Fundamentals of Engineering exam
From Free net encyclopedia
In the United States, the Fundamentals of Engineering exam (also known as the FE exam) is the first of two examinations engineers must pass in order to be certified as a Professional Engineer. Another short term for the exam, EIT, comes from the former official name for the exam, Engineer In Training. It is open to anyone who has a degree in engineering or a related field, or is in their last year of engineering at an ABET-accredited university. Some state licensure boards permit students to take it prior to their final year, and numerous states allow those who have never attended an approved program to take the exam if they have a state-determined number of years of work experience in engineering. Michigan allows anyone to take the exam. The exam is administered by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES).
The exam is eight hours and is split into a four-hour morning session and a four-hour afternoon session. The morning session is a general exam for which all examinees must sit. The afternoon session is more discipline oriented, and is chosen from among: chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, or general engineering (similar in content to the morning exam).
The topics covered by the general exam are covered in the "fundamental" courses taken by all engineering students, and include (as of 2004):
- Chemistry
- Computers
- Dynamics
- Economics
- Electrical circuits
- Ethics
- Fluid mechanics
- Material science
- Mathematics
- Mechanics of materials
- Statics
- Thermodynamics
A scaled score of 70 is required to pass the exam.
The sections are scored independently. If all the questions in the morning session are answered correctly, but a score of 65 is received in the afternoon, the examinee would still fail the exam.
Those who pass the exam are designated Engineers In Training or given an equivalent designation, such as Engineer Intern by their state's licensure board for engineers, and are partway through the certification process. After completing an apprenticeship (the length of which is set by state law and based on the type of degree received) an EIT may qualify to take the Professional Engineer (PE) exam. Certification is awarded upon successful completion of the PE exam. The standard time of apprenticeship under a Professional Engineer is 4 years of work experience for graduates of an ABET-accredited engineering program.
U.S. Patent Office
Passage of the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam, coupled with graduation with any bachelor's degree, satisfies the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's stringent technical requirements for sitting for its registration examination to become either a registered patent attorney or patent agent. The typical way the technical requirements are satisfied is by possessing a bachelor's degree in a specified technical area or amassing undergraduate credit hours equivalent to such a degree.