Cramming For and Passing the FE Exam: An Electrical Engineer's Perspective

[Update - 04/2016]

The format has changed quite a bit since I took the FE, so the info below is severly dated. Check out NCEES for more info.

[Original Post - 06/2013]

So you've signed up on the FE and you've waited til the last minute to study for it? No worries.

Suffice to say there are numerous posts on strategies for passing the FE exam. Some are completely crazy. Here was my approach to taking and passing the FE. Did I mention I passed the FE?

Not sure if you noticed; it says PASS.

[Background]

As a EE there were a couple of things to worry about:

1. Compared to all other engineering disciplines electrical engineers have the lowest pass rate for first time and repeat takers. I'm assuming that the graders are biased of how awesome we are.
2. The morning section is chocked full of subjects that mean little to nothing to EEs: mechanics, thermodynamics, fluid flow, social skills. I made that last one up.

Also when I took the exam I was employed. And had friends. And hobbies. This ate up quite a lot of time, so I procrastinated til a week before the exam before opening a book.

[Studying/Prep]

The company I'm working for pays for our study materials so I got the following:

• The FE reference handbook. This is what you'll be using during the test, so get familiar with it. One annoying thing to remember is most constants for equations (such as 'r' for PV-nRT') only appear on the first page, and not the specific subsection that include the equation (i.e. the value for 'r' is not given in the thermo section). 
• A book of practice exams. This is very brief and overpriced BUT I'd say it was the best piece of material I bought. You can take the exams in it quickly and they're very representative of what I saw on test day.
• Practice exams for the electrical section. This will expose you to the type of questions on the afternoon section. It's good for refreshing your memory on topics that might be fuzzy. 
• A giant study guide broken down by section. This was fairly useless to me because I waited so long to start studying.

When you study remember that each section is 4 hours so if you're working full-time you'll be lucky to knock out a single 4 hour block each night. I made it through the Generic Practice exams and Electrical Specific exams before it was time for me to take the test (the 2nd and 3rd bullets above). This took me the better part of a week and also included time spent on wikipedia reviewing rusty subjects. 

[Strategy]

If there is one thing you take away from my unstructured rambling let it be this: TAKE PRACTICE EXAMS, USE THE REFERENCE GUIDE, AND PRACTICE ON THE CALCULATOR YOU ARE BRINGING TO THE EXAM. Otherwise you'll be wasting valuable time trying to figure out where in the reference book you need to be and/or where buttons are on your calculator. Don't be a freshman.

If you wait to the last minute to study you need to prioritize. It occurred to me fairly immediately when studying that I needed to cut my losses and focus on passing the test and NOT mastering every topic. At this point in your career you should have a fairly firm grasp on what you're good at. Play to your strengths and use your weaknesses as your dump stat. If you're already a beast at math, power points, and digital design don't waste your time studying for it. Inversely, if you've never had a materials course there's absolutely no reason to spend valuable hours becoming an expert on tensile strength when it's only a fraction of the exam and you'll most likely never need it in the real world. That leaves us with that awkward middle area. For me these included statistics, economics, and thermodynamics. I spent a majority of my time studying this material because that's where the biggest gains in score could be achieved.

Most questions will have two stupid answers and two feasible ones. Being able to recognize and eliminate bad answers will all but guarantee a passing grade (50%) on the FE.

[Taking the Test]

Remember that this is an 8 hour exam. Don't stay up all night cramming because that is dumb. Get a good nights sleep, wake up on time, have some coffee and breakfast tacos, arrive early to the facility, run into someone you know and have a chat, find your section and be waiting when they open the doors.

The examiners are very strict about having foreign object in the room. Make sure you follow all the rules outlined in your testing documentation including having everything in a clear bag, don't wear a hat, don't bring outside pencils, have a valid ID and print out your exam authorization, use the right type of calculators, wear clothes, etc. 

If you do leave you seat you have to go through a short check in/out procedure where the proctor picks up and holds your exam while you leave. This takes a little time so keep that in mind if you plan on running out of the room to vacate explosive diarrhea from your nervous gut that you shoved full of coffee and breakfast tacos.  

WHY CHORIZO, WHY?

