PE

PE Civil: Structural

Loads and structural analysis, plus steel, concrete, masonry, timber, and foundation design.

Exam topics: 14
Study concepts: 66
Difficulty levels: 3
Mock exams: Unlimited

Practice questions Take a mock exam Study concepts Flashcards

What's inside

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

Dead, live, and construction loads; tributary areas and vertical and lateral load paths; live-load reduction; earth pressure and surcharge; and ASCE 7 strength and allowable-stress load combinations.Wind, Seismic & Environmental Loads

8%

Wind pressures and forces, seismic base shear and vertical distribution of lateral force, snow, rain, and ice loads, impact and moving (vehicular and crane) loads, and their delivery to the lateral system.

Structural Analysis

13%

Reactions and determinacy, shear and moment diagrams, axial force, internal forces in beams and frames, combined normal and shear stresses, and the behavior of statically indeterminate members.

Deflection

5%

Beam and frame deflections by double integration, moment-area, conjugate-beam, and virtual-work methods; standard deflection formulas for common loadings; and serviceability deflection limits.

Buckling, Torsion & Special Effects

6%

Euler and inelastic column buckling, effective length, torsion of shafts and members, fatigue, thermal deformation, bearing, and progressive-collapse considerations.

Structural Materials & Testing

8%

Engineering properties of concrete, steel, timber, and masonry; stress-strain behavior and modulus; concrete strength and mix; and material test methods (compression, tension, slump) and specification conformance.

Soil Properties & Classification

5%

Phase relationships and index properties, USCS and AASHTO classification, shear strength, permeability, compressibility and consolidation, lateral earth-pressure coefficients, and bearing-capacity parameters.

Reinforced & Prestressed Concrete

9%

ACI flexural and shear strength of beams and one-way slabs, reinforcement ratio limits and development length, short-column axial capacity, and prestressed-concrete service stresses and prestress losses.

Structural Steel Design

9%

AISC tension, compression, flexure, and shear member strength by LRFD and ASD, block shear, lateral-torsional buckling, beam-column interaction, and composite-beam behavior.

Timber (Wood) Design

4%

NDS allowable-stress design of sawn-lumber and glulam beams and columns, adjustment factors, bending and horizontal shear, bearing, stability, and combined bending and axial loads.

Masonry Design

4%

TMS allowable-stress design of reinforced and unreinforced CMU and brick: flexure, shear, axial and slender-wall capacity, reinforcement, and brick-veneer anchorage.

Connections

6%

Bolted and welded steel connections, bearing and slip-critical bolts, weld strength, block shear, and embedded, anchored, and post-installed anchors in concrete.

Foundations & Retaining Walls

8%

Bearing capacity and settlement of spread footings, combined footings and mats, pile and drilled-shaft capacity, and retaining-wall stability against sliding, overturning, and bearing.

Temporary Structures & Safety

6%

Formwork and falsework lateral pressures, shoring and reshoring, scaffolding and bracing, anchorage, special inspections and submittals, construction impact on adjacent facilities, and OSHA construction safety.

See a real question

Straight from the PE Civil: Structural bank — every question has a full worked solution.

medium

Forces & Load Effects — diagrams, reactions, determinacy

A simply supported beam of span

L=24

ft carries a uniform load

w=2

k/ft over its full length plus a concentrated load

P=12

k located

a=6

ft from support A. The maximum shear magnitude in the beam is most nearly:

27 kip
33 kip (correct answer)
9 kip
24 kip

Worked solution

Reactions:

R_A=wL/2+Pb/L=33

k,

R_B=wL/2+Pa/L=27

Difficulty mix

Balanced like the real exam — from quick wins to multi-step problems.

Easy26%
Medium49%
Hard24%

Study handbook

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

Sample concept

ASCE 7 Load Combinations (LRFD & ASD)

The ASCE 7-16 strength (LRFD) and allowable-stress (ASD) load combinations, how to find the one that governs a member, and the 1.0W wind factor.

Almost every PE Civil Structural design problem begins by turning a list of nominal loads — dead, live, roof live, snow, wind, seismic, rain, earth — into the single factored demand a member must resist. That step is the load combination, and it is where points quietly leak away: examinees pick the…

U = 1.2D + 1.6L + 0.5(L_r\ \text{or}\ S\ \text{or}\ R)

Open the study handbook

On exam day

80

scored + pretest questions

8h

of exam time, in a 9h appointment

PE

closed-book, computer-based test

Reference

PE Civil Reference Handbook + ACI 318, AISC, ASCE 7, IBC, AASHTO LRFD, NDS, TMS

Questions, answered

What do I get with PE Civil: Structural?

Everything for PE Civil: Structural in one place: the full question bank with step-by-step worked solutions, unlimited full-length timed mock exams built to the NCEES blueprint, a searchable study handbook, quick-review flashcards, progress tracking, and an AI tutor for anything you get stuck on.

How is the real exam structured?

80 questions in 8h of exam time, inside a 9h appointment that also covers the nondisclosure agreement, the tutorial and a scheduled break. It is a closed-book computer-based test, with the PE Civil Reference Handbook + ACI 318, AISC, ASCE 7, IBC, AASHTO LRFD, NDS, TMS supplied on screen. Our mock exams mirror that format so test day feels familiar.

What are the flashcards for?

Quick-review cards for the formulas, definitions, and concepts you need to recall fast — ideal for short sessions and last-week review alongside the full question bank.

How does a pass work?

A pass is a one-time payment — no subscription, no auto-renew. Pick the access window you need (1, 3, 6, or 12 months); passes stack if you want more time.

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Practice questions

k. Max shear

=\max(R_A,R_B)=33

kip, just inside that support. Distractors: took the smaller reaction; used the UDL-only shear

wL/2

; and used only the point-load reaction.