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 resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams.

In this episode you will learn:

- How to quickly combine series and parallel resistors, including the time-saving product-over-sum rule for two parallel resistors.

- The application of Kirchhoff's Current Law (KCL) as the basis for node-voltage analysis.

- The correct application of Kirchhoff's Voltage Law (KVL) for mesh analysis, with a focus on sign conventions.

- A repeatable workflow: first, simplify the circuit, then apply KCL or KVL to solve for unknown voltages or currents.

- A mnemonic for KVL sign convention: "Positive Gains, Negative Drains" to avoid common sign errors during the exam.

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

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 resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams.

In this episode you will learn:

- How to apply the three variations of the electrical power law (P=VI, P=I²R, P=V²/R) to solve exam problems.

- The critical difference between electrical power (in Watts) and electrical energy (in Joules or kWh) and how to avoid common unit traps.

- How to use Ohm's Law (V=IR) as the foundational tool for analyzing simple circuits found on the FE Mechanical exam.

- The direct link between electrical power dissipation (I²R) and heat generation in mechanical components like motors and sensors.

- A simple mnemonic, "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, Power equals I-squared R," to quickly recall the formula for power dissipated as heat.

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

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 resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams.

In this episode you will learn:

- How to calculate the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and why incremental analysis is mandatory when comparing two projects.

- The correct formula for Benefit-Cost (B/C) analysis, especially how to handle disbenefits by subtracting them from benefits.

- The method for solving break-even quantity problems by separating fixed costs from variable costs.

- Why sunk costs must be ignored in all future economic decisions and how this appears in exam questions.

- A simple mnemonic to remember to use incremental analysis for both IRR and B/C comparisons.

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

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 resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams.

In this episode you will learn:

- The importance of choosing a single consistent basis (Present, Annual, or Future Worth) for comparing alternatives.

- Why the Annual Worth (AW) method is the most efficient way to compare alternatives with unequal lives on the FE exam.

- How to identify the common exam trap of incorrectly comparing the Present Worth of projects with different lifespans.

- To calculate the Capitalized Cost for projects with a perpetual life using the formula P = A/i.

- The mnemonic "For lives unequal, Annual is our equal" to quickly select the best analysis method.

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

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 resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams.

In this episode you will learn:

- The critical importance of cash flow diagram sign convention: inflows are positive (up), outflows are negative (down).

- How to use the standard factor notation (P/F, F/A, etc.) from the NCEES FE Handbook to solve time value of money problems.

- The difference between nominal (r) and effective (i) interest rates and when to perform a conversion.

- The 'period matching' rule: ensuring your interest rate period (i) and number of periods (n) always align.

- How to correctly identify a nominal interest rate stated with its compounding period, such as '8% per year, compounded quarterly'.

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

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 resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams.

In this episode you will learn:

- The first and most critical ethical action for any potential conflict of interest is always full and prompt disclosure to the relevant parties.

- Accepting gifts is unethical if they are of more than nominal value and could be reasonably seen as an attempt to influence your professional judgment.

- Intellectual property, such as patents for inventions or copyrights for designs created within the scope of your employment, generally belongs to your employer.

- Engaging in outside employment is ethically permissible only after notifying your primary employer to avoid conflicts of interest and detriment to your regular work.

- Protecting a client's or employer's confidential information is a fundamental duty that does not end when your employment relationship terminates.

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

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 resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams.

In this episode you will learn:

- The engineer's primary duty is to hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public above all other obligations.

- Engineers must perform services only in their specific areas of competence and must not approve work outside their expertise.

- Public statements, reports, and testimony must be objective, truthful, and include all relevant information, even if unfavorable to a client.

- When professional judgment on a safety issue is overruled, an engineer must notify the employer and be prepared to escalate the concern to appropriate authorities.

- Use the simple mnemonic "Public First" to quickly resolve ethical conflicts between duties to the public, clients, and employers during the exam.

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

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 resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams.

In this episode you will learn:

- How to calculate a confidence interval for a small sample size using the t-distribution from the NCEES Handbook.

- The critical difference between using a t-distribution versus a z-distribution based on sample size and known variance.

- How to interpret the coefficient of determination, r-squared, to assess the goodness of fit for a linear regression model.

- The common exam trap of confusing statistical correlation with causation and how to identify it.

- A simple mnemonic to distinguish between accuracy (closeness to the true value) and precision (repeatability of measurements).

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

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 resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams.

In this episode you will learn:

- How to apply the complement rule (1 - P(none)) to quickly solve "at least one" reliability problems.

- The difference between combinations and permutations and why the FE Mechanical exam focuses on combinations where order doesn't matter.

- Using the Binomial distribution for scenarios with a fixed number of trials and discrete outcomes, like counting defective parts.

- The step-by-step process for solving normal distribution problems: calculate the Z-score and use the NCEES Handbook's Z-table.

- Calculating expected value to make engineering economic decisions under uncertainty.

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

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 resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams.

In this episode you will learn:

- How to systematically trace variables through loops using a table to ensure accuracy.

- The critical impact of initialization values on the final output of an algorithm.

- How to identify and avoid common off-by-one errors by carefully checking loop boundary conditions.

- The difference in presentation between pseudocode and flowcharts, while recognizing the core logic is the same.

- A simple mnemonic, 'Table, Variables, Iterations,' to structure your approach to algorithm problems on the exam.

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