There is an hour break between the morning and afternoon sections. In some places this isn't enough time to eat out and get back before the proctors lock the doors for of the afternoon section (that means you will fail). Brown bag it or order extra breakfast tacos in the morning and eat them in your car during the break like a weirdo. 

[Results]

I passed.

Passing grants you the distinguished title of 'Engineer in Training', which to the layman sounds like an intern but oh well. It's also a good excuse to do a happy dance. 

DIY Bed Frame with Headboard - Hipster Bedroom Part 1

While searching for some new furniture I stumbled across a few bed frames I really liked but were out my price range. Why do manufactures used expensive re-purposed wood harvested by blind orphans from exotic countries instead of just using cheap bulk lumber? "What's a hipster to do?" I asked myself while twirling my mustache.

Fueled by outrage and sustainable-farmed cruelty-free kale I decided to make my own bed frame for less (~$175 for parts) and was pretty successful. Here's how I did it.

Before/After

[Part 0: The Disclaimer]

I was able to do this without losing any eyes, fingers, or toes. However, this did involve the use of power tools, open flames, and chemistry. Be careful, take precautions. Wear safety glasses and protective gloves, work in well ventilated rooms, read labels, so on and so forth. 

[Part 1: The Lumbering]

The diy network has a decent page on building a bed frame which I stole followed closely. All the wood pieces are made uses straight cuts, so the degree of difficulty is fairly low. I didn't like how loose the frame fits the bed and the finish, so those were modified.

This wood stain is best described as 'campground toilet' [Source] 

Here's the lengths of wood I ended up getting:

• Four 2x12x8's for the frame
• Four 2x6x8's for the headboard (more =  taller, less = shorter)
• One 2x4x12 for the headboard

The original version left around a 3-5 inch gap on each side for bedding. I wanted a pronounced 'muffin top' look so I reduced the clearance to 1/2" on each side. A circular saw worked great for the cuts - adjust the blade to slightly larger than the thickness of your board to avoid excess splintering. Here is the length of each board as cut by me:

• 64" - Two 2x12's, Four 2x6's 
• 81" - Two 2x12's 
• 31" - Three 2x4's (Cut 3 pieces from the 12' board)

[Part 2: FIRE]

When you get the wood it's going to look pale and boring. This is where the propane torch comes in.

Torching the lumber raises the grain of the wood and otherstuffwhocaresFIRE.

Pictured: Me not have any fun. At all. Whatsoever.

I'm sure there is a proper technique here that I'm not using. The IKEA Hackers link recommends laying the board down and working at it from the top but I had zero success with that due to the wind. Turning it on it's side made an effective windscreen for me and made torching it much easier. Surprisingly the propane torch lasted me through a single pass of all the boards. Two passes would probably work better and help remove some blotches but I'm not made of time, internet. Speaking of time saving, remember you only have to do the sides that are going to be showing. 

Sanded (bottom) vs not (top). I recommend an orbital sander for the lazies.

Remove the excess char and sap with some ~320 grit medium sandpaper and you're ready for the next step

[Part 3: Science!]

This is really cool.

Okay, maybe not that cool

1.  Stuff some steel wool in a jar and fill it up with vinegar. Let it sit overnight and remove the steel wool. 
2. Brew some strong tea and wipe the board down with it. I used 3 teabags to 6 cups. Also make sure your wood is free of debris before wiping it down
3. Once the tea has dried rub the board down with the vinegar, let it sit, and... 
4. SCIENCE! "Tannic acid treatment for conservation is very effective and widely used but it does have a significant visual effect on the object, turning the corrosion products black and any exposed metal dark blue." [wiki]

Significant visual effect. 

The wood starts darkening and looking like driftwood. Alternatively you can use a stain - but where's the fun in that? 

[Part 4: Boring regular wood treatment stuff]

Once you're done it's time to seal up the wood to protect it from the unspeakable horrors of your bedroom. A few passes with wiping varnish is probably the easiest way to get a top notch looking finish. The downside of wiping varnish is it takes a while to dry and is smelly. I opted to use a water based polyurethane which is difficult to work with but quicker. Also it looks like android blood:

 If you want the wood to look natural go for a satin. If you want it to be shiny go for a gloss. If you want it to be in the middle go for a semi-gloss (my choice). Prep/paint according to the instructions on the can.

