1/27/2018 Failed FE Civil... any recommendations?

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recommendations?
By Domestos_WC, January 4 in The FE Exam
fe civil arrogant who failed looking for advice

Domestos_WC Posted January 4 Report post 

Intern
Hello everyone,

Just a quick introduction, I am a Structural Engineer from Canada (originally

from Europe). I have 6 years of experience in structural engineering only (never
done any civils). 

Members I moved to Canada 2 years ago from Europe, I have my education from Poland
(BSc) and England (MSc) and I used to work in several European countries
0 before I came here. I had my foreign education assessed by Association of
3 posts
Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA) and they said
that I need to pass FE Civil exam in order to get my ticket in Canada. OK, I
thought and I booked my exam in exam centres in Canada... 


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1/27/2018 Failed FE Civil... any recommendations? - The FE Exam - Engineer Boards

It didn't really bother me as I thought I was good at what I was doing (at least
that is what other engineers say). I regularly solve complex structural
engineering problems and back in the UK I was in special engineering projects
team, solving irregular structural analysis and design issues. I was offered to
join a partnership in Canada (and I did) and my partners encouraged me to get
a ticket. 

 I didn't really know much about the FE exam, I thought it would be pure
structural analysis and design (that is how it looks like in the UK, iStructE
chartered engineers must pass structural exam). Then I realized that the entire
exam was more complex, many questions covering different aspects of
engineering but less complicated. I panicked, things like math, hydraulics and
fluid mechanics I had like 8 years ago and they didn't really bothered me since
then. I realized I have had not enough time to pass, overall I spent about 30h on
the exam. Furthermore, I always thought that differential equations were not
covered within the scope of FE Civil exam (it's not mentioned there, even
though it's a scope of calculus, but at other disciplines differential equations
were distinguished from calculus). I was wrong, I had 3 questions on
differential equations :)) 

On the exam day I found the entire on-screen FE Reference book completely
disappointing (I went through it before the exam and I purchased a hard copy
so I knew what was there). Scrolling was f* up, every time I tried to scroll it
would bounce back, zoom-in and zoom-out didn't work (e.g. if I tried to zoom-on
on the equation on pg let's say 5 it would zoom-in but on page 4 or 6)... Lots of
time wasting just trying to navigate through the FE reference book. I spent 3h
on the first part and 2h on the second part, and obviously I run out of time on
the second part so I had to quickly guess around 15-20 questions. 

Now, I have my results (I knew and I wouldn't pass right away) and I know I
need to prepare much more than my first attempt. Stop being an arrogant and
prepare like for every other exam. I have my lesson.

Below is my diagnostics and you can see that my performance was really poor.
Surveying was on of the parts that I had to guess due to lack of time, I didn't get
any preparation on environmental engineering (environmental engineering is
separated from civils degree in Europe) etc. 

I am thinking about taking on-demand courses at school of PE or at

Testmasters, I do not have any in-class prep courses since I am in Canada and
this test is mostly US...

Any thoughts, good people? 

 


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1/27/2018 Failed FE Civil... any recommendations? - The FE Exam - Engineer Boards

Domestos_WC Posted January 4 Report post 

Intern
any thoughts on ppi2? I watched SOPE, TESTMASTERS AND PPI2 and ppi2
seems the best for what I need (I would like to focus more on exam questions
and they offer about 1000 FE-like questions). I feel like during my prep with
Lindberg's FE review manual I did more complex questions, and the questions
on the exam were much more simple so I am looking for smth like that. 

Members

0
3 posts

DLD Posted 6 hours ago Report post 

Intern
Hi, I been taking on demand videos on PPI and I like the packet they offer with
quizzes and other things. I have lost the test several times in the pass very
close to your results. I am taking it in few weeks and I will let you. However, I
have a spreadsheet that helps me see my percentages on the areas. Here is
yours

Members
  Online - Domestos WC            
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1/27/2018 Failed FE Civil... any recommendations? - The FE Exam - Engineer Boards

    QuestionsScale Score      
0 1Mathematics 8 15 6.5 43.3%   3.47
6 posts
2Probability and Statistics 5 15 7.1 47.3%   2.37
Gender:Female
Location:Binghamton, NY 3Computational Tools  4 15 7.2 48.0%   1.92
Discipline:Civil Ethics and Professional
4 4 15 15 100.0%   4.00
Practice
5Engineering Economics 5 15 9.7 64.7%   3.23
6Statics 7 15 9 60.0%   4.20
7Dynamics 5 15 9.9 66.0%   3.30
8Mechanical of materials 8 15 15 100.0%   8.00
9Materials 5 15 7.5 50.0%   2.50
10Fluid Mechanics 5 15 6.1 40.7%   2.03
Hydraulics & Hydrologic
11 8 15 4.3 28.7%   2.29
Systems
12Structural Analysis 6 15 10.4 69.3%   4.16
13Structural Design 7 15 11 73.3%   5.13
14Geotechnical Engineering 9 15 8.1 54.0%   4.86
15Transportation Engineering 9 15 8.7 58.0%   5.22
16Environmental Engineering 6 15 5.6 37.3%   2.24
17Construction 5 15 9 60.0%   3.00
18Surveying 4 15 0 0.0%   0.00
    110      56%   61.93

Book1a.xlsx

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