To people who took FE\EIT

[BrownTown]

So I'm taking this FE \ EIT test in a couple of weeks and never really heard of it till this summer, but I was wondering are you even supposed to study or what? I guess looking about whats on it would probably be good, but any sort of hard core studying? I mean the way I see its like the SAT or something where you really cannot study because we are talking about 4 years of work here and going and studying for a few days isn't going to learn you much more than the last 4 years did. But then some people said they knew people who studied for like weeks before and that seems pretty crazy, so for people who took it, did you study and if so how muchs?

Also, from what I've seen they say 95% of people who take it pass and passing is all that matters (nobody cares by how much), so why should someone study unless it was like 100% required that you have it?

 

[Jeff7]

My college holds study sessions where a professor will review some specific topic that will be on the FE exam, and there are also prep books for it. That's about all I know though. I'm not registered to take it yet, so I haven't paid much attention to them. That, and I'd probably only need a brief brush-up on the material, as I've found the coursework to be boringly simplistic for the most part. Calculus I and II and Differential Equations were the only three courses that I really had any true difficulty with. There were just so many different procedures to memorize for so many different types of equations, and I don't seem to be any good at seeing patterns in numbers. Regular algebra, geometry, and trig, those I can do just fine. Calculus was a brick wall for me. I barely got a C on it in high school, and my average test scores were barely at 70%. Homework was what kept me afloat.


Maybe look into getting a study guide of some sort, as it should at least give you an idea of what specific subjects will be on it.


I'm pretty sure that you need a 70% to pass, and yes, it's a simple pass/fail sort of thing.

 

[BarneyFife]

Originally posted by: BrownTown
So I'm taking this FE \ EIT test in a couple of weeks and never really heard of it till this summer, but I was wondering are you even supposed to study or what? I guess looking about whats on it would probably be good, but any sort of hard core studying? I mean the way I see its like the SAT or something where you really cannot study because we are talking about 4 years of work here and going and studying for a few days isn't going to learn you much more than the last 4 years did. But then some people said they knew people who studied for like weeks before and that seems pretty crazy, so for people who took it, did you study and if so how muchs?

Also, from what I've seen they say 95% of people who take it pass and passing is all that matters (nobody cares by how much), so why should someone study unless it was like 100% required that you have it?

I'm studying and yes you should.

 

[BrownTown]

Originally posted by: BarneyFife

I'm studying and yes you should.

well what are you studying, did you buy one of those expensive ass books or find something on the interwebs or what?

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

my college roommate took it twice because he got a 69 the first time. He is a prety bright guy and good student, so I'd say you better study.

 

[misle]

I studied and yes, you should study for it. Definitely go to any FE prep classes. If you're a senior in college, you'll just need to brush up on the things that you are rusty on. I took it 1 year after graduating and I studied for about 3 weeks prior to the exam.

 

[Oscar1613]

from wiki:

A scaled score of 70 is required to pass the exam. This does not mean one needs to answer 70% of the answers correctly to pass, however. The tests are benchmarked against the October 1990 exam, where 124 out of 280 was deemed a passing score by a panel of experts. A portion of previous exam questions are then given on subsequent exams. After the exam, a statistical analysis of these questions is used to equate the new test to the benchmark test. In Oct. 1990, a score of 124 was given a 70/100 grade. This means one generally needs to answer 45% of the questions correctly to pass. The score which receives a 70/100 grade on newer tests is chosen based on the average score of people who receive about a 45% on the old test questions. This makes all of the tests more or less equal in difficulty.

while the questions weren't exactly easy, i thought it was pretty to pass. a lot of the questions, esp in the general section, are designed so you dont have to actually work out the problems to get an exact answer. rather you can just logically eliminate at least 2 or even 3 of the 4 answers. plus you're given a formula book, so as long as you can recognize what type of question it is and which formula you need to use, you can probably figure it out. the hardest questions IMO were the ones that didnt use a formula or were simple definitions, but those are the minority so you might as well just guess on those and move on, rather than studying for them. i just took the review classes for the subjects i never had in school then went over a handful of questions for each subject the night before, and i passed the first time, as did everyone else i knew. they dont give the score to anyone including you if you pass, so all that matters is that you do pass.

