Career By Design

Hi all, I would like to start an AMA (Ask Me Anything) thread on the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam. I took this exam a few years ago and am pleased to say that I passed it on my first try.

If you are in the United States for college, then it is almost time for Winter break! During my senior year, I found Winter break the perfect time to start my studying for the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam. I studied at least 4 hours a day for most of my break. I then took the exam in late January so that I would have about a month of studying under my belt and could sit for the FE before I had midterm exams. 

For some excellent tips on preparing for the FE, I recommend reading the following Member Voice by @Christopher Medora : https://collaborate.asce.org/careerbydesign/blogs/christopher-medora1/2019/12/12/preparing-for-the-fe-exam 

What questions do you have about the FE? Comment them below or feel free to message me directly! 

------------------------------
Danielle Schroeder EIT, A.M.ASCE
Associate Engineer
Pennoni Associates
Philadelphia PA
------------------------------
​

Hey Danielle! I'm glad to hear your story about how your prepared for the FE. I am actually planning to do the exact same thing and have my test scheduled to happen just after Christmas Break. Do you feel this was plenty of time to prepare?

------------------------------
Mark Hathcock S.M.ASCE
Associate Engineer
City of Farmington
Farmington NM
------------------------------

Mark, 

I think about 1 month to 1.5 months was a great amount of time to study for the FE! I spend most of my time studying using the following book by Michael Lindeburg as I found going through practice problems the best way for me to study: https://www.amazon.com/Civil-Practice-Problems-Michael-Lindeburg/dp/1591264405 

~Danielle

------------------------------
Danielle Schroeder EIT, A.M.ASCE
Associate Engineer
Pennoni Associates
Philadelphia PA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-11-2019 10:22
From: Mark Hathcock
Subject: Fundamental of Engineering (FE) - AMA!

Hey Danielle! I'm glad to hear your story about how your prepared for the FE. I am actually planning to do the exact same thing and have my test scheduled to happen just after Christmas Break. Do you feel this was plenty of time to prepare?

------------------------------
Mark Hathcock S.M.ASCE
Associate Engineer
City of Farmington
Farmington NM
------------------------------

Another study guide, the Fundamentals of Engineering FE Civil All-in-One Exam Guide, is available free to ASCE members through Access Engineering (https://www.asce.org/accessengineering/) with your ASCE log-in.  A search for "FE exam" on the Access Engineering site should find it as one of the top hits.  I haven't gotten feedback on how helpful it is, but it's worth a look.   

------------------------------
Becky Waldrup P.E., M.ASCE
Senior Manager, Professional Activities
American Society of Civil Engineers
Reston VA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-12-2019 07:27
From: Danielle Schroeder
Subject: Fundamental of Engineering (FE) - AMA!

Mark,

I think about 1 month to 1.5 months was a great amount of time to study for the FE! I spend most of my time studying using the following book by Michael Lindeburg as I found going through practice problems the best way for me to study: https://www.amazon.com/Civil-Practice-Problems-Michael-Lindeburg/dp/1591264405

~Danielle

------------------------------
Danielle Schroeder EIT, A.M.ASCE
Associate Engineer
Pennoni Associates
Philadelphia PA
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 12-11-2019 10:22
From: Mark Hathcock
Subject: Fundamental of Engineering (FE) - AMA!

Hey Danielle! I'm glad to hear your story about how your prepared for the FE. I am actually planning to do the exact same thing and have my test scheduled to happen just after Christmas Break. Do you feel this was plenty of time to prepare?

------------------------------
Mark Hathcock S.M.ASCE
Associate Engineer
City of Farmington
Farmington NM

Mark,
I graduated last may and still needed to take the FE after I started my job at the beginning of June. I signed up for a Saturday test time in August and began leaving early-ish from work to give myself enough time to study on weeknight evenings. overall, my plan was to study 2 hours a night on weeknights for 4 weeks. So that would give me 20 days of studying and if something came up on a weeknight, I still had my weekend to make up for it. For study material, I worked through the practice exam booklet that you can buy on the NCEES website​ and I watched Gregory Michaelson's FE review lectures on YouTube. In his review videos, he works through many of the practice book problems, as well as a few additional problems. For me, this was the most efficient way to study that would genuinely prepare me to take the FE. I was successful too, I finished the test an hour early and passed! Hopefully what I did could also be helpful to you too.
Best of luck taking the FE!

