Customer Reviews

Mechanical Discipline-Specific Review for the FE/EIT Exam

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book was pretty good at explaining the basic concepts and giving really good examples and problems. I thought that a few chapers in the beginning were really really good. Even the books that I used in college were not this good on some of the topics. However, one must understand that this book is only for the GENERAL SECTION FE exam, not the specific ones. Infact, unless you really need to, I don't recommend taking the other subject tests as those maybe more difficult(Mechanical is more difficult for sure). If you are wondering if this is the only book I used then thats partially true. I used it for about 90% of my study. I did have to refer to some books on Calculus from the library. Also I did look at some other topics too from some books at the library but to be honest, it was mostly an exercise in making myself feel better, but basically a waste of time. The one other book that really helped was the EIT/FE Review Manual from the same author and company. Basically that book is a more detailed version of this book and it contains more explainations and concepts. However that book is also outdated (my version was from the 90s) since I don't believe they are making upto date versions of the new FE exam. If your library doesn't have it, then you could buy it. Anyways its a very useful reference that you can keep on your desk. Also I was 1 year out of college and I didn't even get a chance to do a practice test.

This is how I passed the FE and this was my strategy:

1). Get a really good calculator, so that you can be twice as effective than anyone else. I used the Casio FX-115ES and learnt its functions by heart the day before the exam.
Also order the NCEES FE Handbook from the NCEES website(cheaper than Amazon). You really need to know that handbook really well so that you don't waste time finding formulas during the test.
2). You only need to get about 60%-65% of the problems correct to pass the FE. This means that if you ace the morning test, than you can really screw around on the afternoon section and still pass. I basically didn't even touch much of Thermo and bascially no Electric/or Electronic/Circuits stuff since I didn't have time to do those. But I did do everything else correct. Also the afternoon section, I believe I raped it too.
3). Get a digital watch with a timer function and then set it at 3:58 mins so that it keeps ticking and the time keeps decreasing so you know exactly how much time you have. Try and get at atleast the first few questions you attempt correct so it give you confidence and sets a good rhythym. Pick a section you know and start with that, don't worry if you take a lot more time in the first hour. But basically by the 2nd hour don't spend more than 2 - 3 minutes per question. In the last 15 mins make sure you stop what you are doing and start randomly guessing answers on the answer sheet.
4). Lastly, try and enjoy the test. I did have to say that after 1 - 2 hours into the exam I really started enjoying the test. It was written by people who knew what they were doing and it does test your engineering skills. I actually really had fun with the test!

When studying for an exam, it's important to review the fundamentals of the concepts being tested. However, this study guide does not explain any fundamentals. The entire book is just a set of problems whose solutions are poorly explained. For example, the second problem in the book is a question about buckling, and it leaves out the part about obtaining the end restraint constant.
One would at least expect the study guide to explain where in the reference handbook the equations used in the problem solutions are taken from, but this book does not. And for a book that consists solely of practice problems, even some of the solutions are erroneous. For example, in problem 14, the solution requires summing the moments about the end of a uniform rod. However, the inertia value used is (ML^2)/12, which is the inertia of a uniform rod about its center rather than its end (inertia value should be (ML^2)/3).
In short, don't waste your money on this book. I'm certainly going to buy a different study guide.

Was expecting more review-type material, but instead the book was mostly practice problems. Good for testing your knowledge, but not very helpful if you needed to brush up on specific sections.

I think it is pretty well written and organized. I felt it did a nice job with new subject matter. Some of the topics on the test were not something I'd ever taken. I think they could have been a little clearer about forces on a submerged object and statistics. I think they could add some kind of link to the exam ref materials as well, or at least use the equations in the same format (they did with the majority but not all of them).

Overall I can't really complain. Due to unforeseen circumstances I only had 3 weeks to prep while working full time and I had been out of school a year. I was able to get through a decent amount of content fairly quickly so I'd say it worked.

If you want ME style problems for the FE then this is good. Getting just the overall review book by the same author and doing the chapters is probably good enough. The test really isn't as hard as some of these reviews say. I have been out of school for 6 year and you can go through the review book in a couple weekends and some week nights.

The book was a great help for a Mechanical Engineer that forgot some of the basic knowledge because not using the information after college. If you plan on taking discipline-specific second part of the exam this book is a very must have.

Several typo's and mistakes in the problems and solutions, but it is helpful to go through lots of practice problems before the exam. Just make sure you check for a typo before you get frustrated! Not sure if there is anything better, haven't looked.

I bought this book along with a general review for the morning section. The general review book (Rapid Preparation for the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam by Lindeburg) was very helpful and really all that I needed to pass. I didn't know it at the time, but the general review book covered everything that was on the mechanical-discipline afternoon section as well. I completed that book, then started reviewing this specific review book.

The solutions were poorly explained. Other reviews mentioned a lot of errors. When I didn't get the correct answer it was extremely frustrating because I didn't know if I was wrong or if the book's solution was wrong. The questions themselves were far too difficult. The questions on the actual exam were ten times easier. There's really no point in buying this book because it's just going to stress you out and make you think that the exam is going to be more difficult than it actually is.

Just buy the general review book I mentioned above (the one by Lindeburg) and focus on that. Become familiar with the supplied reference handbook. Remember that the answers to every question on the exam are hidden somewhere in the 200-something page reference handbook. All the exam questions are only one or two steps and if you have the correct formula in front of you, they only take about a minute to plug into your calculator. The most difficult part is finding the correct formula and understanding what each variable represents.

This booklet provides good overall coverage of problems addressed on the FE. However, this does little to discuss the problems; merely giving solutions and pulling equations out of thin air. If you can identify the equations great, but if you forgot some since you had it in college, the equations may seem a bit foreign. This book is on the smaller side of reviews that I have seen at about 90 pages. It only covers the ME specific afternoon test, and even then only gives answers, not explaining at all. Additionally, there are some errors in the printings. I received a second edition, third printing. They are on the fourth printing (as of 2/2/11) where each new printing fixes some of these errors. Try to get the newest one!