FE Exam Information
What is the FE exam?
The Fundamentals of Engineering exam, otherwise known as the FE exam, is a national licensure examination that covers material taught in an ABET-accredited engineering program. This exam is a graduation requirement for all SDSU electrical engineers and for any engineer who wishes to be licensed as a Professional Engineer.
Registration procedure:
- If you are senior standing, completed all junior electrical engineering
courses, passed (or will be passing) EE464, and enrolled in EE465, you are eligible
and required to take the FE exam concurrent with EE465.
- Assuming you are eligible, complete the one-page on-line form located at http://www.state.sd.us/dol/boards/engineer, and
under the big black bold heading "Examinees" click on the link "FE exam Application". You will pick your own username and password.
You MUST take care of this application at time of preregistration for the next semester.
- The office of the South Dakota Board of Technical Professions will submit the names of the SDSU EE applicants back to us on July 1 for final approval given by the EE program coordinator.
Once the coordinator gives final approval, the state board then gives final approval and will forward the approved applicants
to the Engineering and Land Surveying Examination Services (ELSES), the national
exam administrator. The state office will mail a letter to you, within 3 weeks of our notification of your approval, to the address you provided in your application. You are not to sign up with ELSES until you have received this letter from the state office.
- Once you have received this letter, you may then visit the ELSES website to initiate the second to last step in the application process, which is to apply to ELSES notifying them that you will be taking the exam.
At some point you MUST pay for the exam (this is the last step and is far too often forgotten!).
Ideally, you should pay for the exam when you are when your are registering with ELSES.
- If you do not pay for the exam by their deadline, you WILL NOT be able to sit for the FE exam.
Should this happen, you must contact the EE program coordinator immediately and you will then have to take the EE Department Exam -- this exam is much more difficult then the FE exam.
Are you eligible to take the FE?
According to the ELSES web site, you are eligible to take the FE for the first time if you are a senior who is at least within two semesters of graduation. The department further restricts the eligibility to those students who have finished Senior Design I and are registered for and taking Senior Design II.
The definitive source for information:
You should check the web site of Engineering and Land Surveying Examination Services,
the organization that manages the FE exam on behalf of the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES), for definitive information.
When and Where is the FE Exam?
The FE is held twice per year, once in the fall semester and once during the spring semester. For more details on dates, time and location go to the
South Dakota Board of Technical Professions web site, or check with the department secretary. A short list of the next several year's dates is provided below,
however, for the most up-to-date information, always refer to
the website provided.
| Year |
SPRING Date |
FALL Date |
| 2009 |
April 25 |
October 24 |
| 2010 |
April 17 |
October 30 |
| 2011 |
April 9 |
October 29 |
| 2012 |
April 14 |
October 27 |
| 2013 |
April 13 |
October 26 |
| 2014 |
April 12 |
October 25 |
| 2015 |
April 18 |
October 31 |
Calculator policy?
There was a change in the FE calculator policy in November 2004 and then updated again in November of 2005. Go to the NCEES website for more details.
It is recommended that you check this site and be sure you have and know how to use a legal calculator.
FE review session schedule
Normally, the College of Engineering runs a series of review sessions to help you prepare for the FE, and the EE faculty hold EE-specific FE review sessions to help with preparation for the afternoon session of the FE. You are encouraged to take advantage of them. Details on the help sessions are posted in Harding Hall and also in Crothers Engineering Hall.
Online FE review Cafe ($)
For a fee, you may wish to consider Professional Publications, Inc. for for FE and PE review questions and practice exams at PPI Exam Cafe.