------------------------------
McKenzie Aubuchon A.M.ASCE
Rowlett TX
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-11-2019 10:22
From: Mark Hathcock
Subject: Fundamental of Engineering (FE) - AMA!

Hey Danielle! I'm glad to hear your story about how your prepared for the FE. I am actually planning to do the exact same thing and have my test scheduled to happen just after Christmas Break. Do you feel this was plenty of time to prepare?

------------------------------
Mark Hathcock S.M.ASCE
Associate Engineer
City of Farmington
Farmington NM
------------------------------

McKenzie brings up a great point. YouTube is also a great resource for study materials. Here are a few channels/playlists I used to help study: 

• Gregory Michaelson from Marshall University which McKenzie referenced above  (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCV9OyAY5K-VOJjVCbvlDpvni2n3dG7jl)
  • For all my structure focused Civil Engineering Students, He also has full playlists on both concrete and steel design!
• Engineering In Training - https://www.youtube.com/user/EngineerInTrainingTV 
  • Engineering Economics
  • Statistics
  • Diff Eq, Calc, Math  are the ones I found super helpful 

Thank you also to @Rebecca Waldrup for sharing that free resource ​through Access Engineering as I did not know about that when I was taking FE!

------------------------------
Danielle Schroeder EIT, A.M.ASCE
Associate Engineer
Pennoni Associates
Philadelphia PA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-12-2019 08:40
From: McKenzie Aubuchon
Subject: Fundamental of Engineering (FE) - AMA!

Mark,
I graduated last may and still needed to take the FE after I started my job at the beginning of June. I signed up for a Saturday test time in August and began leaving early-ish from work to give myself enough time to study on weeknight evenings. overall, my plan was to study 2 hours a night on weeknights for 4 weeks. So that would give me 20 days of studying and if something came up on a weeknight, I still had my weekend to make up for it. For study material, I worked through the practice exam booklet that you can buy on the NCEES website​ and I watched Gregory Michaelson's FE review lectures on YouTube. In his review videos, he works through many of the practice book problems, as well as a few additional problems. For me, this was the most efficient way to study that would genuinely prepare me to take the FE. I was successful too, I finished the test an hour early and passed! Hopefully what I did could also be helpful to you too.
Best of luck taking the FE!

------------------------------
McKenzie Aubuchon A.M.ASCE
Rowlett TX
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 12-11-2019 10:22
From: Mark Hathcock
Subject: Fundamental of Engineering (FE) - AMA!

Hey Danielle! I'm glad to hear your story about how your prepared for the FE. I am actually planning to do the exact same thing and have my test scheduled to happen just after Christmas Break. Do you feel this was plenty of time to prepare?

------------------------------
Mark Hathcock S.M.ASCE
Associate Engineer
City of Farmington
Farmington NM

The NCEES website sells Training Exams for all the different FE and Exams (https://ncees.org/supplemental/launch-login/). I bought one over a year ago and going through it all showed me which of all my classes required more study time.

In the 2.5 months leading up to my exam, I found an online class covering 8 weeks of content (https://www.coursera.org/learn/fe-exam/home/welcome). It was self-paced with lectures and quizzes, but didn't cover all of the FE content, so I also listened to Gregory Michaelson's playlist to cover the rest (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGv3KG_qIWQuIZEH-YGpBUw/playlists).


------------------------------
Alexander Granato A.M.ASCE
Student
Bexley OH
granato.3@...
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-12-2019 09:48 AM
From: Danielle Schroeder
Subject: Fundamental of Engineering (FE) - AMA!

