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Post by Admin PE on Jul 17, 2022 6:00:31 GMT -5
What are your thoughts? I personally found the FE more difficult, but required less time to prepare. So overall it was easier to obtain, but the specifications were broader so there was a lot of general engineering topics from my early days in engineering school I had to re-learn. I took it about 3 years out of school so it probably would have been easier if I took it sooner.
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Post by ChebyshevII PE PMP on Jul 17, 2022 13:00:27 GMT -5
What are your thoughts? I personally found the FE more difficult, but required less time to prepare. So overall it was easier to obtain, but the specifications were broader so there was a lot of general engineering topics from my early days in engineering school I had to re-learn. I took it about 3 years out of school so it probably would have been easier if I took it sooner. Honestly I can’t agree, but maybe that’s because 1) I took the FE during my last college quarter while the stuff was still fresh in my head, 2) I took a prep course for the FE a few months before, and 3) the PE exam I took had VERY sparse resources available to me. Given your timeline though, your assessment about the FE makes sense. Was yours CBT or P&P? (Mine was the latter) |
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Post by Blybrook PE on Jul 17, 2022 16:36:49 GMT -5
I think it really depends on when you take the tests. For those that take it after school or when they take their PE, it'll be more difficult as they're looking at the broad range of topics of the FE while the concentrated topics of their PE. That's a different ball game entirely. I'd highly recommend taking it in your final year of school while everything is fresh in your mind. And you might have an opportunity to retest before leaving school and getting into that first job where it'd be critical to have it.
For me, the PE was harder than the FE as I took the FE while in school and everything was fresh in my mind. I might have gone to one or two review sessions. During the PE, I took it while juggling a full time job, field work, and regular life outside of school. Finding / making time to study was more difficult.
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Post by Admin PE on Jul 18, 2022 4:35:35 GMT -5
What are your thoughts? I personally found the FE more difficult, but required less time to prepare. So overall it was easier to obtain, but the specifications were broader so there was a lot of general engineering topics from my early days in engineering school I had to re-learn. I took it about 3 years out of school so it probably would have been easier if I took it sooner. Honestly I can’t agree, but maybe that’s because 1) I took the FE during my last college quarter while the stuff was still fresh in my head, 2) I took a prep course for the FE a few months before, and 3) the PE exam I took had VERY sparse resources available to me. Given your timeline though, your assessment about the FE makes sense. Was yours CBT or P&P? (Mine was the latter) I took the CBT exam for FE as well as the PE. |
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Post by drwhoops on Jul 19, 2022 9:10:38 GMT -5
Oooh, Hard one. I thought the FE was hard, mainly because they recommended taking the "Other" Discipline due to the general nature of my degree, but there was a TON of stuff I didn't really know anything about. The PE was also hard for me, also due to the general nature of my degree, and I took the Civil-Structures exam. I had never done anything with transpo, water quality, most hydraulics or survey, so I had to learn it all for the exam. And don't even get me started on the SE. Apparently, I just don't know what I am doing.
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Post by EdgyCheesyGraphite_PE on Jul 28, 2022 14:26:33 GMT -5
My school REQUIRED everyone to take the FE to graduate. We didn't have to pass, but we had to register and take it. They also has a required "senior seminar" class which they used as an FE prep course. With that level of support infrastructure in place, I found the FE to be pretty easy, but I'm also a person who has always tested very well. Most of my classmates didn't find it easy, but were still able to pass on their first try, so I think they way my school handled it is pretty good.
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Post by drwhoops on Aug 1, 2022 9:29:14 GMT -5
My school REQUIRED everyone to take the FE to graduate. We didn't have to pass, but we had to register and take it. They also has a required "senior seminar" class which they used as an FE prep course. With that level of support infrastructure in place, I found the FE to be pretty easy, but I'm also a person who has always tested very well. Most of my classmates didn't find it easy, but were still able to pass on their first try, so I think they way my school handled it is pretty good. We had to take and PASS to graduate. I took it pre-CBT, so got my pass result 3 days before graduation. That was cutting it close. |
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Post by RBHeadge PE on Aug 1, 2022 18:50:06 GMT -5
I think it really depends on when you take the tests. For those that take it after school or when they take their PE, it'll be more difficult as they're looking at the broad range of topics of the FE while the concentrated topics of their PE. That's a different ball game entirely. I'd highly recommend taking it in your final year of school while everything is fresh in your mind. And you might have an opportunity to retest before leaving school and getting into that first job where it'd be critical to have it. I completely agree. I took the FE my last semester of undergrad. Everything was fresh in my mind and I didn't have to do much extra studying. In fact, I only studied a few hours the night before by looking at some example questions. It was super easy barely and inconvenience. I'm pretty sure I got 77/80 on morning session. Afternoon was rougher, but I still left 90 min early. FWIW, I took the general engineering FE in April 2005, and got an 83 overall. There's no way I could duplicate that today. I haven't touched most of the material since undergrad or grad school. I'd have to spend tens of hours refreshing most of my undergrad subject matter. That's not to say that the PE would've been easier if I took it while I was still in school. I can't speak to the other PE exams, but the Nuclear PE has too many qualitative questions that either aren't taught in school or require qualitative experience. I'm pretty sure I would have failed the exam if I took it my last semester. OTOH I wouldn't have had to spend 300 hrs studying for the exam either. Probably would've only needed about 50 hr. With all that said, if I was forced to either retake the FE or (Nuke) PE again next month, I'd much rather take the FE. No doubt that it's still the easier test. |
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Post by ME2EE PE on Aug 9, 2022 7:17:52 GMT -5
I echo Blybrook PE, 's thoughts and although it's a fun topic, it's comparing apples to oranges in my opinion. This is akin to sportswriters when they try to compare QBs and ask who was better...Tom Brady or Joe Namath? Who was the better golfer, Ben Hogan or Jack Nicklaus? They were different players, in different times, facing different opponents and obstacles under different circumstances. If someone approached me and said I would be forced to take the FE or PE, I would quit and work for my brother in law in pest control. |
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Post by txjennah PE on Sept 20, 2022 15:34:41 GMT -5
PE was way more difficult for me, but I also waited to take it until 10+ years after undergrad. I took FE right when I was wrapping up undergrad and I failed it by a point the first time (I didn't study). I studied a little more, then passed the second time. PE took waaaaaay more effort to pass.
But if I had to take the FE now? I think it would be much harder than the PE.
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Post by NikR PE on Oct 4, 2022 14:26:41 GMT -5
FE is a prerequisite for PE. In my dumbed down understanding of probability, if FE was harder PE pass rates would be 100%
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