I found the FE more difficult than the PE. I actually came out of the PE feeling like it was a very low bar for licensure. People that barely pass that test now can design things that will kill people if they fail. Should be difficult, right?
I found the FE easy. I’ve never worked under a PE so I’ve not been qualified to take that.
Funny that this thread came up while you were discussing the F.E. with your son! As you and your son probably have found out by now, Civil Engineering is one of the fields where having a P.E. is typically quite important.
If you are lucky enough to be in California like I am, not only do you get to take the regular Civil Engineering P.E. exam, but you get to take two bonus exams: Surveying and Seismic. Surveying is the only professional exam I ever failed the first time. 
~Wednesday
P.E. (Civil), P.E. (Structural)
Not all states require that you work under a PE. I’ve never worked directly under a PE, but my work experience counts. To find a PE above me in the corporate structure, I’d have to go to the CEO, but I work with PEs and my supervisors are technically competent to qualify on my engineering qualifications in California.
Taking the PE is on my list of things to do this year, of course it has been for the last 5 years too. This time I’ve got the application filled out I’m just working on tracking people down to verify my experience.
The FE was one of the easiest test I’ve taken and there is no reason to stress over it, if you can read. Seriously they give you all of the equations and what symbols the numbers in the problem correlate to. So say your doing electrical engineering section and they say the circuit voltage (v) is 20 volts and the Current (I) is 0.5 amp what is the resistance ® you just look in the electrical section of the equations until you find one that has VI & R and plug in what they gave you and solve for what you’re looking for you literally don’t have to know anything to pass.
You might think that, but given the passing rates for it and the PE I wouldn’t be so cavalier in giving that impression. Better to study and finish the thing in 4 hours than not and be overwhelmed.
Exactly! What started the whole discussion was me telling my son that he should take the FE exam before he graduates instead of waiting more than a decade like I did.
I saw a chart years ago that showed the FE exam passing rate vs. years since graduation, and it dropped off at a rate of about 10% per year. I was trying to find a similar chart to emphasize that point to my son, and came across this old thread instead.
Oredigger77, I might agree with you for the morning-section of the FE exam, but not the afternoon.
Back when I took the FE exam, it was an 8-hour exam taken in two 4-hour blocks. The morning section was on general engineering topics, and the afternoon was discipline-specific, or alternatively, a non-discipline specific “general” afternoon-section with harder questions than the morning. Because of my varied background (and because I ran out of time to actually study my discipline), I took the non-discipline specific afternoon exam.
I clearly recall how different the two sets of questions were. My first few questions on the exam in the morning were chemistry questions. Having just taught college-level chemistry for over 5 years, it took me all of 30 seconds to answer all 8 of these questions. I expected the same in the afternoon. Instead, I read the first problem statement in the afternoon (again on chemistry), and was baffled. Same with the second, and the third. It took me a few minutes to realize that the actual questions being asked were not that difficult, and that most of the presented information in the problems was superfluous. Once I realized that, the exam instantly became much easier. Interestingly, the whole PE exam was also like this.
That said, the FE exam format has apparently changed in recent years. It is now a 6-hour computer-based exam taken in a testing center.
Not much of a rant? I’m calling stealth brag. 
I know the feeling though, I just had to take the exam for one of my required certifications last week. Nothing like 8 hrs so at least I had that.
Hope you did well! When do you get the results?
This is a 15-year-old thread, guys.
A point that was covered as soon as it reopened so your post is a fresh zombie. 
North Carolina’s requirements for taking the PE have been tweaked slightly in recent years; the requirement to work under a PE for 4 years has been replaced by a requirement for work experience.
I didn’t take the FE until nearly 3 years after I graduated; I passed it on the first try. I’m still terrified of signing up for the PE though, mainly because I’m confident my supervisor would give me a hard time if I failed the thing. On the other hand, the two professional engineers at my workplace (ME and EE) are very encouraging.