NCEES FE Civil · CBT specification effective July 2020

FE Civil Exam Prep

FE Civil is the most-taken of the seven FE exams by a wide margin, and one of the two hardest to pass on the first try (see FE exam prep for all seven). This FE Civil exam prep guide breaks the NCEES civil blueprint into what's actually tested, shows seven years of civil pass-rate data, and gives you a study order built around where the questions are.

Take the FE Civil practice test See the 14 knowledge areas

First-time pass rate: 61%NCEES FY2025
First-time takers: 16,63940% of all FE first-timers
Repeat pass rate: 32%9,863 repeat takers
Knowledge areas: 14110 questions, 5 hr 20 min

What's on the FE Civil exam: 14 knowledge areas, weighted

NCEES gives every knowledge area a question range. The ranges add up to more than 110, so each exam form picks a count inside every range that totals exactly 110. Read the chart as "at least the dark bar, up to the end of the gold."

Water Resources and Environmental Engineering 10–15
Structural Engineering 10–15
Geotechnical Engineering 10–15
Transportation Engineering 9–14
Mathematics and Statistics 8–12
Statics 8–12
Construction Engineering 8–12
Mechanics of Materials 7–11
Fluid Mechanics 6–9
Surveying 6–9
Engineering Economics 5–8
Materials 5–8
Ethics and Professional Practice 4–6
Dynamics 4–6

Bold rows are civil-practice areas. Source: NCEES FE Civil CBT exam specifications.

Where the 110 questions come from

Group	Questions	Share
Foundations math and statistics, ethics, economics	17–26	~17%
Engineering mechanics statics, dynamics, mechanics of materials, materials, fluids	30–46	~30%
Civil practice surveying, water resources, structural, geotechnical, transportation, construction	53–80	~53%

More than half the exam is civil practice, and no single specialty tops 15 questions. You can't pass FE Civil on your favorite subject. You pass it by having nothing you're lost in.

Every subtopic NCEES lists for FE Civil

Open any knowledge area to see its lettered subtopics, in NCEES's wording.

FE Civil knowledge areas and subtopics
#	Knowledge area and NCEES subtopics	Questions
1	Mathematics and Statistics A. Analytic geometry B. Single-variable calculus C. Vector operations D. Statistics (e.g., distributions, mean, mode, standard deviation, confidence interval, regression and curve fitting)	8–12
2	Ethics and Professional Practice A. Codes of ethics (professional and technical societies) B. Professional liability C. Licensure D. Contracts and contract law	4–6
3	Engineering Economics A. Time value of money (e.g., equivalence, present worth, equivalent annual worth, future worth, rate of return) B. Cost (e.g., fixed, variable, direct and indirect labor, incremental, average, sunk) C. Analyses (e.g., break-even, benefit-cost, life cycle, sustainability, renewable energy) D. Uncertainty (e.g., expected value and risk)	5–8
4	Statics A. Resultants of force systems B. Equivalent force systems C. Equilibrium of rigid bodies D. Frames and trusses E. Centroid of area F. Area moments of inertia G. Static friction	8–12
5	Dynamics A. Kinematics (e.g., particles, rigid bodies) B. Mass moments of inertia C. Force acceleration (e.g., particles, rigid bodies) D. Work, energy, and power (e.g., particles, rigid bodies)	4–6
6	Mechanics of Materials A. Shear and moment diagrams B. Stresses and strains (e.g., diagrams, axial, torsion, bending, shear, thermal) C. Deformations (e.g., axial, torsion, bending, thermal) D. Combined stresses, principal stresses, and Mohr's circle	7–11
7	Materials A. Mix design of concrete and asphalt B. Test methods and specifications of metals, concrete, aggregates, asphalt, and wood C. Physical and mechanical properties of metals, concrete, aggregates, asphalt, and wood	5–8
8	Fluid Mechanics A. Flow measurement B. Fluid properties C. Fluid statics D. Energy, impulse, and momentum of fluids	6–9
9	Surveying A. Angles, distances, and trigonometry B. Area computations C. Earthwork and volume computations D. Coordinate systems (e.g., state plane, latitude/longitude) E. Leveling (e.g., differential, elevations, percent grades)	6–9
10	Water Resources and Environmental Engineering A. Basic hydrology (e.g., infiltration, rainfall, runoff, watersheds) B. Basic hydraulics (e.g., Manning equation, Bernoulli theorem, open-channel flow) C. Pumps D. Water distribution systems E. Flood control (e.g., dams, routing, spillways) F. Stormwater (e.g., detention, routing, quality) G. Collection systems (e.g., wastewater, stormwater) H. Groundwater (e.g., flow, wells, drawdown) I. Water quality (e.g., ground and surface, basic water chemistry) J. Testing and standards (e.g., water, wastewater, air, noise) K. Water and wastewater treatment (e.g., biological processes, softening, drinking water treatment)	10–15
11	Structural Engineering A. Analysis of statically determinant beams, columns, trusses, and frames B. Deflection of statically determinant beams, trusses, and frames C. Column analysis (e.g., buckling, boundary conditions) D. Structural determinacy and stability analysis of beams, trusses, and frames E. Elementary statically indeterminate structures F. Loads, load combinations, and load paths (e.g., dead, live, lateral, influence lines and moving loads, tributary areas) G. Design of steel components (e.g., codes and design philosophies, beams, columns, tension members, connections) H. Design of reinforced concrete components (e.g., codes and design philosophies, beams, columns)	10–15
12	Geotechnical Engineering A. Index properties and soil classifications B. Phase relations C. Laboratory and field tests D. Effective stress E. Stability of retaining structures (e.g., active/passive/at-rest pressure) F. Shear strength G. Bearing capacity H. Foundation types (e.g., spread footings, deep foundations, wall footings, mats) I. Consolidation and differential settlement J. Slope stability (e.g., fills, embankments, cuts, dams) K. Soil stabilization (e.g., chemical additives, geosynthetics)	10–15
13	Transportation Engineering A. Geometric design (e.g., streets, highways, intersections) B. Pavement system design (e.g., thickness, subgrade, drainage, rehabilitation) C. Traffic capacity and flow theory D. Traffic control devices E. Transportation planning (e.g., travel forecast modeling, safety, trip generation)	9–14
14	Construction Engineering A. Project administration (e.g., documents, management, procurement, project delivery methods) B. Construction operations and methods (e.g., safety, equipment, productivity analysis, temporary erosion control) C. Project controls (e.g., earned value, scheduling, allocation of resources, activity relationships) D. Construction estimating E. Interpretation of engineering drawings	8–12

