Mechanical Discipline-Specific Review for the FE/EIT Exam [ペーパーバック]

This book was pretty good at explaining the basic concepts and giving really good examples and problems. I thought that a few chapers in the beginning were really really good. Even the books that I used in college were not this good on some of the topics. However, one must understand that this book is only for the GENERAL SECTION FE exam, not the specific ones. Infact, unless you really need to, I don't recommend taking the other subject tests as those maybe more difficult(Mechanical is more difficult for sure). If you are wondering if this is the only book I used then thats partially true. I used it for about 90% of my study. I did have to refer to some books on Calculus from the library. Also I did look at some other topics too from some books at the library but to be honest, it was mostly an exercise in making myself feel better, but basically a waste of time. The one other book that really helped was the EIT/FE Review Manual from the same author and company. Basically that book is a more detailed version of this book and it contains more explainations and concepts. However that book is also outdated (my version was from the 90s) since I don't believe they are making upto date versions of the new FE exam. If your library doesn't have it, then you could buy it. Anyways its a very useful reference that you can keep on your desk. Also I was 1 year out of college and I didn't even get a chance to do a practice test.

This is how I passed the FE and this was my strategy:

1). Get a really good calculator, so that you can be twice as effective than anyone else. I used the Casio FX-115ES and learnt its functions by heart the day before the exam.
Also order the NCEES FE Handbook from the NCEES website(cheaper than Amazon). You really need to know that handbook really well so that you don't waste time finding formulas during the test.
2). You only need to get about 60%-65% of the problems correct to pass the FE. This means that if you ace the morning test, than you can really screw around on the afternoon section and still pass. I basically didn't even touch much of Thermo and bascially no Electric/or Electronic/Circuits stuff since I didn't have time to do those. But I did do everything else correct. Also the afternoon section, I believe I raped it too.
3). Get a digital watch with a timer function and then set it at 3:58 mins so that it keeps ticking and the time keeps decreasing so you know exactly how much time you have. Try and get at atleast the first few questions you attempt correct so it give you confidence and sets a good rhythym. Pick a section you know and start with that, don't worry if you take a lot more time in the first hour. But basically by the 2nd hour don't spend more than 2 - 3 minutes per question. In the last 15 mins make sure you stop what you are doing and start randomly guessing answers on the answer sheet.
4). Lastly, try and enjoy the test. I did have to say that after 1 - 2 hours into the exam I really started enjoying the test. It was written by people who knew what they were doing and it does test your engineering skills. I actually really had fun with the test!

When studying for an exam, it's important to review the fundamentals of the concepts being tested. However, this study guide does not explain any fundamentals. The entire book is just a set of problems whose solutions are poorly explained. For example, the second problem in the book is a question about buckling, and it leaves out the part about obtaining the end restraint constant.
One would at least expect the study guide to explain where in the reference handbook the equations used in the problem solutions are taken from, but this book does not. And for a book that consists solely of practice problems, even some of the solutions are erroneous. For example, in problem 14, the solution requires summing the moments about the end of a uniform rod. However, the inertia value used is (ML^2)/12, which is the inertia of a uniform rod about its center rather than its end (inertia value should be (ML^2)/3).
In short, don't waste your money on this book. I'm certainly going to buy a different study guide.

I think it is pretty well written and organized. I felt it did a nice job with new subject matter. Some of the topics on the test were not something I'd ever taken. I think they could have been a little clearer about forces on a submerged object and statistics. I think they could add some kind of link to the exam ref materials as well, or at least use the equations in the same format (they did with the majority but not all of them).

Overall I can't really complain. Due to unforeseen circumstances I only had 3 weeks to prep while working full time and I had been out of school a year. I was able to get through a decent amount of content fairly quickly so I'd say it worked.