Train for your FE exam to Grab the Easy Questions!

You’ve probably seen the long list of FE Exam specifications! If not, look at the list here. Imagine you have to study 14 topics. Each topic contains subtopics that kind of help us narrow things down to a specific knowledge area. Even though we can narrow things down a bit, it’s still overwhelming! As a full-time FE Civil Exam tutor and instructor, I often get overwhelmed by all these topics, just like you. It would take me a lifetime to master all these topics by heart. Therefore, from the start, I do not want to have this unrealistic expectation of knowing it ALL or even studying it ALL. There’s another path that I would like us to take. It suits the nature of this standardized FE exam far better and is more realistic…

1) Keep it simple and practice problems that will likely show up on the FE exam.

How do you know what will show up? The specific resource, textbook, or course you’re using should provide guidance on which concepts or questions are absolutely essential to understand. If you’re self-studying, ask yourself this: Is this problem or concept fundamental? Is it basic enough or short enough to really master? Does it test the basic concepts I learned in my undergraduate studies? And lastly, is it a plug-and-chug question I can solve with enough effort if I put in the quality practice? 

If your answer is yes to all of these questions, you should spend the quality time needed to deeply understand and apply your understanding when solving the problem. 

2) Grab the easy points by mastering the predictable plug and chug questions.

On the real FE exam, you will see conceptual questions that are insanely difficult. We will put it in the “Difficult to Reach Fruit” category. These are the problems you should be flagging for review. Here’s the good news: Given the curved nature of the passing score, it’s improbable that these problems will establish the benchmark for the “average passing score” relative to other problems. The questions you want to grab are those in the “Low-Hanging Fruit” category and some from the “Middle Fruit” category. The low-hanging fruit questions are your classic plug-and-chug problems that make use of the FE Handbook formulas. These could even be conceptual questions, which you can either look up in the FE Handbook or solve using your basic understanding of the concepts.

When it comes to the real exam, don’t make the mistake of trying to grab the difficult to reach fruit problems early on. You want to get your brain going by gradually building up your confidence. To achieve this, focus on solving the “Low-Hanging Fruit” problems on the first run, while flagging the others for review. Then, with the right train of thought, you can come back to grabbing some “Middle Fruit” problems and possibly answering the tough problems. You never know how powerful your brain can be once it gets going…

fe exam easy questions

3) It’s all about hands on practice. You have to apply your understanding under exam day conditions! 

You’re likely wasting time passively watching videos for every single topic. Remember, this is a standardized exam that tests 50% of your knowledge and 50% of your exam-taking skills. Many students forget about developing their test-taking skills because it’s natural to assume that “knowledge and understanding” lead to a passing score. There’s some truth to that, but from experience, I’ve seen some really smart students fall short solely because they did not develop their test-taking abilities. 

Prioritize a balance between developing your understanding and test-taking skills by doing lots of hands-on practice under similar exam-day conditions. You can do this by:

  • Solving problems at a speed that is above your average. If you keep doing this, your problem-solving speed is bound to improve. 
  • Doing timed quizzes for each topic (if you’re in the Direct Hub course, you have no excuse!)
  • Doing full-length simulated exams (allocating the last 2 to 3 weeks strictly for practice exams)

In summary, there is a way to study wisely for the FE exam. From the start, don’t set unrealistic expectations by trying to learn all the topics by heart. There will be questions that you have no clue how to approach and solve. And that’s okay! What ultimately matters is your internal drive to deliberately practice solving problems at your disposal. If you feel like a problem is taking you way too long to solve and you’re not getting anywhere, I suggest that you move on. You’ve got to keep it moving because there are plenty of “low-hanging fruit” concepts you can grasp, some of which are a little difficult. And in order to be a well-rounded exam taker, it’s critical that you begin to develop your test-taking skills today.

Take it one day at a time, one practice problem at a time, and make that next study session count!

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