 

[daniel1113]

It depends. If you are a senior in college and taking the exam, I doubt you will need to study at all. Perhaps you just need to study a section or two.

However, if you have been out of school for more than a year or so, you probably need to study.

BTW, I am taking the exam in 2 weeks, and am not studying at all. However, I did run through about 60 practice questions a few weeks back and printed out the reference book so that I know what to expect when I arrive for the exam.

 

[Jassi]

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
my college roommate took it twice because he got a 69 the first time. He is a prety bright guy and good student, so I'd say you better study.

I thought they didn't release the score. Just a thumbs up or down....


On topic, I'll be taking the exam this October and I hope you guys will share your experience. I've been out of Undergrad for about 3 years now (time flies!) and I'll be studying for the exam this summer.

 

[daniel1113]

Originally posted by: Jassi

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
my college roommate took it twice because he got a 69 the first time. He is a prety bright guy and good student, so I'd say you better study.

I thought they didn't release the score. Just a thumbs up or down....


On topic, I'll be taking the exam this October and I hope you guys will share your experience. I've been out of Undergrad for about 3 years now (time flies!) and I'll be studying for the exam this summer.

Buy your calculator today and learn how to use it.

Going from a TI-89 to a cheap scientific calculator was a huge adjustment for me.

 

[Oscar1613]

Originally posted by: Jassi

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
my college roommate took it twice because he got a 69 the first time. He is a prety bright guy and good student, so I'd say you better study.

I thought they didn't release the score. Just a thumbs up or down....


On topic, I'll be taking the exam this October and I hope you guys will share your experience. I've been out of Undergrad for about 3 years now (time flies!) and I'll be studying for the exam this summer.

they tell you your score if you fail, not if you pass

 

[bonkers325]

you cant study for the EIT, if you dont understand the material then no amount of studying will help you

with that said, you dont need to know understand said materials to pass the test. you need to know how to apply the formulas and where to find them. go buy an FE review book, an FE formula book from NCEES (or print out all 250 pages yourself), and learn how to efficiently find stuff in the manual and how to use the stuff they provide you to your advantage. all the answers are in the FE formula manual, you just have to find it

 

[Qacer]

I took the EIT a few years back. I spent about 1 hour studying the day before. I managed to pass it. The problem was that many of the subjects were not covered in my college classes. Well, I lied. I probably took some of those subjects a few years before taking the test, so my memory was a bit vague.

Anyway, the best technique that worked for me was just canceling out the units to figure which answer is right. Many of the questions have answers in different units, so once you figure it out, then you can do some additional math magic to verify the numbers and units given in the question.

 

[PClark99]

I took the EIT back in 1993 about a year after I graduated, I didn't study.

Supposedly the test was alot easier back then though.


...and yes I did pass.

 

[BarneyFife]

Originally posted by: bonkers325
you cant study for the EIT, if you dont understand the material then no amount of studying will help you

with that said, you dont need to know understand said materials to pass the test. you need to know how to apply the formulas and where to find them. go buy an FE review book, an FE formula book from NCEES (or print out all 250 pages yourself), and learn how to efficiently find stuff in the manual and how to use the stuff they provide you to your advantage. all the answers are in the FE formula manual, you just have to find it

Disagree. You need to brush up on stuff that you might have forgotten like circuits/engineering economics/chemistry or whatever else your weakness might be.

 

[daniel1113]

Originally posted by: Qacer
Anyway, the best technique that worked for me was just canceling out the units to figure which answer is right. Many of the questions have answers in different units, so once you figure it out, then you can do some additional math magic to verify the numbers and units given in the question.