What the heavy FE Civil sections really test

The subtopic list tells you what's allowed. This is our reading of what those subtopics turn into as exam questions, written from the specification and from how FE items are built. Every one of these question types is in the FE Civil practice test.

Water Resources & Environmental (10–15)

The widest civil area, with 11 subtopics. Expect Manning's equation and open-channel flow, the rational method and runoff, pump power and system curves, Darcy's law and well drawdown, and treatment basics like detention time and loading rates. Most questions are single-equation hydraulics with a trap in the units.

Geotechnical (10–15)

A chain: phase relations feed unit weights, unit weights feed effective stress, and effective stress feeds consolidation, lateral earth pressure, and bearing capacity. If phase relations are shaky, every later topic is too, which is why geotech rewards studying in order.

Structural (10–15)

Mostly analysis, not design: reactions, shear and moment, deflection of determinate beams, determinacy and stability, column buckling, and tributary loads. Steel and concrete design questions appear, but they're answered from the handbook's equations, not from a code book.

Transportation (9–14)

Horizontal and vertical curves, stopping sight distance, and traffic flow (speed, density, and flow; Greenshields' model) are the calculation core. Pavement, traffic control, and planning add a few conceptual questions each.

Construction (8–12)

Project controls carry this section: earned value, critical path and float, productivity, and estimating. Expect a few non-calculation questions on delivery methods and on reading drawings, too.

Surveying (6–9)

Short, dependable points: leveling notes, areas by coordinates, earthwork volumes by average end area, and grade calculations. These questions reward a clean setup and punish a sign slip.

FE Civil pass rate history, FY2019–FY2025

FE Civil pass rates by NCEES fiscal year

NCEES fiscal years run Oct 1 – Sep 30. "Other" means takers without an EAC/ABET bachelor's degree; Squared 2025 no longer reports that group. Sources: NCEES Squared 2019–2025; every group and year in FE sources and data.

Show the numbers

	FY19	FY20	FY21	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25
First time	65%	66%	64%	60%	60%	60%	61%
ABET, first	67%	69%	66%	62%	61%	63%	64%
Other, first	59%	59%	57%	55%	56%	51%	—
Repeat	34%	33%	34%	32%	32%	33%	32%

The first-time civil rate sat at 64–66% through FY2021, then dropped to 60% for three straight years before edging back to 61%. NCEES doesn't publish reasons for year-to-year changes, so read the chart as the scale of the challenge, not as a trend to bet on.

Two gaps stay steady year after year. ABET graduates beat the overall first-time rate by 1–3 points. Repeat takers pass at about half the first-time rate, 32–34% every year, so a well-prepared first attempt is worth far more than a "practice run" on the real exam. Use a timed FE exam practice test for that instead.

