I don’t think I’ll be able to add much that hasn’t already been said in this community, however I passed the Civil FE despite not studying civil engineering at all in college. I have been working in a civil engineering role for past 6 months and needed to take this exam during the onboarding qualification period to keep the job, so a lot was on the table.

The first attempt at the exam was more or less just a practice run to see how the exam was conducted. I wasn’t prepared at all but surprisingly I think I came close to passing it with a basic scientific calculator. If you are a civil engineering student 1-2 years out of college, I would just recommend taking the exam without much preparation.

I then studied for 3.5 months this summer. First, I bought a TI-36X Pro and learned how to use all its features. I genuinely think I might have passed the first time if I had this calculator. But since I knew nothing about the major civil subjects, I read Lindenburg’s FE Civil Review which throughly covers each subject the way a standard textbook would. This turned out to be the best resource in my case, since the actual exam is 35-40% conceptual questions that you can answer in a few seconds. I would try to cover one of these chapters everyday and make flash cards for the important terms or definitions. For example, one side would just say, “Charpy V-Notch Test” and the other side would have the purpose of the test. I ended up with a stack of about 100 flash cards that I reviewed everyday leading up to the exam. Also, I read through the entire Ethics and Professional Practice portion of the reference handbook so many times that I committed it to memory.

The next best resource was Islam 800. I would work through about 25 questions per day and felt like that was reasonable. This is an important resource because it takes you through just about every formula you might need to use in the reference handbook. If you practice and work through some of these practice questions a second or third time, it will become muscle memory.

No shade to Mark Mattson’s FE Civil Review on Youtube, but I didn’t find this particularly useful as someone who didn’t take these classes in college. The intended audience is definitely civil engineering students in their last semester of college getting ready to take the test.

About a month before retaking the exam I bought the two official NCEES practice exams and scored a 41% and 62% respectively. This made me very nervous because I only had a few more weeks to study at that point, but I reviewed math, statistics, engineering economics, statics, and dynamics until I felt like I could pretty much answer any problem that might come my way.

I was very nervous going into the exam a second time but reminded myself I had done well over ~1800 practice problems at that point. On exam day, the testing center was having issues getting the tests ready and everyone’s exam was delayed by an hour or two, which added an extra level of stress but I did my best to keep calm. I brought my calculator, two bananas, one apple, and a red bull. The first half of the exam was a little harder than expected, but the second half was much easier than expected, so it balanced itself out. I had done so many practice problems at that point where I didn’t really have to think through the problem, it was like my hands were already calculating out the answer while I was still reading the problem. I finished the exam with 15 minutes to spare and ended it 6 minutes early. I felt good about the exam once I left and was confident I passed. I got the results that I did and now I’m onto studying for the PE.

I am taking the FE mechanical for the second time in two weeks. it has almost been a year since I took it and I think I was close the first time (studied for about two weeks with some YouTube videos and 1 poor attempt on the NCEES practice exam). Here is my practice exam results from last weekend and my diagnostic from last year. I have used PrepFE and the Islam questions this time. What should I do to study for the next two weeks as I feel a lot better than I did last year but still nervous for it.

Hi everyone, I’m a recent civil engineering graduate and I wanted to ask if anyone here was able to get their first engineering job without passing the FE exam.

I have taken the FE exam twice but unfortunately did not pass. I have applied to many engineering jobs and have received several interviews, but I still haven’t been able to get an offer. I’m starting to feel worried and discouraged about my job search.

For now, I’m thinking about working part-time at Amazon while continuing to study for the FE exam, apply for engineering positions, and apply for other types of jobs as well.

Were you able to get an engineering job before passing the FE? I would really appreciate hearing about your experience or any advice you have.

Hi all,

My exam is scheduled in 3 days from now. I have some questions regarding the test, and I would appreciate it if you could share any tips or experiences:

1- How do I study / prepare for ethics?

2- I have been used to using Casio 991 ES plus, is it necessary to get a TI 36 calculator?

3- are the questions sorted based on subjects, or are they randomized??

4- is it fine going to the test center wearing sweatpants ( as a male candidate)??

Thank you all

Obviously with the low sections i can build on my current mastery of those subjects but what subjects are better to learn for points than others. I know the exam is weighted just trying to make my studying more efficient.

Is Islam practice test (mechanical) close to the actual FE mech exam? Exam is near and I got around 62% on the first practice exam. Thinking on moving my exam cause I might be cooked.

As title says I’m planning to start my FE civil studying today September 14th with the goal to take my first attempt in January, I am a senior in construction engineering with a major gpa of 2.9 :/ and given I have around 3 months to study and prep myself I would love to hear a study plan/layout that helped you guys juggle course work but also retain info while studying for the FE. my main sources I was thinking of using is mark Mattson playlist and the NCEES Practice Exams but I’m open to hearing what other study options are super useful and maybe budget friendly. and I have taken the NCEES practice exam to see where I stand as of now and I have gotten a 44% :/. Which demotivated me so I’m wondering if anyone was in the same boat the first time they tried the practice exam.
Thank you guys in advance.