Happy New Year 2007

Hello!

Happy New Year 2007!

How was your performance during 2006? It must be wonderful and memorable. As time passes, we have a habit of forgetting localized bitter experiences, and memorize good things. I hope that you will do the same thing. I consider 2006 as a good year for me. I appeared the FE exam with excitement, meanwhile I was also scared of failing it because I took the exam after a long break since I took the exams on these subjects. Thanks to my undergrad teachers who poured so much of knowledge on me that I never needed to take second shower on these subjects. I was very scared when I saw the questions on Economics (I never studied it second time since my undergrad studies), metallurgy. I never ever studied Biology. I was certainly prepared on Physics, Chemistry, Math, Statistics, Statics, Dynamics, Strength of Material, Partly on Fluid Mechanics. Most difficult part was on Professional Ethics, because I did not study at all on ethics part, but the workshop that I attended in Japan regarding ethics at workplace had helped me answer a few questions on this section. I took this exam as a trial hoping to pass in the second try, i.e. on April 2007 session.

On December 20th I googled "Fundamental of Engineering Exam Result October 28, 2006", and I found a discussion thread at some website dedicated to PE Exams. Someone wrote that the exam result of those who passed the FE / PE exams were already mailed, and of those who failed will be mailed by the end of the year such that it will be delivered by the beginning of the next year, i.e. 2007. Another writer replied arguing that there is only one pattern in mailing the result of the exam, and the pattern is "NO PATTERN". Based on that discussion, I hoped that the result would be mailed around end of the December. At the same time, I was not sure whether the first person is right that I am among the failed people whose result would arrive beginning of the next year (2007). On December 23rd/24th, I received a mail from ELSES, and I was very excited, and I was also scared to open it. When I turned the envelope upside down, I could easily see: "Exam: Fundamental of Engineering" and "Status:......" from outside, because the envelope was semi-transparent. I opened it and saw the result. Wow, what a great news for me. I passed it. Whatever I answered, I had answered with confidence. Though I will never know my actual score, I am sure that I was on border line becase I skipped some of the important sections that I could have done well if I would prepared well. The reason I skipped these sections (about 10%) were because I took it as an exam for experience for the better preparations on the second trial. Anyway, I was allowed to make mistake almost 1 in 3 questions, and therefore, the sections (about 10%) that I skipped did not matter much. As a civil engineer, you get a lot of positive points in the exam because you have studied so much on engineering economics, structural analysis, fluid mechanics, mathematics, and electronics-electrical engineering. If you focus on the sections that you are confident, you can certainly pass the exam, because it allows you to make mistakes almost 1 in 3 questions (bottomline 'C' grade), and that is a very high tolerance for people who take exam seriously and prepare accordingly. I am hoping to take the PE Exam this April and consider it as a trial exam to gain experience so that I can pass on the second attempt. Don't know, I might pass in first attempt. But, I have to study to pass the exam. Exam is exam no matter what is the content of the course. Most examinees make mistake not because they don't know the subject matter, but because they did not read the question and answer (multiple choice) properly. And, in exams like FE/PE, you do not have enough time to read and re-read the question and answers, so to save your time, you must prepare well. Make no mistake in a given short time. In last exam too, if I was given another 30 minutes, I would have certainly answered to get 'A' grade (though they don't give A/B/C grade, but you can decide your grade yourself based on your performance), but time was so (extremely) tight that I had to keep on moving. So my recommendation to you will be to prepare well, you can certainly pass the exam because the pass rate for civil engineers is more than 80 percentage. Returning examinees have pass rate of about 50%. My recommendation will be to focus on GENERAL ENGINEERING because you can do extremely well in morning session if you select to take GE in afternoon session, too. Otherwise, your preparation time will be divided, and it may not help you in both sessions. Do not waste your precious time on deciding which one to take "General Engineering" or "Civil engineering" in the exam hall, be well prepared before you enter the exam hall for afternoon session. Good Luck.

P.S. If you have great story on your FE/PE exam, please share with fellow engineers, so that they are encouraged to take the exam. But, make sure that you are not disclosing the type or patterns of questions that you saw there. Do you still remember the statements that you read before signed on the pledge? I hope that I did not overrun the pledge.