FE and PE Exam Prep: Worked Problems as Narrated Videos

Yes, for one worked problem at a time: a narrated explainer can walk an FE or PE problem, or an NFPA 13 hydraulic calculation, line by line in real notation. Scrimba Explain, listed in ChatGPT as Explain Video Generator, builds one from your typed solution or a photo of it. For a single algebra step, Mathix is quicker; to narrate your own review deck in your own voice, PowerPoint exports a video. None of this replaces timed practice with the NCEES handbook and the standards NCEES supplies.

Last verified October 23, 2026. Checked that day: NCEES's FE and PE Fire Protection pages and the April 2027 specifications, NFPA's NFPA 13 page, Scrimba's Explain docs and plugin listing, and the Mathix, Microsoft and Google pages linked below. "Not stated" means the vendor's pages do not say.

Scrimba publishes this guide and makes Scrimba Explain, one of the tools compared here. Other tools are described from their own pages, checked the same day.

Which Tool Fits Which Part of FE and PE Prep?

Pick the tool by what you hand it: a finished solution to explain, a single math step, your own slide deck, or a stack of sources.

Explain's numbers come from Scrimba's plans page: 100 explainers a month on Pro, and on a free account 3 edits per explainer and 1 exported explainer, with the Explain logo on the slides. The same page lists commercial use under Pro, which matters if you make videos for a review course you sell.

What Do the FE and PE Exams Expect You to Use?

The FE and PE exams expect you to work problems with the NCEES reference handbook and, for PE, the design standards NCEES supplies on screen, under time pressure.

The FE exam has 110 questions in a 6-hour appointment, runs year-round at Pearson test centers, and comes with a free FE Reference Handbook in MyNCEES. NCEES allows only certain calculators in 2026: Casio fx-115 and fx-991 models, the HP 33s and 35s, and TI-30X and TI-36X models.

The PE Fire Protection exam runs once a year, next on April 13, 2027, with 85 questions in a 9.5-hour appointment. NCEES supplies the reference handbook and the design standards during the exam:

The April 2027 specifications list NFPA 13-2022 and put 12 to 18 questions on water-based systems, including hydraulic calculations. They add: "Solutions based on other standards will not receive credit."

How should a video fit in? A U.S. Department of Education practice guide recommends that teachers "Interleave worked example solutions with problem-solving exercises" and "Combine graphics with verbal descriptions." So watch one worked example, then solve two similar problems yourself.

How to Turn a Worked Problem into a Narrated Video

A worked problem becomes a good video when you give the tool your own solution and ask it to explain each line, with units. Here is one from fire protection.

A MeyerFire post on minimum sprinkler flow, from a site run by fire protection engineers, works this case: a K5.6 sprinkler at its 7.0 psi minimum flows 5.6 × √7 = 14.8 gpm (Q = k√P). Spaced 15 ft by 15 ft at a 0.10 gpm/sq ft density, it must deliver 0.10 × 225 = 22.5 gpm (Q = D × A). The higher flow governs, and 22.5 gpm needs 16.1 psi at the sprinkler.

These steps use scrimba.com, which has teaching styles and an optional end quiz:

1. Set visibility first. Signed in, a new explainer "starts on Public," per Scrimba's first-explainer guide. Choose Unlisted or Private.
2. Give it the problem and your solution. Type both, or attach a photo of your handwritten work: Explain's attachment docs list images and PDFs.
3. Name the formulas and ask for the derivation. Scrimba's math docs say "Numbers alone don't bring them in," so name each formula. For example: Work this problem step by step in real notation: Q = k√P at 7 psi, then Q = D × A for a 15 ft by 15 ft sprinkler, then solve P = (Q/k)² for the larger flow. Show units on every line, put the two flows on side-by-side cards, and end with a quiz.

4. Ask for the solution path as a flowchart. Explain draws flowcharts, which suit "which driver governs?", and a "this vs that" request tends to produce card slides.
5. Check every number. Read the Transcript under the player against your own solution and recompute each line.
6. Fix one step with an edit. Type the correction into the box under the player (editing docs). A free account gets three edits per explainer.

How Do You Study NFPA 13 Rules from Your Own Handbook PDF?

