# HELP! Im freaking out here...



## FusionWhite (Sep 13, 2006)

So I got the chemical afternoon FE review book by Lindeburg and after just a few minutes of reviewing it I knew something bad was afoot. After a couple hours of reviewing Im now totally and completely freaked out.

The majority of this stuff is so damn hard I can tell you right now even with 3 more months of studying I will have NO shot at getting this stuff right. I have vague memories of having done much of this stuff in classes but there is no way I can do some of these problems with the NCEES handbook (which is absolutely horribly written Ive realized).

So my solution is to go ahead and start pounding away on the study guide for the general afternoon exam. Since up until now all Ive studied for is the morning general stuff I figure it will be much easier to study the general stuff more in depth then to relearn this extraordinarily difficult ChE stuff (even if I have already "learned" it).

So I guess my questions are:

How hard is the afternoon general session? From the FERM it seems much like the morning only with more indepth questions. Can anyone confirm that?

Second how accurate of a representation of the actual afternoon session are the Lindeburg books? If these are the problems which you'll be seeing on the exam I cant figure out how any ChE's are passing.

Third am I being a total spaz about all this? Hell I was just getting confident in myself doing the morning session stuff and now Im completely freaked out about the whole damn thing.


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## SkyWarp (Sep 13, 2006)

I studied for about 10 weeks and thought the test was extremely easy. There were a lot of people leaving the exam who didn't study and did not feel the same way. I was a MechE major though, so everything on the general section was familiar.

If you get the NCEES sample exam, you'll get a much better idea of what the questions on the exam are like. Linderburg is not an accurate representation of the exam. However, if you can score well on Linderburg, you'll be more than prepared. Look over the exam topics on the NCEES site, the Linderburg book had some sections that could be skipped when I took it.


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## FusionWhite (Sep 14, 2006)

Ive been studying for about 2 months now, but I started reviewing information on and off for about 8 months (I planned to take the April test but couldnt). For the most part Ive been studying for the morning section because a lot of the material is stuff Ive never had a class on (statics and dynamics). I figured I would allocate 1 month to study for the chemical afternoon session and be fine since I should already "know" this stuff. Guess I was wrong. So with a month and a half to go its crunch time.


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Sep 14, 2006)

The FE was brutal. The morning session was really easy for areas I knew, and damn near impossible for areas I didn't.

Stuff like electrical systems, solid mechanics, dynamics that I never took in college were too complex to really teach myself out of just a review book.

The afternoon session was better because it was all up my alley. A couple of screwball questions, but nothing too bad.


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## FusionWhite (Sep 14, 2006)

> The FE was brutal. The morning session was really easy for areas I knew, and damn near impossible for areas I didn't.
> Stuff like electrical systems, solid mechanics, dynamics that I never took in college were too complex to really teach myself out of just a review book.
> 
> The afternoon session was better because it was all up my alley. A couple of screwball questions, but nothing too bad.


What afternoon session did you take? So far the morning session is looking easier to me even though I have taught myself statics, dynamics and mechanics of materials. Ive done fairly well on the practice tests.


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Sep 14, 2006)

I did the Envl afternoon section. It was much more limited in scope than the Envl PE.

If I recall correctly, it was a lot of water/wastewater stuff. I liked it much better than the general morning session.

And I forgot about materials science...that was brutal too.

I honestly think if I broke out my books and studied for a month, I could pass the PE again.

But the FE, I don't think I could do that again at this point.

Good luck.


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## FusionWhite (Sep 14, 2006)

Im starting to worry about taking the PE in 4 years now too. If I cant even pass the chemical FE afternoon session how the hell am I going to pass the PE?


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Sep 14, 2006)

The PE was seriously much better than the FE. It's all stuff in your field.

No random questions about stuff you never saw in college, and no questions on basic concepts. They figure you can do algebra and stuff by that point.


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## redrum (Sep 14, 2006)

time is getting close, but I imagine that Chem Stuff is HARD!

did you look into taking the general afternoon section?


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## petermcc (Sep 14, 2006)

Chemistry.... :suicide: :suicide: :suicide: :suicide: :suicide:

I'd rather... :ruh: :ruh:


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## FusionWhite (Sep 14, 2006)

> time is getting close, but I imagine that Chem Stuff is HARD!
> did you look into taking the general afternoon section?


Yes Ive looked at the general stuff. I figure since Ive been studying the general stuff for the morning session Ive already got a leg up on the general afternoon so Im starting to lean toward that.

Looking at the chemical afternoon I have a general idea on how to do much of it but there is no way I can do these in 4 minutes. One of the problems I saw requires you to graph a HUGE set of data. How the hell am I supposed to do that on the FE?


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## mizzoueng (Sep 14, 2006)

Guess, or dont plot it all, just use the most realvent data. Like the first 3, second 3, last 3. this should give you a halfway close graph.

From what I remember, ChemEs did very well on the test. I dont think you will see questions as hard as the review. Just make sure you know where everything is in the equation book and you should be golden.


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## GeigerBC (Sep 15, 2006)

Fusion, please tell me you're not a current college student? If you are, how on earth to you have that kind of time to study for this? I'm barely looking into getting books and people are telling me I'm a bit early.


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Sep 15, 2006)

> Chemistry.... :suicide: :suicide: :suicide: :suicide: :suicide:
> I'd rather... :ruh: :ruh:


I loved chemistry. Took enough of it to have a minor.

Now physics, that's what killed me... :suicide:


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## FusionWhite (Sep 15, 2006)

> Fusion, please tell me you're not a current college student?  If you are, how on earth to you have that kind of time to study for this?  I'm barely looking into getting books and people are telling me I'm a bit early.


I study for about an hour a day while I eat lunch at work. Then I study for about an hour or two, three to four nights a week. Ive found this works well because I dont get burned out and by overlapping what Im studying it helps to keep me fresh.

When I said Ive been studying for eight months I mean I bough my books about 8 months ago and started studying but I probably didnt look at the books for about 4 months once I decided I didnt have time to take the April test (I was in the middle of buying a house and moving).

One of the reasons Ive spent so much time with the studying is because Ive never had statics, dynamics or mechanics of materials which means I had to teach myself these topics out of the review manual or other resources. This was a rather time intensive process as you may imagine.

Ive been out of school since May of 2005 and I was a mediocre student at best anyway so I need all the time I can get.


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Sep 15, 2006)

I never had dynamics, solid mech., or materials science in college. I figured I'd teach myself what I could out of my review book (as opposed to buying texts) and concentrate on nailing the areas I was good at.

Anything I got right in my weak categories was just added points.


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## FusionWhite (Sep 15, 2006)

> I never had dynamics, solid mech., or materials science in college. I figured I'd teach myself what I could out of my review book (as opposed to buying texts) and concentrate on nailing the areas I was good at.
> Anything I got right in my weak categories was just added points.


Since Im pretty sure Im going to take the general afternoon now Im glad I went more indepth with my studying in areas I had not had classes in. Its given me a leg up on the more difficult afternoon type questions without having to go back and review or learn more the stuff.


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