The best way to prepare for standardized exams and license exams is to familiarize yourself with the content and structure of the exams. By reviewing the material and practicing the questions, you can improve your scores. The Graduate Records Examination, or GRE, exam is a general test that many graduate schools require when you apply to their programs. The exam has three components: verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning and analytical writing. The Fundamentals of Engineering, or FE, exam is for students who are pursuing a professional engineering license. The test consists of a morning section, which is the same for all test takers, and an afternoon session where students may select to take the components of the FE exam that best correspond with the type of engineering they wished to pursue.
GRE Exam: Quantitative Reasoning
The Quantitative Reasoning section of the GRE tests your mastery of the following mathematical subject areas: arithmetic, algebra, geometry and data analysis. Much of the material does not exceed the level of high school math, and the test will assess your ability to understand and compare mathematical information. In addition, the exam will measure your ability to solve a number of math problems and will ask you to read and interpret data on graphs. Question formats include multiple choice, quantitative comparisons and numeric entry. Students should prepare themselves by reviewing the concepts tested in the quantitative reasoning section. Furthermore, they should complete practice exams.
GRE Exam: Verbal Reasoning and Analytical Writing
The verbal reasoning section of the GRE assesses students’ ability to read, interpret and analyze different types of textual information through a series of reading comprehension exercises. In addition, students will be expected to complete sentence completion exercises to assess whether or not students can derive meaning and significance from a piece of writing from which words and phrases have been omitted. The final section of the verbal reasoning portion is the sentence equivalence section, which asks students to use their grammar and vocabulary skills to choose two similar answers for each question that both successfully complete the sentence. The analytical writing section requires students to write two 30-minute essays. One essay assesses the test taker’s ability to analyze an argument, the second asks students to analyze an issue.
FE Morning and Afternoon Session
The FE exam is divided into two different sections. The first section, called the morning section, consists of 120 multiple-choice questions that test a broad range of math, science and engineering knowledge. The afternoon session consists of 60 questions. You can choose the afternoon session that best correlates with the type of engineering you wish to pursue. Options include chemical, civil, electrical, environmental, industrial, mechanical and other disciplines.
Review Courses, Study Groups and Practice Exams
Aside from familiarizing yourself with the format of the FE and GRE exams, it is advisable to enroll in online or classroom review classes. Review courses help prepare students for the upcoming exams by practicing and explaining difficult exam questions. In addition, you will have the opportunity to work and study with other students who are also preparing for the same exam.
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Writer Bio
Kelly Chester is an educator and writer who has worked in both public and private schools for almost a decade. Her areas of expertise include literature, writing, history and art for adolescents. In addition to writing reports for NYSAIS, she has also written a biography on artist Frank Covino, which was published in the anthology “Teaching Lives.”