NCEES Fundamentals of Engineering · EIT
The Fundamentals of Engineering exam is the first licensing exam on the road to a PE license, and the one that decides whether you can call yourself an EIT. This is free FE exam prep built around the way NCEES actually writes and scores it: an FE exam practice test laid out by your discipline's blueprint, drills for every knowledge area, an FE exam study guide, and plain answers about registering, the rules, and the numbers.
Every FE shares mathematics, ethics, and engineering economics. After that the seven papers have little in common, so the first real decision in FE exam prep is which blueprint you're studying. 41,422 people took an FE for the first time in NCEES's latest reporting year, and the pass rates below are theirs.
Material and energy balances are the biggest single section (10–15 questions), and reaction engineering, mass transfer, heat transfer, and process design each outweigh mathematics (6–9). Seventeen knowledge areas, tied for the most of any FE.
By far the most-taken FE. Water resources, structural, and geotechnical each carry 10–15 questions and transportation 9–14, so the paper is broad and flat: there is no single section you can bank on.
Mathematics and circuit analysis carry 11–17 questions each. Past those two, the paper spans power, electronics, digital and computer systems, signals, communications, networks, and software engineering.
Fluid mechanics and hydraulics, and water and wastewater, each carry 12–18 questions. Ethics weighs more here (5–8) than on the civil or mechanical exam, so it isn't a section to skip.
The smallest FE by volume. Probability and statistics is the heaviest section (10–15), and engineering economics runs 9–14, more than twice its weight on the mechanical exam.
The highest first-time pass rate of the seven in FY2025. Six sections (statics, dynamics and vibrations, mechanics of materials, fluids, thermodynamics, and mechanical design) each carry 9–15 questions.
For engineering majors outside the six named exams. Fluid mechanics is the heaviest section (12–18), with chemistry, instrumentation, and basic electrical engineering alongside the core mechanics.
Pass rates: all first-time takers, NCEES fiscal year October 1, 2024 – September 30, 2025, NCEES Squared 2025, p. 10. Question ranges: NCEES CBT exam specifications, effective July 2020.
The FE is a computer-based exam taken year-round at Pearson VUE test centers. The appointment runs 5 hours 55 minutes: a 2-minute nondisclosure agreement, an 8-minute tutorial, 5 hours 20 minutes of exam time, and a 25-minute scheduled break.
The whole 320 minutes is yours from the start; no section has its own clock. After roughly half of the 110 questions you're asked to review and submit them, and once you do, you can't see them again. Then you can take the break. Come back late and the overrun comes off your remaining time; come back early and the unused minutes don't carry over.
Most questions are standard multiple choice, but expect some alternative item types too, such as picking every correct answer or typing a number. The only reference is the current FE Reference Handbook, shown on screen as a searchable PDF next to the question on a 24-inch monitor. You bring one NCEES-approved calculator; Pearson supplies a reusable booklet and marker for scratch work.
Pacing works out to about 2.9 minutes a question. The FE exam practice test uses the same clock, halfway submit, and break, so you can learn where your time really goes before test day.
Source: NCEES Examinee Guide, May 2026 edition.
| Exam | First time | Repeat | First time, EAC/ABET degree |
|---|---|---|---|
| FE Chemical | 68% of 1,873 | 35% | 69% |
| FE Civil | 61% of 16,639 | 32% | 64% |
| FE Electrical and Computer | 64% of 5,882 | 31% | 67% |
| FE Environmental | 67% of 2,543 | 37% | 70% |
| FE Industrial and Systems | 62% of 547 | 25% | 64% |
| FE Mechanical | 69% of 11,552 | 37% | 72% |
| FE Other Disciplines | 61% of 2,386 | 29% | 64% |
Two patterns hold across every discipline. First, repeat takers pass at roughly half the first-time rate, so a real first attempt is worth far more than a practice run on the actual exam. Second, graduates of EAC/ABET-accredited programs do a few points better than the overall field, which is what you'd expect from a paper written to that curriculum.
NCEES fiscal year October 1, 2024 – September 30, 2025. NCEES Squared 2025, p. 10. Seven years of history by discipline: FE exam pass-rate data.
The material fades fast. First-time ABET takers who sat the FE within a year of graduating passed at nearly the same rate as those who took it before, and the rate falls about seven points after that. If you're a senior or a recent grad, the best time to take the FE is soon.
Bars start at 55%. First-time takers from ABET-accredited programs, member boards only, 2014–25 data. NCEES Squared 2025, p. 15.
Your licensing board decides whether you can test (for example, before graduating). The name on the account must match your government-issued ID exactly. The same account is where you download the FE Reference Handbook.
Choose your discipline and licensing board and pay NCEES online. Changing discipline later means canceling and re-registering, with a $50 administrative fee.
Once your board approves you, NCEES emails you. You then have 12 months to test. Book a Pearson VUE appointment at least one business day ahead; early is better, since seats go first come, first served.
Take one full-length practice exam early to see where you stand, then put your hours into the heavy sections you're weakest in. The free FE exam prep course sequences it module by module.
Arrive 30 minutes early with your ID and approved calculator. A fail comes with a diagnostic report by knowledge area; you can retest once per quarterly window, and no more than three times in any 12 months.
Passing the FE doesn't make you an EIT on its own. Many boards ask you to apply for the designation separately. From there you build the supervised experience your board requires before the PE.
Everything else stays in the locker: phones, smartwatches, other watches, bags, notes, pens and pencils, food, and drinks. The full list of approved calculators is on the FE exam study materials page.
Source: NCEES Examinee Guide, May 2026 edition, sections 1–3.
Engineering economics is on all seven FE exams, from 4–6 questions on mechanical up to 9–14 on industrial. It's also one of the most reliable places to pick up points, because the method barely changes: pick the right interest factor from the handbook table, keep the cash-flow timing straight, and compare alternatives on the same basis.
The sample on this page is the kind examiners like best: two pumps with different service lives. Most wrong answers come from comparing present worths over unequal lives, which quietly favors the shorter-lived pump. Work it out before you open the solution.
Every question in the practice tests is built this way, with wrong options that are the result of a specific mistake, and a worked solution that tells you which one you made.
| Pump X | Pump Y | |
|---|---|---|
| First cost | $60,000 | $75,000 |
| Annual operating cost | $7,500 | $3,500 |
| Salvage value | $6,500 | $10,000 |
| Service life | 5 years | 9 years |
Answer: D.
Why the other choices are tempting:
📘 FE Reference Handbook › Engineering Economics (factor formulas and interest tables)