Advice on PE exam in US

Hi Shawn... before you do a lot of work getting ready for the exam, go and talk to the engineering association in Iowa. More then likely they will not let you write the exam unless you have an engineering degree. In many jurisdictions, an engineering degree is one of the requirements you must have before they will admit you to the exam.

I do not believe that is correct. Each state is different, in Wisconsin, you have to work under a PE and in the industry (Mechanical, Civil, Chemical) for a amount of time and have that PE "vouch" for you.

There is nothing that stops you from taking that exam. There are books that you can purchase that explains that. Each State is different.

I do not have mine with me right now, otherwise I would tell you the name and publisher of the book I had when I was studing for it.

phoenix911

I think it's more along the lines of having a Degree or a prescribed number of years experience.

In this case the guy has the experience since someone is recommending he take the exam.

I agree. Be sure to check with your State board and review the licensing requirements.

Hi Shawn - Great topic - I've been looking at this issue during the past week:

Here in New York State, for Mechanical Engineers, I'm pretty sure a Bachelor's Degree (BSME) is required to sit for the "Part 1, Fundamentals of Engineering (FE)" exam, regulated by the New York State Office of Professions. A private company, Castle Worldwide, administers the exam for New York and many other states. A part (2) exam comes later, after you've passed part (1) and worked in industry a while (your past work will be evaluated by a state board). Then, if you pass both parts and your state's licensing board feels you've earned it, you'll become a registered "Professional Engineer" ("PE") for your state.

Usually, the FE exam is taken during the 4th year of a 4-year undergraduate engineering program (while the content is fresh on your mind). It's a pretty serious exam, lasting 8-hours or so, and for ME's, it covers all the physics, chemistry, math (calculus, etc.) and other course requirements connected to a 4-year BSME degree (there's some overlap with BSEE in the coursework). I would say it's equivalent to the bar exam that lawyers take, with respect to difficulty and time required to prepare for it (not to mention the stress factor!).

Assuming Iowa will allow you to sit for it, I suggest downloading any free test-prep materials offered by the company (or state office) that administers the test, as well as taking a classroom prep-course that might be offered at your local college with a 4-year Electrical Engineering degree program. If you also do a search at http://www.globalspec.com, you may find additional information on prep-courses (maybe self-study web-courses offered by the IEEE organization) that would be appropriate for Iowa. I personally found from GlobalSpec.com that ASME offers test-prep materials for taking the NYS Mechanical Engineering FE exam.

Much luck!

-april05

Thanks for finding that Steve. I must have been reading that with rose colored glasses. My real problem is that there are no colleges near me that actually teach electrical engineering. I have no problem doing the college classes to get the degree, but I have yet to find one. I live in Illinois currently, but I work in Iowa. Located in what is known as the Quad Cities (includes Davenport.)

Does anyone know of anything I could take online (that is not a bunch of quacks)?

Shawn, Check out MIT open courseware. It is an online open site of actual classes from their catalog. No degree offered but great studies if nothing else is available.

Have a look at pennfoster.edu. they're fully accredited.

This is just an ASEET program, but having completed it you can get into a BSEE program elsewhere. There are a precious few of these as well.

BEWARE of non accredited online universities. There are several of these out there but without accreditation, you'd be wasting your time.

I have nearly 30 years in the field and am just now pursuing the degree, so I have an idea what you're dealing with

Best of luck!

BA

I do have an associate's degree already. Not sure how much of it will transfer, but I'm more interested in bachelor's level.... which I have not been able to find near me or online. My company will even pay to have me go to these classes.

Hey Shawn,

Have a look at the following. Unfortunately I don't believe that ABET has accredited any online course yet, but it looks like SUNY is trying to blaze that trail.

SUNY is an excellent school by the way, if anyone can do it, they can.

http://sln.suny.edu/sln_bee_faq.htm

I read about them. It looks like a good program. The only problem is that I'll probably have to find a college close to me to give some of the prerequisite courses as I haven't taken most of them. I got my Associate's Degree from a Technical College. Which, in hindsight, probably isn't the best place to get a degree if you want to get higher education and be certified as an engineer.