Podcast
Engineering Exam Prep
Hosted by Ran Chen, EA, CFP® · EN
Engineering Exam Prep is a free, daily podcast by OpenExamPrep covering the most in-demand engineering licensure exams — including FE Fundamentals of Engineering, FE Surveying, and the full PE catalog (Civil, Civil Geotechnical, Civil Construction, Civil Transportation, Civil Water Resources & Environmental, Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, Architectural, Agricultural & Biological, Control Systems, and more). Each 5-minute episode breaks down one exam topic with worked-style examples, NCEES Reference Handbook callouts, common exam traps, unit-conversion gotchas, and memory tricks to help you pass on your first attempt. No fluff, no filler — just the concepts you need to know, explained the way the exam tests them. This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation for everyone — from EITs studying for the FE to working engineers preparing for the PE. For free practice questions, AI-powered explanations, flashcards, and full study guides, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ Subscribe and listen daily — your PE license is closer than you think.
33episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
FE Civil Exam Prep 44, Fluid Properties — Density, Viscosity, Surface Tension
2d ago00:04:00Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The critical difference between mass density (ρ) and specific weight (γ) is the inclusion of gravity (g), a common exam tripwire. - Specific gravity (SG) is a unitless ratio comparing a substance's density to that of water, simplifying calculations with water's known constants (62.4 lb/ft³ or 9,810 N/m³). - Differentiating between dynamic viscosity (μ) and kinematic viscosity (ν) is crucial; always check the units given in the problem (e.g., Pa·s vs. m²/s) to select the correct formula. - Exam problems test viscosity primarily through Reynolds number calculations, where using the wrong viscosity leads to an incorrect flow regime classification. - The Bulk Modulus (K) quantifies a fluid's compressibility; a high K value, like water's, signifies that it can be treated as incompressible for most FE exam problems. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →FE Civil Exam Prep 43, Steel — ASTM Grades, Modulus, Heat Treatment
3d ago00:04:02Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The key ASTM steel grades and their yield strengths: A36 (36 ksi), A992 (50 ksi), and Grade 60 rebar (60 ksi). - That the modulus of elasticity (E) for all structural steels is a constant 29,000 ksi, regardless of yield strength. - How to avoid the common exam trap confusing a steel's strength with its stiffness. - The purpose of different heat treatment processes: Annealing (softens), Quenching (hardens), and Tempering (toughens). - To recognize Brinell, Rockwell, and Vickers as the names of standard material hardness tests. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →FE Civil Exam Prep 42, Concrete — Compressive Strength f'c and Mix Design
4d ago00:03:08Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The specified compressive strength, f'c, is the 28-day strength used to calculate the modulus of elasticity, Ec. - The NCEES FE Reference Handbook formula for Modulus of Elasticity is Ec = 57,000√f'c, where f'c must be in psi. - The water-cement (w/c) ratio is the most critical factor controlling concrete strength; a lower ratio results in higher strength. - Concrete is strong in compression but weak in tension, which is why steel reinforcement is essential to handle tensile forces. - A common exam trap is a unit mismatch, such as using ksi instead of psi for f'c in the modulus of elasticity formula. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →FE Civil Exam Prep 41, Stress-Strain Curves — Yield, Ultimate, Ductile vs Brittle
5d ago00:02:57Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - How to identify the five key regions of a stress-strain curve: elastic, yielding, strain hardening, necking, and fracture. - The specific definitions of yield strength and ultimate tensile strength and how to locate them on the diagram. - The visual difference between ductile materials (like steel) and brittle materials (like cast iron) on a stress-strain curve. - Common FE exam questions, such as calculating the Modulus of Elasticity from the linear portion of the curve. - A mnemonic to easily remember the sequence of events on the curve: Every Young Student Understands Failure. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →FE Civil Exam Prep 40, Mohr's Circle and Combined Loading