McKenzie brings up a great point. YouTube is also a great resource for study materials. Here are a few channels/playlists I used to help study:

• Gregory Michaelson from Marshall University which McKenzie referenced above  (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCV9OyAY5K-VOJjVCbvlDpvni2n3dG7jl)
  • For all my structure focused Civil Engineering Students, He also has full playlists on both concrete and steel design!
• Engineering In Training - https://www.youtube.com/user/EngineerInTrainingTV 
  • Engineering Economics
  • Statistics
  • Diff Eq, Calc, Math  are the ones I found super helpful 

Thank you also to @Rebecca Waldrup for sharing that free resource ​through Access Engineering as I did not know about that when I was taking FE!

------------------------------
Danielle Schroeder EIT, A.M.ASCE
Associate Engineer
Pennoni Associates
Philadelphia PA
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 12-12-2019 08:40
From: McKenzie Aubuchon
Subject: Fundamental of Engineering (FE) - AMA!

Mark,
I graduated last may and still needed to take the FE after I started my job at the beginning of June. I signed up for a Saturday test time in August and began leaving early-ish from work to give myself enough time to study on weeknight evenings. overall, my plan was to study 2 hours a night on weeknights for 4 weeks. So that would give me 20 days of studying and if something came up on a weeknight, I still had my weekend to make up for it. For study material, I worked through the practice exam booklet that you can buy on the NCEES website​ and I watched Gregory Michaelson's FE review lectures on YouTube. In his review videos, he works through many of the practice book problems, as well as a few additional problems. For me, this was the most efficient way to study that would genuinely prepare me to take the FE. I was successful too, I finished the test an hour early and passed! Hopefully what I did could also be helpful to you too.
Best of luck taking the FE!

------------------------------
McKenzie Aubuchon A.M.ASCE
Rowlett TX


Original Message:
Sent: 12-11-2019 10:22
From: Mark Hathcock
Subject: Fundamental of Engineering (FE) - AMA!

Hey Danielle! I'm glad to hear your story about how your prepared for the FE. I am actually planning to do the exact same thing and have my test scheduled to happen just after Christmas Break. Do you feel this was plenty of time to prepare?

------------------------------
Mark Hathcock S.M.ASCE
Associate Engineer
City of Farmington
Farmington NM

I took mine a year before graduating. I studied 6 hours a day for 3 days, took a day to rest, and passed the exam the next day with about an hour left on the clock.

I'd say 18 to 20 hours is enough studying for those still in school that did well in class. One of the best pieces of advice I received was about test taking strategies.

On your first pass through, do the following

1. Answer every question you know how to do without looking anything up and only takes you a minute or two. 
2. Take an educated guess at those you know you can't remember and won't be able to figure out when with time.
3. Answer and "flag" on the computer any you know how to do but need to go back and check with a lookup.
4. Flag and skip any you need to look up but think you can figure out with time.

When you get to the end of that half of the exam, there is a review screen that tells you if a question is unanswered and/or flagged. You can click from that screen straight back to the questions, I think. Do the ones from #3 first and then those from the last category.

Tip: use CTRL + F to search in the booklet for key words or parts of words. I was able to answer some of the environmental questions that way even though I hadn't taken my treatment class yet.
When you study, make sure you study with the booklet. They may use a term for something that you aren't used to.
​

------------------------------
Heidi Wallace EI, A.M.ASCE
Engineer Intern
Tulsa OK
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-11-2019 10:22
From: Mark Hathcock
Subject: Fundamental of Engineering (FE) - AMA!

Hey Danielle! I'm glad to hear your story about how your prepared for the FE. I am actually planning to do the exact same thing and have my test scheduled to happen just after Christmas Break. Do you feel this was plenty of time to prepare?

------------------------------
Mark Hathcock S.M.ASCE
Associate Engineer
City of Farmington
Farmington NM
------------------------------

Knowing where different equations are in the reference handbook, and what all the different variables in the equations are ahead of time was the most important thing for me on the FE exam. I took three practice exams and then spent a couple of extra hours going through the reference manual to see what all of the other equations were that I didn't use on the practice exams.

------------------------------
Nicholas Allan P.E., M.ASCE
Santa Rosa CA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-16-2019 09:15
From: Heidi Wallace
Subject: Fundamental of Engineering (FE) - AMA!

