Fundamentals of Engineering exam

November 8, 2005 6:59 AM

Passing the Fundamentals of Engineering exam. Advice?

It's kind of a long story, but I'm a computer scientist taking the FE exam in order to be eligible to sit for the Patent Bar (yes, it's necessary, I checked). It's been 5 years since undergrad so I'm a bit rusty on my stats, etc, and I must admit there are certain fundamentals I never learned as a CS major (like fluid dynamics).

The FE website has "study materials," but they mostly consist of sample questions, and I think that for the purposes of learning new subjects I probably need a bit more conceptual detail than that. So, what materials should I get? Textbooks are OK as long as they're undergrad level rather than very narrow technical graduate-level materials. The following is a list of the subjects I need most help with (there are other sections I'm more OK with; complete list in this pdf):

* Ethics (insofar as there is a specific ethics code for engineers)
* Engineering Mechanics (statics and dynamics)
* Material properties
* Fluid dynamics
* Thermodyamics

posted by rkent to science & nature (8 comments total)

Also, if anyone can shoot me the URL of the MeFi lawyers list, I'd like to ask around there to see if anyone on that list has been in this situation.
posted by rkent at 6:59 AM on November 8, 2005

Engineering Fundamentals for Professional Engineers' Examinations by Lloyd Polentz is great for this.
posted by caddis at 7:35 AM on November 8, 2005

MeFi Lawyers
posted by gyc at 9:31 AM on November 8, 2005

I took the FE exam last April, and passed it on the first try. I'm pretty proud of this since I graduated from college in 1992 and my degree is in Geology, not engineering.

I recommend the FE Review Manual by Michael Lindeburg. It covers all the topics and in greater depth than other materials I've seen. However, this book just covers the general questions. You might want to look into a subject specific afternoon exam. I don't know if there's a computer science one, but maybe electrical engineering?

Many universities with engineering departments offer an FE review course. See if there's one offered in your area. I have mixed feelings about the course I took, but the best thing about it is that at least it kept me to a study schedule when I was starting to get burned out from studying on my own.

You don't have to know all the topics in depth (I guessed on every single electrical engineering question), but it helps to know enough so that you can at least eliminate one answer. Get pretty confident with the math, though. That's 20% of the exam.
posted by luneray at 10:01 AM on November 8, 2005

What experience do you have with the engineering topics? It would seem to me if you are not familiar with the technical material this test is going to be extremely hard. Engineers do have four years of this stuff before they take the test (traditionally.)
posted by Dr_Octavius at 10:03 AM on November 8, 2005

The review course I took was extremely helpful. I took the FE (and passed) at the end of my college career. In retrospect, I should've taken it my junior year because the bulk of the material on the FE is covered in the first two years of engineering school. So, take the review course, do the practice problems. Lindberg's books are a good source of information.
posted by electroboy at 10:43 AM on November 8, 2005

I take it that your CS degree did not come with the proper accreditation to meet the PTO requirements. Just checking, because if it did then you will not need to take the EIT test. Given that almost none of what will be covered in the test is taught to CS majors it may be challenging, even with some study. I would get several different books. I mentioned the Polentz book as it is pretty easy to understand even when you haven't had the subject matter. Some of the other books might provide more detail, which is also good to have. If you are bright I am sure you can pass it with some work, but if you didn't need to take it...? Are you sure your CS degree program was not accredited by the Computer Science Accreditation Commission of the Computing Sciences Accreditation Board or the Computing Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology?
posted by caddis at 3:11 PM on November 8, 2005

You've hit the nail on the head, caddis. I've checked the relevant accreditation organizations (some of them twice even!) and our program is not in there. Unfortunate since the college is somewhat "prestigious" in its geographic area; I've spoken to the CS department chair and they just don't see a lot of benefit in paying for accreditation. Not a lot of patent lawyers coming through, I guess. Fortunately, I took a lot of elective math and chemistry so I've got a leg up on some of those non-CS fields, but not so much the physics. Sigh. Thanks for the advice.
posted by rkent at 7:13 AM on November 9, 2005