I passed the FE exam in the mechanical engineering field, and I'm considering getting a PE in software. I have the same feeling you have that this test seems li

I passed the FE exam in the mechanical engineering field, and I'm considering getting a PE in software. I have the same feeling you have that this test seems like it is tangentially related to software. The mechanical engineering exam tests your knowledge of the various sub-topics within the field. It covered thermodynamics, dynamics, fluids, vibration & control, heat transfer, etc. In addition to that there was a section on ethics, and a short bit on accounting/economics. I had imagined a software engineering exam might have sections such as algorithms, data structures, concurrency, cryptography/security, etc. Basically it should prove that you have a complete, broad, knowledge of the field. The questions in each subject matter are not particularly hard, but I can be sure someone that passed the mechanical engineering FE has a basic understanding of every topic covered in a bachelors degree.