6d ago00:03:22Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - How to correctly plot the initial stress state on Mohr's Circle using the NCEES sign convention for shear stress. - The formulas for calculating the circle's center (average normal stress) and its radius (maximum in-plane shear stress). - How to determine the principal stresses, which are the maximum and minimum normal stresses, directly from the circle's geometry. - The application of the superposition principle for combined loading problems to find the initial stresses needed for Mohr's Circle. - The critical relationship that a rotation of theta on a stress element corresponds to a rotation of 2-theta on Mohr's Circle. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →FE Civil Exam Prep 39, Shear and Moment Diagrams — Sign Convention Trap
1w ago00:03:02Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The NCEES sign convention: Positive shear is down on the right face of a cut, and positive moment causes a beam to sag like a smile. - The graphical relationship where the slope of the shear diagram equals the negative of the distributed load intensity (dV/dx = -w). - The critical shear-moment relationship: The slope of the moment diagram equals the shear force value (dM/dx = V). - How to find maximum moment: The maximum bending moment always occurs at the point where the shear force diagram crosses zero. - The concentrated moment trap: A clockwise applied moment causes an immediate upward jump in the moment diagram, a common point of confusion. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →FE Civil Exam Prep 38, Beam Bending — Flexure Formula and Section Modulus
1w ago00:03:09Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The flexure formula, σ = Mc/I, is used to find the maximum bending stress at the outermost fiber of a beam's cross-section. - Section modulus (S = I/c) simplifies the stress calculation to σ = M/S and represents a beam's geometric efficiency in resisting bending. - A critical exam trap is failing to convert the bending moment (M) from kip-feet to kip-inches before calculating stress in kips per square inch (ksi). - For beam design problems, calculate the required section modulus (S_req = M/σ_allow) and then select the lightest W-shape from the NCEES Handbook tables that meets or exceeds this value. - The distance 'c' in the flexure formula is always the distance from the neutral axis to the extreme fiber, which is half the total depth for symmetric cross-sections. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →FE Civil Exam Prep 37, Torsion of Circular Shafts — Stress, Twist, Power
1w ago00:03:16Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - How to calculate maximum shear stress in a shaft and avoid the common radius versus diameter trap. - The correct application of the polar moment of inertia (J) for both solid and hollow circular shafts. - How to find the angle of twist and the critical final step of converting radians to degrees. - The essential unit conversion from RPM to radians per second required for all power transmission problems. - A simple mnemonic, "The Lazy Jay Goose," to easily recall the angle of twist formula, φ = TL/JG. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →FE Civil Exam Prep 36, Thermal Stress and Strain
1w ago00:04:06Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - Understand that thermal strain (ε = αΔT) occurs with any temperature change, but thermal stress (σ = EαΔT) only develops if the object is constrained. - Recognize that a temperature increase in a constrained member results in compressive stress, while a temperature decrease results in tensile stress. - Be prepared to look up the Modulus of Elasticity (E) and the coefficient of thermal expansion (α) in the NCEES FE Reference Handbook. - Watch out for distractor information in exam problems, such as the initial length of a member when only stress is required. - Remember the key phrase: "No constraint, no stress" to avoid the common trap of calculating stress for a freely expanding object. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →FE Civil Exam Prep 35, Axial Stress and Strain, Hooke's Law, Poisson's Ratio
2w ago00:03:57Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - How to apply the fundamental axial stress formula, σ = P/A, and avoid common unit conversion traps between ksi and psi. - The critical difference between axial strain (ε = δ/L) and absolute deformation (δ), a frequent point of confusion on the exam. - How to use Hooke's Law (σ = Eε) to derive and apply the essential deformation formula δ = PL/AE, using the mnemonic "PLEA". - The concept and application of Poisson's Ratio (ν = -ε_lateral/ε_axial) to solve for changes in a member's cross-sectional dimensions. - How to integrate these concepts to solve multi-step problems, such as finding the final diameter of a rod under axial load. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →