FE Help... please?
FE Help... please?
(OP)
I am trying to pass the EIT this coming April. Let me start by telling you that I have been out of college for 19 years. I have been reviewing for over 4 months on my own and now am only half way through the mounds and mounds of material (PPI Review books). I was hoping I would get through a lot more of it by now.
So it's really crunch time - less than 9 weeks left!
There is a review course given by Testmasters in Charlotte and Richmond that are possibilities that cram in material over 10 sessions close to test time. Has anyone here done that before? Does anyone have any advise on how to pass for an old EIT wannabee? I'm scared!
So it's really crunch time - less than 9 weeks left!
There is a review course given by Testmasters in Charlotte and Richmond that are possibilities that cram in material over 10 sessions close to test time. Has anyone here done that before? Does anyone have any advise on how to pass for an old EIT wannabee? I'm scared!





RE: FE Help... please?
Al,so, there are a number of questions that are so basic in concept (a traffic question comes to mind from my test), that it really resembles another kind of problem. In my case it was traffic volume which I analogized to fluids - it worked out well. There are also plenty of questions where you just need to find the equation in the booklet and they give you all the parameters - just plug and chug.
Good Luck!!
RE: FE Help... please?
I would put some effort in studying for the first one but not too much. If you fail, then put a lot more effort.
Never, but never question engineer's judgement
RE: FE Help... please?
During the practice tests I really focused on time management. As I recall I had 2.5 minutes per question and every 10 minutes I skipped to where I should be (i.e., if I was 30 minutes in and only on question 68 then I skipped ahead to 75). I graded the test (with the skips and no guessing) then went back and worked the ones I skipped without a time limit and regraded the test, categorizing each right and wrong question. I used the categories with the most wrong answers to focus the next week's study.
I was like you and signed up for a review course a couple of months before the test--what a major waste of time for me. I learned nothing and wasted a bunch of Saturday's that I could have been sleeping in.
I took the general session in the afternoon (and passed on the first try), figuring that I had already studied that stuff for the morning session, why get current in a specific area for the afternoon?
It worked for me, others may have different approaches that work for them.
Good luck to you, and if you can, try to stay away from PPI.com, it will drag you down without adding anything of value.
David
RE: FE Help... please?
RE: FE Help... please?
It is indeed possible to pass the FE even after 19 years because when I took the in 2002 I was out of graduate school for 25 years.
My approach was self-study program that required 3-5 nights a week for 6 months because I was out of school for 25 years. I purchased several reputable self study books and continued to work problem after problem to focus on problem set-up and execution. I also used the supplied FE reference book (this is your trusted guide for all necessary equations) to work each and every practice problem. I also reviewed engineering fundamentals.
There is one point to consider, you absolutely need a grasp of engineering fundamentals because the AM session of the exam contains relatively short, fill in the blank questions or problems that involve easy calculations (120 questions means 2 minutes or less per question). Either you know the fundamentals or you don't. I know this is a rather black and white statement, but it what I experienced in taking the exam in 2002. If you don't have a grasp of engineering fundamentals you will not pass the FE.
I was able to pass on the first try. However, I want you to realize one important life expierence that happened to me and could happen to you; I suffered through giving up part of my family life to conduct my own rigorous self study program, as I mentioned above. I felt that study programs offered by others are for those individuals that cannot manage time for studying on their own.
RE: FE Help... please?
I think their program is pretty good, and at least when I taught for them if you didn't pass you could retake the course for free.
Besides you get high quality instruction from people like me! Although I think you will probably get the most value from test taking strategies that they teach..
"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?" Oddball, "Kelly's Heros" 1970
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RE: FE Help... please?
RE: FE Help... please?
Seriously. Panic is the enemy of the test-taker.
Don't just review the material. Review test-taking methods. Learn some anti-anxiety techniques. The brain is like a muscle in a lot of ways. If it isn't relaxed and stretched, it can cramp up. The material review you've been doing is like an athelete's training. It'll help in the heat of the moment, but only if you don't let your mind freeze.
Take a few deep breaths! One now, one immediately before beginning each test session, and one after it's all over!
xnuke
"Live and act within the limit of your knowledge and keep expanding it to the limit of your life." Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged.
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RE: FE Help... please?
Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."
RE: FE Help... please?
ht
There are several threads that pertain to this subject. You may want to review
thread404-198688: FE Exam Review books
thread731-119480: FE/ PE
There are many others that cover this subject as well for the PE exam. If you perform a site search, you will find a wealth of useful information.
Maui
RE: FE Help... please?
For those areas that are not your cup of tea, select an letter by default and use it wherein you can't answer simple definition questions. If you struggle at all, then use the default letter.
Regards,
![[pipe] pipe](https://www.tipmaster.com/images/pipe.gif)
Qshake
Eng-Tips Forums:Real Solutions for Real Problems Really Quick.
RE: FE Help... please?
RE: FE Help... please?
I think I passed based primarily on this strategy: If you don't know the answer, pick the answer with the most in common with the other answers.
Example:
Blah blah blah fluid dynamics blah?
A) 93.12
B) 93.13
C) 931.2
D) 34
The answer is A because it ends with 2 and has a decimal after 2 numbers.
Unless they've caught wise and changed the test, that strategy works wonders.
RE: FE Help... please?
here is a good site to practice while at work, on brake of course.
http://www.eitexam.com/QuickTest/Quiz11.asp
RE: FE Help... please?
Never, but never question engineer's judgement
RE: FE Help... please?
Spend time really familiarizing yourself with that booklet. It makes sense when you realize that it's your only reference. If you know what's in the booklet pretty well, you should have basic principles pretty well covered since you often have to know those to understand the equations. If you know that booklet, you're a long way to passing the test.
In fact, that booklet is useful for the PE exam as well. I just passed that one and the NCEES reference book for the FE exam was my biggest resource other than my Machinery's Handbook and thermodynamic tables.
Know that booklet.
RE: FE Help... please?
Interesting strategy. How do you know the answer is not 34, the the other answers are distractors?
RE: FE Help... please?
RE: FE Help... please?
Well, this is a guessing strategy. If you can work the problem, that is the better way! But you have limited time to spend on each question, and in some cases it may be better to guess than to waste time.
So I wouldn't know that "34" wasn't the correct answer, but based on my PASS, I don't think that it was. I believe that my strategy worked for almost all of the problems because I think the pattern held even for the ones I knew and worked out.
It's been 9 years since I took the FE Exam though so maybe I'm just exaggerating.
RE: FE Help... please?
MRDPE
http://TheProfessionalEngineer.com
RE: FE Help... please?
- If you don't immediately see the correct path to take to get the answer to problem, skip it. Most of the problems are very simple and the answer isn't hard if you see it. So don't spend too much time on one problem. Go back at the end. Everyone I knew who failed it when I took it didnt make it to the end of the test because they spent too much time trying to figure out ONE problem out of 120.
- Become very familiar with the formula book you will be using. Get a good grasp of what is available to you. I found that even a few of the problems (maybe 5%) required you only to look in the corresponding section of formula to find the answer. I specifically remember getting some chemical engineering problems correct by simply reading the answer in formula book. They were a few more as well.
RE: FE Help... please?
RE: FE Help... please?
RE: FE Help... please?
When I took the EIT (over 20 years ago), the personal information on the cover sheet had a spot to indicate what attempt number this would be for you. I happened to notice that the gal sitting to my right filled in the bubble for 3 or more times. About 20 minutes to 12 I happened to look over at her answer sheet and noticed that she had answered the first 20% or so of the questions and none of the rest. My guess was that this wasn't going to be the time she passed either.
RE: FE Help... please?
RE: FE Help... please?