Fundamentals of Surveying Exam

Did you study surveying in college? Was it a 2 or 4 year program? I'm just curious what kind of curriculum it was. I think NJIT, where I studied surveying, has like a 95% pass rate for both tests.

These are what I used to prepare for the test:
PPI | Fundamentals of Surveying Exam Review Package | FS Exam

I have a bachelors degree in survey engineering. The four year program I graduated from also had a fairly high pass rate. I am notoriously bad at standardized tests so unfortunately I'm one of the very very few from my program that did not pass. I appreciate the suggestions on study material.

The FS examination is strongly weighted towards the math side of surveying. Get your math skills up to speed and then spend the hours and hours to properly program your calculator in any of the available survey specific programs.

Rather than a math question slowing you down, they should all be gimme questions, allowing you more time for the non-math questions.

You have already sat for the exam twice. Did you write down all the questions you weren't sure about immediately after walking out of the exam? Do you still have the response letter stating what areas you did poorly on? All of these are valuable resources to determine your direction of study.

Also, if you are writing the October exam, NOW is not the time to be asking these questions. Allow yourself 4 months of study, 4 nights a week, with the last 2 weeks just reviewing everything again. Tedious and boring, but it gets the job done.

Best of luck, I don't do well on tests either.

By now you should be the authority on what you need to study. If not, use the practice exam to determine the areas you are weak on. Don't use them as your primary study tool. No practice exam can cover all the questions you might be asked.

IMHO, your library should include - at a minimum - the following books:

1. Brown's Boundary Control & Legal Principals
2. Brown's Evidence and Procedures for Boundary Location
3. GPS for Land Surveyors, 4th Edition, by Jan Van Sickle
4. Writing Legal Descriptions, by Wattles (The yellow book, only 1 edition exists)
5. A Pocket Guide to Business for Engineers and Surveyors, by Bergeron
6. Some good Elementary Survey textbook, such as the one by Wolf & Ghilani, now in it's 14th edition.
7. The 2009 BLM Manual if you are in a PLSS state.
8. Black's Law Dictionary
9. ACSM Definitions of Surveying and Associated Terms

That's the minimum. If I were designing a syllabus of courses in Geomatics I'd do it around these books. There are other good books, of course. I'd use excerpts from them only to clarify certain matters in my primary list.

As for practice exams and study aids there is:

1. Surveying Solved Problems for the FS and PS Exams, by Van Sickle (don't get sucked in to the older, now obsolete and out of print but still breathtakingly overpriced 1001 Surveying Fundamentals Problems...)
2. Fundamentals of Surveying Sample Exam by George Cole

With the Brown books I recommend you get the earliest editions first (available at Alibris.com for little more than the cost of shipping) . When you have thoroughly digested those go onto the later editions, although you don't need the very latest for test study.

summerprophet, post: 340147, member: 8874 wrote: The FS examination is strongly weighted towards the math side of surveying. Get your math skills up to speed and then spend the hours and hours to properly program your calculator in any of the available survey specific programs.

Rather than a math question slowing you down, they should all be gimme questions, allowing you more time for the non-math questions.

You have already sat for the exam twice. Did you write down all the questions you weren't sure about immediately after walking out of the exam? Do you still have the response letter stating what areas you did poorly on? All of these are valuable resources to determine your direction of study.

Also, if you are writing the October exam, NOW is not the time to be asking these questions. Allow yourself 4 months of study, 4 nights a week, with the last 2 weeks just reviewing everything again. Tedious and boring, but it gets the job done.

Best of luck, I don't do well on tests either.

Thank you very much for the advice. The Fundamentals Exam has been re-structured so it is on the computer now and can be taken almost anytime. I have been hesitant to sign up again until I have a firm study plan. Currently I have no pending exam date. I like the idea of 4 months studying, 4 nights a week and reviewing the last 2 weeks. Thank you for that! I do have NCEES results, so I know which topics I did well on and which topics I really need to brush up on. I had not considered the fact that math questions should be the gimme, but I do believe that with preparation and the aid of the calculator I should be able to make that work. I really appreciate the advice!

Norman Oklahoma, post: 340148, member: 9981 wrote: By now you should be the authority on what you need to study. If not, use the practice exam to determine the areas you are weak on. Don't use them as your primary study tool. No practice exam can cover all the questions you might be asked.

IMHO, your library should include - at a minimum - the following books:

1. Brown's Boundary Control & Legal Principals
2. Brown's Evidence and Procedures for Boundary Location
3. GPS for Land Surveyors, 4th Edition, by Jan Van Sickle
4. Writing Legal Descriptions, by Wattles (The yellow book, only 1 edition exists)
5. A Pocket Guide to Business for Engineers and Surveyors, by Bergeron
6. Some good Elementary Survey textbook, such as the one by Wolf & Ghilani, now in it's 14th edition.
7. The 2009 BLM Manual if you are in a PLSS state.
8. Black's Law Dictionary
9. ACSM Definitions of Surveying and Associated Terms

That's the minimum. If I were designing a syllabus of courses in Geomatics I'd do it around these books. There are other good books, of course. I'd use excerpts from them only to clarify certain matters in my primary list.

