PPI FE Review Manual: Rapid Preparation for the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam, 3rd Edition – A Comprehensive Preparation Guide for the FE Exam

To start off, I've graduated from school last year in electrical engineering. I have bought this book around June 2013 to study from. I was going to take the last pencil and paper FE exam in October of 2013 but I felt I didn't have enough time to study so I decided to hold out until this year for the new CBT exam around late last year. The new exam seemed to appeal to me considering it is less questions, less time and generally less stress than an 8 hour, 180 question exam. Also the testing center was closer! I was a bit wary of buying this book considering I am from an electrical background. But I figured it would be good for the morning session for the older version of the exam. That's why I bought it. So I ended up reading through the whole book and doing all of the practice problems over and over and over again. The interesting thing is that the book seems to surprise you all of the time. None of the material or the questions get old. It has enough to keep you satisfied and feeling confident for a while. Eventually I filled my head with all of the information in this book (this includes stuff I never learned in school like fluids, dynamics, mechanics, etc.) and opted to take the "other disciplines" CBT FE exam. I was thinking to myself that this was a bad idea considering that I am from an electrical background and didn't feel comfortable with the things that I have just mentioned. After reading this book so much and doing the practice problems everything becomes second nature. The way you approach problems, the problem solving process, using the reference manual and all of the little tricks. To study for the CBT I would have the PDF of the reference manual on my home computer along with a marker, my approved calculator and I would write on my desk (glass surface,erasable) and I would use this book. Finally I felt that I had studied enough, approximately 10 months including time with my job and I registered for the CBT "other disciplines" exam. I took it last Saturday and got my results on Wednesday the following week. Very quick compared to the exam which was approximately 4 months as so I've heard. It turns out that I had passed! The reason why is all due to this book. I took the specific exam for which I had very limited knowledge prior to reading this book. After reading this book and utilizing it the way the author suggests, I passed the exam. So it clearly works for the "other disciplines" CBT exam in a similar fashion to the old "general" pencil and paper exam. The amount of material in this book is great especially for the price. The author gets to the point in all of the reading sections and highlights the equations that are included in the reference manual. He throws some equations of his own in to create a better understanding of the material but generally these are not necessary. There are also a good variety of questions for each subject. In conclusion, read through each section, answer the questions over and over again, know where the find the equations given in the book with the on-screen reference manual (PDF) and once you feel confident, register for the "other disciplines" CBT exam. I really have no gripes with this book at all. It's clear, accurate, gets to the point, no errors and helps you prepare. Although I must say that the term "rapid" to me seems like 1 month or 2 months. That's generally not the case when some of us have life activities to do. All in all 5 out of 5 stars.

Perfect for the Fundamentals of Engineering exam. Passed first try straight out of university.

I just found out this week that I passed the FE exam using this book to study for the morning exam topics. Having graduated with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering back in 2005 I knew that I would need help to study for the FE exam. I feel that this book prepared me pretty well for the morning portion of the exam. This book will prepare you for only the morning exam if you choose a discipline specific module for your afternoon test. I think that most sections of this book do go into a little more detail and cover additional topics that can help you in the afternoon as well though. I chose the electrical discipline specific exam for the afternoon. I hear a lot of people saying that it is easier to take the "Other Disciplines" exam in the afternoon even if there is a discipline specific module that matches your undergraduate degree. I have to say though that this goes against common logic and the directions of the NCEES. I chose my discipline because the topics were more familiar than diving even deeper into courses which I had not taken during school... like Thermodynamics, Mechanics of Materials, Heat Transfer, etc... Plus if you look at the passing rates on the NCEES web site, in general there is at least a slightly higher pass rate for those who take their "appropriate" afternoon module if it is available. That was the case at least for last October's exam. I feel that you are bound to be more successful in topics which you have taken courses in and what you focused on in school rather than to hope that the Other Disciplines module will be easier and not as in depth. I spent roughly five months studying from this book for the morning exam and one brutal month studying from my old college texts and notes for the Electrical afternoon exam. For me I think I made the mistake of trying to learn new topics, like the ones that I listed above. I feel it is better to really focus on the topics that you are familiar with since you will not have time during the morning test to really think through problems. I pretty much skipped over most of the unfamiliar topic questions in the exam except for the very easy ones. I figure that I actually made a good effort of answering about 2/3 to 3/4 of the questions on each half of the exam and then guessed the rest. The content in this book does cover everything that it needs to, but there is not a whole lot (or any?) theory and not much explanation. It is pretty much just a re-presentation of all the concepts and formulas that you need to know. I think that is why it is a mistake to try to use this book to learn any new concepts other than just understanding formula variables. Also, I think it is very important to get a copy of the NCEES Supplied Reference Handbook to use during your studies. It is important to know the content and layout of the different sections so that you are not searching and wasting a bunch of time during the exam. When I bought mine last fall it was less than $20 including shipping. It is a small price to pay for the benefit of familiarity. Overall I think the FE Review Manual is a pretty thorough review tool for the general portion of the exam.

