Choosing a discipline can be very difficult while filling up the FE exam. However, the right discipline can have a lot of impact on your career. The discipline you choose will shape your career in the future. Candidates choose that discipline which they want to pursue throughout their life. Usually, many students appear for the FE exam in their senior year because the course is still fresh in their minds at that time. If someone is attempting the FE exam in their senior year, they should choose their graduation discipline. However, if you have taken a gap
after college, you can appear for any discipline you want.
There is a total of seven disciplines that you can choose from. These are:
- Mechanical
- Chemical
- Civil
- Computer and electrical
- Industrial
- Environmental
- Other disciplines
It is generally advised that candidates should take the subject that they are most comfortable with. That would mean that candidates should take that subject which they had for their graduation. However, several branches of engineering are not covered under the principal six branches offered by the NCEES. In that case, candidates can opt for the FE exam in other disciplines.
Which discipline would be beneficial for you?
All the disciplines in the FE exam are beneficial. They will help you get a professional license for the work you would be carrying out in the future. They can even help you with your current work modules. For example, any engineer interested in building systems like HVAC must obtain a professional license in mechanical engineering for the public sector. In such a case, he/she should take the FE Mechanical exam.
If you want to work in the power and electrical sector, you need to obtain an electrical engineering license. For that, you would need to give the FE computer an electrical exam. So, the discipline you should choose depends mostly on what type of work you want to do. There are several instances where someone who has completed their graduation in one discipline wants to work in another discipline.
There are no rules in the NCEES guidelines that say that you cannot take the discipline you didn’t study in your graduation. Thus, you can take anything you are most comfortable with. However, it can be very challenging to study a completely new discipline. So, sticking to the subject you had in graduation seems like a safe idea. That being said, if you have a curiosity for any other discipline and have a genuine interest in that area, you should go for it irrespective of your under-graduation subject.
Is it difficult to pass the FE exam if you choose a discipline different from your graduation course?
It can seem challenging at first to complete four years of study from a fresh start. But, if you analyse properly, most of the time in engineering courses is spent on project works. If you had to learn only the theory part, it would be much easier and better for you. Moreover, when you read a new course for the first time, you would read it much more attention and focus. That would improve your chances of passing the FE exam.
The pattern of the FE exam makes it possible for engineers of any background to clear any of the papers. There is a common module that candidates have to take in the morning. That module has only general questions on reasoning, logical analysis, and mathematics. So, that paper is common to all the disciplines. Therefore, candidates need to focus more on the second part, which is a specialization paper. Here you would need to read the subject in-depth and in detail.
What is the FE Exam Other Disciplines?
In 2009, NCEES changed its exam modules. In the newest addition to the course of the exam, the other module’s name was changed to FE exam other disciplines. Although the name has changed, the course is more or less the same as it was before. There have been no changes or additions to the original study course.
The FE exam in other disciplines is a six-hour exam like the other disciplines. It is a computer-based test and is a closed book test. The syllabus for this discipline is a general course and doesn’t focus on any one topic. Thus, it is easy for anyone to apply for this exam. It doesn’t involve any specialized questions and often has simple questions.
The FE exam other disciplines are a boon for those candidates who had trouble with the specialized disciplines. This modified discipline has generic questions that will be easier to solve. By giving attention to general sections like Mathematics and probability, candidates will easily pass the FE exam.