As for practice exams and study aids there is:

1. Surveying Solved Problems for the FS and PS Exams, by Van Sickle (don't get sucked in to the older, now obsolete and out of print but still breathtakingly overpriced 1001 Surveying Fundamentals Problems...)
2. Fundamentals of Surveying Sample Exam by George Cole

With the Brown books I recommend you get the earliest editions first (available at Alibris.com for little more than the cost of shipping) . When you have thoroughly digested those go onto the later editions, although you don't need the very latest for test study.

Thank you very much for the list of reference materials. My academic program required that I buy quite a few of those books that you mentioned, and I did purchase the Surveying Solved Problems just recently. Haha Thank you for the warning about the 1001 Surveying Problems. I did see that book pop up when researching study materials. I do really appreciate the advice. Thank you!

summerprophet, post: 340147, member: 8874 wrote: Also, if you are writing the October exam, NOW is not the time to be asking these questions. Allow yourself 4 months of study, 4 nights a week, with the last 2 weeks just reviewing everything again. Tedious and boring, but it gets the job done.

That's good advise. I concur. Begin studying now for the spring exam.

Curious, which among those do you not have?

"but still breathtakingly overpriced 1001 Surveying Fundamentals Problems..."

Wow--when did that happen. Three hundred bucks on amazon. Is this considered some kind of classic now? Seems off by an order of magnitude...

1001... gets recommend to young guys by old guys like me who tested back in the last century. It was a must have then.

1001.. gets recommended to young guys by old guys like me who tested back in the last century. It was a must have then. Superceded now.

When you leave the test room, write down everything you can think of that gave you trouble on the test. Do it immediately so as not to forget stuff. I took the FS exam a few times too but I didn't have a 4 year surveying degree.

That one is open book right?

Do you have the necessary education? It appears so.

If you lack the test taking ability, develop that. Practice like you play, right? Bloody training makes for Bloodless battle...etc.

The key here is to practice the test, not just the information. Get the info down. Then find or make up practice tests (They are available.) Simulate the test taking situation as much as possible. Is it on Saturdays? Do the tests for 3 Saturdays in a row leading up to it. Develop what I call "sitting stamina".

I used this technique to do much better than I had any right to do on a few tests coming out of college, when I didn't know what I wanted to do, and was looking for possible paths for higher education.

My 0.02

Jeff_3317, post: 340143, member: 10618 wrote: Hello Everyone,

I have taken the fundamentals exam a couple of times without passing. I am now roughly two and a half years out of college and want to attempt the exam again. I have used NCEES study and practice exams and still have not succeeded in passing. I was wondering if anyone has any advice or if anyone knows of better study materials or classes or seminars that would aid in studying. I would appreciate any help! Thank you

Do you have the necessary education? It appears so.
If you lack the test taking ability, develop that. Practice like you play, right? Bloody training makes for Bloodless battle...etc.
The key here is to practice the test, not just the information. Get the info down. Then find or make up practice tests (They are available.) Simulate the test taking situation as much as possible. Is it on Saturdays? Do the tests for 3 Saturdays in a row leading up to it.

Make it exactly the same, the timing, the breaks, the pencils, the paper, the whatever. I know that it is by computer now, so that is hard, but as much as possible.

Develop what I call "sitting stamina".
I used this technique to do much better than I had any right to do on a few tests coming out of college, when I didn't know what I wanted to do, and was looking for possible paths for higher education.

Do you currently work for a Land Surveyor? If not, then volunteer your extra time to work with one, in the office, in the field, drafting/ measuring, whatever. Are you getting a plethora of experience at your current job? It sounds like you have the academic experience, now I think you may need more on the practical side. What is your work history?

Norman Oklahoma, post: 340162, member: 9981 wrote: Curious, which among those do you not have?

I believe I am missing
GPS for Land Surveyors, 4th Edition, by Jan Van Sickle
Writing Legal Descriptions, by Wattles (The yellow book, only 1 edition exists)
A Pocket Guide to Business for Engineers and Surveyors, by Bergeron
Black's Law Dictionary

I am currently employed at a Surveying company here in Michigan. I get a little variety of experience, however I would say I spend the bulk of my time drafting.

Excellent! Thank you! I tried to roughly mimic the exam while preparing the last time. Having taking it twice now I should be almost an expert at the entire testing procedure. Thank you for the advice, I will most definitely mock the testing environment down to the time and breaks.

This exam is closed book. NCEES does give an equation sheet. It has been a little while since my last attempt, and unfortunately I did not write down any questions after the exam. I am hoping on this next attempt I will once and for all be able to put the exam behind me.