Which FE exam should you take?

Take the FE exam that best matches your undergraduate degree, the rule the Florida board advises when your degree title and your coursework point in different directions. NCEES offers seven FE exams: Chemical, Civil, Electrical and Computer, Environmental, Industrial and Systems, Mechanical, and Other Disciplines, each with its own specification. If no discipline name fits your degree, compare the specifications and start with Other Disciplines.

The seven FE exams

You register for one exam, and that exam’s specification fixes the knowledge areas and the number of questions in each area. NCEES reports first-time volume and pass rate for all seven exams, last updated July 2026.

Civil and Mechanical are the two largest first-time groups, and Other Disciplines has the lowest pass rate in the table. Treat the rate as a description of who took that exam, and use it only after a specification matches your courses. More of the published tables are on the FE exam pass rate page.

Match your degree, then open the specification

Mechanical engineering points to FE Mechanical, civil engineering to FE Civil, and the same logic extends to chemical, electrical and computer, environmental, and industrial and systems degrees. The degree name gets you to the right exam, but the specification is what you are actually tested on.

The civil, environmental, and Other Disciplines specifications used here took effect in July 2020. All three include mathematics, statistics or probability, ethics, and engineering economics, under different area names and question ranges, before they diverge. Stay with the exam that shares your degree name unless another specification clearly follows the courses on your transcript.

Civil, environmental, or Other Disciplines

Compare question ranges when you are choosing between FE Civil and FE Environmental, or when your degree has no discipline exam of its own.

Civil and environmental question counts

On the civil specification, water and environmental topics sit in one knowledge area, Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, 10 to 15 questions. That area covers rainfall and runoff, open-channel hydraulics, pumps, distribution and collection systems, flood and stormwater work, groundwater, water quality, and water and wastewater treatment. The larger blocks beside it are Structural Engineering (10 to 15), Geotechnical Engineering (10 to 15), Transportation Engineering (9 to 14), and Construction Engineering (8 to 12), with Surveying at 6 to 9, Statics at 8 to 12, and Mechanics of Materials at 7 to 11. Dynamics, Materials, and Fluid Mechanics are on that exam as well. The full area list is on FE Civil knowledge areas.

The environmental specification makes water, waste, and air the center of the exam. Water and Wastewater is 12 to 18 questions and covers waste characteristics, mass balances, physical, chemical, and biological treatment, sludge handling, and reuse. Fluid Mechanics and Hydraulics is 12 to 18, Surface Water Resources and Hydrology is 9 to 14, and Groundwater, Soils, and Sediments is 8 to 12. Air Quality and Control is 8 to 12, and Environmental Chemistry and Solid and Hazardous Waste are each 7 to 11. Smaller areas are Fundamental Principles (7 to 11), Health Hazards and Risk Assessment (4 to 6), Energy and Environment (4 to 6), and Thermodynamics (3 to 5).

Ethics and Professional Practice on the environmental exam is 5 to 8 questions and covers public health and safety along with compliance with environmental and workplace regulations. Civil’s Ethics and Professional Practice area is 4 to 6 questions and stays with professional codes, liability, licensure, and contracts. Structural Engineering, Transportation Engineering, Construction Engineering, and Surveying are on the civil specification and are not on the environmental specification. Full environmental ranges are on FE Environmental knowledge areas.

If your degree says civil and your advanced courses were structures, soils, transportation, and construction, FE Civil matches both the diploma and the specification. If your degree says environmental, or your civil program was built around chemistry, treatment, hydrology, air, and waste, FE Environmental is the closer specification. The degree title is the default; the question counts show whether that default fits the courses you can actually answer.

What FE Other Disciplines covers

FE Other Disciplines tests engineering fundamentals across several fields rather than one design specialty. The knowledge areas are Mathematics, Probability and Statistics, Chemistry, Instrumentation and Controls, Engineering Ethics and Societal Impacts, Safety, Health, and Environment, Engineering Economics, Statics, Dynamics, Strength of Materials, Materials, Fluid Mechanics, Basic Electrical Engineering, and Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer. The longest blocks are Fluid Mechanics (12 to 18), Statics (9 to 14), Dynamics (9 to 14), Strength of Materials (9 to 14), and Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer (9 to 14). Safety, Health, and Environment (6 to 9) covers exposure and toxic hazards, protective gear and emergency shutoff, gas monitoring, electrical safety, confined space entry, and hazard labeling. The full list is on FE Other Disciplines knowledge areas.

