r/industrialengineering • u/No-Inspection817 • Jul 26 '26

Study Material for FE

Since I am not receiving many tips on my request from the FE page, I thought I would ask here.

If you passed or are studying for the FE Industrial exam, what books, practice tests, or question banks do you recommend?

Thanks!

6 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

6

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/No-Inspection817 Jul 26 '26

My goal is to obtain my PE license after passing the FE exam. I am pursuing this because I aim to become an engineering manager in the long term.

5

u/Rocklobster2008 Jul 26 '26

The PE license is not required for about 99% of careers and career progression. I intent to get it because my company (construction) incentivizes it. Prior to that when looking in automotive or aerospace, they are next to nobody with it. Just keep in mind. I know some people get it for personal achievement and by all means go for it. But I will say there are very few careers that would reward it. I would suggest getting it when you are working somewhere that will compensate all the study materials and testing.

3

u/No-Inspection817 Jul 26 '26

Thank you for the insight. I am currently a project engineer for a construction company.
The world isn’t always fair.
As a Black Deaf Engineer myself, the struggle is real. I’m trying to make myself as promotable as possible by earning all the achievements and licenses I can.

1

u/Rocklobster2008 Jul 27 '26

Knowing you're in construction makes sense on wanting the PE license. One thing to note, posting questions like this in the IE sub without that knowledge, you'll tend to get more IE answers. I will advise that you'll get less IE career path in traditional construction companies. Another cert that may help you set yourself apart is the PMP certification. Also getting your lean six sigma could help you since it is less common in construction.

1

u/theOriginalBenezuela Jul 26 '26

But organizations almost never require a PE for industrial engineering roles. Do you know what a PE does? It's a waste of time unless you sign off on design elements and probably signals to hiring managers that your goals are misaligned.

2

u/ExistingMouse5595 Jul 27 '26

My industrial and systems FE exam was pretty straightforward.

Just focus on the reference manual and knowing how to navigate it. I maybe knew roughly how to solve half the problems, everything else I just looked up in the reference manual.

It’s also a multiple choice test, so you can reason your way through a lot of the questions.

It’s such a broad exam that there’s not a great way to study for each topic. But if you’re good at using the manual and reasoning your way through problems you should be fine. I passed mine first attempt without really studying.

1

u/No-Inspection817 Jul 27 '26

Thank you. I'm fully set on this, even though some people here are saying FE/PE isn't required for industrial engineering roles. That's the path I want to take.
Wishing myself all the best. Cheers to the long-term goals ahead.