Fiscal year	First-time takers	Repeat takers	Civil share of FE first-timers
FY2019	15,473	7,131	39%
FY2020	11,455	5,643	39%
FY2021	15,134	7,228	41%
FY2022	13,666	6,958	42%
FY2023	15,017	8,042	43%
FY2024	15,619	9,059	41%
FY2025	16,639	9,863	40%

FY2020 volumes are low because of COVID-19 test-center closures in spring 2020.

An FE Civil study order that follows the points

Study in dependency order: the topics that feed other topics come first, so every week of FE Civil exam prep makes the next week easier. Question counts are the NCEES ranges. The free FE exam prep course follows the same logic, with a drill for each module.

Statics, then mechanics of materials (15–23)
Free-body diagrams, trusses, centroids, and moments of inertia, then shear and moment diagrams, stress, and deflection. Structural analysis is built on both.
Fluid mechanics into water resources (16–24)
Hydrostatics, the energy equation, and momentum first; then Manning, pumps, hydrology, groundwater, and treatment. It's the biggest connected block on the exam.
Geotechnical in chain order (10–15)
Phase relations, effective stress, consolidation, lateral earth pressure, then bearing capacity and slopes. Don't skip ahead.
Structural analysis and design (10–15)
Determinacy, deflection, columns, and loads, then the handbook's steel and concrete design pages.
Transportation and surveying (15–23)
Curves, sight distance, and traffic flow, with leveling, areas, and earthwork. These are formula-driven and fast to learn.
Construction, economics, and ethics (17–26)
Earned value, CPM, estimating, time value of money, and the NCEES Model Rules. They're the cheapest points on the exam, so don't leave them for the last weekend.
Math, statistics, and dynamics throughout (12–18)
Fifteen minutes a day instead of a block, then a full-length timed exam to finish.

For instructors and study-group leads

40% of FE first-timers take civil (16,639 in FY2025). No other FE comes close.
37% of civil attempts in FY2025 were repeats (9,863 people), and that group passed at 32%. Repeat takers need a diagnostic-first plan, not the same lectures again.
Non-ABET first-timers passed civil at 51% in FY2024, against 63% for ABET graduates.
Hours by weight: civil practice is about 53% of the blueprint, so a 60-hour review should give it about 32 hours.

Volumes and rates: NCEES Squared 2024 and 2025. Share of hours: midpoints of the NCEES ranges.

Where FE Civil candidates lose points, and how to avoid it

Most wrong answers on the FE aren't random. They're the number you get from a specific, predictable slip, and examiners write those numbers into the options on purpose. These are the civil slips we build into our wrong options, because they're the ones people actually make.

Effective stress below the water table

\sigma' = \sigma - u,\quad u = \gamma_w\, z_w

Pore pressure starts at the water table, not the ground surface, and soil above the water table uses its moist unit weight, not the saturated or buoyant one. Two of the four options on a typical effective-stress question come from exactly those slips.

Consolidation: Cc versus Cr

S = \dfrac{C_c H}{1+e_0}\log_{10}\dfrac{\sigma'_0+\Delta\sigma}{\sigma'_0}

That form is for normally consolidated clay. If the clay is overconsolidated and the final stress stays below the preconsolidation pressure, use Cr instead. Also watch for log base 10 (not ln) and the (1 + e₀) in the denominator.

Manning's equation in U.S. units

Q = \dfrac{1.486}{n}\,A\,R^{2/3}S^{1/2},\quad R = \dfrac{A}{P}

The 1.486 applies only in USCS units; in SI the constant is 1.0. The hydraulic radius is area over wetted perimeter, and it's not the flow depth unless the channel is very wide.

Horizontal curve stationing

T = R\tan\tfrac{\Delta}{2},\quad L = \dfrac{\pi R\Delta}{180^\circ}

PC = PI − T, and PT = PC + L, measured along the curve. Adding T to the PI station to get the PT is the classic wrong option, because the curve is shorter than the two tangents together.

Earned value signs

CV = EV - AC,\quad SV = EV - PV,\quad CPI = \tfrac{EV}{AC}

Every variance starts from earned value. A negative CV means over budget and a negative SV means behind schedule. Comparing actual cost with planned value tells you nothing on its own.

Beam deflection units

\delta_{\max} = \dfrac{5wL^4}{384\,EI}

With E in ksi and I in in⁴, w must be in kips per inch and L in inches. Leaving w in kips per foot, or L in feet, shifts the answer by a factor of 12 or 1,728, and those are the distractors.

Rational method inputs

Q = C\,i\,A

With i in in./hr and A in acres, Q comes out in ft³/s. Read i at a storm duration equal to the time of concentration, and area-weight C when the watershed has mixed surfaces.

