WHAT IS YOUR DEGREE?

[teda]

I just passed Oct. 2006 PE exam.

I have BSCE and MSCE both on Structural Engineering. I do believe what I learned in college helped me for structural and geotechnical parts.

Advanced topics learned in college are not in PE exam this time. However they do give me more confidence, like prestressed concrete, advanced concrete, bridge engineering.................

But for WR, ENVIRO, and Trans, I totally rely on CERM book.

 

[DrFranz]

just have a BS in Civil Engineering.
Honestly many people say that they would like to have a master's degree to get ahead, but I believe that a PE license (in the civil/structural word) is just as good.

I think you have a point there. I got my masters mainly because I didn't feel like I knew enough to be a good geotech and I wasn't getting any training on the job at the time. I was basically an overpaid secretary. (Some older engineers think women are only good for two things. Secretary was the only one I was willing to do.)

I'm now in the position to hire engineers and I like seeing the masters degree, but without experience, it means very little. I'll take a PE any day.

Completely agree, a PE is rater way higher than a MS or ME.

I have what is called a Civil Engineer`s degree (not ABET acredited) and it is a professional degree in Eng. (much like a MD or a JD). I also have a couple MS, an MBA and a PhD, which did not help at all in the PE, only my C.E. degree was sufficient to pass the PE and I feel I could have passed it right out of school without the need for experience. btw I do geotech and I passed the PE first time approx. 10 years out of the CE degree and the FE (also firt time) 9 years out of school... I found the FE a bit more challenging than the PE... maybe because I haven`t thought of those subjects for a while??

 

[gatormech_e]

<-- Master's degree, Mechanical Engineering, University of Florida, 2001 (GO GATORS!!!)

i passed the FE on my first attempt in April 2006; am studying for the PE (ME, Machine Design) for April 2007.

i keep hearing the guys at work (who took the old 'essay format' of the exam) that the FE is waaaaaay harder than the PE. i don't know if i agree. i was always a good 'generalist' so a review class and MERM got me through the FE with only a bit of discomfort. a little brute force and problem drills goes a long way.

i am cautiously optimistic that i can pass the PE exam, but that reference to the difficulty of the FE concerns me.

 

[DVINNY]

I passed the FE first time. Not the case on the PE. To me there is no comparison. The FE was easier for me.

 

[MetroRAFB]

<-- Master's degree, Mechanical Engineering, University of Florida, 2001 (GO GATORS!!!)
i passed the FE on my first attempt in April 2006; am studying for the PE (ME, Machine Design) for April 2007.

i keep hearing the guys at work (who took the old 'essay format' of the exam) that the FE is waaaaaay harder than the PE. i don't know if i agree. i was always a good 'generalist' so a review class and MERM got me through the FE with only a bit of discomfort. a little brute force and problem drills goes a long way.

i am cautiously optimistic that i can pass the PE exam, but that reference to the difficulty of the FE concerns me.

I thought the PE was on par with the FE in terms of difficulty. I took the FE in 1994, I'm not sure if that 's the same format that it is now or not. I know that I did not have a choice for the afternoon session, the FE was the same for everybody that took it. The material covered in the FE differed from the PE pretty substantially, but in terms of overall difficulty and format, it was very similar in my opinion.

I suspect you'll do fine on the PE, just assume it's going to be the most excruciatingly difficult thing you could ever put yourself through and prepare accordingly. It's way better in my opinion to overprepare and think it was easy than the other way around. I put an honest 200hrs into my prep (Passing Zone :banhim: ) and after the exam I wish I'd spent another 50+ hours. I made it, but it could have gone either way. I'd also say that I thought the PE was more difficult than the NCEES practice exam. I took that exam 3wks before the real thing and did OK on it, and that gave me a false sense of security.

'.02'

 

[gatormech_e]

@ Metro: Thanks for the advice, I plan to put in around 250 hours (give or take) but worry that this won't be enough. I don't want to obsess and psych myself out, but I do want to be overprepared.

I am willing to put in the work; I pray that it's enough.

 

[3gorgesdam]

I passed the FE first time.? Not the case on the PE.? To me there is no comparison.? The FE was easier for me.

