# How did you do i FE October 2012?



## Wael (Nov 2, 2012)

Hi all,

i took the FE exam last week. I took EE for the PM. I felt the morning session was average. you can't tell how well you did since time factor is a killer. I managed to finish the morning ession 10 min earlier. I felt I could have done better.

As for the EE in the afternoon. I really liked the kind of questions asked as they really were meant to test your understanding and the ability to think smart in order to reach an answer. I think my passing will be decided on how well i nailed the afternoon exam. I hope i don't have to take this exam again.

I graduated 7 years ago, and it took me 6 months to prepare for the exam (2.5hrs in average 5 days a week).

for AM, I used Lindeburg's FERM, and FE/EIT Sample Examinations, 2nd Edition.

For PM, I used Kaplan FE Review for EE, Lindeburg's EE Discpline specific, and NCEES sample exam.

Regards,

wael


----------



## bcolwell3 (Nov 2, 2012)

I trouble with structural and strength of material sections. I too am EE, but decided to go for general afternoon, not sure if that was wise. Stats was a killer as well, which is usually easy


----------



## John QPE (Nov 3, 2012)

Let's just say, I thought the morning was easier than what I was expecting, the afternoon (Civil) a lot harder than what I was expecting.

I felt the morning was a little heavy on the circuits and chem side, and the afternoon way heavy on the structural side. If you're taking the civil discipline I was expecting more than one Mannings problem....and the solution they had in the book was not even correct.


----------



## william (Nov 3, 2012)

I also am a EE and i thought the morning was not that bad i educated guess at about 40 but im certain i got 90% of the ones i answered. I took the testmasters course and found it helpful about 40% of the material we studied was asked on the AM. I thought the PM EE was tough not impossible but tough. I got through 25 quesrions correctly and guessed on the rest. Hopefully we both passed lol


----------



## pakiterp (Nov 3, 2012)

I was also EE and took EE afternoon. I think morning exam was average difficulty and afternoon was little harder than I expected. I think I did well enough to pass but I think wait part will be the hardest. I hope I pass it so I can move on to the PE.


----------



## FromThisSoil (Nov 3, 2012)

I did not have enough time for the morning problems. I had about 25-30 question unanswered at the 15 minutes left mark (some of which I just choked on, which under normal circumstances I wouldn't have a problem with). I never was a fast test taker, but 2 minutes per problem simply is not enough for the likes of me. The difficulty level of some of the morning problems was more than the NCEES study guides.

I took Civil in the afternoon and felt that I was within my comfort zone. My degree is in Construction Management Engineering, which is basically a split between Civil and Construction Management. I felt I did great in the structural, transportation, and ethics areas, but not so well on the water resources and surveying was so-so for me.

This is my first attempt at the exam and at this point, I'm not sure if I'll pass. If I don't pass, I at least have a better idea of what types of problems will be on the FE next time, because a lot of the structure of these problems were new to me.

I took the FE in New York (Pratt Institute) and this is a marathon for both body and mind. We were not allowed to have water during the exam and no one is taking time from the exam to go to the fountain to stay hydrated or use the bathroom. Also, I am fairly tall and my knees were killing me from sitting in those short chairs we had.


----------



## william (Nov 5, 2012)

OVER 200 views and only 5 posts were made, Come on guys give us your feedback. I already posted but let me give you some more info because I used my phone to type in my original post.

I took testmasters which was a 90 hour course for the FE exam. I covered about 90% of the questions and learned how to solve them. I studied for about 200 hours total including the in-class time at testmasters. During the exam I felt like the math was real easy except for one question that I can't even solve now. As an EE we do not take thermo, fluids, material science, etc. so everything I knew from those subject I learned from testmasters. However, what I learned in testmasters was not in the FE exam so that is why I would say testmasters helped me for about 40% of the material. About 20% I remembered from school, I have been out of school for two years and have forgotten most of it. I truly believe I got more than 70 questions right during the AM part. I took the EE discipline for the afternooon part and I thought all of the questions were really tough. After focusing and reading the questions more carefully I was able to answer 27 questions quite confidently and the rest I had NO CLUE whatsoever so I just guessed. I really do hope I passed I spent a lot of money and time on this.

What about all you guys?


----------



## vhab (Nov 5, 2012)

I took the "Other" afternoon. I thought the morning was bad, I guessed on about 20 of them (I wanted to cry when I left the AM session it was so bad), the afternoon was pretty good, I only guessed about 6 of them. I did the ASCE FE review course, which basically glossed over everything the AM covers. The AM statistics questions were way harder than any I came across in my practice exams. I'm mostly stressed out because I HAVE to pass the exam to graduate, otherwise I would just take it again. This was already my second time, the first I did no prep at all, it was more just to see what it was like.


