What is on the FE Civil exam?
The FE Civil exam has 110 questions, lasts 5 hours and 20 minutes, and is closed book with an electronic reference. The civil specification, effective with the July 2020 exams, lists 14 knowledge areas. Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, Structural Engineering, and Geotechnical Engineering are the largest, each with 10 to 15 questions, and Transportation Engineering follows at 9 to 14. The low ends of all 14 ranges add up to 100 of the 110 questions.
FE Civil topics and how many questions each can have
The names and ranges below come from the FE Civil specification, and the number of questions in an area falls somewhere inside its range, so prepare the topic across that whole span. Read the high end as the most that area can contribute and the low end as the fewest.
| Knowledge area | Questions |
|---|---|
| Mathematics and Statistics | 8 to 12 |
| Ethics and Professional Practice | 4 to 6 |
| Engineering Economics | 5 to 8 |
| Statics | 8 to 12 |
| Dynamics | 4 to 6 |
| Mechanics of Materials | 7 to 11 |
| Materials | 5 to 8 |
The rest of the specification:
| Knowledge area | Questions |
|---|---|
| Fluid Mechanics | 6 to 9 |
| Surveying | 6 to 9 |
| Water Resources and Environmental Engineering | 10 to 15 |
| Structural Engineering | 10 to 15 |
| Geotechnical Engineering | 10 to 15 |
| Transportation Engineering | 9 to 14 |
| Construction Engineering | 8 to 12 |
Which FE Civil topics have the most questions
Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, Structural Engineering, and Geotechnical Engineering can each take more questions than any other area. Transportation Engineering sits just behind that group. Those four are the core of a civil study plan.
Water questions run from rainfall, infiltration, and runoff through open channel flow, pumps, and distribution systems, then into floods, stormwater detention, collection systems, wells and drawdown, and treatment of drinking water and wastewater. Basic water chemistry and the tests used for water, wastewater, air, and noise sit in the same area.
Structural questions focus on determinate beams, frames, trusses, and columns, including deflections, stability, and how dead, live, lateral, and moving loads travel through a system, plus a smaller share of indeterminate behavior. Design shows up as steel beams, columns, tension members, and connections, and as reinforced concrete beams and columns.
Geotechnical questions move from classification, phase relationships, and lab and field tests to effective stress, shear strength, lateral pressure on retaining structures, bearing capacity, and foundation type, then to settlement, slopes, and ground improvement. For a worked set on one calculation in that area, use the problems on effective stress in soil.
Construction Engineering belongs in the same main block as Statics and Mechanics of Materials, and it covers delivery methods and project administration, field operations, safety, equipment productivity, scheduling, earned value, estimating, and reading drawings. Statics covers resultants, equilibrium, frames and trusses, centroids, area moments of inertia, and friction. Trusses also show up in Structural Engineering, and a solved set on truss member forces ties those two areas together. Mechanics of Materials covers shear and moment diagrams, stress and deformation from axial load, bending, shear, torsion, and temperature, and combined stress with Mohr’s circle.
Fluid Mechanics and Surveying are mid-sized: fluids covers properties, fluid statics, flow measurement, and energy and momentum methods, while surveying covers angles and distances, areas, earthwork volumes, state plane coordinates, latitude and longitude, and leveling. Materials covers mix design for concrete and asphalt, plus properties and test methods for metals, concrete, aggregates, asphalt, and wood. Dynamics is the short mechanics area: kinematics, mass moment of inertia, force and acceleration, and work and energy for particles and rigid bodies.
Mathematics, ethics, and economics on the FE Civil exam
Mathematics and Statistics is analytic geometry, single-variable calculus, and vector operations, plus statistics: how values are distributed, mean and spread, confidence intervals, and curve fitting. Ethics and Professional Practice, the shortest area on the specification, covers codes published by professional and technical societies, professional liability, licensure, and how contracts assign duties. Engineering Economics is time value of money (present worth, annual worth, future worth, and rate of return), cost types, comparisons such as break-even, benefit-cost, and life cycle analysis, and simple choices under uncertainty.
If you are lining this list up with another discipline, see which topics are on every FE exam.
