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Review for and Assessment of the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam

Enno “Ed” Koehn, Rajesh D. Malani

Lamar University

Abstract

One of the most important phases of the registration process involves satisfactory completion of the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination. This paper describes a FE review course which has been operating since 1980. The course has been successful in that 94.5% of the students completing the sequence have passed the Fundamentals Examination. The review emphasizes, over a seven-week period, the various engineering sciences. It is assumed that the students are motivated to study on their own the remaining material on the exam that includes, in part, questions on chemistry, computers and mathematics. A pretest, final practice exam, and independent student evaluation are also conducted.

An assessment of the review course indicates that students believe that they are well prepared for the FE exam in subjects that they have taken for their program of study. Here, the review course enhances their knowledge of specific subject areas. However, in subjects students have not taken, the review appears to be less than satisfactory. Obviously it is difficult to review a subject that one is not familiar with. Overall, however, the findings indicate that well-motivated students, who complete a comprehensive review course, experience a high pass rate on the fundamentals of engineering examination.

For a university with an engineering program, performance by students on the FE exam can be important and may be utilized as one measure that outcomes are being satisfied. This can assist in satisfying ABET accreditation requirements. A state may also utilize the FE pass rate as an output measure of the effectiveness of an institution’s undergraduate program.

I. Introduction

In order to protect the public, health, safety and welfare, the practice of engineering has been entrusted in the United States, by various governmental entities, only to those persons duly licensed and registered. Engineering has also been declared by government statute to be a learned profession, the practitioners of which shall be held accountable to the public for high professional standards in keeping with the ethics and practices of other professions2.

Approved education, appropriate experience, and examination, commonly called the Three E’s, are required in order to become a licensed professional engineer11. This paper describes experiences related to the operation of a Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) review course Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education

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Malani, R., & Koehn, E. (2005, June), Review For And Assessment Of The Fundamentals Of Engineering Exam Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--14775