NCEES FE and PE exams · independent study site · checked Oct 29, 2026
The FE exam, discipline by discipline
The FE (Fundamentals of Engineering) exam is generally the first step toward a professional engineer license. NCEES writes it in seven disciplines, each a computer-based test of 110 questions in 5 h 20 min, given year-round in Pearson VUE test centers. This site has worked problems for five of them and for the PE Mechanical HVAC & Refrigeration exam that can follow, and each table cites the NCEES document behind it, with the day we read it.
Question 1 of 6 · FE Civil · Structural Engineering · 10–15 items
Which LRFD load combination (ASCE 7 strength design) would typically govern the gravity design of a roof framing system in a region with high snow loads and minimal seismic activity?
Solution
The governing strength combination carries the 1.6 factor on the dominant variable load. Snow dominates here:
U = 1.2D + 1.6S + L
FE Reference Handbook, Structural Design — load combinations (ASCE 7).
This combination checks uplift and overturning with minimum dead load; it governs anchorage, not gravity framing under heavy snow.
With snow as the principal variable load, this is the combination that puts the 1.6 factor on S, so it produces the largest factored gravity demand.
This combination makes occupancy live load the principal load; snow rides along at only 0.5, which under-represents a heavy-snow site.
This is the seismic combination; with minimal seismic activity E is small and snow is cut to 0.2S, so it does not govern.
Question 2 of 6 · FE Mechanical · Mechanics of Materials · 9–14 items
A stress element has σx = 80 MPa, σy = 20 MPa, and τxy = 40 MPa. What is the maximum principal stress?
Pinch at the bottom: infinite stages; operation typically at 1.2–1.5 × (L/G)min.
Pressure drop depends on hydraulics (packing, flow rates), not on the minimum solvent rate.
Equal absorption and desorption rates describe local equilibrium, which at (L/G)min occurs only at the rich end, not along the whole tower.
At (L/G)min the operating line touches the equilibrium line at the rich (bottom) end: exit liquid in equilibrium with entering gas, which needs infinite height.
A pinch at the lean (top) end limits the purity of the exit gas, not the minimum solvent rate.
Question 6 of 6 · PE Mechanical HVAC & Refrigeration · HVAC Loads and Psychrometrics · 18–27 items
A space with a cooling load of 60,000 Btu/h has a sensible heat ratio of 0.65. What is the latent cooling load in Btu/h?
Given
Total cooling load = 60,000 Btu/h
Sensible heat ratio SHR = 0.65
Find
Latent cooling load (Btu/h)
Solution
qL = qT(1 − SHR)
qL = 60,000 Btu/h × (1 − 0.65) = 21,000 Btu/h
21,000 Btu/h is the latent part: total minus the sensible share, 60,000 × (1 − 0.65).
32,300 Btu/h treats 60,000 Btu/h as the sensible load and backs out latent as S(1 − SHR)/SHR; the stem gives the total.
39,000 Btu/h is the sensible load, 0.65 × 60,000 — the SHR fraction itself, not the remainder.
60,000 Btu/h is the whole cooling load; no split by SHR has been made.
Answer every question to see your score
Each problem was set for this site against the current specification of its exam and is solved step by step; none comes from an NCEES exam. The full sets are on each exam’s practice test.
FE and PE problems on your phone
1FE Civil app
FE Civil questions, answers and worked solutions in a study app.
Each discipline has its own specification, the NCEES list of sections with a question range for each, in force since July 2020. Four sections are common ground: mathematics, probability and statistics, ethics and engineering economics. They make up about a fifth of the Civil, Mechanical, Environmental and Chemical specifications, a quarter or more on Electrical and Computer and Other Disciplines, and close to a third on Industrial and Systems. These four get one shared treatment, on the FE practice test and engineering economics; the rest of each exam is the discipline itself.
You bring no books. Your one reference is the FE Reference Handbook, a searchable PDF on the exam screen, and the only calculator is one model from the approved list. Problems mix SI and US customary units. How the appointment runs, from the break to the pass/fail notice, is on FE exam format.
Seven FE disciplines, one half-year
Checked Oct 29, 2026. Sources are numbered and listed under Source notes. Jan–Jun 2026, counting first-time takers from EAC/ABET programs no more than 12 months past graduation. FE Industrial and Systems and FE Other Disciplines are tracked here with facts only for now. Other periods and repeat takers: FE pass rates.
Take the one whose specification matches what you studied, since its sections are your coursework:
Civil, mechanical, environmental, or electrical and computer engineering: the FE of the same name. Chemical engineers take FE Chemical.
Industrial and systems engineering: FE Industrial and Systems, which gives probability and statistics 10–15 questions, the most of any FE. Listed below with facts only.
A program with no FE of its own: FE Other Disciplines, a broad exam with statics, dynamics, fluids, electrical and thermal sections. NCEES breaks its takers down by degree, among them naval architecture, nuclear, mining, materials, biological and architectural engineering, with first-time pass rates of 41–83% by program in Jan–Jun 2026.
When to sit it: early. First-time takers from ABET programs passed at 71% before graduation and 71% within 12 months of it, against 63% later, in NCEES data for 2014–25 with all disciplines pooled. Your state board decides when you may register: the requirements are on FE exam format.
After the FE
A pass makes you eligible for the intern certificate your state board issues (EIT certification). The license itself needs qualifying experience and the PE exam, and the board decides whether you may sit the PE before that experience is complete. Two boards, for example:
Checked Oct 29, 2026. Sources are numbered and listed under Source notes. Facts only so far, drawn from the same NCEES pages and guide. PE Structural is taken in sections, priced per section.
The Fundamentals of Engineering exam, written and scored by NCEES. It is designed for students close to finishing an accredited engineering degree and for recent graduates, and passing it, with an accepted degree, leads to EI/EIT certification from your state board.
Is the FE exam hard?
First-time pass rates sit in the 60s and low 70s. In Jan–Jun 2026 they ran from 61% (FE Other Disciplines) to 73% (FE Mechanical), among EAC/ABET graduates of the past 12 months (all disciplines).
Which FE should a chemical, industrial or naval graduate pick?
Chemical engineers take FE Chemical, industrial and systems engineers take FE Industrial and Systems, and programs without an FE of their own, naval architecture among them, take FE Other Disciplines. The last two have facts here but no practice set yet.
Is the EIT exam the same as the FE?
Yes: there is no separate EIT exam. EIT, or engineer intern, is the certificate a state board issues once you pass the FE and hold an accepted degree (Model Law:Degree + FE). Titles and fees vary by board: EIT certification.
When can I take the FE exam?
Year-round, in four quarterly windows. Who may register, and how early, is up to your state board (requirements).