Which handbook chapters you need for FE Civil
FE Reference Handbook 10.6 is the edition with the page openings below. Civil Engineering starts on page 265 and Environmental Engineering on page 318, and those two chapters hold the discipline-heavy topics: structures, geotech, transportation, construction, surveying, and water.
Statics starts on page 95, Dynamics on page 102, Mechanics of Materials on page 130, Materials Science on page 117, and Fluid Mechanics on page 181. Mathematics starts on page 36 and Engineering Probability and Statistics on page 64, while Engineering Economics starts on page 235 and Ethics and Professional Practice on page 4. Units and Conversion Factors starts on page 1, Safety starts on page 15, and the index starts on page 467.
During practice, open formulas from those pages so the search is familiar on exam day. Read how to use the FE Reference Handbook during the exam while you still have time to build that habit.
First-time FE Civil pass rate
NCEES last updated its FE pass-rate table in July 2026, and for first-time takers, FE Civil shows a volume of 6,247 and a pass rate of 66%. That is the largest first-time volume in the table. Background on these first-time rates is on what the FE exam pass rate is.
| Discipline | First-time volume | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| Chemical | 743 | 68% |
| Civil | 6,247 | 66% |
| Electrical and Computer | 1,782 | 70% |
| Environmental | 1,063 | 71% |
| Industrial and Systems | 259 | 67% |
| Mechanical | 5,153 | 73% |
| Other Disciplines | 921 | 61% |
How to order your FE Civil study
One way to split your study, and the order we suggest, follows the question ranges. It is a planning choice, and you can swap neighbors when a course is already fresh.
- Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, Structural Engineering, and Geotechnical Engineering (10 to 15 each).
- Transportation Engineering (9 to 14).
- Mathematics and Statistics, Statics, and Construction Engineering (8 to 12 each).
- Mechanics of Materials (7 to 11).
- Fluid Mechanics and Surveying (6 to 9 each).
- Materials and Engineering Economics (5 to 8 each).
- Dynamics and Ethics and Professional Practice (4 to 6 each).
Give the first groups more days. Keep the 4 to 6 question areas on a short weekly rotation so you still recognize them on exam day. Pair each group with the handbook chapter you will search, then with problems. When you want that order on a calendar, fold it into how to study for the FE exam in 60 days.
Frequently asked questions
How many questions are on the FE Civil exam?
The FE Civil exam has 110 questions, and you have 5 hours and 20 minutes to answer them across 14 knowledge areas, each with its own range. The low ends of the ranges add up to 100 of the 110 questions, on this specification and on every other FE specification. Inside a single area, the count can land anywhere between that area’s low end and high end.
What is the hardest part of the FE Civil exam?
The specification publishes question ranges and leaves difficulty to the person sitting the exam. The widest ranges are Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, Structural Engineering, and Geotechnical Engineering, each 10 to 15 questions, then Transportation Engineering at 9 to 14. An early-course topic you rarely use can feel harder than a larger area you still practice at work. Give the wide ranges the most practice, and keep Dynamics and Ethics and Professional Practice in the rotation so you still recognize those questions.
What is the FE Civil pass rate?
In the NCEES table last updated July 2026, 66% of first-time FE Civil takers passed, out of 6,247 first-time examinees. In that same table, first-time pass rates for the other disciplines run from 61% for Other Disciplines to 73% for Mechanical. The figure describes that published group of first-time takers.
Which handbook chapters matter for FE Civil?
In FE Reference Handbook 10.6, the chapters to know first are Civil Engineering on page 265 and Environmental Engineering on page 318. Statics (page 95), Dynamics (page 102), Mechanics of Materials (page 130), Fluid Mechanics (page 181), and Materials Science (page 117) cover the mechanics and materials areas. Mathematics (page 36), Engineering Probability and Statistics (page 64), Engineering Economics (page 235), and Ethics and Professional Practice (page 4) cover the opening areas of the specification. The index starts on page 467 when you need a formula and cannot remember the chapter.
Sources
- NCEES FE Civil CBT exam specifications (PDF). Retrieved October 3, 2026.
- NCEES: FE exam. Retrieved October 3, 2026.
- NCEES FE Reference Handbook 10.6 (free PDF in MyNCEES). Retrieved October 3, 2026.