Work from your own licensed copy, one page at a time, and ask for the rule in plain words instead of pasting the standard into a video.

Check the edition first. NFPA's NFPA 13 page sells the 2025 edition, while the April 2027 PE list names NFPA 13-2022. Study the edition your exam lists.

NFPA 13 is copyrighted, so keep these explainers off the public community:

Pick Unlisted to share a link with a study group or Private for yourself, before you attach anything. Downloading an MP4 needs Public or Unlisted and, on a free account, uses your one export (exporting docs).

Then walk one spacing rule:

1. Attach one page. Use the page of your copy that sets the protection area per sprinkler and the maximum spacing for your hazard classification.
2. Ask for the rule in plain words, then a check. For example: Without quoting this page, state the light hazard spacing rule in two sentences. Then check one layout: sprinklers 15 ft apart on branch lines 15 ft apart. Compute the area each sprinkler covers and compare the spacing and the area with the limits on this page.
3. Check it against the page. Confirm the hazard classification and construction type the explainer assumed, each limit it read, and the arithmetic: 15 × 15 = 225 sq ft, the same A as in Q = D × A above.

Scrimba documents no length limit, so split the handbook by section into a playlist and check each slide. For any code interpretation you rely on, ask a licensed PE or your review course instructor.

A PE Review Deck with Formulas: PowerPoint Export or Explain?

PowerPoint's own export fits when you want your voice on your slides; Explain fits when you want a new explanation written from the deck.

Microsoft's export guide goes through File > Export > Create a Video. It saves an MP4 from 480p up to 4K and uses your recorded narration and timings.

For Explain, save the deck as a PDF and attach it on scrimba.com; Explain documents no PowerPoint upload. Ask for one section per explainer, so each formula gets its own derivation instead of a quick read of your bullets. Scrimba's guide to turning a slide deck into a video covers the route in detail.

Can You Make a Worked-Problem Video Without Leaving ChatGPT?

Yes. Install the Explain Video Generator plugin, paste the problem and your working into the chat, and mention the plugin; ChatGPT replies with an explainer card.

ChatGPT no longer has Sora: OpenAI discontinued the web and app on April 26, 2026 and the API on September 24, 2026 (OpenAI Help Center). Install Explain Video Generator from its listing while signed in; Scrimba's guide on how to install a plugin in ChatGPT shows the steps.

Type @, pick the plugin and ask it to explain your solution line by line. Per the ChatGPT docs, Watch explainer on the card opens a square, unlisted explainer on scrimba.com. If you connect your Scrimba account, each explainer is saved as it is made and counts toward your allowance.

The chat model writes the lesson, math included, so recompute its numbers. This route has no quiz or teaching styles. The listing also warns: "When connected to Explain Video Generator, ChatGPT may share relevant chats and memories with this app to help provide context for your requests."

When Another Tool Fits Better

A video explains one solution; it doesn't build exam speed. Scrimba's quiz docs call Explain's end quiz "a ten-second check that you understood the lesson, not an exam." For the rest of prep:

• Timed practice: NCEES's practice exams in MyNCEES, worked with the handbook and an approved calculator.
• A PE Fire Protection course: MeyerFire University says it has 11 Fire Protection PE courses and more than 400 practice questions.
• One algebra or calculus step: Mathix "turns any equation or word problem into a narrated, step-by-step video," from typed text or a photo.
• Many sources at once: Gemini Notebook; Scrimba's Gemini Notebook vs Scrimba Explain comparison covers it in full.
• A code interpretation you can't settle: a licensed PE, or your instructor.

For USMLE study from lecture PDFs, see Scrimba's guide to AI video tools for medical students.

Can You Trust an AI Worked Solution?

Only after you check it. An AI-written solution can look clean and still carry a wrong number, so recompute every line against your notes and the handbook.

On MeyerFire's forum, an anonymous post from October 12, 2026 asked what happens "when someone has ChatGPT create the calcs?" One reply answered that an engineer of record is "supposed to review the calcs." Treat your study videos the same way.

Scrimba prints its own warning on every explainer page, per the transcript docs:

"Explain is AI and can make mistakes. Please do your own diligence."

