FE Exam questions

I recently graduated in Electrical Engineering. I want to take and pass the FE exam so that I can progress toward becoming a PE.

Where I went to school, they no longer require electrical engineering majors to take some of the basic engineering classes such as statics, dynamics, and thermodynamics. Will this hurt me on the FE exam? Is there a good resource that I can use to learn enough in these areas to pass the test?

Is there a website where can I go to find out more about the format of the FE exam and possibly register for it?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Greg Aagard

Reply to
Greg Aagard
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It isn't going to help. You can buy the study guide and sample tests.

Reply to
cva

yes. but think of all those MEs trying to answer electrical questions. This brings me joy, oddly.

Is

try nspe

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Reply to
Dave P.

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Charles Perry P.E.

Reply to
Charles Perry

That means you will have NOTHING to do with power. So why do you need a PE?

BTW: I just can't see how someone who doesn't "know" statics, dynamics, or basic thermodynamics can call himself an "engineer."

Sounds like "computer science" to me. Nothing wrong with it. Knowing some "real" engineering might help in some jobs but I don't see a situation where a PE would be useful.

I think you are wasting your money on the test. You still have to take another test when you get the 5 years experience. In 5 years if you want the PE, get a study guide. You may find that the non-EE questions require little more than common sense and high school physics and chemistry. If they require more, brush up.

Reply to
John Gilmer

Some of the places I interviewed at want me to be able to put a PE stamp on designs. These places mostly design communications systems. Does a PE for electrical engineering only relate to power engineering?

I took the basic physics classes, but not the engineering classes; they weren't required. ABET still accredited the program. My coursework background is mostly in RF, optics, and remote sensing.

My thinking was that it couldn't hurt. It might make me more marketable and I might pick up some valuable information in the process. I would have liked to take more of the basic engineering classes in school, but the course load was pretty heavy just to get through the program and get a degree.

Reply to
Greg Aagard

No. It doesn't apply to anything, in particular. The PE is most important in Civil Engineering. The plans for large buildings are always "sealed" and some, thus, things like HVAC and power distribution might also have a "seal" requirement.

Utilities are usually exempt from "seal" requirements.

Obvioulsly, the PE can't hurt. BUT (unless something has changed) you need FIVE years of work before you can apply for the PE. You can't do anything after taking the EIT exam that you could not do before.

If you have a "real" degree and "real" experience then you can take the PE exam in 5 years. If you don't get the "real" experience taking the EIT exam will not make any difference (in theory.) If you get the "real" experience, you can take the PE exam.

The best reason I can figure for taking the EIT exam is to just get used to the questions. Were I you, I would take it "cold."

Well, double check my facts (that the future PE exam can be taken regardless of what you take this year) and if I am correct (I gave up my PE about 6 years ago so I am out of touch) just take the exam "cold."

I take back my "wasting your money" comment. So long as the cost doesn't make a serious dent in your budget and "failing" has no negative consequences, such exams are often an education' in themselves. If you get a question and the first thing that comes to mind is: "WTF are they talking about?" then you have just learned about another part of the engineering world.

Reply to
John Gilmer

Doesn't sound like you went to an ABET accredited engineering school. You need to check with your state's engineering board to see if they will accept your education as equivalent, or if you can make up the deficiency with added experience. Here are some state board links:

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Browse around the NCEES site for general info on exams and licensing.

Reply to
Steve Alexanderson

in article snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com, Greg Aagard at snipped-for-privacy@cc.usu.edu wrote on 6/17/04 8:00 AM:

It would be worth your while to read the Professional Engineering Act or whatever equivalent applies in your state.

My understanding is that when public health or safety is involve, it is required that engineering be blessed by a PE. This includes the PE not extending his status into realms he is not qualified to handle even though someone with the same title may be.

It may also be that the prospective employer wants to avoid liability by hiring a PE to sign off on the engineering. If that is the case, it may pay to see a lawyer first.

Bill

Reply to
Repeating Rifle

Actually, many states require passing the EIT (now called the FE) before you can sit for the PE.

