What is on the PE Civil Structural exam?

The PE Civil Structural exam has 80 questions across five knowledge areas in the NCEES specification effective April 2024. Design and Details of Structures - Component Design and Detailing carries 26 to 39 questions, and Analysis of Structures - Forces and Load Effects carries 17 to 26. You answer every question. The exam is closed book, with the PE Civil Reference Handbook and the listed design standards on screen. April 2027 specifications keep the same areas and ranges and update the standards.

Knowledge areas and question ranges

NCEES divides this exam into five knowledge areas, and the counts shown are ranges, not fixed quotas. The low ends of those ranges add up to 70 of the 80 questions, so some items sit above the low end of one or more areas. The specification effective beginning April 2027 uses these same areas and the same ranges. If you are choosing a civil module, compare this breakdown with the other PE Civil modules in which PE Civil exam to take.

Each PE Civil module is computer-based and offered year-round. The appointment runs 9 hours: 2 minutes for the nondisclosure agreement, 8 minutes for the tutorial, 8 hours for the exam, and a scheduled break of 50 minutes. The exam uses both SI and U.S. Customary units. That appointment breakdown sits inside the format of the PE Civil exam.

What each knowledge area covers

Component design and detailing is the largest share of the exam. You size members, connections, and foundations, and you check the details needed to build them. Beams, slabs, and diaphragms work with columns, bearing walls, and shear walls, and the same items treat systems such as trusses, braces, frames, and composite construction. Connections cover bolts, welds, bearing, embedments, and anchors, including anchors installed after the concrete has cured. Foundations include shallow footings, combined footings, slabs, and mats, deep elements such as piers, piles, caissons, and drilled shafts, and retaining walls.

Forces and load effects are the analysis behind that design. You use shear and moment diagrams, and you check axial tension and compression, shear, flexure, and stresses that act together, with deflection included. The area also reaches past routine beam checks into torsion, buckling, fatigue, progressive collapse, deformation from a temperature change, and bearing.

Loads and load applications are the front of that chain. You set dead, live, and construction loads, wind and seismic loads, and moving loads such as vehicles and cranes, along with snow, rain, ice, and impact. Earth pressure and surcharge apply to walls and foundations. You assign tributary areas, follow vertical and lateral load paths, and build the load combinations the design standards require.

Materials and material properties cover what those members are made of and how you show that a material meets its specification. Soil items use classification and properties such as strength, permeability, compressibility, and phase relationships. Concrete may be unreinforced or reinforced, cast-in-place or precast, and pre-tensioned or post-tensioned. Steel may be structural or cold-formed, and the area also includes timber, masonry such as brick veneer and CMU, and the test methods used to check conformance.

Temporary structures and other topics are the smallest area. Expect special inspections and submittals, plus the temporary supports used while the permanent work is incomplete: forms, falsework, scaffolds, shores and reshores, braces, and anchors. Items also ask how construction affects adjacent facilities, and how site, roadside, and work-zone safety is handled.

Design standards supplied with the exam

NCEES supplies the PE Civil Reference Handbook and the structural design standards as electronic files. A question that depends on a standard is scored on the edition listed in the specification, and an answer drawn from any other edition gets no credit. On the exam, each standard is a searchable PDF divided into chapters, only one chapter can be open and searched at a time, and the handbook and the standards stay available for the whole exam. How that library is set up is covered under which references you can use on the PE exam.

For structural, these are the editions effective April 2024 and the editions effective beginning April 2027.

The PCI Design Handbook is the 7th ed. (2010) on the April 2024 exam and the 8th ed. (2017) beginning April 2027. Masonry is TMS 402/602-16, then TMS 402/602-22. The CFR reference is Title 29 Parts 1910 and 1926 (July 2020), then CFR Title 29 (2024). Both specifications allow only ASD for wood. Editions for the other PE Civil modules are summarized in what changes in the PE Civil design standards in April 2027.

PE Civil Structural pass rate

NCEES last updated these PE Civil pass rates in July 2026. For structural, 1624 first-time examinees had a pass rate of 62%, and 847 repeat examinees had a pass rate of 43%. The table places that result next to the other civil modules from the same update.

On every module in this table, the repeat pass rate is lower than the first-time pass rate. The PE exam pass rate page gathers the broader NCEES tables.

How to study with the handbook and the standards

NCEES does not sell printed copies of the handbook, and it does not provide the design standards for study. Publishers sell those standards. The handbook to practice in is version 2.2, the third posting, from December 2025. That PDF is 502 pages.

Solve problems inside that handbook and inside the standard editions that match your exam date, using the April 2024 column or the April 2027 column in the table above as your guide. Practice the file limits you will have on exam day: search one chapter of a standard, then close it before you open a different chapter. The handbook remains available for the whole exam. Because items use both SI and U.S. Customary units, practice both systems, and plan to finish all 80 questions in the 8-hour exam block. One way to organize that work is how to study for the PE exam.

Frequently asked questions

How many questions are on the PE Civil Structural exam?

There are 80 questions, and you answer all of them. They are split across five knowledge areas, with the largest range at 26 to 39 questions and the smallest at 5 to 8. The low ends of the five ranges add up to 70 of the 80 questions. The exam itself lasts 8 hours inside a 9-hour appointment that also includes a 2-minute nondisclosure agreement, an 8-minute tutorial, and a scheduled break of 50 minutes.

What design standards are used on the PE Civil Structural exam?

Under the April 2024 specification, the structural standards are AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications, 8th ed. (2017), IBC 2018, ASCE 7-16, ACI 318-14, the AISC Steel Construction Manual, 15th ed. (2017), the AWC NDS 2018 package, the PCI Design Handbook, 7th ed. (2010), TMS 402/602-16, and CFR Title 29 Parts 1910 and 1926 (July 2020). Wood design on that list is ASD only. Beginning April 2027 the editions are AASHTO 10th ed. (2024), IBC 2024, ASCE 7-22, ACI 318-19 (2022), the AISC 16th ed. (2022), the AWC NDS 2024 package (wind and seismic provisions 2021), the PCI 8th ed. (2017), TMS 402/602-22, and CFR Title 29 (2024), still with ASD only for wood. Scoring uses the edition in the specification that applies to your exam, and other editions receive no credit.

What is the PE Civil Structural pass rate?

As of the NCEES update in July 2026, the structural first-time pass rate was 62% among 1624 examinees. The repeat pass rate was 43% among 847 examinees. In that same update, first-time pass rates for the five PE Civil modules run from 60% to 71%.

Do the structural topics change in April 2027?

The knowledge areas and question ranges in the April 2027 specification are the same as in the April 2024 specification. What changes is the design-standard editions, including ASCE 7-22, ACI 318-19 (2022), IBC 2024, and the AISC Steel Construction Manual, 16th ed. (2022). If your exam uses the April 2027 specification, practice in those newer editions, because an answer based on another edition gets no credit.

Is the PE Civil Structural exam open book?

The exam is closed book. NCEES supplies the PE Civil Reference Handbook, version 2.2, and the listed design standards on the computer. Those references are available for the whole exam. Each design standard opens by chapter, and only one chapter can be open and searched at a time.

Sources

1. NCEES PE Civil: Structural exam specifications, effective April 2024 (PDF). Retrieved October 3, 2026.
2. NCEES: PE Civil exam. Retrieved October 3, 2026.
3. NCEES: PE exam. Retrieved October 3, 2026.