I took the FE for my first time in October 2013 and passed! I used this book along with a few others to prepare. This book was hands down the most useful of all my review materials. It lays out all the information in manageable portions. It was easy to quickly and effectively review topics that I hadn't used in years, and I even learned topics from course that I never had to take. Also loved that it highlighted equations in green that you could find in the FE handbook. Use this book along with the FE Supplied-Reference handbook!! Even though the equations are highlighted in the review manual, become extremely familiar with the FE handbook. The handbook is not necessarily organized in the most obvious way, and the index could be better. It will save you TONS of time (and stress!) during the exam if you know exactly which sections have which equations. The book claims that each review section should take an hour, but for me it took longer. I got this book 3 months before the exam, which was enough time to review. I wish I had got it sooner so I could have focused more on taking practice exams during the two weeks before the exam, instead of cramming in review topics. This book only covers the morning section and the general afternoon section. I would definitely recommend this book for review for the morning section. There are A LOT of practice problems, perfect for prepping for the test. The book also goes over study schedules, test taking strategies, and what to bring in your "kit" to the test. Totally helpful! I rented this book from Amazon, which I would also recommend. It was less expensive, and the copy I got was in great shape. I used post-it notes to mark up the book while I was studying, and took notes and did all the practice problems in a spiral notebook. Once you pass the test, why would you need a copy of the book?

I highly recommend this manual to help pass the FE exam. I don't think I could have passed without it and I was so glad that there was review material available. I had planned to take the EIT exam in 1994 after I graduated, but life happened and I never took the exam. So after 19 years of being away from school, I bought this book and started going through the material and the practice problems. I first went through the end of chapter questions and tried to figure out the answers based on the material (my textbooks have been in a landfill for years). After I went through all the topics (except biology since I am ME) I went back through each topic and took the 60 minute diagnostic exams and reviewed areas that I missed. Then I took the diagnostic exam again to make sure I understood the material. Finally I took the practice exam about a month before the actual exam, and then went back through the problems I missed to figure out my mistakes. I started this process about 6 months before the exam and worked sometimes 4-5 nights a week for at least an hour. When I think of all the time I spent using this book, the cost is miniscule. This book particularly helped with preparing for the first part of the exam. You develop an internal clock in your head since you only have 90 seconds per problem. If you spend several minutes on a problem, it will not be worth it even if you figure out the answer because you will not have time to finish all the problems. Finally, I saw many comments about not to wait too long to take the FE test after you graduate, and while I agree with the advice, it was discouraging for those like myself who did wait too long. But if you can dedicate the time, there is enjoyment in going through these problems, kind of like seeing old friends again. I did pass the exam and I was very confident I passed right after completing the test. My only gripe was that some of the practice problems on the sample test did not have formulas in the NCEES reference book, so of course the material would not be on the test. I think this book needs to be updated to align itself with the material in the reference book. I kind of panicked when I missed so many of those problems on the sample test.