I took mine a year before graduating. I studied 6 hours a day for 3 days, took a day to rest, and passed the exam the next day with about an hour left on the clock.

I'd say 18 to 20 hours is enough studying for those still in school that did well in class. One of the best pieces of advice I received was about test taking strategies.

On your first pass through, do the following

1. Answer every question you know how to do without looking anything up and only takes you a minute or two.
2. Take an educated guess at those you know you can't remember and won't be able to figure out when with time.
3. Answer and "flag" on the computer any you know how to do but need to go back and check with a lookup.
4. Flag and skip any you need to look up but think you can figure out with time.

When you get to the end of that half of the exam, there is a review screen that tells you if a question is unanswered and/or flagged. You can click from that screen straight back to the questions, I think. Do the ones from #3 first and then those from the last category.

Tip: use CTRL + F to search in the booklet for key words or parts of words. I was able to answer some of the environmental questions that way even though I hadn't taken my treatment class yet.
When you study, make sure you study with the booklet. They may use a term for something that you aren't used to.
​

------------------------------
Heidi Wallace EI, A.M.ASCE
Engineer Intern
Tulsa OK
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 12-11-2019 10:22
From: Mark Hathcock
Subject: Fundamental of Engineering (FE) - AMA!

Hey Danielle! I'm glad to hear your story about how your prepared for the FE. I am actually planning to do the exact same thing and have my test scheduled to happen just after Christmas Break. Do you feel this was plenty of time to prepare?

------------------------------
Mark Hathcock S.M.ASCE
Associate Engineer
City of Farmington
Farmington NM

Thank you to everyone who has responded with advice on this thread. I wanted to share this Member Voice by @Christopher Medora with you for more helpful tips. Thank you @Danielle Schroeder McCaskey ​​for starting this thread. Please use this thread to ask questions about preparing for the FE Exam.

------------------------------
Tirza Austin
Manager, Online Community
American Society of Civil Engineers
1801 Alexander Bell Drive
Reston, VA 20191
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-17-2019 12:06
From: Nicholas Allan
Subject: Fundamental of Engineering (FE) - AMA!

Knowing where different equations are in the reference handbook, and what all the different variables in the equations are ahead of time was the most important thing for me on the FE exam. I took three practice exams and then spent a couple of extra hours going through the reference manual to see what all of the other equations were that I didn't use on the practice exams.

------------------------------
Nicholas Allan P.E., M.ASCE
Santa Rosa CA
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 12-16-2019 09:15
From: Heidi Wallace
Subject: Fundamental of Engineering (FE) - AMA!

I took mine a year before graduating. I studied 6 hours a day for 3 days, took a day to rest, and passed the exam the next day with about an hour left on the clock.

I'd say 18 to 20 hours is enough studying for those still in school that did well in class. One of the best pieces of advice I received was about test taking strategies.

On your first pass through, do the following

1. Answer every question you know how to do without looking anything up and only takes you a minute or two.
2. Take an educated guess at those you know you can't remember and won't be able to figure out when with time.
3. Answer and "flag" on the computer any you know how to do but need to go back and check with a lookup.
4. Flag and skip any you need to look up but think you can figure out with time.

When you get to the end of that half of the exam, there is a review screen that tells you if a question is unanswered and/or flagged. You can click from that screen straight back to the questions, I think. Do the ones from #3 first and then those from the last category.

Tip: use CTRL + F to search in the booklet for key words or parts of words. I was able to answer some of the environmental questions that way even though I hadn't taken my treatment class yet.
When you study, make sure you study with the booklet. They may use a term for something that you aren't used to.
​

------------------------------
Heidi Wallace EI, A.M.ASCE
Engineer Intern
Tulsa OK


Original Message:
Sent: 12-11-2019 10:22
From: Mark Hathcock
Subject: Fundamental of Engineering (FE) - AMA!

Hey Danielle! I'm glad to hear your story about how your prepared for the FE. I am actually planning to do the exact same thing and have my test scheduled to happen just after Christmas Break. Do you feel this was plenty of time to prepare?

------------------------------
Mark Hathcock S.M.ASCE
Associate Engineer
City of Farmington
Farmington NM