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.

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?