Ran Chen, EA, CFP®

Engineering Exam Prep

Education EN ↓ 75 episodes

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...

Author

Ran Chen, EA, CFP®

Episodes

FE Exam Prep 25, Impulse-Momentum and Coefficient of Restitution 22.05.2026 3:49

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 principle of conservation of momentum (m1v1 +...

FE Exam Prep 24, Work-Energy Theorem and Conservation of Energy 21.05.2026 3:30

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 Work-Energy Theorem states that the net work performed on...

FE Exam Prep 23, Kinematics — Constant Acceleration and Projectile Motion 20.05.2026 3:30

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 break down projectile motion problems into independent...

FE Exam Prep 22, Newton's Laws and Free Body Diagram Discipline 19.05.2026 3:13

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: - That mastering the Free Body Diagram (FBD) is the most critica...

FE Exam Prep 21, Significant Figures and Sanity Checks 18.05.2026 3:43

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 rule of thumb for matching significant figures to input da...

FE Exam Prep 20, SI vs US Customary — lbm vs lbf and the gc Factor 17.05.2026 4:02

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 difference between pound-mass (lbm) for mass and...

FE Exam Prep 19, Descriptive Statistics — Mean, Median, Variance, Confidence Intervals 16.05.2026 3:44

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 difference between mean and median and why the FE...

FE Exam Prep 18, Probability Distributions — Binomial, Normal, Poisson 15.05.2026 4:54

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 differentiate between Binomial, Normal, and Poi...

FE Exam Prep 17, Vectors in 3-Space — Magnitude, Unit Vectors, Direction Cosines 14.05.2026 3:37

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 magnitude of a 3D vector using its i, j,...

FE Exam Prep 16, Matrix Operations — Determinants, Inverse, Eigenvalues 13.05.2026 2:44

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 calculate 2x2 and 3x3 determinants using cofact...

FE Exam Prep 15, Differential Equations — First and Second Order, Laplace 12.05.2026 3:58

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 solve first-order linear differential equations using t...

FE Exam Prep 14, Integral Calculus — Substitution, Parts, Common Forms 11.05.2026 4:43

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 properly select 'u' for u-substitution by finding a fun...

FE Exam Prep 13, Differential Calculus — Critical Points, L'Hopital, Partials 10.05.2026 4:16

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 find critical points by setting the first derivative to...

FE Exam Prep 12, Analytic Geometry — Conics, Distance, Vectors 09.05.2026 4:03

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 find a circle's center and radius from its general form...

FE Exam Prep 11, Depreciation — Straight-Line, MACRS, Book Value 08.05.2026 3:20

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: - Straight-line depreciation is a simple method calculated as (I...

FE Exam Prep 10, NPV, IRR, Benefit-Cost Ratio — When Each Wins 07.05.2026 3:16

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: - Why Net Present Value (NPV) is the definitive method for ranki...

FE Exam Prep 9, Time Value of Money — P/F, F/P, P/A, A/P, A/F, F/A Notation 06.05.2026 3:37

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 interpret standard time value of money factor notation...

FE Exam Prep 8, EIT Path to PE — State Variations 05.05.2026 2:57

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 standard requirement for PE licensure is typically four ye...

FE Exam Prep 7, Conflicts of Interest, Gifts, and Disclosure 04.05.2026 3:10

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: - Engineers must disclose any known or potential conflict of int...

FE Exam Prep 6, NCEES Model Rules — Hold Paramount Public Safety 03.05.2026 2:53

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 first and foremost responsibility is to safegua...

FE Exam Prep 5, Scoring, Cut Score, and Retake Strategy 02.05.2026 2:31

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 FE exam is strictly pass/fail; you will not receive a nume...

FE Exam Prep 4, Navigating the Reference Handbook v10.0.1 01.05.2026 3:03

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: - Why the NCEES FE Reference Handbook is a navigation test, not...

FE Exam Prep 3, NCEES-Approved Calculators — HP 35s, TI-36X Pro, Casio fx-115/991 30.04.2026 3:42

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 exact NCEES-approved calculator models for the FE exam (TI...

FE Exam Prep 2, CBT Mechanics — Pearson VUE Check-in, On-Screen Calculator, Breaks 29.04.2026 2:11

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: - Arrive 30 minutes early with a valid, government-issued photo...

FE Exam Prep 1, What the FE Exam Is and Who Should Take It 25.04.2026 2:44

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 FE exam is a 110-question, 5-hour and 20-minute computer-b...