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Just wanted to give an update — I took the Official NCEES Practice Exam Vol. 1 this past Saturday, May 9th. It was 50 questions in 2 hours and 30 minutes. At the beginning, I flagged a lot of questions because the nerves and anxiety were definitely hitting. I kept second-guessing myself until I finally got into a better rhythm once I reached a few questions I felt more comfortable with.

One thing I can definitely say is that time management is critical. There were quite a few questions I didn’t recognize right away, or they were reworded in ways that made them feel unfamiliar even though the concepts were probably the same. There were also some straightforward common-sense questions mixed in.

Toward the end, time started running out, and I had to rush through the final few questions. I ended up blindly selecting answers for two of them with only about five seconds left on the clock.

I finished with a 52%. Looking back, most of the questions I missed were actually easier conceptual or common-sense problems. The wording made them tricky, and it’s not always easy to quickly reference the handbook or sit there long enough to fully think through the problem under time pressure.

Overall, I think it’s okay for where I’m at right now. My plan for this upcoming 5-day week is to review about 10 questions a day and continue getting FE prep exposure whenever time allows. Then next weekend, I’ll take Vol. 2 and repeat the process. From there, I’ll reassess and keep refining my approach.

Hey everyone, I wanted to reach out for some advice and share where I’m at with FE Civil prep.

I’m taking the exam at the end of May (last week), and this will be my second attempt. The first time, I failed mainly because I didn’t study enough—I was stuck in an overworking job that didn’t give me the time or energy. I’m no longer there, and my current job has much better work-life balance, so I’ve been trying to take this seriously.

For reference, I used the DirectHUB diagnostic and got 34% from my report and during the exam i was just using common sense/guessing.

I started studying on January 31. My main resources have been MM videos, PrepFE, and occasionally the Islam 800 book. My routine has been:

• Saturdays: Watch one topic and do the problem to understand the concept (MM videos)
• Sundays: Do PrepFE + redo MM problems
• Monday–Friday: Use my 1-hour lunch break to redo MM problems and practice PrepFE and throw islam if i got the chance. Sometimes if its slow i would sneak a mixed category exam as of now I would half right (I know I won’t study after work, so I don’t rely on that time)

There are 14 topics, and I’ve been spending about a week on each.

Now I’m getting close to my last topic (Ethics/Econ). My plan is:

• May 9: Take the NCEES practice exam
• Review mistakes the next day
• Following weekend: Take an Islam exam
• Last week before exam: Revisit key topics like Statics, Mechanics of Materials, Fluids, Water Resources, and Structural to refresh from MM videos.

If I’m being honest, I feel like I’m at maybe ~50% readiness right now. I’ve never considered myself the fastest learner— as I was labeled having a learning deficiency take longer to understand concepts, and sometimes my mind just goes blank during problems.

Lately I’ve also been:

• Reviewing the old NCEES 2020 practice exam to understand structure and solutions
• Using a conceptual STRATAWAY FE Civil book for non-calculation questions
• Planning to skim Islam 800 more in the final two weeks to understand problem types (even though I don’t connect with it as much as PrepFE)

I’ll be honest—the anxiety and pressure have been building for months, and I’m feeling pretty burnt out at this point. Still pushing through and hoping for the best.

Would really appreciate any last-month advice, study strategies, or even just reassurance from people who’ve been in a similar spot.

Thanks in advance 🙏