2011)

Bengoshi said:


> Hello,
> I am using the Lindeburg (3rd Edition) to study for the FE Exam in October. I plan on taking the general exam. Are there any chapters in the Lindeburg book that I can skip or pay less attention to provided that I do not have enough time to study? With that said, are there any chapters that I should look more closely at?
> 
> Thanks


I just passed the exam taking the Other Disciplines and using the Lindeburg book. I graduated long ago so I felt like I was starting from scratch. My strategy was:


Spend the most time on your strengths - in my opinion *this is the stuff you will do well on under pressure *and the areas you are least likely to be fooled into accepting a tricky answer on or spending unwarranted time on; Master these areas, especially MATH which I know we have all had before.
Go over your weak areas as time permits to catch low-hanging fruit; read the chapters and step through the problems that you have time for - maybe just the first chapter or two in these sections; sometimes knowing a definition or having seen a type of problem in the study material will give you an edge, even if the area is not one you had a class in.
Master Ethics and Economics - the TAMU lectures are excellent and I felt these areas could be mastered through study, unlike the more technical engineering disciplines - aim for 100% in these areas. 
Know your reference book and your calculator backwards and forwards. The Casio calculator (and probably the others) has all kinds of features. It will calculate determinants of matrices, least squares, statistical variances, calculate polar equations, etc. Use both right from the start for all problems. Also don't forget the reference book has an index - I found this helpful on the test. 
Of course, do problems problems problems and the practice tests to build speed and gain confidence.
Finally, I made an excel grid of how many points each area was supposed to have and put my confidence level next to each to predict my score. In those areas I felt weakest, I assumed I could at least get 25% with a guess. This helped me lay out my study plan and feel confidence in it. The practice tests were pretty close to my predictions and I think the actual test was as well, although since I don't have the score I can't say for sure!

Good luck!!


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## Leon (Jun 20, 2011)

Thanks.

It is good information to me because I am preparing the FE other discipline on October, 2011.


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## rob0 (Jul 4, 2011)

Bengoshi said:


> Hello,
> I am using the Lindeburg (3rd Edition) to study for the FE Exam in October. I plan on taking the general exam. Are there any chapters in the Lindeburg book that I can skip or pay less attention to provided that I do not have enough time to study? With that said, are there any chapters that I should look more closely at?
> 
> Thanks


You might look at my review of the Lindeburg book - titled "Review of review material" which is on this forum.

I took the general exam and skipped bio and controls in the FERM and have absolutely no regrets about that (with the caveat that every test is different - however lindeburg groups controls in with the computer section unlike the ncees definition of computer questions, and for bio there are only typically 3 questions - not worth the time and effort especially when you consider the number of chapters he devotes to them).

As another person already mentioned - look at the percentages for the questions, estimate what you'll get right on each one and use that to guide where you will get the most bang for your study time - this is something recommended in the TAMU video series on strategies for taking the FE, a good video to watch.

Keep in mind some topics may be easier to just pick up (engineering econ and ethics for example) if you can do the math and econ you've covered a large portion of the test. With the other areas, as an ME I reviewed the concepts of the circuits section, but didn't get too worried about knowing it all - since you only need to pass not get every item right.

Good luck.


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## 3point5 (Jul 16, 2011)

my 2 cents is similar to DS58 -

1. Focus on the simple stuff - for me that was the surveying, math, construction management, structures - anything that I forgot or knew there was no way in hell I was going to get I guessed and didn't waste any more time on those questions.

2. Ethics and Economics = free points…

3. Download the Reference Manual from NCEES and know how to use it. I took the FE 4 years after I graduated and I had an intern who already passed the FE and we sat down over a few weeks and reviewed that manual together…so if you know anyone who has already passed it review the manual with them to see where you should spend your time studying.

4. As soon as the exam was over - I went straight to the NCEES Manual and I took an hour and highlighted sections that appeared on the exam. In the situation that I didn't pass it I had a fresh mindset of what was on the exam and what I would need to study for the next go-round…

5. Don't overthink it, it's just a stupid exam…you have the PE to really worry about...


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