[Part 5: Assembly]

By this point you should have all your boards ready. Follow the instructions from the diy page and bam, bed frame. I couldn't find the long corner brackets like they used so I just doubled up two smaller ones and it worked just fine. 

I'll take some better pictures if/when I have access to a real camera. Until then:

hey gurl

Broken Quadro 1500 into Working Quadro 3500

Small confession: the last time I had a desktop with a "real" graphics card in it was April of '09.

A friend of mine was nice enough to give me his dead nVidia Quadro 1500, and I decided to try something new: reflow it with a wallpaper heat-gun similar to this thread.

After removing the heat sink, cleaning up the chip, and giving it an aluminum foil bib I was ready to reflow.

Instagram makes everything look awesome.

After putting everything back together time to see how my performance improved:

On-board Graphics Score - 4.6

Quadro 1500 Score - 5.1

Well that's not much of an upgrade at all, but there's more. This particular card shares the same guts as the GeForce 7900 GT and Quadro FX 3500, so you can allegedly flash it with either bios and get a performance boost (read on). Just for kicks I ran a few benchmarks on the original 1500 bios to see how it fared:

The stock 1500 bios scored a 5889 in 3DMark05.

Next up was finding the new bios and following the instructions to install it. 

I tried two versions of the 7900 GS bios (rev0 and rev1) and had no success. I ended up bricking the card and having to dig out an old PC, set it to boot to a PCI graphics card while still having the Quadro inside, then flashing the old 1500 bios to get the card working again. 

This isn't getting complicated at all.

Never one to be defeated I tried the other Quadro bios. Fortunately the 3500 bios took (it can be found here) , so I was able to boot to that. Unfortunately after restarting I was greeted with a warning about not having enough power for the GPU:

Error: Nothing is ever easy.

The problem is the card doesn't have the connector for the 'supplemental power connector', so there's no way of providing enough power to the GPU. This causes the cards core and memory clocks to be crippled and results in the some bizarre benchmark results: the windows test got worse while 3DMark05 got better.

I should have quit while I was ahead.

Increased core and mem clock. 6128 in 3DMark05 

Even though it scored lower in the windows test I see definite improvement in video editing, so I'm sticking with this firmware for now. What does Windows know anyway?

So the next step is repopulating the plug for the power connector, random missing capacitors and an inductor. Unfortunately schools got me busy, so that will have to wait for now.

TO BE CONTINUED...

[Update 04/16/2013]

After buying some parts and repopulating the board I managed to blow out a trace. I might pick back up on this project if I have time but as for now it is dead :(

Cramming a 1TB drive into a PS3

 [BACKWASH - this post is old but has been revived - original post date: 07/19/2011]

As the owner of a 3rd gen fat PS3 (Model: CECHHxx) I was limited to a 40GB hard drive. After installing GT5 I was more or less out of room and needed more. I went to Wal-Mart and picked up a 1TB external drive (~$100) and ripped it apart only to find it doesn’t fit inside the drive tray.

PROBLEM: The original drives are 9.5mm in height where as the new drive is 15mm (see gallery). The thicker drive doesn’t fit through the slot in the side of the PS3.

SOLUTION: Make it fit – take the top off, remove the power supply, cram it in there, and bolt it all back together. Below is a more or less step by step gallery of how to so. Keep in mind this voids the warranty (but it’d be a surprise if you still have one).

CAUTION: Disconnect the unit from all power and video cables before opening. There are high voltage components present inside the PS3, so proceed at your own risk.

9.5mm 40GB on the left, 15mm 1TB drive on the right

Well there's your problem. Time to take this thing apart...

Remove the warrenty sticker, then remove the rubber stopper, then remove the T10 torx screw.

Slide the lid down about an inch and lift up.

Remove the Philips head screws. All are the same length except for the green one.

From the back of the PS3 start prying the top off. Use a guitar pick or spudger to avoid scratches.

Once the back is loose rotate the lid forward and lift up to remove it.

Remove the plug from the back of the power supply.

