# Has anyone used the Passing Zone?



## Katiebug (Jul 14, 2008)

Has anyone used the Passing Zone (from the other site that shall not be mentioned)? Did you feel it was a good value? Did you find the "advisors" to be helpful and the practice questions to be reasonable?

I am considering buying the Passing Zone as a way to help keep me on-schedule for the October FE exam. I am busy with grad school and work and plain old everyday life. Being told what to do each week would save me a lot of headaches.

On the other hand, Mr. Bug is just recently at a new job after his layoff 2 months ago, and funds are still a bit tight. I look at the price tag and think to myself that if all I'd gain from it is a schedule, I can print out a weekly calendar and make one up myself! I see the potential value of the Passing Zone for the PE exam, but the FE seems a bit more straightforward in terms of the questions asked and in terms of how to prepare for it.

Note: I'm out of school for 5 years, so I do have quite a bit to review. It's not the end of the world if I don't pass the FE on the first try, but it sure would be nice...


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## peteaxel (Jul 14, 2008)

Katiebug said:


> Has anyone used the Passing Zone (from the other site that shall not be mentioned)? Did you feel it was a good value? Did you find the "advisors" to be helpful and the practice questions to be reasonable?
> I am considering buying the Passing Zone as a way to help keep me on-schedule for the October FE exam. I am busy with grad school and work and plain old everyday life. Being told what to do each week would save me a lot of headaches.
> 
> On the other hand, Mr. Bug is just recently at a new job after his layoff 2 months ago, and funds are still a bit tight. I look at the price tag and think to myself that if all I'd gain from it is a schedule, I can print out a weekly calendar and make one up myself! I see the potential value of the Passing Zone for the PE exam, but the FE seems a bit more straightforward in terms of the questions asked and in terms of how to prepare for it.
> ...


I would definitely recommend the Passing Zone. I was out of college for a number of years before attempting the FE Exam and the Passing Zone had a week by week schedule that you had to keep up with and which I did. I also found the "advisors" to be very helpful and responsive to all the questions I had. The practice questions were reasonable but did not have that many to offer. I used mostly the "FE Review Manual" and the "1001 Solved Engineering Fundamental Problems". From time to time I had to reference some of my old text books for information. All and all I did pass the FE at my first attempt with the information I just mentioned. Hope this helps, Good Luck!!


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## Casey (Jul 15, 2008)

I did the FE last year (April 2007) and all I used for the FE exam was the FERM and my old course notes that were rotting away in my basement.

At that point I had been out of school for 3 years and I had taken the courses that the FE covers back in 98/99 and 99/00, so I could say I was in a similar position as you. All I did was go through the FERM front to back (skipping biology, who needs that crap anyways?) and did all the practice problems and exams.

For me, I believe the difficulty of the FE is not the questions themselves, but the broad range of topics it covers. Most questions are pretty simple (they'd have to be if you are expected to do each question within 2 minutes), so you need to focus on knowing exactly what to do when you come across a certain question and since there are so many topics this is where it may become diffuclt.

But all in all, I think you have plenty of time to prepare for the exam and should only need the FERM to pass. I am not sure what they are charging for the passing zone, but unless you have huge problems focusing, I say, save your pennies.


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## TXengrChickPE (Jul 15, 2008)

I took and passed the FE my senior year without studying, so I can't help you there.

I tried to use the passing zone for the Civil PE (October '08). I was not impressed. Yes, they provide you with a schedule and additional practice problems. Yes, there are advisors available to help, and their responses were usually quick. But, for the Civil PE exam, "they" decided that most people are going to blow off most of structural anyway, so they only allocated 2 weeks to it, and allotted 8 weeks (out of 16) to water resources and environmental (before they were combined). Well, I was taking the structural section in the afternoon, so their schedule did not work for me at all. Also, their practice problems were far more tedious than any exam problem (it wasn't unusual for a single problem to take an hour or more to solve), so they weren't helpful for learning time management.

I would avoid giving "them" any money if you can. You know what your strengths and weaknesses are, you know how much time you have. It is unlikely that their schedule is going to fit you perfectly. Make your own schedule and stick with it. If you need to, recruit someone to nag you about your study schedule.


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## Katiebug (Jul 16, 2008)

TXengrChickPE said:


> I would avoid giving "them" any money if you can. You know what your strengths and weaknesses are, you know how much time you have. It is unlikely that their schedule is going to fit you perfectly. Make your own schedule and stick with it. If you need to, recruit someone to nag you about your study schedule.


That's what I'm leaning towards. I know I'm going to have to spend more time on math, chemistry, and circuits, and less on statics, dynamics, materials, etc. just because I haven't needed to use some of the material since college. I sat down and made a schedule that covers the material on the general AM and PM and I can use time over lunch to study at work and a bit on the weekends. If I go more quickly, I will see how I feel about the mechanical PM module since most of that material is pretty familiar already.

If I sat down and made a schedule already, then there's not much point in paying someone $210 to make one for me. The practice questions would be nice but I think I can get more practice questions for a lot less money!

The breadth is daunting...I tried to start studying way too early (in February) and realized the early material would never be fresh come October. Now we're 14-odd weeks out and it's time to get going again. I just keep reminding myself that I don't have to get _every_ question right to pass!


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## gymrat1279 PE (Jul 16, 2008)

TXengrChickPE said:


> But, for the Civil PE exam, "they" decided that most people are going to blow off most of structural anyway, so they only allocated 2 weeks to it, and allotted 8 weeks (out of 16) to water resources and environmental (before they were combined). Well, I was taking the structural section in the afternoon, so their schedule did not work for me at all.


That's what bugged me too. I had a subscription to Exam Cafe as part of a local review class I took. That was decent for extra practice problems and they were similar in length to actual PE problems.

Even if you didn't do the Passing Zone, they still came up with a schedule for you. They spent so much time on things I wasn't going to see in the structural section in the afternoon and hardly any time on more difficult structural problems. I made my own study schedule in Excel and stuck to that. Remember to build in days off though. I didn't include enough and got a bit burned out at the end.


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## wilheldp_PE (Jul 16, 2008)

You could just do what I did and have a friend sign up for Passing Zone...then have him send you the study schedule. Since I did not buy the EERM practice problems book, I didn't do the assigned problems, but I did use the schedule as a reading guide. I read each section in the order they suggested, which I found rather counter-intuitive. If you are considering purchasing the Passing Zone just for the study schedule, I would definitely say skip it. And since I can't attest to the quality of the practice problems, I can't recommend that part of it either. As for the advisors...you can get that for free right here. Aside from the fun and stupidity on this board, there are a hell of a lot of smart people that have recently passed the PE that are more than willing to answer your questions.


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## C-Dog (Jul 24, 2008)

I found going by the schedule in the Lindberg study guide worked for me. I believe he had a 30 week schedule broken down with rest periods built in. I did tweek it to my strong and weak points.


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