r/FE_Exam

Honestly I am struggling to believe this, I’m still surprised, maybe it will take a few days for me to actually believe it..

It took the whole day to get myself to check the results , I don’t even know how I passed, but whoever said to flag questions that are long and work on the easy ones first is the G.O.A.T.. i studied my heart out, got both NCEES Interactive exams, prep FE and MM’s videos ( watched a lot of times), the exam had different questions and I guessed about 20 questions on the first section and probably the same amount or more on the second part, so I don’t know where this pass is coming from..

I’m soo happy that I can now study for the PE.

Man this feeling sucks. 😭

Took the test for the first time six years post grad using only Mark Mattson's videos to study. His problems are in depth (more so than most of the exam problems) and his guidance through the reference handbook was invaluable. Could not recommend him enough!

Out of school for 10 years, undergrad was a different engineering disciple. I could cry right now

My advice (worked for me)

1. MM for intro to topic videos (especially for people years removed from undergrad)
2. NCEES and Interactive Exam
3. 💫 STUDY Why you got each question wrong.
4. Prep Fe
5. 💫 Categories Test and TIME yourself. Don't move on to the next topic till you pass each category.
6. RETAKE NCEES and Interactive Exam (week of exam)
7. 💫 STUDY what questions you got wrong.

I can not stress enough the IMPORTANCE of doing and UNDERSTANDING each question in the practice test. My real test was so similar to the practice test.

I failed my FE civil exam for second time, how I have to improve. Please help me by giving your inputs.

How close I am to pass.??! And how much effort I have put?

First of all I want to give a shoutout to this sub for all the help and all the materials that all you provided, and all the hope to pass the FE exam. I will tell you all one thing , DON’T EVER GIVE UP!

Just have to say thank you to this subreddit because everyone here was so helpful!
I took it last Saturday and it was my first attempt. I just graduated two weeks ago so most of the material was pretty fresh and I spent a week studying for about 8 hrs/day.

I got sick two days before and felt completely horrible about the exam after. I’m a slow test taker in general so just ran out of time with both sections. I guessed on at least 15 questions and didn’t even answer 3 of the fill-in ones. I’m honestly so surprised I passed.

Thank you to the person who compiled the Environmental Google Drive (https://www.reddit.com/r/FE\_Exam/s/lpXkzcgfjj). You are such a lifesaver. I used YouTube videos and practice problems from there. I also used the Mark Mattson FE Civil Videos for the subjects that overlapped (Math, Engineering Econ, Fluids, etc). I mostly used the DirectHub FE Exam Prep YouTube channel. I also bought the Anthem practice book and the NCEES interactive practice exam Vol 1. I thought the interactive one was really helpful to see how the actual exam questions would be set up.

I wish I had studied longer to feel more comfortable with the timing - I only took the interactive test twice and ran out of time both times. I can only speculate, but I think I still passed because I felt really solid on the biggest areas (Fluid Mechanics, Water Resources, Air Quality, and Solid/Hazardous Waste). I didn’t even have time to study Thermo and skipped all the questions in the exam.

Thanks guys and you can do it!!

https://www.amazon.com/Environmental-Engineering-Preparation-Questions-Solutions/dp/1532827237/ref=mp\_s\_a\_1\_2\_sspa?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.S68h--A0yGnGdBFRj8gd3kDkftv9E2w7WyfBSGHqAE8F0U-g9PYi81RJmlHR\_ZRrcbupB4IvCwBN0aNnMpoTS0a70nxf7Lt3q9iB1a60DfJHWBBXbJ-hXdByk5ZHXwTTDK4Ffhbug4FEbbe0LT36QPVIpVwDEw9xcyq8jHtsV8TkNo-vLuxObBH\_aStAYDGSNB-dpnNsy4wiDJmmVHxrdg.HoLSu9S8Aqh4p4D2RvhU37FHkW\_wmxy4-nfmNNuWAgQ&dib\_tag=se&keywords=fe+environmental+engineering&qid=1779286447&sr=8-2-spons&sp\_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRm&psc=1

I've already tried School of PE and PrepFE... I've been studying for a year and finished college 9 years ago. Please give me some advice! How close was I to passing?

I studied for about 5 months, fairly consistently (about 30-60 minutes per day). I used Mark Mattson videos first, and then did 1100 PrepFE problems over the course of those 5 months, getting to about 70-80% correct in all topics. For topics not covered by MM, I used a folder of FE Environmental study material put together by another very gracious (and organized) test taker that I found on this subreddit. It included video links to topics that are hard to find info on in typical Civil FE study guides (such as Air pollution, wastewater, solid waste), plus some practice problems. I created a Quizlet with common formulas and terms I needed to know, and skimmed through the entire FE Handbook to make sure I knew where everything was.

About 5 weeks before my exam, I took the online NCEES Environmental practice exam Vol 1 to see how I was doing. I got a 52%, but I had not studied 3-4 of the topics yet so I knew I could do better. I completed studying those topics (though I was very light on thermo review because it was only 3-5 questions), and 2 weeks before my exam, I took the Anthem books practice exam and scored an 80%.

A week before my exam, I took the paper NCEES Environmental practice exam. I only scored a 60% on this, so I was a little nervous going in to the real test, but I reviewed all my errors and saw that a lot of my mistakes were units/not reading the question fully but I had the concepts down.

I felt nervous going in to the exam, but I felt pretty good about the amount of studying I had put in (I think about 200 hours). I whipped through the first half in an hour and half and spent 20 minutes checking my answers before turning it in and taking my break. I didn't want to drag the first half out too long as I knew the second half would be harder, so I guessed on one or two questions to save time.

The second half was harder, but I was a little surprised that the test as a whole felt easier than all of the official NCEES practice exams I had taken. It was more on par with the Anthem books practice exam (which I felt was a bit easier). I finished the second half with over an hour to spare to check my answers, and I basically re-did every problem to check them. I found 3 unit errors so I'm glad I caught those. I did guess on maybe 4-5 questions on the second half too. But I walked out of the exam room feeling really confident.

This has been a lot of work but I am so glad it paid off and I'm setting my sights on a future PE! Good luck all who are studying.

Granted, after failing three times before finally passing, I know a lot of people say this exam is “really easy.” However, having been out of school for four years, relearning the material, getting back into the rhythm of studying, and dealing with the discouragement of previous failed attempts made this process anything but easy for me.

Last night, I was anxious the entire time before opening my NCEES account to see whether I had passed or not. I’m happy to say that I finally passed the FE Civil exam!

In college, I was a decent student — nothing extraordinary. I’m sharing this because if I can pass the FE Civil, then so can you (assuming you graduated from an accredited civil engineering program or are currently in school).

The resources I used were Mark Mattson, Gregory Michaelson, PrepFE, and the NCEES practice exams from the NCEES website. One thing that really helped me was becoming familiar with the FE Reference Handbook — knowing where formulas, concepts, and sections were located made a huge difference during the exam. Also, being comfortable with unit conversions was incredibly helpful.

Most importantly, the biggest change I made compared to my previous attempts was truly understanding why I got practice problems wrong instead of just memorizing solutions. Taking the time to learn from mistakes made all the difference for me. Cheers - upward and onward