In the practice problems I looked at, it seemed as though the correct answer could be selected in many cases without actually solving the problem, applying tricks such as the unit cancellation technique, or solving a small portion of the problem, like only finding two values in a matrix.

 

[Rubycon]

Pass the exam but fail the course.

 

[BrownTown]

Well I'm taking this tomorrow and have not studied, nor do I even know the format of the test so wish me luck . With that said I really don't foresee any problems, I have always been good at these standardized multiple choice tests (it is multiple choice right?), I got a 1530 on the SAT and and a 5 on all 9 AP exams I took and never studied for any of them either. The thing about multiple choice tests is that knowing how to take them is just as important as knowing the subject and I have been pretty much conditioned my whole life to know how to take these types of tests (maybe we can argue the reasoning behind taking being taught standardized test taking procedures since 4th grade just to do good on the SAT, but thats for another time, all that matters now is that in this world people put alot of weight on silly standardized tests and well here we go again with this shit, at least I don't ever have to take the MCAT )

 

[BrownTown]

So, took the test today and it was dead simple, probably got 100/120 on the general and 40/50 on the electrical test. Litteraly every single answer is in the 200 page book of equations they give you, all you have to do is find the right equation then plug and chug.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: BrownTown
So, took the test today and it was dead simple, probably got 100/120 on the general and 40/50 on the electrical test. Litteraly every single answer is in the 200 page book of equations they give you, all you have to do is find the right equation then plug and chug.

Were there any partial or ordinary differential equations on the test?

 

[daniel1113]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: BrownTown
So, took the test today and it was dead simple, probably got 100/120 on the general and 40/50 on the electrical test. Litteraly every single answer is in the 200 page book of equations they give you, all you have to do is find the right equation then plug and chug.

Were there any partial or ordinary differential equations on the test?

I had ~5 on my exam (General).

 

[BrownTown]

Originally posted by: daniel1113

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: BrownTown
So, took the test today and it was dead simple, probably got 100/120 on the general and 40/50 on the electrical test. Litteraly every single answer is in the 200 page book of equations they give you, all you have to do is find the right equation then plug and chug.

Were there any partial or ordinary differential equations on the test?

I had ~5 on my exam (General).

Oh that sux for you I only had 1 . But then I had all these fluid mechanics and I'm an electrical engineer which was annoying, but all the equation were in the book, just hope I used the right ones. Obviously your own discipline is dead simple, but the parts of other disciplines is where you need the equation sheets book. Also, the differential equation I did have had the solution pretty much spelled out in the formula book as well.

 

[daniel1113]

Originally posted by: BrownTown

Originally posted by: daniel1113

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: BrownTown
So, took the test today and it was dead simple, probably got 100/120 on the general and 40/50 on the electrical test. Litteraly every single answer is in the 200 page book of equations they give you, all you have to do is find the right equation then plug and chug.

Were there any partial or ordinary differential equations on the test?

I had ~5 on my exam (General).

Oh that sux for you I only had 1 . But then I had all these fluid mechanics and I'm an electrical engineer which was annoying, but all the equation were in the book, just hope I used the right ones. Obviously your own discipline is dead simple, but the parts of other disciplines is where you need the equation sheets book. Also, the differential equation I did have had the solution pretty much spelled out in the formula book as well.

Yeah, I agree. I did well on all the questions relating to courses I have taken. I also had plenty of time to figure out quite a few questions on subjects that I had absolutely no previous knowledge thanks to the equation book.

 

[JSSheridan]

I spent about 12 hours studying for this my first semester as a senior in the Fall of '02. I remembered most of the principles, but needed a refresher on how the equations were applied and when to use them. I got an 84.

 

[daniel1113]

Originally posted by: JSSheridan
I spent about 12 hours studying for this my first semester as a senior in the Fall of '02. I remembered most of the principles, but needed a refresher on how the equations were applied and when to use them. I got an 84.

Did NCEES used to provide scores if you passed? I know they haven't for at least five years.