Remove the plug from the front of the power supply.

Remove the 6 screws holding the power supply in place and lift straight up. Be careful not to lose any washers on the ground cable (yellow).

Power supply screws (for reference).

Take the cover off the tray by removing the two screws and lifting upward.

Remove your old drive. Put the new one in the carriage and insert it into the PS3 from the top. Don't forget to install the single screw located behind the black HDD door on the PS3.

There's not enough room for the metal HDD cover to fit so discard it. Be gentle reinstalling the power supply - don't crush your HDD or bend your PSU.

Put everything back together by reversing the instructions. You should only have the metal driver cover and 2 screws left over.

Check your free space and enjoy.

...and we're back

Well it's been a few years, but I'm back and going to start posting here again.

Unfortunately my hosting expired so a lot of pictures are missing at the moment. Because of this I'll be taking down a majority of the old posts except for a few which I feel are worth keeping/rebuilding.

Regards

Repair Stuck Keys On Yamaha Clavinova CLP

UPDATE: See comments below for information on a possible replacement

[10/2012 I'm trying to find the original pictures. Will dig through my old hard drive soon...]

I'm a bit of a piano player and I own a Clavinova, but the lousy keys on it keep sticking. Rather than paying ridiculous amounts of money to Yamaha for a tech/parts - I figured out how to fix it with Krazy Glue. I had to fix a few more keys recently (I'm up to 5) so I snapped some pics of the repair process.

Disclaimer: I'm not responsible for your screwups.

1) Unplug the power. Remove the 3 screws from the back


2) Pull Lid Forward then Upward to remove


3) Remove guards from the keybed cover track, then take it out. Once you get the top part out you'll have to turn the bottom half cockeyed to get it out - don't put any pressure on it!


4) Remove the screws holding the button board in place I believe there are two on either end and 3 in the middle


5) Remove the screws holding the key assembly in place, then push it back as far as you can to give yourself some room to work with in the front


6) Remove keys by prying gently underneath the back, once the key pops loose slide it forward and it should lift out.


7) If your key does this, it's time to fix it! (look for hairline cracks, etc.) If it's missing a chunk check where the empty key space is to see if it fell in there.


8) What I like to do is break off the trouble piece, then superglue it back at an angle (see below). I've also seen people get a small tack red hot and shove each of the pieces back into one another.
You may also want to buy some grease to lubricate - I never did this beacuse I'm lazy and my keys work well enough.

Breaking the trouble piece off


How I glue it back (top view):


9) Glue the key and let it set for a few minutes.


10) Replace key by hooking the front first and pushing the back. If it looks like an erection when you're finished you didn't hook the front well enough. Test the key. If it works, Reassemble the rest of it.

Random thoughts:
I had one key that still stuck even after rebreaking and resetting it. I decided to swap it out with the same key in the highest octave. After moving it to a different spot it worked fine - may be the lack of grease or technical knowledge on my part. Don't be afraid to play with it.

Also, of the 5 keys I've fixed 3 have been E's, 1 was a G and the other was a B. Does yamaha have a vendetta against E minor?

Finished product.

Samsung FlipShot (Part 2!)

How to get ringtones/pictures onto/off a flipshot (sch-u900)
(see comments for alternate methods!!!)

1) buy a data cable:
Total: $12.74 shipped
2) plug the phone into your pc and install the drivers from the cd (don't run the installer program, just let windows do the driver work)
3) go to your favoite torrent site, download and install QPST
4) go to the qpst folder and start -> qpst configuration
click the ports tab and add all ports until one shows up with the phone

5) go back to the qpst and run -> EFS explorer
you can now see all the crap in your phone!
6) add ringtones by dragging them into /brew/mod/mr (then restart phone)
copy pictures from /brew/mod/108




(from Mark_Venture on howardforums.com)
"""In Phone's memory....
Pictures are stored in /brew/mod/10888
Ringtones are stored in /brew/mod/mr
Videos are stored in /brew/mod/10890
Sounds (non-ringtones) are stored in /brew/mod/18067

Like the U620, you can just add .MID or .MP3 files to the /brew/mod/MR folder, restart the phone, and use them as ring tones."""