How to pass the Civil FE Exam

Introduction

The Fundamentals of Engineering Exam is a 6-hour, 110-question test that covers a wide range of topics related to civil engineering.

You sign up for the FE online online at www.ncees.org and take it at any approved testing center. The test itself isn’t hard. Passing the FE doesn’t mean you’re an expert engineer, it just proves to employers that you didn’t cheat your way through college.

What a proctored testing center looks like on the inside.

Upon passing, you earn the title Engineer-in-Training or EIT. Nearly all employers will require EIT certification for an entry-level job. Of course, EITs cannot approve drawings for construction. Only PEs can do that. However, earning your EIT is the first step towards getting your PE.

How do I know what to review for the FE?

I’ll let you in on a little secret: NCEES tells you exactly what’s going to be on the exam. It’s all on this document. It lists 18 separate areas of knowledge and the number of questions you can expect per topic:

How nice of them to tell you what to expect on the exam!

When you’re reviewing for the exam, you can treat this specification sheet as a checklist for topics to brush up on. The test is a mile wide and an inch deep. In other words, it covers a vast amount of material…but doesn’t get too technical. If you know your stuff, you’ll get the right answer.

Also, you can download the reference booklet they will give you during the exam (it’s posted on the NCEES website and you must login to download it.) Study this booklet. Know what’s on it. You’ll be using it constantly during the exam (i.e. Ctrl+F through the electronic copy to find information/equations.) At least half the questions on the exam can be answered just using this reference booklet.

What resources can I use to study for the FE?

If you can get your hands on a copy of the Civil Engineering Reference Manual by Lindeburg, you’ll have all the information you need to brush up on every topic covered in the exam. This book is highly comprehensive; it’s essentially a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in one book.

You don’t need the latest edition. An old one will suffice.

PDF copies of the CERM are floating around the internet. They’re not too hard to find. If you study all the topics in the CERM and then find the corresponding information in the reference booklet, you should be good to go on the FE Exam.

You can also find practice exams online. While practice questions may be useful for honing your “multiple choice” skills, I have yet to find a practice test that closely resembled the questions on the actual exam. Thus, in my opinion, practice questions are of limited value.

Good luck.