----------



## william (Nov 5, 2012)

Vhab if you dont mind me asking how bad did you fail? I hope for the best for all of us.


----------



## oilsands (Nov 6, 2012)

william said:


> OVER 200 views and only 5 posts were made, Come on guys give us your feedback.
> 
> .....
> 
> I would say testmasters helped me for about 40% of the material.


Well, I guess the confidentiality agreement works well and people are reluctant to share their experience. From my side, being 15 years out of school, I can only say that my preparation materials prepared me quite well and I can name only a couple of completely unrecognizable problems during the AM exam. I used Lindeburg's review manual, PPI and NCEES sample exams and Kaplan's two sample exams (for AM portion). For sure, I skipped something here and there but I remember similar problems while preparing, just did not give too much attention to them for various reasons, and for sure here they are!

I wish you pass, you put quite a lot of time and effort into it, there must be some justice! I felt quite well when left the room but now feel totally insecure and remember only difficult problems...


----------



## william (Nov 7, 2012)

Oilsands good luck! Hopefully we all passed


----------



## MadameCurie (Nov 7, 2012)

I had a bad morning. I got stuck in a couple of problems and the time just wasn't enough. I spend the last 15 minutes cranking out 25 questions (just about). This is the very first time I can say I need "luck" (at least in the morning section).

The afternoon was very different. I answered all the questions and had time to check most of them. Time management was key. I wish I had done that in the morning section.

I also used the FE Review manual, the PPI sample examinations (AM and PM) and the Afternoon NCEES sample examinations. I watched some of the videos from the texas university class, only in the areas I felt needed to.

I wish you all the very best!


----------



## H2O (Nov 8, 2012)

Hi All,

Let say my morning went okay (Except Probability was harder than expectation) and after noon with other discipline went well but not good, Reason for that I possess Chemical degree was graduate 18 yrs back, I have not 100% grip on after noon all topics especially Electric and civil ones…If you minus at least (20-22) out of 60 then rest of question I did well.

Oil sands I read your previous post for afternoon chemical study plan would you like to share some thought how did it go? Was your study plan good enough to knock out or any other things to add? I’m thinking to take afternoon in chemical if did not passed this time.

Let’s Hope for best - Good luck to All


----------



## oilsands (Nov 8, 2012)

H2O said:


> Oil sands I read your previous post for afternoon chemical study plan would you like to share some thought how did it go? Was your study plan good enough to knock out or any other things to add? I’m thinking to take afternoon in chemical if did not passed this time.


I was very satisfied with the chemical afternoon. Did not know how to do only three problems (one really did not know, and two more were from the field which I deliberately did not review at all). This does not mean that I managed all other problems perfectly, but at least I always knew what I was doing. As I figured during the mock exams, there were some problems which I did not see in preparation materials but somehow the solutions just came to my mind. I love my discipline and I think my ChE intuition works quite well. I am sure I would do MUCH worse at "Other disciplines", trusses just kill me by falling on my brain when I cut them in wrong places! I will let you know if I passed but even if not, I will still take Chemical PM next time and use the same preparation materials.

Good luck, Water! (And all).


----------



## H2O (Nov 9, 2012)

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, its fresh air breath during this extreme cold wintering weather. 

Thanks Again


----------



## oilsands (Nov 9, 2012)

Another thing that may help deciding on what PM module to take is to try to predict your score in a Discipline-specific versus General PM.

For this, multiply the topic percentage specified by NCEES (e.g., 10% for Chemistry for Chemical PM) by your expected score (e.g., 0.75 or 0.5 or 0.25 or 0), then sum all the topics and find your average predicted score. Do the same for General and compare. Keep in mind also that your mind is more DS-oriented anyway, so if you get similar percentage, I would recommend going for DS, unless you think you will need a huge amount of time for review (per topic percentage). As for me, for some general engineering topics the amount of time I put to review will not make me better, I mean in 50 extra hours I am able to review ~80% of my discipline topics, while to cover some 5% of General topics for PM-type problems I will need to put at least 20 hours.

My recommendation on the expected score is:

0.75 if you are really strong in the topic (in two of my best areas I used even 0.83 - which 5 out of 6 problems correct)

0.5 - so-so

0.25 - weak (basically, 0.25 is your guess)

0 - if you intend to skip review and/or there are only 3 problems on this topic, so the chance to guess correctly is close to 0

That would be "funny" if I give so many recommendations but then not pass myself:  ) Well, today is my good day when I am positive, two days ago I was sure I failed...


----------



## william (Dec 7, 2012)

Well I passed thank god!!!! First attempt too!


----------



## FromThisSoil (Dec 10, 2012)

william said:


> Well I passed thank god!!!! First attempt too!


Same! Congrats!


----------

