# FE CBT NEW EXAM!



## cartoon (Jan 22, 2014)

So I plan to take my FE exam , and it seems like the sections were changed compared to the last FE exam. I'm electrical, and it seems like the topics are 90% more focused on the discipline you choose compared to the old FE exam. In my case it will be the circuits, the FE book by Michael R Lindebury top section is almost usless now since i don't have to worry about topics like statics,dynamic, theormo etc. I'm looking for a GOOD electrical book for the new CBT exam. the only one I was able to find is here http://www.kaplanengineering.com/fe-exam/electrical/ , does anyone know if its good. and what books can I get or websites that will help me with this new CBT Electrical Exam.

Thank you


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## pcboiler (Feb 3, 2014)

Interesting find. Unfortunately the new format hasn't been around long enough to gather any feedback for CBT prep books.

I believe the FE Review Manual by Lindberg had been the best review manual for the old style exam. They released a "how to" for using this book to prepare for the CBT at the link below. It basically says do this chapter, skip this chapter, etc.

http://ppi2pass.com/cbt/ferm3

Honestly that Kaplan book isn't too expensive; I may buy it just to check it out.


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## chibibenz (Feb 3, 2014)

I am prepping for the Environmental FE and I bought the Kaplan book because it was the only CBT prep book I could find. In general, it's not great but better than nothing. Because these were clearly rushed out, I have found a ton of typos and math errors in practice questions. In addition, the book often refers to things in the Reference Manual that aren't there or have moved sections. For example, it kept saying "this is in the Biology section of the FE reference manual" when the new manual actually does not have a biology section. It also will say certain topics are in, say, the civil section, when they are actually in the environmental section.

I have relied on the Lindeburg book more than I thought I would, because he does such a good job of explicitly highlighting which equations are provided and which aren't. In the Kaplan book, I am constantly checking the reference manual to see what is actually provided on each topic.

My Kaplan book also doesn't provide all that many practice questions. While Lindeburg splits each topic, for example Chemistry, into several subsections with their own practice problems, the Kaplan book only provides questions at the end of the entire chemistry chapter. The disparity of questions between chapters is also odd. Some chapters had 40-60 practice questions at the end, while others only had around 8. And the number of practice problems at the end of a topic does not appear to have to do with how important the topic is on the test, my economics section had 50+ practice questions even though it is around 5% of the test, while my water resources engineering topic had only 7 questions at the end of the chapter, despite being about 15-20% of the test.

So take the Kaplan book with a grain of salt and definitely pair it with other resources. Hopefully better CBT prep books will come soon.


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## Kaitlin_Lu (Feb 7, 2014)

cartoon said:


> So I plan to take my FE exam , and it seems like the sections were changed compared to the last FE exam. I'm electrical, and it seems like the topics are 90% more focused on the discipline you choose compared to the old FE exam. In my case it will be the circuits, the FE book by Michael R Lindebury top section is almost usless now since i don't have to worry about topics like statics,dynamic, theormo etc. I'm looking for a GOOD electrical book for the new CBT exam. the only one I was able to find is here http://www.kaplanengineering.com/fe-exam/electrical/ , does anyone know if its good. and what books can I get or websites that will help me with this new CBT Electrical Exam.
> 
> Thank you


Hi Cartoon,

I am going to take FE Electrical as well. I think the exam has been greatly changed to be more discipline specific although combing some general questions as well. I borrowed from my company the book FE REVIEW MANUAL from my company but it is pretty old, printed in 2006,2nd edition. I will check out the link you provided. Thanks.I am also struggling finding materials and I don't even know where to find them.

I just joined this forum and hopefully we could help each other for this exam.

Best,

Kaitlin


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## CaptainKip (Feb 9, 2014)

Kaitlin_Lu said:


> cartoon said:
> 
> 
> > So I plan to take my FE exam , and it seems like the sections were changed compared to the last FE exam. I'm electrical, and it seems like the topics are 90% more focused on the discipline you choose compared to the old FE exam. In my case it will be the circuits, the FE book by Michael R Lindebury top section is almost usless now since i don't have to worry about topics like statics,dynamic, theormo etc. I'm looking for a GOOD electrical book for the new CBT exam. the only one I was able to find is here http://www.kaplanengineering.com/fe-exam/electrical/ , does anyone know if its good. and what books can I get or websites that will help me with this new CBT Electrical Exam.
> ...


Hi Cartoon and Kaitlin,

I took and passed the last paper and pencil Electrical FE exam back in October, and I used Kaplan's guide, but it wasn't my only resource. Kaplan's Electrical FE study guide assumes the reader is familiar with most of the basic concepts in each chapter, so it doesn't spend much time before delving right into problem solving. Just like chibibenz posted above, my copy of Kaplan's guide had its share of errors, and I thought many chapters were way too short. It definitely wasn't the one-stop-shop that a book like the FERM was for the AM portion of the exam (back when there was an AM portion).

I probably spent about 5-10% of my study time using Kaplan's guide, while the majority of my time was spent reviewing topics from http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/ , http://www.engineeringvideos.org/ , and even the FERM. Also, some engineering universities from India, MIT, and other schools post entire engineering course lectures on YouTube, and post their practice problems and exams with solutions on their class websites.

Best of luck.


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