The FE exam: who should take it and when
Picture the most efficient engineering student alive, who sits the FE exam on the afternoon of their last final with the pencil still warm. That student is a little ridiculous. But only a little, because ASME advises taking the FE exam as close to graduation as possible, which is the same plan minus the pencil.
You do not need to be that student. The logic behind the joke is sound though. Most sensible advice about the FE exam falls out of it. The exam tests what you learned in school, and you forget what you learned in school at a steady and slightly alarming rate, so earlier tends to beat later. The harder question is whether you need the exam at all. That depends almost entirely on what kind of engineer you plan to be.
What the FE exam actually is
FE stands for Fundamentals of Engineering, and the exam comes from NCEES. The NCEES page for the FE exam describes it as a computer-based test given year-round at approved Pearson test centers, aimed at recent graduates and students close to finishing an accredited engineering degree. The mechanics are short enough to fit in a table.
| Item | The rule |
|---|---|
| Format | Computer-based, at Pearson test centers year-round |
| Length | 110 questions in a 6-hour appointment that includes a 25-minute break |
| Fee | $225 paid directly to NCEES |
| Scoring | Pass or fail, with a diagnostic report for anyone who fails |
| Results | Usually within 7 to 10 business days |
| Retakes | One attempt per testing window and up to three in 12 months |
| Versions | Separate exams for civil, mechanical, chemical, environmental and other disciplines |
The pass-or-fail part deserves a moment. There is no score to brag about and nothing to put on a resume except the fact that you passed. So the right amount of studying is the amount that gets you over the line with a comfortable margin, and anything beyond that is a hobby.
It is the first rung on a short ladder
The FE exam is not much of a credential on its own. It is a step toward the professional engineer license (the PE). The NCEES overview of licensure lays out the usual sequence. Boards generally want a bachelor’s degree, typically from an accredited program. Most states want four years of progressive and verifiable work experience. Candidates typically pass the FE exam and then the PE exam. Licensing itself is done by state boards, so the details are whatever your state says they are.
The reason anybody climbs this ladder is in the same NCEES overview: only a licensed engineer can sign and seal engineering drawings. That is the whole economic point of the PE. It turns you into the person whose signature lets a design leave the building. The same page notes that some engineering careers do not require a PE at all, which is the sentence the rest of this argument hangs on.
Texas, for one, has a title in between the FE and the PE. The Texas board’s Engineer in Training page says you get the EIT certificate by graduating from an approved program, passing the FE exam and paying $15. It also tells students to wait until the degree is actually conferred before applying. The certificate expires eight years after it is issued and can be renewed, and the same page says an EIT certificate is not required to apply for a PE license in Texas. So the EIT is a sort of official receipt for having passed the FE. It is a cheap receipt, and if a civil job posting asks for an EIT this is what it wants to see.
Civil and structural engineers should just take it
Civil and structural design produces drawings for things the public drives over and sits inside. If you want your career to end up with your name on those drawings you need the PE. The FE exam is how you get in line for it, so the only real choice is whether you take it while it is easy or later when it is not.
That makes the FE close to automatic in civil engineering and structural engineering. You might decide later that you would rather manage projects than seal drawings. Fine. Having passed the FE costs you nothing in that world, while lacking it can cost you years in the other one.
Mechanical and electrical engineers: it depends where you sit
For mechanical and electrical engineers the answer follows the same logic, applied to your actual job. If you design building systems or power distribution that ends up in a stamped set of plans, you are in the civil engineer’s position and the FE is worth taking early. If you design consumer products at a manufacturer, the drawings you produce may never need a seal. Then the FE becomes optional. Optional is not useless. A product engineer can end up designing equipment for buildings five years later, and by then the fundamentals are a lot further away.
Software engineers: mostly a curiosity
Software is where the logic runs out. NCEES did offer a PE exam in software engineering, and then it announced it would discontinue the PE Software Engineering exam after the April 2019 administration. The reason was demand. Since its first offering in 2013 the exam had been given five times to 81 candidates in total, and only 19 registered for the April 2018 sitting.
That is a licensing path walked by roughly as many people as fit in a lecture hall, over several years, across the entire country. The market had sort of voted already. If you write software for a living, the FE exam is a fine test of your undergraduate math and a poor use of a Saturday, unless you are heading into work where a seal matters.
Take it before you forget calculus
The timing advice is simple enough to fit in one line. An ASME article on the FE exam advises taking it as close to graduation as possible. The same article says roughly two-thirds of first-time takers pass while only about one-third of repeat takers do. It counts about 58,000 examinees in the 2024 to 2025 fiscal year.
Some of that gap is selection, because a repeat taker is by definition someone who failed once. But it still tells you the first attempt is the one with the best odds. Your first attempt is also the one you make while thermodynamics is still in your short-term memory instead of your long-term regret.
How early you can go depends on your state. The Texas board’s exam page lets an undergraduate sit the FE once they are within two full-time semesters of graduating, not counting summer sessions, provided they are enrolled in a qualifying accredited program. Other boards set their own rules. So check yours before you book.
A reasonable plan looks like this:
- Book a Pearson slot in your final two semesters, if your state allows it.
- Study to pass comfortably rather than to excel, since the result is only pass or fail.
- If you fail, read the diagnostic report and take the next testing window while the material is fresh.
- Apply for your EIT once your degree is conferred, following your own state board’s rules.
If you graduated a while ago
Say you finished a civil degree three years ago, went straight into a design firm and never got around to the FE. The exam has not changed its mind about wanting fundamentals, and you have forgotten some of them. So you study harder than a senior would. That is annoying but not fatal, and every month you wait makes it a little worse, so the best time is this quarter.
If you graduated a while ago and work in software or product design, the calculation goes the other way. The exam would cost you $225 and several weekends to confirm something your job does not ask about. You might still take it if you are thinking about moving into building systems or infrastructure, because then you are back in the civil engineer’s position, just later.
What to do next
If you are a civil or structural student, put the FE on the calendar for your final two semesters and treat it like a required course. If you are already working in civil or structural design without it, book it now and study for a couple of months. If you are a mechanical or electrical engineer, ask whether anything you design ever ends up in a stamped set of plans, and if the honest answer is yes, take the exam while you can still do the calculus without looking it up. If you write software, you can let this one go.
