Failed PE Exam (Professional Engineer)? Here's Your Recovery Plan

Pro tip: The NCEES reference handbook is provided digitally, learn to navigate it quickly.

• Studying from a personal reference library instead of the NCEES handbook.
  The PE exam is closed book with electronic references. You cannot bring personal copies of anything into the room. Every hour spent learning where things live in your own textbooks is an hour not spent learning the NCEES handbook, which is the only reference you will have.
• Using the wrong edition of a design standard.
  The last page of your exam specifications lists each standard with its revision year, and NCEES states that solutions based on other standards will not receive credit. Match the year exactly, because a 2016 and a 2022 edition of the same code can give different answers to the same question.
• Expecting Ctrl+F to work in the exam.
  The Ctrl+F search feature is disabled. You search using the box on the left side of the supplied reference material, and design standards are provided as individual chapters with only one openable at a time. Practise that exact workflow rather than a desktop PDF workflow.
• Bringing a calculator that is not on the current NCEES list.
  For 2026 NCEES permits only Casio fx-115 and fx-991 models, the HP 33s and HP 35s, and Texas Instruments TI-30X and TI-36X models. The list is reviewed annually. Buy an approved model early and learn it, and note the cover must come off before you enter the room.
• Assuming you can return to the first half of the exam after the break.
  The exam is delivered in two sections. After roughly half the questions you are prompted to review and submit, and you lose access to them permanently. Finish your review of the first half before you submit, because the 50-minute break sits after that point of no return.
• Leaving questions blank.
  NCEES scores on the total number of correct answers with no deductions for wrong answers. If time expires before you submit, any answers you have marked are still submitted and scored. Mark something on every item.
• Treating alternative item types as ordinary multiple choice.
  PE exams mix in multiple correct options, point and click, drag and drop and fill in the blank items, and all of them score correct or incorrect with no partial credit. A multiple correct options question where you get three of four selections right earns nothing.
• Letting the 12-month authorisation window lapse.
  Once your board approves you, you have 12 months to take the exam or you forfeit the registration fee. Cancelling an unscheduled registration returns the fee less a $50 administrative charge, and cancelling a scheduled appointment costs a separate $50 payable to Pearson at least 48 hours in advance.
• Registering for a discipline without checking your board's rules first.
  NCEES administers the exam, but your state board decides your eligibility, may require a separate application and fee, and may impose a retake policy stricter than NCEES's one attempt per testing window and three per 12 months. Changing discipline or board after registering means cancelling and re-registering, less the $50 administrative fee.

• Must pass FE exam and have 4 years experience first
• Available in 17 disciplines (Civil most popular)
• Computer-based, open reference (digital handbook provided)
• PPI2Pass, School of PE for prep courses
• Civil PE has lowest pass rates (~55%)
• Required to stamp engineering drawings and manage projects