OSU ChE Students' FE Exam Performance

July 08
 

We track the pass rate on the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) Exam as one of our performance measures of the OSU ChE undergraduate program, and are very proud of our students’ performance.  

The FE exam is a comprehensive test of competence in engineering and science, and passing it is the first step toward registering as a professional engineer.  The test is administered twice nationally, by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying.  All students take the same test on the same day.   Nationally, the pass rate for chemical engineering students has recently averaged about 85%.  Our over 90% pass rate is one clear indication of excellence in the OSU ChE students, faculty, and staff.   The graph presents a 10-year history of a 3-year moving average of the pass-rate for test takers currently enrolled in school.   Using a 3-year average provides a large enough sample to temper test-to-test variability.

This academic year 13 OSU ChE students took the FE.  We graduated 19 BS ChEs indicating that about 70% of our seniors this year took the exam.  Nationally, only about 30% take the exam.

Engineering education is a comprehensive undertaking of human resource development, and we have many objectives in our mission of preparing students to become professional partners in their enterprise and community.   Some non-technical objectives include writing effectiveness, team effectiveness, and understanding the social implications for engineering design.   While the FE Exam only tests competence in the traditional classroom math, science, and engineering subject matter; while it only evaluates one characteristic of our program, it reveals one aspect of the outstanding performance of our students.  These news pages reveal many other successes and achievements.