Charles Perry P.E.

Reply to
Charles Perry

As I recall from LONG AGO, the EIT exam was multi-choice whereas the PE exam was WRITTEN.

I suppost the idea is to use th EIT to SCREEN applicants so that the graders time isn't wasted on looking and the answers of folks really too stupid to even be in the test room.

Obvious, if the EIT is "required" before the PE, you take the EIT. If money is tight, he should delay taking the EIT for a time (unless those states REQUIRE a significant wait, on the order of years, between passing the EIT and the PE.)

MOST of what I used my my PE exam was stuff I knew when I graduated from high school (and, of course, the mechanical sense that most engineers have before they even think about applying for engineering school.) By the end of my second year in college I knew almost all of it. The only "new" stuff I brought to the table was on the "money side" of Industrial Engineering where one was asked to evaluate the paybacks of invests and such. You can teach such stuff to yourself by getting a "business" calculator and educate yourself until you understand all the functions.

Of course, when I took the test, you could pick and choose what questions one wanted to answer. I skilling some of the stuff on land surveying, for example. The Chemical and Electrical stuff was dirt easy. The CE stuff was "doable."

Maybe things have changed. I get my PE in 77 or 78 and gave it up around '95. During the entire time I never "sealed" a single drawing or document.

Reply to
John Gilmer

Oh, if you USE your "seal" you definitely need professonal insurance ("errors and Omissions".) This protests you for everything short of fraud or gross misconduct. Your employer's insurance may cover you.

Very few lawyers can give a useful opinion on this subject. You will likely get better advice from an insurance agent as from all but the most specilized lawyer.

IF you hire a lawyer in connection with your liability as an engineer be prepared to pay several $K just to "educate" your lawyer. He will bill it is "legal research" but you PAY for his education. You might save a few $ if you hire a lawyer that has already been educated at the expense of another engineer. So ask about.

Reply to
John Gilmer

The PE seal does nothing to make you any more or less legally liable for what ever you do.

Reply to
Bob Peterson

in article snipped-for-privacy@uni-berlin.de, Bob Peterson at snipped-for-privacy@insightbb.com wrote on 6/18/04 5:48 PM:

Maybe so. Butit may be the difference between criminal liability and civil liability.

Bill

Reply to
Repeating Rifle

Not even. You might get into some unusual cases (such as a doctor performing in an unlicensed way) but its highly unlikely anyone would allow you to sign off on design work done that would require a PE stamp (like a bridge).

Reply to
Bob Peterson

Yes and no.

If you seal a drawing you claim a certain level of professional experience and ability. The "seal" implies that what is described by the drawing is safe.

Without the "seal" it's just a drawing.

Reply to
John Gilmer

With the seal its still just a drawing. You are just as liable for whats on the drawing regardless of whether it has a seal or not. If you produce an unsafe design, you are liable - period.

Reply to
bob peterson

in article snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com, bob peterson at snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote on 6/19/04 1:21 PM:

That is where the corporate exemption comes in. You can screw a design completely and still not be personally liable without a PE. Your employer will be. I think that sufficiently egregious incompetence may lead to criminal action.

Bill

Reply to
Repeating Rifle

More than that.

If someone hires an insexperienced and (legally speaking) unqualified) person to ceate a design and then he builts it and someone gets hurt, the inexperienced designer just isn't at fault.

Of course, anyone can sue anyone. But all the "new guy" has to say is that he expected that a "real" engineer would follow up on his work and correct any mistakes.

Likewise, for example, liability insurance for a NURSE is a fraction of the same coverage for a doctor.

Reply to
John Gilmer

You have completely misunderstood the so called "exemption". It does not exist to shield anyone from liability. Generally, your employer (usually their insurance carrier in fact) will defend you and pay the settlements, but you personally would still likely be sued.

Any sufficiently stupid act regardless of PE or not might lead to criminal action, but this is extremely rare.

Reply to
Bob Peterson

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