FE Civil

Statics, structures, geotechnical, water resources, transportation, surveying, and construction.

Practice questions: 1,900+
Study topics: 14
Study topics: …
Study concepts: 55
Difficulty levels: 3
Mock exams: Unlimited

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What's inside

14 study topics, weighted to the NCEES blueprint — tap any topic to drill it.

Mathematics and Statistics

Analytic geometry, single-variable calculus, vector operations, and statistics including distributions, central tendency, dispersion, confidence intervals, and regression.Ethics and Professional Practice

Professional and technical codes of ethics, professional liability, licensure, and contracts and contract law.Engineering Economics

Time value of money and equivalence, cost types, break-even and benefit-cost and life-cycle analyses, and expected value and risk.Statics

Resultants and equivalent force systems, equilibrium of rigid bodies, frames and trusses, centroids and area moments of inertia, and static friction.Dynamics

Kinematics of particles and rigid bodies, mass moments of inertia, force-acceleration, and work, energy, and power.Mechanics of Materials

Shear and moment diagrams, axial, torsion, bending, shear, and thermal stresses and deformations, and combined and principal stresses with Mohr's circle.Materials

Mix design of concrete and asphalt, test methods and specifications, and physical and mechanical properties of metals, concrete, aggregates, asphalt, and wood.Fluid Mechanics

Fluid properties and statics, flow measurement, and energy, impulse, and momentum of fluids.Surveying

Angles, distances, and trigonometry, area computations, earthwork and volume computations, coordinate systems, and differential leveling and grades.Water Resources and Environmental

10%

Basic hydrology and hydraulics, pumps and water distribution, flood control and stormwater, groundwater, collection systems, water quality, and water and wastewater treatment.Structural Engineering

10%

Analysis and deflection of determinate beams, trusses, and frames, column buckling, determinacy and stability, loads and load paths, and design of steel and reinforced concrete components.Geotechnical Engineering

10%

Index properties and soil classification, phase relations, effective stress, lateral earth pressure, shear strength, bearing capacity, foundations, consolidation and settlement, and slope stability.Transportation Engineering

Horizontal and vertical geometric design, pavement design, traffic capacity and flow theory, traffic control devices, and transportation planning.Construction Engineering

Project administration and delivery methods, construction operations and methods, project controls including earned value and CPM scheduling, estimating, and interpretation of engineering drawings.

See a real question

Straight from the FE Civil bank — 1,900+ questions, every one with a full worked solution.

medium

A. Earned value & CPM scheduling

In the activity-on-node network shown for a storm-sewer replacement, the durations are A 6, B 9, C 14, D 4, E 2, F 7 and G 10 days. A, B and C start at day 0; D follows A and B; E and F follow D; G follows C; E, F and G precede End. The total float of activity D is most nearly:

4 d (correct answer)
7 d
9 d
12 d

Worked solution

Float

= LS - ES = LF - EF

, with

ES

= latest

EF

of the predecessors and

LF

= earliest

LS

of the successors (FE Reference Handbook, Civil Engineering — Construction, Nomenclature). Forward pass:

ES_D = \max(EF_A,\, EF_B) = \max(6,\, 9) = 9

d, so

EF_D = 9 + 4 = 13

d; then

EF_E = 13 + 2 = 15

EF_F = 13 + 7 = 20

and

EF_G = 14 + 10 = 24

d. The project takes

24

d, set by the longest path (C–G). Backward pass:

LS_E = 24 - 2 = 22

and

LS_F = 24 - 7 = 17

d, so

LF_D = \min(22,\, 17) = 17

d (F controls) and

LS_D = 17 - 4 = 13

d. Float of D

= LS_D - ES_D = 13 - 9 = 4

d (equally

LF_D - EF_D = 17 - 13

). Distractors: took the EARLIER finish at D's merge (

ES_D = EF_A = 6

d) in the forward pass, giving 7 d; took the LATER late start at D's burst (

LF_D = LS_E = 22

d) in the backward pass, giving 9 d; and measured D against the SHORTEST path through it (A–D–E) instead of the longest, reversing both rules, giving 12 d.

Difficulty mix

How this bank splits by our own difficulty rating, from quick wins to multi-step problems.

Easy29%
Medium48%
Hard23%

Study handbook

55 concepts — worked theory, key equations, and common pitfalls for every topic.

Sample concept

Statistics: Distributions, Dispersion, and Confidence Intervals

Center and spread, the normal and standard-normal z-transform, confidence intervals for the mean, and least-squares regression with correlation — the FE statistics core.

Statistics on the FE Civil is where data becomes a decision: a batch of concrete cylinders becomes a strength you can specify, a column of survey residuals becomes an uncertainty, a scatter of test points becomes a design line. The problems are not hard, but they are easy to fumble — the population-…

\bar{X}=\dfrac{1}{n}\sum_{i=1}^{n}X_i

Open the study handbook

The FE Civil exam at a glance

Sourced from NCEES — the numbers, not the folklore.

