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A P P E N D I X

C
FUNDAMENTALS OF
ENGINEERING (FE)
EXAMINATION

C.1

INTRODUCTION

The Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination1 is one of four steps to be completed

toward registering as a Professional Engineer (PE). Each of the 50 states in the United States
has laws that regulate the practice of engineering; these laws are designed to ensure that
registered professional engineers have demonstrated sufficient competence and experience.
The same exam is administered at designated times throughout the country, but each states
Board of Registration administers the exam and supplies information and registration forms.
Additional information is available on the NCEES website.
Four steps are required to become a Professional Engineer:
1.
2.

Education. Usually this requirement is satisfied by completing a B.S. degree in

engineering from an accredited college or university.
Fundamentals of Engineering examination. One must pass an 8-hour examination
described in Section C.2.

1 This

exam used to be called Engineer in Training.

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3.
4.

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Experience. Following successful completion of the Fundamentals of Engineering

examination, two to four years of engineering experience are required.
Principles and practices of engineering examination. One must pass a second 8-hour
examination, also known as the Professional Engineer (PE) examination, which requires
in-depth knowledge of one particular branch of engineering.

This appendix provides a review of the background material in electrical engineering required
in the Electrical Engineering part of the FE exam. This exam is prepared by the National
Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying2 (NCEES).

C.2

EXAM FORMAT AND CONTENT

The FE exam is a two-part national examination, administered by the National Council

of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors (NCEES) and given twice a year (in April
and October). The exam is divided into two four-hour sessions, consisting of 120 questions
in the four-hour morning session, and 60 questions in the four-hour afternoon session.
The morning session covers general background in 12 different areas, one of which is
Electricity and Magnetism. The afternoon session requires the examinee to choose among
seven modulesChemical, Civil, Electrical, Environmental, Industrial, Mechanical and,
Other/General Engineering.

C.3

THE ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM

SECTION OF THE MORNING EXAM

The Electricity and Magnetism part of the morning session consists of approximately 9 percent
of the morning session, and covers the following topics:
A. Charge, energy, current, voltage, power
B. Work done in moving a charge in an electric field (relationship between voltage and
work)
C. Force between charges
D. Current and voltage laws (Kirchhoff, Ohm)
E. Equivalent circuits (series, parallel)
F. Capacitance and inductance
G. Reactance and impedance, susceptance and admittance
H. AC circuits
I. Basic complex algebra
The remainder of Appendix C contains a review of the electric circuits portion of the FE examination, including references to the relevant material in the book. In addition, Appendix C also
contains a collection of sample problemssome including a full explanation of the solution,
some with answers supplied separately.

C.4

REVIEW FOR THE ELECTRICITY AND

MAGNETISM SECTION OF THE MORNING
EXAM

A. Charge, energy, current, voltage and power.

B. Work done in moving a charge in an electric field
(relationship between voltage and work)

2 P.O.

Box 1686 (1826 Seneca Road), Clemson, SC 29633-1686.

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C. Force between charges

The basic definitions of these quantities and relevant examples can be found in Chapter 2 and
in any undergraduate physics textbook. The following example problems will further assist
you in reviewing the material.

CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING

A.1 Determine the total charge entering a circuit element between t = 1 s and t = 2 s if the
current passing through the element is i = 5t.

A.2 A lightbulb sees a 3-A current for 15 s. The lightbulb generates 3 kJ of energy in the
form of light and heat. What is the voltage drop across the lightbulb?

A.3 How much energy does a 75-W electric bulb consume in six hours?
B.1 Find the voltage drop vab required to move a charge q from point a to point b if

q = 6 C and it takes 30 J of energy to move the charge.

C.1 Two 2-C charges are separated by a dielectric with thickness of 4 mm, and with dielectric
constant = 1012 F/m. What is the force exerted by each charge on the other?
C.2 The magnitude of the force on a particle of charge q placed in the empty space between
two infinite parallel plates with a spacing d and a potential difference V is proportional to:
(a) qV /d 2

(b) qV /d

(c) qV 2 /d

(d) q2 V /d

(e) q2 V 2 /d

A.3: The energy used

is w = pt = 75 [W ] 6 [h] = 75 [W ] 6 3600 [s] 450 = 1.62 MJ
30
w
B.1: The voltage drop is vab =
=
= 5 V

q  6

2 103 2 103
q1 q2
10
C.1: F =
=

2 = 2 10 N
4r 2
4 1012 4 103
C.2: Answer is (a), since this is the only term that has a distance squared term in the
denominator.
v=

w
3 103
=
= 66.67 V
q
45

A.2: The total charge is q = it = 3 15 = 45 C. The voltage drop is

t=1

Answers: A.1: q =

t=1

i dt =
t=2

5t dt =
t=2

 2 t=2
5t 
= 7.5 C
2 t=1

D. Current and voltage laws (Kirchhoff, Ohm)

The material related to this section is covered in Chapter 2, Sections 2, 3, 4 and 6. Examples
2.3, 2.4, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 2.9, 2.10, and the related Check Your Understanding exercises will help
you review the necesssary material.

