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

1249

1539

1827

1966

87.0% 85.9% 84.8% 84.7%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

09-10 10-11 11-12 12-13 0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

Currently Enrolled Chemical Engineering FE Examinees

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