Questions: 110; scored and pretest, one sitting
Exam time: 5h 20m; in a 6h appointment · about 2.9 min per question
First-time pass rate: 61%; 32% for repeat takers · NCEES Squared 2025 (FY2024-25)
NCEES fee: $225; per attempt, paid to NCEES; your state board's fees are separate
Retakes: 3 per 12 months; at most one attempt per testing window
Reference on screen: FE Reference Handbook 10.6; closed book: no notes or references of your own

What NCEES says is on it

Every knowledge area in the official FE Civil specification, with the number of questions NCEES says each one gets. The three heaviest are about 30% of the exam. Share is our arithmetic, not an NCEES figure: each range's midpoint as a percentage of all the midpoints.

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

Sources: NCEES FE Civil exam specification (Effective beginning with the July 2020 examinations) · pass rate: NCEES Squared 2025 (FY2024-25) · fee and retake policy: ncees.org, read 2026-09-15. Your state board sets its own fees and deadlines.

How to prepare for FE Civil

Four steps, in the order that pays off — each one built from this exam's own blueprint.

1
Study to the blueprint, not the textbook
Geotechnical Engineering, Structural Engineering, and Water Resources and Environmental Engineering are about 30% of the exam. Give them that share of your hours — Ethics and Professional Practice is only 4–6 questions.
See every area's question range
2
Practice one area at a time, then mix
Work a knowledge area until its worked solutions stop surprising you, then switch to mixed sets so recognizing the problem type becomes the skill.
Practice FE Civil questions
3
Sit timed mock exams at the real pace
The real exam gives you about 2.9 minutes per question. Full-length timed mocks are the only way to find out whether you can hold that pace for 5h 20m.
Take a mock exam (with a pass)
4
Read what the exam actually asks
The most-taken FE exam is also tied for the lowest first-time pass rate, at 61%. Fourteen knowledge areas, under three minutes a question, and wrong answers that are the right answer to a slightly different problem.
How hard is the FE Civil exam?

Questions, answered

How hard is the FE Civil exam?

NCEES reports a 61% pass rate for first-time takers of FE Civil and 32% for repeat takers in NCEES Squared 2025 (FY2024-25). It is 110 questions in 5h 20m, about 2.9 minutes per question, so pacing matters as much as knowledge. The heaviest areas are Geotechnical Engineering, Structural Engineering, and Water Resources and Environmental Engineering.

What topics are on the FE Civil exam?

NCEES's FE Civil specification lists 14 knowledge areas with a question range for each. The heaviest are Geotechnical Engineering (10–15 questions), Structural Engineering (10–15 questions), and Water Resources and Environmental Engineering (10–15 questions) — together about 30% of the exam. The full list is in the exam-at-a-glance table on this page.

How long is the FE Civil exam?

The FE Civil exam is 110 questions in 5h 20m of exam time, inside a 6h appointment that also covers the nondisclosure agreement, the tutorial and a scheduled break. It is a closed-book, computer-based test offered year-round at Pearson VUE test centers.

What reference material do you get on FE Civil exam day?

The FE Civil exam is closed book. NCEES provides an electronic reference on screen (FE Reference Handbook 10.6). No notes, books or references of your own come into the room; you may bring one NCEES-approved calculator, and an on-screen TI-30XS calculator is also available during the exam. Practicing with that same reference in front of you, so you already know where each method lives, is half the preparation.

How much does the FE Civil exam cost, and can you retake it?

The NCEES fee for the FE Civil exam is $225, paid per attempt when you register through your MyNCEES account; some state licensing boards also charge their own application fee. NCEES allows one attempt per testing window and no more than three attempts in a 12-month period.

What do I get with FE Civil on FE → PE Prep?

1,900+ FE Civil practice questions, every one with a step-by-step worked solution; unlimited full-length timed mock exams weighted to the NCEES blueprint; a 55-concept study handbook, 490+ flashcards, and an AI tutor. Access is a one-time pass for 1, 3, 6 or 12 months — no subscription, no auto-renew — and the free sample questions need no account. Within 7 days, with little or no paid content used, you can ask for a refund, which we consider under the Refund Policy.

Free reading for FE Civil

No account needed — pass rates, worked problems, and what the exam actually asks.

Free FE Civil practice problemsReal questions from the bank, with the figures and full worked solutions.Free FE Civil formula sheet149 key equations by exam topic, each with what it is for and its handbook reference.Which FE exam should you take? Other Disciplines vs your majorFE Other Disciplines ties for the lowest first-time pass rate of the seven FE exams, not the highest, and half of it is mechanics. All seven compared on the published specifications.How hard is the FE Civil exam?The most-taken FE exam is also tied for the lowest first-time pass rate, at 61%. Fourteen knowledge areas, under three minutes a question, and wrong answers that are the right answer to a slightly different problem.FE Civil practice problems: what the exam actually asksThree FE Civil practice problems worked in full (horizontal curve length, traverse area by coordinates, total float), and why the hardest wrong answers are other correct properties of the same figure.

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