I am currently preparing for the October 2011 FE Exam. Read many reviews on other prep books for the test and this seemed like the best. Purchased it in June and started a study plan with a friend where we work 4 days out of the week (leaving Fridays, weekends, and holidays off). Its a good plan that allows you alot of time off instead of going nonstop everyday, but you have to start about 100 days before the test in order for it to work. Being a Senior Mechanical Engineering major in the Fall I know that my schedule will be hectic enough so starting this early was pretty much my only option. This is definitely a great prep book, good examples and disscussion. No theories, just exactly what you need for the FE. This is good for subjects you have already covered in classes, but you will need to find additional resources if your lacking in a subject. Loads of practice problems that help you actually learn the material instead of just memorizing it. It also gets you very comfortable with FE style questions and problem solving methods you will use for the test. Solutions are clear cut and walk you through all the steps to get the answer. It covers every topic and the problems are actually harder than they will be on the test. It also gives you alot of insight on what the test will be like, how to use the book, and sample tests at the end of the book. From other reviews and my personal experience the mathematics section is alot harder than it will be on the test. Some problems in the book take a good 3-4mins to solve and on the test you will only have 2mins for the morning section. Buy the FE reference manual with this book, you won't nearly get as much out of it if you dont and if you haven't bought an FE approved calculator for the test do that once you purchase the book as well. The more time you have with the calculator and manual the better. Don't wait too long to study for this exam, prepare and prepare early!!

I've been out of school for about 4 years, and I only started getting serious about obtaining my environmental PE 8 months ago (what took me so long?!?) Not wanting to pay a lot of money for a class, I checked out reviews on study books here at Amazon, and this book came up time and time again as the go-to guide. Going with reviewers' experiences with it, I picked it up. The layout of material in Lindeburg's book is very straightforward and practical. There's no extraneous information on any topic that would not show up on the FE exam. Some of the sample questions may appear difficult, but that's usually because they are multi-step. Depending on which afternoon exam you take, you can completely disregard entire chapters, which should make studying easier. The author does a good job of tying in the relevant material to the FE Supplied-Reference Handbook, so you should definitely have that handy so you can quickly flip to the page with the needed equation for any given problem. Keep to a study schedule as you work through the book. The sheer number of pages may appear daunting, but working at it every night for 30-45 minutes, 5-6 days a week is all it really takes. This way you can digest all the material comfortably without forcing yourself to cram a week before the exam. If you devote the necessary time to using the Review Manual and attempting all of the sample questions, you should be thoroughly prepared to take the exam. Remember to do the practice test in the back under the time constraints to simulate the actual exam conditions. This will make you completely confident with sitting down for the real thing. It did for me, and I ended up passing! (My 2 cents: Don't wait too long after graduating to take this test! It only makes it harder to recall the subject matter! But if you end up taking it sometime in the future after graduating, this book can be a lifesaver!)

This book is amazing for FE prep. If you go through all of the sections that will be on your test, you will have no problem with them. The problems in this book are a little harder than what you will find on the test, but working on the harder problems will make the problems on the test seem easy. This book has about 54 chapters and a sample test for the morning session at the end. I didn't take the sample test at the end because I ran out of time, but I did take the diagnostic tests at the beginning of each section and they were really helpful for identifying weaknesses. The solutions are very detailed, but do lack in explaining assumptions/theories that went behind using a certain equation or eliminating a certain term. The math is very easy to follow though, and I didn't find any typos in any of the solutions I looked at. One thing this book doesn't do is go very in-depth about concepts. It assumes you remember and just need a refresher (which it does a very good job of). If you are like me and haven't used thermodynamics in 6 years, then you may need to dust off some of your old text books for a more detailed explanation. I do give it kudos for making fluid mechanics a lot less scary for me. It has always been my worst subject, but it was the easiest section for me on the test after doing the practice problems in this book and reading the simplified explanations in the chapers. Even though I am done with my exam I plan to keep this book because it seems like it will be a handy reference for a quick refresher on pretty much every engineering topic.