Which FE exam should you take? Other Disciplines vs your major
Most people asking this have already heard that FE Other Disciplines is the easy one. NCEES's own figures say the opposite: it passes 61% of first-time takers, tied with FE Civil for the lowest of the seven FE exams, while FE Mechanical passes 69%. And "Other Disciplines" is not a general-knowledge paper — 48% of it is statics, dynamics, strength of materials, fluids and thermal. This page puts all seven exams and their published knowledge areas side by side so the choice is made on content.
· by the FE to PE Prep team
7
FE exams
110
Questions, each
5h 20m
Exam time
$225
NCEES fee
All seven FE exams, by first-time pass rate
From NCEES Squared 2025, the "Overall takers" table, covering FY2024-25 — NCEES's fiscal year, 2024-10-01 to 2025-09-30. Read the volumes beside the rates: a rate measured on a few hundred people moves several points a year, and one measured on sixteen thousand does not.
| Exam | First-time | Repeat | First-time examinees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FE Mechanical | 69% | 37% | 11,552 |
| FE Chemical | 68% | 35% | 1,873 |
| FE Environmental | 67% | 37% | 2,543 |
| FE Electrical and Computer | 64% | 31% | 5,882 |
| FE Industrial and Systems(we do not cover this one) | 62% | 25% | 547 |
| FE Civil | 61% | 32% | 16,639 |
| FE Other Disciplines | 61% | 29% | 2,386 |
Two things are worth taking from this table and nothing else is. First, FE Other Disciplines sits at the bottom, level with FE Civil, not at the top — whatever else is true, it is not a shortcut. Second, the whole band is only 8 points wide, far narrower than the gap between a prepared candidate and an unprepared one. A pass rate is a fact about a population of candidates; you are one candidate, and the exam whose questions you can already read is worth more to you than any of those points.
What “Other Disciplines” actually contains
This is the section that changes minds, and it is just the published specification. Here are all 14 knowledge areas of the FE Other Disciplines exam, with the question range NCEES prints for each.
| Knowledge area | Questions |
|---|---|
| Fluid Mechanics | 12–18 |
| Dynamics | 9–14 |
| Statics | 9–14 |
| Strength of Materials | 9–14 |
| Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer | 9–14 |
| Mathematics | 8–12 |
| Basic Electrical Engineering | 6–9 |
| Engineering Economics | 6–9 |
| Materials | 6–9 |
| Probability and Statistics | 6–9 |
| Safety, Health, and Environment | 6–9 |
| Chemistry | 5–8 |
| Engineering Ethics and Societal Impacts | 5–8 |
| Instrumentation and Controls | 4–6 |
The five shaded rows are the mechanics and thermofluids core: 48–74 of 110 questions, roughly 48% of the paper on NCEES's midpoints — our arithmetic on their published ranges, not an NCEES figure. Basic Electrical Engineering is 6–9 questions.
The concrete version of that
An electrical engineering graduate who sits FE Other Disciplines to avoid a "hard" discipline exam is trading 11–17 circuit-analysis questions on FE Electrical and Computer for 6–9 electrical questions on FE Other — and picking up 48–74 questions of statics, dynamics, strength of materials, fluids and thermal in exchange. The same trade runs the other way for a mechanical graduate, which is why FE Other Disciplines suits some candidates genuinely well. The exam is not general. It has a centre of gravity, and it is mechanical.
How to choose, in four steps
- 1.Start from your transcript, not from pass rates. The exam whose largest knowledge areas match the courses you spent two years on is the exam where the cheapest points are. Open the specification for the two you are weighing and compare the top five areas of each.
- 2.Ignore a pass-rate gap of a few points. The seven exams span 8 points and each rate is a different population of candidates, not a difficulty score. There is no exam on this list you can pass by picking it.
- 3.If your degree has no matching exam — biomedical, agricultural, engineering management, a general engineering programme — FE Other Disciplines is built for you, and you should sit it knowing it leans mechanical rather than expecting a broad survey.
- 4.Then ask your state licensing board, because the board sets what it will accept and boards differ. We do not publish a rule about matching your degree to your exam, because we hold no primary source for one that is true everywhere.
The six exams we cover, side by side
Each card: the published first-time pass rate, the largest knowledge area from the specification, and who the exam is written for. Every one has ten free problems with worked solutions and a free formula sheet, so you can test the fit before deciding anything.
FE Mechanical
69% first-time · 37% repeat
Mechanical, aerospace and most manufacturing coursework. The heaviest four areas — dynamics, fluids, mechanical design, thermodynamics — are the ones a mechanical curriculum spends two years on.
14 knowledge areas. Largest: Dynamics, Kinematics, and Vibrations, 10–15 questions.
FE Chemical
68% first-time · 35% repeat
Chemical, biochemical and process engineering. Material and energy balances lead, and the exam keeps the chemistry, mass transfer and reaction engineering a general paper drops almost entirely.
