All students take the department’s mid-program comprehensive exam at the beginning of the senior year. The exam provides a direct measure of a student’s knowledge of basic mechanical engineering subjects. All students must take the mid-program compressive exam before or concurrent with the first quarter of their capstone senior design project. The exam format parallels the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam. The only reference material to be allowed in the exam is the latest edition of the NCEES Fundamentals of Engineering Supplied- Reference Handbook.
The comprehensive exam consists of 100 questions representative of the AM session questions on the FE exam. Students are given 3 hours and 20 minutes to complete the exam. The exam is divided into nine sections covering all the major mechanical engineering topics which include Mathematics, Statics, Dynamics, Mechanics of Materials, Materials Science, Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Electric Circuits, Engineering Economy, Engineering Ethics and Computers.
Students are given two chances to pass each section.
Since the comprehensive exam is similar to the FE exam, the exam helps prepare students for the FE exam taken during the senior year. Each section of the exam is graded on a Pass/Fail basis.
Twenty percent of the student’s final grade in MEGR 4870 and MEGR 4880 is based upon the results of the mid-program comprehensive exam.