490, 98%.. what the hell did I get wrong Probably one of the poorly written questions.

I guess all those physics classes paid off.. I can impress peoples on the internets

 

Mech-e was a serious consideration for me when I was in high-school looking for a college to attend. I decided on computer science instead because I didn't want to deal with heat transfer mathematics.

Instead I got saddled with a whole different sort of mathematics.

ECE was another possibility, but I have the impression that the US market isn't the best for that the past few years. (Lots of outsourcing and such, for example.)

I just sort of fell into my systems support job. I wouldn't mind a switch to actually creating stuff, rather than just supporting other people's crap. Oh well.

 

I know how you feel. I'm writing my Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam on October 27 as a precursor to becoming a Professional Engineer and I'm getting my butt kicked by things that I've forgotten. I haven't done heat transfer/thermodynamics/engine cycles/calculus (!) in years, really, and I've forgotten all the little tricks and rules.

The math isn't too bad in "real life" since you have computer programs and even something as simple as Excel to do a lot of the calculations for you. I can do a fifteen page heat transfer problem on two pages in Excel and get it to do iterations for me and solve inside of five or ten seconds. It's really not that bad.

Looking back, university wasn't nearly as difficult as I was told it would be. Lots of work but not necessarily too difficult.

Then again, a non-engineer just beat me in a mechanical aptitude test, so maybe I didn't learn as much as I thought.

 

"force of 50psi"

 

That test sucked. I got tired of taking the test after the 6th hour and started guessing. I passed pretty easily so maybe I just guessed really well.

 

I started the FE sample test (first 60 questions or so) in the back of my review book last night and I'd say I'd get about 50% of them "easily" just based on what I know right now, so I'm trusting I can get through it no problem.

It's the second section in the afternoon that I think is going to be tougher.

 

86%...and I am an engineer!

How do circuit diagrams test your mechanical aptitude, anyway?

 

Well, if you're going to work on something mechanical connected to an electrical circuit, it helps to know how badly you're going to hurt yourself if you don't disconnect a power source or flip a switch.

 

pfff...minor details! That's what electrical engineers are for!

besides, the techs don't let the engineers play with their toys anyway. spoilsports!

 

The second section is definitely much worse. Fortunately it's curved.