1.3 The FE Reference Handbook
Key Takeaways
- The on-screen NCEES FE Reference Handbook is the only reference allowed during the exam — no personal notes, books, or printouts.
- The Handbook is a searchable PDF; mastering keyword search beats memorizing page numbers.
- It supplies formulas, tables, and constants but never tells you which model to apply — that recognition is on you.
- Download the free, current edition from NCEES and study using the exact version listed for your exam.
- Build search-term fluency for electrical topics: 'phasor', 'Thevenin', 'Bode', 'Karnaugh', 'Maxwell', and 'present worth'.
The only reference you get
The FE exam is closed book with one exception: the electronic NCEES FE Reference Handbook supplied on screen inside the exam interface. You may not bring personal notes, textbooks, printed formula sheets, or copied Handbook pages. Everything you are allowed to look up lives in that single document, so your edge comes from knowing it cold before exam day.
Critically, the Handbook is a data source, not a tutor. It lists the formula for a transfer function, the relationship for three-phase power, and the constants for free space — but it will not tell you that a problem is asking for a Thevenin equivalent versus a superposition sum, or that an AC steady-state question wants phasor math. That model-selection judgment is exactly what the exam tests, and the Handbook cannot do it for you.
Search the PDF — do not memorize pages
The on-screen Handbook is a searchable PDF with a find function. Because NCEES periodically reorders sections between editions, memorizing page numbers is fragile. Instead, drill the keyword that takes you straight to each formula. Practice with the same search-first habit you will use on test day.
| If the problem involves... | Search the Handbook for... |
|---|---|
| AC steady-state, impedance | "phasor", "impedance", "AC" |
| Source simplification | "Thevenin", "Norton" |
| Frequency response, stability | "Bode", "transfer function" |
| Combinational logic minimization | "Karnaugh", "Boolean" |
| Fields and waves | "Maxwell", "transmission line" |
| Op-amp gain | "operational amplifier", "inverting" |
| Engineering economics | "present worth", "capital recovery" |
| Constants (ε₀, μ₀, η₀) | "permittivity", "permeability", "impedance of free space" |
Version control matters
Download the current edition of the Handbook for free from NCEES and confirm it is the version listed for your exam. Editions change: formulas move, notation is updated, and sections are renumbered. Studying from an outdated PDF means your search reflexes and mental map will not match the on-screen version, costing you time on the clock. Treat the Handbook like exam-day software — train on the exact build you will use.
Build a personal index, then discard it
A useful prep technique is to author your own one-page index of where each high-weight formula lives and which keyword finds it fastest. You cannot bring that page to the exam, but the act of building it cements the layout in memory. By exam day, the index should live in your head: hear "power factor correction" and you instantly know the search term and the table it returns.
A question asks for the input impedance of an RLC network in AC steady state. What does the Handbook give you?