Before we begin our review of the knowledge areas of the fundamentals of engineering exam, I'd like to make a few overview comments and pointers about the structure of the exam. The fundamentals of engineering FE CIVIL CBT, which stands for computer based test specifications, are shown here. And the first thing to remember of course is that the FE exam is a computer based test. It's closed book, but you're provided with an electronic reference. You can do scratch calculations on a reusable notepad. You can use an on screen calculator, which you probably won't be familiar with. Or you can bring in an approved calculator. You will have six hours to complete the exam. Which contains 110 multiple-choice questions. And this six hour time includes a tutorial, break and also a brief survey at the end. So the actual exam time is actually less than six hours. The exam uses two systems of units. The International System of Units, also called SI or metric, and the US Customary System, USCS, which I'll talk about in a minute. Now, the exam consists, as I've said, of 110 multiple choice questions, chosen from these 18 sections which are listed here. And the sections of the exam are not broken out like this. There are simply 110 questions, without particular reference to these segments. Out of these 18 sections, we'll be covering in this review, initially at least, these seven sections. Mathematics, probability and statistics, statics, mechanics and materials, fluid mechanics, hydraulics and hydrologic systems, and structural analysis. And more sections will be added in the future. These are the details of each of those seven sections as given in the reference handbook. But as we progress you'll see that I don't follow this outline exactly and I will probably use somewhat different outlines for these sections. The reference handbook you can obtain from ncees.org, and this is the only reference that you may use in the exam. You can purchase a hard copy, or you can download and print the PDF manual, and print it out for your own use. However, you cannot take it into the exam. The only thing that will be available during the exam is the online file, which is a searchable PDF file which will be provided. The actual exam will be given on a 24-inch monitor and the handbook will be side by side with the questions. So it's simultaneously available. So, because the handbook is very, important and fundamental to the exam, it's very important to be familiar with it. It's almost 300 pages long, which makes it difficult to know all of it. And unfortunately, the notation and terminology used in the, in the reference handbook, is not always standard in engineering practice. And the names are not always consistent. The organization is also a little problematical. And it can be somewhat hard to find things. For example, if you do a search text, you have to give the exact search text to be able to find it. Because the exam is the sole information source for the exam, the exam questions are quite limited. As I mentioned, there's six hours available, however, eight minutes of that is given up initially to a tutorial, there's a maximum of a 25 minute break, and a brief survey at the end. So in fact, there are only five hours and 20 minutes of exam time for 110 questions. In other words, there's less than three minutes per question. This means that the questions have to be very brief, and that generall speaking, there are only two or three steps involved. And usually, all the information you need, such as properties and viscosity, will be given so you won't have to spend time searching through the manual to find them. Because there's only three minutes per question, you have to be very fast. You have to have fast recall,you have to know where the equations and the relevant information is. So you need to be familiar with the manual. You also have to practice as much as possible. Do as many practice exams and questions as you can. Each question is a multiple choice with four possible answers. And, the format, you will have just one problem on your screen at a time.
