Linking Student Perceptions, Curriculum Design, and FE Exam Performance in Civil Engineering Education.

The Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam serves as an important measure of how well civil engineering programs prepare students for professional practice and is commonly used for direct assessment of civil engineering programs.This study will use four years of senior exit survey data from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) to investigate whether the areas students find most difficult in the curriculum are the same areas where they underperform on the FE exam.The analysis will also examine whether performance differs for material taught in required versus elective courses and whether topics covered earlier in the curriculum (freshman/sophomore year) yield different results than those taken later (junior/senior year).Finally, the study will explore whether students' reported interest levels in particular subjects and career plans influence FE outcomes.Findings from this work are expected to provide insight into how student perceptions align with objective performance measures.This will lead to potential adjustments to course sequencing, advising recommendations, and curricular emphasis to better prepare students for success on the FE exam and in professional practice.