Differential leveling

HI = \text{Elev} + BS,\quad \text{Elev}_{next} = HI - FS

Backsights add and foresights subtract. As a check at the end of a level loop, ΣBS − ΣFS must equal the change in elevation.

Try an FE Civil question: effective stress

This geotechnical question is typical of FE Civil: one figure, two soil layers, and a water table that isn't at the surface. It takes about two minutes if your setup is clean.

Before you open the solution, decide three things. Where does the pore pressure start? Which unit weight applies above the water table? Is the answer total or effective stress? Each wrong option answers one of those questions the wrong way.

For the handbook side of this, like knowing which section holds unit weights and lateral earth pressure, see FE exam study materials. For a full timed paper, go to the FE Civil exam practice test.

Sample: Geotechnical Bloom's level: Apply

The profile shown has 4 ft of sand (γ = 106 lb/ft³) above the water table, over 19 ft of clay (γsat = 127 lb/ft³). The water table is at the top of the clay. The vertical effective stress at point P, 14 ft below the ground surface, is most nearly:

A $820\ \text{lb/ft}^2$
B $1{,}070\ \text{lb/ft}^2$
C $1{,}330\ \text{lb/ft}^2$
D $1{,}690\ \text{lb/ft}^2$

Answer and worked solution

Answer: B.

Total: $\sigma = 106(4) + 127(10) = 1{,}694\ \text{lb/ft}^2$
Pore pressure: $u = \gamma_w(10) = 624.0\ \text{lb/ft}^2$
$\sigma' = \sigma - u = 1{,}070\ \text{lb/ft}^2$

Why the other choices are tempting:

A: Computed pore pressure from the ground surface; it starts at the water table.
C: Applied the buoyant unit weight over the full depth, including the dry sand.
D: Reported the total stress; subtract the pore pressure u = γw × depth below the water table.

📘 FE Reference Handbook › Civil Engineering (geotechnical: effective stress)

FE Civil exam prep FAQ

What is on the FE Civil exam?

110 questions across 14 NCEES knowledge areas. The heaviest are Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, Structural Engineering, and Geotechnical Engineering at 10–15 questions each, then Transportation (9–14). Mathematics and Statistics, Statics, and Construction carry 8–12 each. About 53% of the paper is civil practice; the rest is shared mechanics and fundamentals.

What is the FE Civil pass rate?

61% for first-time takers in NCEES fiscal year 2025 (16,639 people), 64% for first-time takers with an EAC/ABET degree, and 32% for repeat takers. Since FY2019 the first-time rate has ranged from 60% to 66%.

Is the FE Civil exam hard?

By pass rate it's one of the two hardest FE exams: its 61% first-time rate in FY2025 tied Other Disciplines for the lowest of the seven. The difficulty is breadth. You need working knowledge of six civil specialties plus the mechanics under them, at about 2.9 minutes per question.

How many questions are on the FE Civil exam?

110, answered in 5 hours 20 minutes of exam time. You review and submit roughly the first half, then take the optional 25-minute break. The NCEES ranges for the 14 areas add up to 100–152, and each exam form lands on exactly 110.

What is the hardest section of the FE Civil exam?

NCEES doesn't publish section-by-section results, so no one can answer that from data, and anyone who claims to is guessing. What the blueprint does tell you is where the points are: water resources, structural, and geotechnical together carry 30–45 questions. A weak section there costs far more than a weak section in dynamics (4–6).

Are design codes provided on the FE Civil exam?

No. NCEES supplies design standards only for certain PE exams. On the FE Civil, the only reference is the FE Reference Handbook on screen, and the steel and concrete design questions are written to be answered from it. Practice finding those tables in the handbook before exam day.

How long should I study for the FE Civil exam?

A recent civil graduate typically needs 8–12 weeks of steady study; plan longer if you've been out of school for a while, or if your program didn't cover a specialty such as transportation or construction. The FE exam study guide spreads 12 weeks by question weight.

Should I take the FE Civil or the FE Other Disciplines exam?

If you studied civil engineering, take FE Civil: it's written to your curriculum. FE Other Disciplines drops every civil-practice area (surveying, water resources, structural, geotechnical, transportation, and construction) and puts far more weight on dynamics, fluid mechanics, and basic electrical engineering. It suits majors without an FE of their own. Check with your licensing board if you're unsure which exam it expects.

Keep building your FE Civil prep

FE Civil exam practice test110 civil questions on the real clock, scored by knowledge area, with a PDF answer key FE exam study guideA 12-week schedule weighted by NCEES question counts FE exam study materialsThe reference handbook, approved calculators, and official practice exams FE exam prep courseA free self-paced course, and how to judge a paid civil review FE Mechanical exam prepHow the mechanical blueprint differs from civil FE exam prep hubAll seven disciplines, registration, and pass rates