DVINNY, how many attempts have you made to pass PE so far? How many years between your EIT and PE? To me it has been 9 years. I passed PE (Structure afternoon) this October first attmept. I can't seem benefit much from passing EIT. Basically, I started all over again as far as the review materials concerned. What afternoon module do you take? By the way, I put in about 150 hours total. Did you put in at least that many hours? I don't recommend anything less than that. My job is related to Structure portion. If one's job isn't related to at least one subject, 150 hours may not be enough.

I am just curious about your experience and try to be helpful as I can tell you are a big contributor to this board. :girl: I personally benefit a lot from visiting here :true: .

 

[DVINNY]

3g,

I took the FE in Apr. 00, and PE, I have taken it 3 times (PE), the

first time, Oct. 05 I took Structure PM, had 0 hrs studying. I know. score=39

2nd time, Apr. 06 I took WR, had about 25-35 hrs. studying

3rd time, Oct. 06 I took Transpo, had about 75-80 hrs. studying.

 

[3gorgesdam]

3g,
I took the FE in Apr. 00, and PE, I have taken it 3 times (PE), the

first time, Oct. 05 I took Structure PM, had 0 hrs studying. I know. score=39

2nd time, Apr. 06 I took WR, had about 25-35 hrs. studying

3rd time, Oct. 06 I took Transpo, had about 75-80 hrs. studying.

So okay, you didn't put in enough hours. I personally don't think the difficulty levels of EIT and PE are compariable. The focus is different. You can pass as long as you put in enough hours. Nothing is difficult to get to know, just a matter of spending the time to get to know it or not. Good luck next time round. :study

 

[DVINNY]

I took the FE 2.5 yrs out of college, and studied about 10 hrs going into it.

I took the attitude "I'll see what it's like"

My luck has run out since then

 

[3gorgesdam]

I took the FE 2.5 yrs out of college, and studied about 10 hrs going into it.?
I took the attitude "I'll see what it's like"

My luck has run out since then

I hate to waste money. That is my motivation to pass in one time. :true:

 

[benbo]

3gorges-

First of all, I do not know if this applies to you or not but ..

If English is not your first language I suspect the FE may be very hard. The reason is because there are so many problems and you have to read them so quickly. Non-native speakers are at a disadvantage. If you can pass the structural exam, which is very tough I hear, then the problem is not likely technical ability.

I've got no solution, just a possible reason. But maybe you are a native, in which case never mind.

 

[MetroRAFB]

@ Metro: Thanks for the advice, I plan to put in around 250 hours (give or take) but worry that this won't be enough. I don't want to obsess and psych myself out, but I do want to be overprepared.
I am willing to put in the work; I pray that it's enough.

250 should be plenty. 200 worked for me but I was sweating it for 2 months after the exam. Just take it seriously, don't procrastinate and don't play the odds that certain things won't be on the exam. I felt like they beat certain things to death in the exam and asked several questions on the same subject. If one of those subjects is something you gambled wouldn't be on the exam, you're toast. Many subjects and/or problem types on the NCEES practice exam that I thought were easy weren't even on the real exam. If you understand everything in the MERM, you're golden in the morning. I can't speak to the difficulty/content of the Machine Design afternoon session, but the MERM was lacking pretty seriously for the HVAC afternoon module. Of course, "the other board" even tells you that their materials are geared more toward the morning as opposed to the afternoon modules.

 

[3gorgesdam]

3gorges-First of all, I do not know if this applies to you or not but ..

If English is not your first language I suspect the FE may be very hard.  The reason is because there are so many problems and you have to read them so quickly.  Non-native speakers are at a disadvantage.  If you can pass the structural exam, which is very tough I hear, then the problem is not likely technical ability.

I've got no solution, just a possible reason.  But maybe you are a native, in which case never mind.

benbo: English is my second language. But EIT was very easy to me. My difficulty was to translate everything into English on my own. That took me a while since I received my undergraduate education in Chinese from a small college in China. But there was no technical challenge at all in EIT. PE is to test general knowlege not deep understanding. So I think as long as enough hours put in, one has great chance to pass. Remeber I dont speak English and I could pass PE (Structure PM), then anyone could do it.

