The 9 Best FE Exam Prep Services [Free & Paid]
In this blog, we compile the best prep services for the NCEES Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) Exam. We selected services that have coverage for the most common exams such as the civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical-computer engineering, and other disciplines FE exams.
The price range of these FE exam prep services varies greatly depending on what you're looking for. FE exam prep courses cost more than printed practice problems and printed practice problems cost more than digital practice problems. Some FE review services like YouTube are free, but they offer little structure and it is up to you to make sure you're studying the right topics. Ultimately, you are not constrained to studying for the FE exam from just one source. You can study for the FE exam using multiples sources.
| Service | Price | Pros | Cons | Civil FE |
Mech. FE |
Elect. FE |
Other Disc. FE |
| Lindeburg Review Manual Book | $90 -$126 |
Covers theory in deep detail |
Covers many topics not asked on the FE, expensive, outdated | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| PrepFE | $59 | Very affordable, covers all FE topics, up to date, hundreds of problems | Must have internet connection to access | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Lindeburg Practice Problems Book | $70 -$100 |
Hundreds of practice problems, popular | Not updated to July 2020 Exam Topics Update | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| NCEES Practice Exam | ~$50 with shipping | Official, up to date | Only 100 practice problems (not 110). Good for final testing but not for comprehensive review | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| School of PE | $290 | Video FE exam prep course w/ practice problems | Very expensive | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| PPI OnDemand | $295 | Video FE exam prep course w/ practice problems | Very expensive | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| GA Tech Coursera | Free | Video FE exam prep course, free | Not up to date, missing half of topics, limited number of practice problems | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Marshall University FE Prep | Free | Video lectures, free | Slightly outdated, missing a few big topics like environmental | ✓ | |||
| YouTube and College Notes | Free | Use your college notes and YouTube to build your own FE exam prep. See published list of exam topics | Time consuming to find practice problems to review | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
PrepFE
$59 for 1 month or $79 for 3 months
What you get:
- Covers civil, mechanical, electrical-computer, and other disciplines FE exams
- Access to hundreds of practice problems with step-by-step detailed solutions
- Up to date with the latest NCEES FE exam topic list
- Flash cards to aid with conceptual questions
- Realistic timed practice exams to get you assimilated with the real test-day experience
- Total access to PrepFE on the web and PrepFE iOS app
Who is PrepFE best intended for?
- People who find lots of practice problems and detailed solutions as an appropriate way to review for an exam.
- People have been out of school less than 8 years and don’t require guided video explanations.
School of PE
$290/month
What you get:
- Covers all engineering disciplines
- Online FE exam prep course with access to 80 hours of recorded lecture videos which cover theory and practice problems
- Hundreds of practice problems
Who is the School of PE best intended for?
- Video lectures are good for people who have been out of school for 10+ years and have almost completely forgotten engineering. If you haven’t been out of school for that long, then the recorded video lectures might not be worth the steep price.
- Video lectures are helpful to people who need someone explain concepts to them as opposed to being ok just reading notes.
PPI OnDemand
$295/month
What you get:
- Covers all engineering disciplines
- Online FE exam prep course with access to recorded lectures and problem solving demonstrations
- 1,000+ practice problems
- Up to date
Who is the PPI Learning Hub OnDemand best intended for?
- Video lectures are good for people who have been out of school for 10+ years and have almost completely forgotten engineering. If you haven’t been out of school for that long, then the recorded video lectures might not be worth the steep price.
- Video lectures are helpful to people who need someone explain concepts to them as opposed to being ok just reading notes.
Lindeburg FE Review Manual
$90 to $126
What you get:
- Covers all engineering disciplines
- Covers theory in deep detail in a textbook format
- About one hundred practice problems, seven per topic category
- Cover too many topics, many of them uncessary for passing the FE exam
- Make sure you're buying a version of this book that is built around the latest NCEES FE exam topic list as many versions of this book are now outdated
Who is the Lindeburg Review Manual best intended for?
- People taking the FE exam who enjoy printed review material a lot more than computer-based review material.
- People who don’t find practice problems and their solutions sufficient, therefore need some theory review.
NCEES Practice Exam
$50 with shipping
What you get:
- Covers all engineering disciplines
- 100 practice problems, so about 7 problems per exam category
- Published by NCEES, which is the same entity who writes the actual FE exam
- Up to date with the latest NCEES FE exam topic list
- No theory explanation but adequate problem solutions
Who is the NCEES Practice Exam best intended for?
- Anyone who wants additional practice problems as a review, especially those who are fresh out of school.
Lindeburg Practice Problems Book
$70 to $100
What you get:
- Covers all engineering disciplines
- Hundreds of practice problems with adequate solution explanations. No deep theory review with this book.
- Make sure you’re buying a version of this book that is built around the latest NCEES FE exam topic list as many versions of this book are now outdated.
Who is the Lindeburg Practice Problems Book best intended for?
- People taking the FE exam who enjoy printed review material a lot more than computer-based review material.
- People who thrive off practice problems and solutions and don’t need too much of a theory review
- People who graduated from school less than 5 years ago
Georgia Tech Coursera FE Prep
Free
What you get:
- Only covers the civil engineering FE exam and only covers some of the topic categories asked on the civil engineering FE exam
- Video lectures from a professor at Georgia Tech
- About 30 practice problems
- Good theory explanations
Who is the Georgia Tech Coursera best intended for?
- All civil engineers because it’s free
- The course is not complete as it’s missing several big topics that are asked about on the actual FE. Use this course as a supplement to affordable, but complete, FE exam prep services such as PrepFE
Marshall University FE Prep
Free
What you get:
- Only covers the civil engineering FE exam
- Video lectures from a professor at Marshall University
- Good theory review
- About 50 practice problems are reviewed in the video lectures
Who is the Marshall University FE Prep best intended for?
- All civil engineers because it’s free
- The course is fairly complete as there are videos for nearly all civil FE exam categories. Limited number of external practice problems to test your knowledge. Use this course as a supplement to more practice problems such as PrepFE or Lindeburg Practice Problems Book
YouTube Videos and College Notes
Free
What you get:
- Covers all engineering disciplines
- Use your college notes and YouTube videos to find explanation videos on all the topics asked on the FE exam. Refer to the published list of FE exam topics and search on YouTube for videos about those. More often than not, there will be several videos covering the topics you search for.
- It can be time consuming trying to compile videos on all the topics asked about on the FE exam
Who is the YouTube and College Notes best intended for?
- People on very tight budgets
- People who are fresh out of school and only need a little bit of review on a handful of topics