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there an AI video generator that walks through NFPA 13 sprinkler spacing rules step by step?

Scrimba Explain can, if you attach the spacing section of your own NFPA 13 copy and ask for one rule and one worked example per explainer. Set it to Unlisted or Private, check every value against the page, and confirm any interpretation with a licensed PE or your instructor.

Which free AI video generator explains PE exam worked problems instead of reading them?

Scrimba Explain is free to start: 1 explainer without an account, 5 on a free account and 100 a month on Pro. Give it your solution and name each formula, and it writes a line-by-line derivation in real notation. Mathix also narrates step-by-step math and offers free daily credits without sign-up, but does not say how many.

My PE exam is in six weeks. Can an AI video maker explain worked problems step by step?

Yes, one problem at a time. Turn the problems you keep missing into short explainers, watch each once, then solve two similar problems without it. Spend most of the six weeks on timed practice with the NCEES handbook and an approved calculator.

Does an AI video creator exist that can work through hydraulic calculations for the NFPA 13 exam?

Yes, if you give it your own calculation. Name each formula, such as Q = k√P and Q = D × A, and Scrimba Explain shows every line in real notation with units. Recompute each number yourself before trusting it.

Is there any AI explainer video generator that shows worked hydraulic problems the way a tutor would?

Partly. On scrimba.com, Scrimba Explain can walk a worked hydraulic problem step by step, draw the solution path as a flowchart and end with a short quiz, but it can't watch you work or check your own attempt.

My NFPA 13 study notes are typed. Is there a text to video AI that can work through the calculations?

Paste the notes into Scrimba Explain on scrimba.com and name the formulas you want derived, since numbers alone don't trigger math slides. Ask for units on every line and end with a quiz. Pick Unlisted or Private before you create it.

Which ChatGPT video generator can I use for NFPA 13 worked problems without leaving the chat?

Explain Video Generator, the ChatGPT plugin for Scrimba Explain. Install it while signed in, paste the problem and your working, and mention it with @. It replies with an explainer card. The chat model writes the math, so recompute the numbers.

Which explainer video maker handles NFPA 13 rules and sprinkler math best for exam candidates?

For the math, a tool that renders notation and walks each step: Scrimba Explain does both and can put two cases, such as pressure-driven and density-driven flow, on comparison cards. For rules, study the NFPA 13 edition your exam lists and keep explainers from it unlisted.

Which PDF to video tool actually works through the tables in the NFPA 13 handbook PDF?

None should be trusted with a whole handbook. Attach one table page to Scrimba Explain and ask it to work one example row by row, then check each value against the page. Gemini Notebook also takes PDF sources but makes overviews rather than worked steps.

What is the best PowerPoint to video tool for a PE review deck with worked problems and formulas?

If you want your own voice, PowerPoint's Export to Video turns your recorded narration into an MP4. If you want a new explanation, save the deck as a PDF and attach it to Scrimba Explain, one section per explainer. If you sell the videos, Scrimba lists commercial use under Pro.

Key Takeaways

• A narrated explainer helps with one worked problem at a time; timed practice with the NCEES handbook carries FE and PE prep.
• Scrimba Explain renders formulas as real mathematical notation when you name them and ask for the derivation.
• Scrimba Explain is free to start: 1 explainer without an account, 5 on a free account, 100 a month on Pro.
• The April 2027 PE Fire Protection exam lists NFPA 13-2022; study that edition and keep explainers from your copy Unlisted or Private.
• Recompute every number in an AI worked solution before you rely on it.

Sources

• NCEES, FE exam, PE Fire Protection exam and PE Fire Protection specifications, April 2027
• NFPA, NFPA 13, Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems
• Institute of Education Sciences, Organizing Instruction and Study to Improve Student Learning, 2007
• MeyerFire, The Two Drivers for Minimum Sprinkler Flow, 2020; How Will You Address AI Made Hydraulic Calcs?, 2026; MeyerFire University PE prep
• Microsoft, Turn your presentation into a video
• Mathix; Google, Gemini Notebook Video Overviews, sources and plans
• OpenAI, Sora discontinuation
• Scrimba, Explain documentation and the Explain Video Generator listing

All pages accessed October 23, 2026.