The Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam is a 110 question, 6 hour test designed to test the knowledge of recent graduates of a bachelor’s (undergraduate) degree in engineering.
The test is created by NCEES. This is step 1 of a 2 step testing process. More on step 2 later.
I think a little background is needed here. My bachelor’s (undergraduate) degree was Computer Engineering. My master’s (graduate) degree was Electrical Engineering with a signal/image/video processing emphasis. I had been a practicing engineer for more than 20 years. I graduated from the undergrad in 2002 and went straight to work as an engineer. It was 2024. I had two small children and businesses to run.
I tried to call in order to side-step this requirement. Surely they won’t make a 45 year old with an advanced degree and that much experience take this test designed for 22 year old fresh-outs. My degree itself was older than the intended audience!
Nope! Wrongo. They couldn’t have cared less about any of that logical reasoning. I was stuck. So the first step on my journey was to somehow study, take, and pass a test over my entire undergraduate degree at 45 years old after 22 years out of schooling. Buckle up buttercup.
After doing some Googling, I learned that there were 7 different flavors of this test. My closest fit was Electrical & Computer. This test includes everything from both the Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering undergraduate degrees. That didn’t really seem fair. As anyone with those degrees will tell you, they are totally separate. However, I didn’t have any choice in the matter.
Here are the knowledge testing areas at the time for the FE – Electrical & Computer.
Luckily for me, there are online classes that teach to this test. Several in fact. I reviewed the top four or five and picked one.
I selected School of PE. They were less expensive than the other options, while still providing the same type of environment. It’s a website with all of the study materials. They had recorded class videos that could be viewed as many times as needed, class notes, example problems for each of the 17 sections, a test bank of example “test-like” problems, and a practice exam that they mailed to me in hard copy. I chose to have access to the study material for 4 months.
I arrogantly believed this would be easy. I had graduated magna cum laude and this would be a breeze.
Some sections were that way. These are the subjects that I either really enjoyed in school and/or used repeatedly throughout my career. Like a heart warming walk down memory lane. After watching the classes for those subjects, I felt as though I could be the one teaching the material.
Unfortunately, other subjects were not so easy. These were the subjects I had to learn for the first time from the Electrical Engineering side. I had to watch those several times and even use YouTube as I fumbled through the material.
It took me about two months before I felt comfortable enough to schedule the test. I scheduled for two weeks from then. I also purchased the practice exam from NCEES. It was inexpensive and supposed to be exactly like the real test. In the next two weeks, I worked those practice exams over and over again along with some of the class material problems.
The test day came. It was not the home run testing experience that I am used to. I usually test very well. It felt like they went out their way on some problems to make it confusing. There were 110 questions. I muddled through, but didn’t finish. I remember having marked five to return to and leaving them unanswered. I ran out of time. In fact, I mismanaged the clock so badly that I left four questions without even marking an answer at all. Time was up and I was locked out.
Pins and needles waiting for the result. I expected to pass, but it was rocky. I wouldn’t have been surprised if I was forced to retake the test. They took two weeks to respond with the result. I remember checking the NCEES website every few minutes for that entire time!
Finally the result came. I had passed. That’s all the information they give when you pass. I never knew how many questions I missed. I would have liked to know that. Oh well, onward and upward!