E. Equivalent circuits
The analysis of DC circuits forms the foundation of electrical engineering. Chapters 2 and 3
cover this material with a wealth of examples. The following exercises illustrate the general
type of questions that might be encountered in the FE exam.

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CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING

3

E.1 Assuming the connecting wires and the battery have negligible resistance, the voltage
across the 25- resistance in Figure E.1 is

a. 25 V
60 V +
_

25

b. 60 V

c. 50 V

d. 15 V

e. 12.5 V

E.2 Assuming the connecting wires and the battery have negligible resistance, the voltage
across the 6- resistor in Figure E.2 is
a. 6 V

b. 3.5 V

c. 12 V

d. 8 V

e. 3 V

E.3 In Figure E.3, A 125-V battery charger is used to charge a 75-V battery with internal

Figure E.1

resistance of 1.5 . If the charging current is not to exceed 5 A, the minimum resistance in
series with the charger must be

a. 10 

b. 5 

c. 38.5 

d. 41.5 

e. 8.5 

Thus, e is the correct answer.

12

5R + 7.5 125 + 75 = 0
R = 8.5 

12 V +
_

and using i = imax = 5 A, we can find R from the following equation:

Figure E.2

imax R + 1.5imax 125 + 75 = 0

+
75 V

imax

12 v
v
v
= +
2
6
12

Thus, the answer is c.

E.2: This problem can be solved most readily by applying nodal analysis (Section 3.1),
since one of the node voltages is already known. Applying KCL at the node v, we obtain

Figure E.3

v25  = 60

125 V

This equation can be solved to show that v = 8 V. Note that it is also possible to solve this
problem by mesh analysis (Section 3.2). You are encouraged to try this method as well.
E.3: The circuit of Figure E.3 describes the charging arrangement. Applying KVL to the
circuit of Figure E.3, we obtain

1.5

25
3 + 2 + 25

Answers: E.1: This problem calls for application of the voltage divider rule, discussed in
Section 2.6. Applying the voltage divider rule to the circuit of Figure E.2, we have


= 50 V

F. Capacitance and inductance

The material on capacitance and inductance pertains to two basic areas: energy storage in these
elements and transient response of the circuits containing these elements. The exercises below
deal with the former part (covered in Chapter 4); the latter is covered in Chapter 5 of the book.

i, A

CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING

F.1 A coil with inductance of 1 H and negligible resistance carries the current shown in
0

Figure F.1

t, ms

Figure F.1. The maximum energy stored in the inductor is

a. 2 J

b. 0.5 J

c. 0.25 J

d. 1 J

e. 0.2 J

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F.2 The maximum voltage that will appear across the coil is
a. 5 V

b. 100 V

c. 250 V

d. 500 V

e. 5,000 V

Therefore vmax = 1 500 = 500 V, and the correct answer is d.

Answers: F.1: The energy stored in an inductor is W = 21 Li2 (see Section 4.1). Since the
2
maximum current is 1 A, the maximum energy will be Wmax = 12 Limax
= 21 J. Thus, b is
the correct answer.
F.2: Since the voltage across an inductor is given by v = L(di/dt), we need to find the
maximum (positive) value of di/dt. This will occur anywhere between t = 0 and t = 2
ms. The corresponding slope is

di 
1
=
= 500
dt max
2 103

G. Reactance and impedance, susceptance

and admittance
The material related to this section is covered in Chapter 4, Section 4. Examples 4.12, 4.13, 4.14,
4.15, and the related Check Your Understanding exercises will help you review the necessary
material.

H. AC circuits
The material related to basic AC circuits is covered in Chapter 4, Sections 2 and 4. Examples
4.8, 4.9, 4.16, 4.17, 4.18, 4.19, 4.20, 4.21, and the related Check Your Understanding exercises
will help you review the necessary material. In addition, material on AC power may be found
in Chapter 7, Sections 1 and 2. Examples 7.1 through 7.11 and the accompanying Check Your
Understanding exercises will provide additional review material. The rest of this section offers
a number of sample FE exam problems.

CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING

H.1 A voltage sine wave of peak value 100 V is in phase with a current sine wave of peak
value 4 A. When the phase angle is 60 later than a time at which the voltage and the current
are both zero, the instantaneous power is most nearly
a. 300 W

d. 150 W
e. 100 W

H.2 A sinusoidal voltage whose amplitude is 20 2 V is applied to a 5- resistor. The rootmean-square value of the current is
a. 5.66 A

b. 200 W

b. 4 A

c. 400 W

c. 7.07 A

d. 8 A

e. 10 A

10
30 V (rms)

+
~

+j10

H.3 The magnitude of the steady-state root-mean-square voltage across the capacitor in the
circuit of Figure H.1 is
a. 30 V

b. 15 V

c. 10 V

d. 45 V

e. 60 V

j10

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Thus, the rms amplitude of the voltage across the capacitor is 30 V, and a is the correct
answer. Note the importance of the phase angle in this kind of problem.
= 300 (j1) = 300 1 90 = 3090
V = 300

j10
10 j10 + j10

Thus, Irms = 20/5 = 4 A. Therefore, b is the correct answer.

H.3: This problem requires the use of impedances (Section 4.4). Using the voltage divider
rule for impedances, we write the voltage across the capacitor as
The correct answer is a.
H.2: From Section 4.2, we know that

V
20 2
Vrms = = = 20 V
2
2
p=

100 4 100 4
+
cos(120 ) = 300 W
2
2

In this problem, when the phase angle is 60 later than a zero crossing, we have
V = I = 0, = V I = 0, 2t = 120 . Thus, we can compute the power at this
instant as
p(t) =

VI
VI
cos(2t + V + I )
cos +
2
2

Answers: H.1: As discussed in Section 7.1, the instantaneous AC power p(t) is

IS
+
ES

Load
D

Load
A

Figure H.2

Load
B

Load
C

The next set of questions (Exercises H.4 to H.8) pertain to single-phase AC power
calculations and refer to the single-phase electrical network shown in Figure H.2. In this figure,
ES = 4800 V; IS = 100 15 A; = 120 rad/s. Further, load A is a bank of single-phase
induction machines. The bank has an efficiency of 80 percent, a power factor of 0.70 lagging,
and a load of 20 hp. Load B is a bank of overexcited single-phase synchronous machines.
The machines draw 15 kVA, and the load current leads the line voltage by 30 . Load C is a
lighting (resistive) load and absorbs 10 kW. Load D is a proposed single-phase capacitor that
will correct the source power factor to unity. This material is covered in Sections 7.1 and 7.2.

CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING

H.4 The root-mean-square magnitude of load A current, denoted by IA , is most nearly
a. 44.4 A

b. 31.08 A

c. 60 A

d. 38.85 A

e. 55.5 A

H.5 The phase angle of IA with respect to the line voltage ES is most nearly
a. 36.87

b. 60

c. 45.6

d. 30

e. 48

H.6 The power absorbed by synchronous machines is most nearly

a. 20,000 W

b. 7,500 W

c. 13,000 W

d. 12,990 W

e. 15,000 W

H.7 The power factor of the system before load D is installed is most nearly
a. 0.70 lagging
d. 0.966 leading

b. 0.866 leading
e. 0.966 lagging

c. 0.866 lagging

H.8 The capacitance of the capacitor that will give a unity power factor of the system is most
nearly
a. 219 F

b. 187 F

c. 132.7 F

d. 240 F

e. 132.7 pF

Answers: H.4: The output power Po of the single-phase induction motor is

Po = 20 746 = 14,920 W. The input electric power Pin is
Pin =

14,920
Po
=
= 18,650 W

0.80

Pin can be expressed as

Pin = ES IA cos A
Therefore, the rms magnitude of the current IA is found as
IA =

P
18,650
in
= 55.5015 55.5 A
=
ES cos A
480 0.70

Thus, the correct answer is e.

H.5: The phase angle between IA and ES is
= cos1 0.70 = 45.57 45.6
The correct answer is c.
H.6: The apparent power S is known to be 15 kVA, and is 30 . From the power triangle,
we have
P = S cos
Therefore, the power drawn by the bank of synchronous motors is
P = 15,000 cos 30 = 12,990.38 12.99 kW
The answer is d.
H.7: From the expression for the current IS , we have
pf = cos = cos[0 (15 )] = cos 15 = 0.966 lagging
The correct answer is e.
H.8: The reactive power QA in load A is
QA = PA tan A
A = cos1 0.70 = 45.57
Therefore,
QA = 18,650 tan 45.57 = 19,025 VAR
The total reactive power QB in load B is
QB = S sin B = 15,000 sin(30 ) = 7,500 VAR
The total reactive power Q is
Q = QA + QB = 19,025 7,500 = 11,525 VAR
To cancel this reactive power, we set
QC = Q = 11,525 VAR
and
QC =

ES2
XC

and

XC =

1
C

Therefore, the capacitance required to obtain a power factor of unity is

C=

QC
11,525
=
= 132.7 F
120 4802
ES2

The correct answer is c.

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I. Basic complex algebra

A review of complex algebra is contained in Appendix A, Section A.2. The examples and
exercises included in this section will provide the needed review material.