NCEES reports July 2026 first-time results for this exam by undergraduate degree, and only for degrees with more than 25 examinees:

Naval Architecture and Marine (48 first-time examinees, 83% pass rate) and Nuclear (55 examinees, 65% pass rate) are reported as well. Aside from the mechanical row, these degrees do not have their own FE exam. FE Mechanical, in the table above, shows 5,153 first-time examinees and a 73% pass rate, against 70 mechanical graduates on Other Disciplines at 60%. If your degree is mechanical, the degree-match rule points to FE Mechanical. Choose Other Disciplines when no discipline exam shares your degree name, or when the fundamentals specification is the one your courses support.

Changing your exam after you register

To change discipline, or to change the licensing board on your registration, you cancel and re-register, and the refund is the fee less the $50 administrative fee. Pick the specification before you register so that charge is not the price of an unfinished decision. Cancellation is covered under scheduling, rescheduling, or canceling the FE exam.

Does the FE discipline limit your PE exam?

Your state licensing board decides which PE exam you may take and what you must finish first. NCEES does not issue the PE license; applications for engineer intern (E.I.) certification, and questions about qualifications, go to that board.

In Florida, the board’s engineering exams page says you need an ABET-accredited degree and a passed FE before the PE. Experience is not required to sit for the PE, though the board notes that NCEES data show first-time examinees with at least four years of experience are more likely to pass. The page does not require the FE discipline to match the PE exam you take later, though you should confirm that with your board if you plan to license outside Florida. The two exams use separate specifications, as described in how the FE and PE exams differ.

Frequently asked questions

Can a civil engineering student take FE Environmental?

FE Environmental is one of the seven exams, and you register for it by choosing that discipline. For a civil engineering degree, the Florida board’s advice to pick the discipline closest to your undergraduate degree points to FE Civil. Register for FE Environmental when your courses follow that specification: Water and Wastewater, Fluid Mechanics and Hydraulics, Surface Water Resources and Hydrology, Groundwater, Soils, and Sediments, Air Quality and Control, Environmental Chemistry, and Solid and Hazardous Waste. Your licensing board decides whether the FE you passed meets state qualifications, so confirm with the board if you are outside Florida or your program was a hybrid.

What is FE Other Disciplines for?

FE Other Disciplines is the fundamentals exam, covering mathematics, probability and statistics, chemistry, instrumentation, ethics, safety, economics, statics, dynamics, strength of materials, materials, fluid mechanics, basic electrical engineering, and thermodynamics and heat transfer. NCEES publishes July 2026 first-time results by degree when more than 25 examinees from that degree took it. Reported degrees include Architectural, Biological (not Bio-Medical), Engineering Physics/Engineering Science, General Engineering, Materials, Mining/Mineral, Naval Architecture and Marine, and Nuclear. If your degree already matches a named discipline exam, the Florida rule points you to that exam.

Does my FE discipline have to match my PE?

The Florida board’s engineering exams page does not require your FE discipline to match your PE exam. It requires an ABET-accredited degree and a passed FE before the PE, and it does not require experience to sit for the PE. The board notes that NCEES data show first-time examinees with at least four years of experience are more likely to pass. Qualifications are a board question: E.I. applications go to your state licensing board, not to NCEES, and you should confirm the current rule there.

Can I switch FE disciplines after registering?

Yes. You cancel and re-register to change the exam discipline or the licensing board on your registration, and the refund is the fee less the $50 administrative fee. Settling the specification before you register keeps that fee from coming out of a refund.

Sources

1. NCEES: FE exam. Retrieved October 3, 2026.
2. Florida board: Engineering exams. Retrieved October 3, 2026.
3. NCEES FE Civil CBT exam specifications (PDF). Retrieved October 3, 2026.
4. NCEES FE Environmental CBT exam specifications (PDF). Retrieved October 3, 2026.
5. NCEES FE Other Disciplines CBT exam specifications (PDF). Retrieved October 3, 2026.