 

[benbo]

3gorges-

My mistake! There is somebody who posts here who passed the PE but is having trouble with the FE. I mixed that person up with you. Obviously it was someone else.

 

[WR/ENV_Instructor]

An Ocean Engineer could be one of three things: Naval arch. engr., Offshore structures engr. or Coastal engr. I am the later, basically I put sand back on the beach. I design how much sand, where to put it, how to shape it and where it comes from. It's a major challenge b/c the environment is always changing: winds, waves, tides, storms, etc. The is no clean cut, cookie cutter design - it takes historical knowledge and lots of hands-on experience to be an effective coastal engineer IMO.

 

[gmw9726]

An Ocean Engineer could be one of three things: Naval arch. engr., Offshore structures engr. or Coastal engr. I am the later, basically I put sand back on the beach. I design how much sand, where to put it, how to shape it and where it comes from. It's a major challenge b/c the environment is always changing: winds, waves, tides, storms, etc. The is no clean cut, cookie cutter design - it takes historical knowledge and lots of hands-on experience to be an effective coastal engineer IMO.

I am an Ocean Engineer as well. I do offshore structures and I just passed the PE in civil/structural PM in OCT 2006 first try. Just studied on my own. No classes just these boards.

I had to teach myself all the stuff you are about to go through. You can get through it man. It just takes time and effort.

This is what it was like for me.

Civil AM

water resources - pretty easy

transportation - doesnt take long to learn the basics

geotech - my job helped me alot

structural - my job helped me alot

environmental - this one really sucked.

Structural PM

Took alot of studying just because offshore doesnt deal with alot of types that is on the test.

I also heard that Naval Arch. PE isnt too bad for Ocean Engineers. You can look into that.

Let me know if I can offer any advice and I will try and help.

 

[DrFranz]

3g,
I took the FE in Apr. 00, and PE, I have taken it 3 times (PE), the

first time, Oct. 05 I took Structure PM, had 0 hrs studying.  I know. score=39

2nd time, Apr. 06 I took WR, had about 25-35 hrs. studying

3rd time, Oct. 06 I took Transpo, had about 75-80 hrs. studying.

So okay, you didn't put in enough hours. I personally don't think the difficulty levels of EIT and PE are compariable. The focus is different. You can pass as long as you put in enough hours. Nothing is difficult to get to know, just a matter of spending the time to get to know it or not. Good luck next time round. :study

I am not sure that is is about the amount of hours you put into studying or not...

For me the EI seemed a bit more challenging... and I studied a max of 120 hrs. for the EI spread over some 2.5 months... I got a 91 score. I studied only 4 days (the 4 days before the test) for the PE but in a more intense way (8hrs/day = 32 hrs total), unfortunately the did not report the score, but the PE seemed way too easy... '.02'

 

[3gorgesdam]

3g,
I took the FE in Apr. 00, and PE, I have taken it 3 times (PE), the

first time, Oct. 05 I took Structure PM, had 0 hrs studying.? I know. score=39

2nd time, Apr. 06 I took WR, had about 25-35 hrs. studying

3rd time, Oct. 06 I took Transpo, had about 75-80 hrs. studying.

So okay, you didn't put in enough hours. I personally don't think the difficulty levels of EIT and PE are compariable. The focus is different. You can pass as long as you put in enough hours. Nothing is difficult to get to know, just a matter of spending the time to get to know it or not. Good luck next time round. :study

I am not sure that is is about the amount of hours you put into studying or not...

For me the EI seemed a bit more challenging... and I studied a max of 120 hrs. for the EI spread over some 2.5 months... I got a 91 score. I studied only 4 days (the 4 days before the test) for the PE but in a more intense way (8hrs/day = 32 hrs total), unfortunately the did not report the score, but the PE seemed way too easy... '.02'

What PE exam did you take? What do you do? Are you in academic insitute? I can see if you teach most of the courses, then you don't even need the reference book. Otherwise I dont think I can even :study flip through Dr. Limdeburg's review book for PE in 4 days without going into details. Good luck to you. It is interesting story.

 

[DVINNY]

DrFranz already passed last time around.