THE NEW COMPUTER-BASED FE

EXAM FOR CHEMICAL ENGINEERS

Davy McDowell, P.E., Chief Operating Officer

Transition to CBT
CBT transition schedule
• October 26, 2013: Last administration of
pencil-and-paper FE and FS exams
• November 4, 2013: Registration open
for CBT FE and FS exams
• January 2, 2014: CBT exam
appointments first available
The new FE
exams
CBT exam administration
• Price
– $225: includes test center seat,
examination, and results release
• Testing windows
– January–February
– April–May
– July–August
– October–November
• Test center locations
– Pearson VUE testing centers
Exam changes
• Length
– 110 questions
– 6-hour test center appointment
• Nondisclosure agreement–2 minutes
• Tutorial–8 minutes
• Exam time–5 hours, 20 minutes
• Scheduled break–25 minutes
• Post-exam survey–5 minutes
Exam changes
• Exam and references on computer
– Split screen
– 24-inch monitor
• FE reference handbook
– Searchable
– Available on NCEES website
Typical FE exam screen
Exam changes
• FE exam content
– 7 free-standing, discipline-specific
exams
• Chemical, Civil, Electrical and Computer,
Environmental, Industrial, Mechanical,
Other Disciplines
– No separate morning or breadth module
– Each exam covers material commonly
found in that discipline’s curriculum.
 The current FE Chemical exam
• Mathematics
• Probability and Statistics
• Chemistry
• Computers (merged with
Computational Tools)
• Ethics and Business Practices
• Engineering Economics
• Engineering Mechanics (merged
with Engineering Sciences)
• Strength of Materials
• Material Properties
• Fluid Mechanics
• Electricity and Magnetism
(merged with Engineering
Sciences)
• Thermodynamics
• Material/Energy Balances
• Heat Transfer
• Mass Transfer
• Chemical Reaction Engineering
• Process Design & Economic
Optimization
• Computer Usage in Chemical
Engineering (merged with
Computational Tools)
• Process Control
 The new FE Chemical exam
• Mathematics
• Probability and Statistics
• Engineering Sciences
• Computational Tools
• Materials Science
• Chemistry
• Fluid Mechanics/Dynamics
• Thermodynamics
• Material/Energy Balances
• Heat Transfer
• Mass Transfer and Separation
• Chemical Reaction
Engineering
• Process Design and
Economics
• Process Control
• Safety, Health, and
Environment
• Ethics and Professional
Practice
Registration
process
FE and FS exam registration
• Opens November 4, 2013
• All FE and FS examinees will
– Register online through NCEES
– Pay all exam-related fees directly to
NCEES via credit card
– On exam day, attest that they will abide by
rules and policies found in the NCEES
Examinee Guide
Exam results

• NCEES will release results directly to

examinees within 7–10 days.
Test centers
Test center locations
FE Chemical
Engineering
Exam Data
 Currently Enrolled Chemical Engineering FE Examinees
2500 100.0%

87.0% 90.0%
85.9%
84.8% 84.7%

2000 80.0%
1966

1827 70.0%

1500 1539 60.0%

50.0%
1249

1000 40.0%

30.0%

500 20.0%

10.0%

0 0.0%
09-10 10-11 11-12 12-13

Currently Enrolled - EAC Currently Enrolled % Pass - EAC

Communications
Communications
• CBT exam-day experience video
release
• Short “how to” videos
– How to search the FE Reference
Handbook
– Hotkeys
– Onscreen calculator
– Reusable booklet for scratch work
– How to flag items for review
Connect with NCEES
• ncees.org/CBT
• facebook.com/NCEES
• twitter.com/NCEES
• youtube.com/NCEESMedia