Knowing exactly what will happen on exam day removes a surprising amount of stress. Here is the day from start to finish. NCEES and Pearson VUE update their rules from time to time, so read your appointment confirmation and the current NCEES examinee guide a few days before your exam.
Before you leave home
- Check your appointment time and the test center's address, and plan to arrive about 30 minutes early.
- Bring a current, government-issued photo ID whose name matches your NCEES registration exactly.
- Bring one calculator from the NCEES-approved list. Approved models include certain Casio fx-115 and fx-991, HP 33s and 35s, and TI-30X and TI-36X calculators; check the current list on ncees.org.
- Dress in layers. Test rooms can be cold or warm, and you will be sitting for several hours.
Check-in
At the test center, staff will check your ID, take your photo and may take a palm-vein scan or signature. They will inspect your calculator. Phones, watches, bags, notes, food and drinks go into a locker; you can't access them during the exam except during the scheduled break.
You will be given an erasable note board and marker for your working. You can ask for a replacement if you fill it up. Then you are taken to your workstation.
Tutorial and agreement
The appointment opens with a short nondisclosure agreement and a tutorial on how the exam software works: moving between questions, flagging, the calculator on screen and the reference handbook. The tutorial time doesn't come out of your exam time, but it's worth knowing the interface beforehand so you can move through it quickly.
The exam itself
You have about 5 hours 20 minutes for 110 questions, split into two sections. Within a section you can move freely between questions, flag questions to revisit, and change answers. The FE Reference Handbook opens in a window beside the questions and can be searched with a keyword search.
Once you finish the first section and move on, you can't return to it. Before leaving section one, review every flagged question and make sure nothing is left blank.
The break
After the first section you are offered a scheduled break of about 25 minutes. Take it, even if you feel fine. Eat a snack, drink water and walk around. If you take a break at any other time, the exam clock keeps running.
Finishing
When you finish the second section, you will complete a short survey and leave. There is no score on screen. Results usually appear in your MyNCEES account within about 7 to 10 days, as a pass or fail, along with a diagnostic report if you didn't pass.
Rehearse it
The best preparation for exam day is a full rehearsal: a complete, timed practice exam, taken in one sitting at the same time of day as your appointment, with the scheduled break, the approved calculator and the handbook PDF. You'll find out how your focus holds up over five hours, which is something no amount of topic review can tell you.
Our free practice exam is a good place to run that rehearsal. It's full length and timed, and afterwards you can see how long you spent on each question, which shows exactly where your focus dipped.
Rehearse exam day, free.
FE Civil Practice Exam 1 is full length: 110 timed questions with every solution and handbook reference, plus a breakdown of the time you spent on each question.
- 110 questions, all 14 knowledge areas
- Full solutions, guessing strategies, and distractor analysis
- Your personal performance report including time spent on each question