17 knowledge areas. Largest: Material/Energy Balances, 10–15 questions.
FE Environmental
67% first-time · 37% repeat
Environmental, water-resources and some civil coursework. Fluid mechanics and water/wastewater are the two largest areas; the chemistry here is applied environmental chemistry, not general chemistry.
15 knowledge areas. Largest: Fluid Mechanics and Hydraulics, 12–18 questions.
FE Electrical and Computer
64% first-time · 31% repeat
Electrical, computer and software engineering. Circuit analysis and mathematics are the two largest areas, and it is the only FE exam carrying digital systems, communications and software engineering as knowledge areas of their own.
17 knowledge areas. Largest: Circuit Analysis (DC and AC Steady State), 11–17 questions.
FE Civil
61% first-time · 32% repeat
Civil, structural, geotechnical and transportation coursework. Geotechnical, structural and water resources are its three largest areas at 10–15 questions each, and it is the only FE exam that tests surveying.
14 knowledge areas. Largest: Geotechnical Engineering, 10–15 questions.
FE Other Disciplines
61% first-time · 29% repeat
Degrees with no discipline exam of their own — biomedical, agricultural, general and engineering-management programmes — and anyone whose coursework really was the broad mechanics core.
14 knowledge areas. Largest: Fluid Mechanics, 12–18 questions.
FE Industrial and Systems is the seventh NCEES exam and we do not sell a bank for it, which is why it appears in the table above and not here. It had 547 first-time examinees in the period — the smallest of the seven.
Once you have picked
How long to study for the FE exam
A week-by-week plan with the hours budgeted by the NCEES question weights.
FE exam cost, format and scheduling
What the $225 covers, what the six-hour appointment contains, and why the four testing windows are not exam dates.
How hard is the FE exam?
What the pass rates mean once you read the repeat column beside them.
NCEES pass rates for every FE and PE exam
One sourced table, FE and PE, with the exact reporting period.
Common questions
- Is FE Other Disciplines easier than the other FE exams?
- Not by the published numbers. 61% of first-time takers pass FE Other Disciplines, which is the lowest first-time rate of the seven FE exams alongside FE Civil, against 69% for FE Mechanical. Its repeat rate, 29%, is also near the bottom. Pass rates describe the people who sit an exam as much as the exam itself, so this is not proof that Other is harder — but there is no published evidence that it is the soft option, and that belief is the single most common reason candidates pick it.
- What is actually on the FE Other Disciplines exam?
- Mostly mechanics. Its five largest knowledge areas are Fluid Mechanics, Dynamics, Statics, Strength of Materials, Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer: together 48–74 of the 110 questions, about 48% of the paper by NCEES's own midpoints, which is our arithmetic on their ranges. Basic Electrical Engineering is 6–9 questions. "Other Disciplines" is a general engineering-science exam with a mechanical centre of gravity, not a paper of easy general knowledge.
- Can I take an FE exam that does not match my degree?
- Registration is made through your MyNCEES account and your state licensing board sets the requirements you have to meet, so the rules that bind you are your board's. We hold no primary source for a general NCEES or board rule tying the exam to the degree, and boards differ enough that we will not print one — ask your board before you assume either way. What is worth deciding on the content is which exam you would actually score best on, and that is what the knowledge areas answer.
- Which FE exam has the highest pass rate?
- FE Mechanical, at 69% for first-time takers in FY2024-25, from 11,552 first-time examinees. The seven exams sit in a 61–69% band. That spread is small enough that the exam matching your coursework beats the exam with the better headline rate almost every time — you are one candidate, not a population average.
- Are all the FE exams the same length, format and cost?
- Yes. Every FE exam is 110 questions in 5h 20m of exam time inside a 6h appointment, computer-based at a Pearson VUE centre, closed book with the FE Reference Handbook 10.6 as the only on-screen reference. The NCEES fee is $225 per attempt for all of them, and NCEES allows one attempt per testing window and no more than three attempts in a 12-month period. Only the content differs — which is why this decision is entirely about which questions you want in front of you.
Build your study plan
Tell us how long you have. We'll budget your hours across every knowledge area using the official NCEES question weights — the heaviest areas get the most time, which is the opposite of how most people study.
Test the fit before you commit
Ten free problems for every FE exam, with figures and full worked solutions, no account needed. Sit ten from each of the two you are weighing and the choice usually makes itself.
Pass rates and examinee counts: NCEES Squared 2025, the "Overall takers" table, FY2024-25 (2024-10-01 to 2025-09-30). Knowledge areas and question ranges: the official NCEES FE CBT exam specifications. Format, fee and retake policy: ncees.org, read 2026-09-15. The mechanics share of FE Other Disciplines, and every judgement here about who should sit which exam, are ours and are labelled as ours. Eligibility to sit a given exam is set by your state licensing board, not by this page. Independent study resource; not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NCEES.