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NCEES® PE Exam Passing Rates (First Timers and Repeaters)

NCEES® PE Exam Passing Rates (First Timers and Repeaters)

Published: Jan 30, 2026

Check out the most recent NCEES PE exam pass rates. These pass rates help determine how successful the exam has been and based on it.

It is better to weigh your challenge before actually facing it as it can potentially increase your chances of success. The same is the case with making a successful attempt in your PE exam to unlock a bright future as a professional engineer in the US.

The NCEES® PE exam pass rates are made public after each exam cycle. These pass rates can help you acknowledge the overall performance of the preceding batch of PE aspirants. You being a new entrant can weigh the intensity of effort you need to invest in passing your PE exam and what is the likelihood of your success as per the performance stats. You can further assess why some students successfully crack this important exam and some end up otherwise.

Passing the PE exam is the last and most crucial step to becoming a professional engineer in the US. Once you get your PE license after a successful attempt, you can leverage the perks of being a licensed professional engineer in your state.

This article will help you find the PE exam pass rates for all the engineering disciplines and get a clear picture of the overall complexity linked with each subject domain.

Let’s get started.

Key Takeaway NCEES PE Exam Pass Rate Statistics

From 2023 to January 2025, most PE Exam disciplines saw higher first-time pass rates, with notable gains in PE Control Systems Engineering (49% to 62%) and PE Electrical and Computer: Computer Engineering (38% to 67%). While a few areas, like Agricultural and Biological Engineering and Environmental Engineering, saw slight declines, the overall trend shows improved success rates across the board.
From 2023 to January 2025, repeat taker pass rates improved in several PE disciplines, such as Civil: Geotechnical (34% to 46%) and Mechanical: Thermal and Fluids Systems (46% to 66%), but dropped sharply in others, including Electrical and Computer: Computer Engineering (67% to 0%). Overall, the trend is mixed, with gains in some fields and notable declines in others.

NCEES® Exam Pass Rates for Different Disciplines

NCEES® offers two types of patterns to test the candidates’ abilities in their respective areas of study.

Computer-Based Testing (CBT) format
Paper-and-Pencil (P&P) Format

NCEES® is going through some changes as it continues to covert its “then” P&P format exams into CBT formats. For instance, the PE civil exam is most recently converted into CBT format in 2022. As of today, only PE Structural exam is offered in P&P format. NCEES® declares passing rates for each engineering subject separately.

Some exams are measured all year long. These tests are created by NCEES® using a linear-on-the-fly (LOFT) method. This implies that while all examinees for a certain test must answer the same amount of questions in the same areas, no two examinees will receive the same set of questions. The algorithm will create a one-of-a-kind test within the same specification framework (i.e., the same number of questions per topic area) and relative level of difficulty. Other tests with a smaller examinee population are only given once a year. The identical questions are given to all examinees sitting these tests.

PE Exam Passing Rate for First Timers (Updated January 2025 Statistics)

A large number of PE exam candidates become successful in passing their exam on the first attempt. If someone abstains from passing the exam on the first attempt, they have the liberty to try their luck next time. But each candidate is eligible to sit in the PE exam twice a year or they have to wait for a few months for the next year’s slot.

The pass rates for first-timers for the year January 2025 are mentioned below:

PE Exam Discipline	Testing Cycle	Pass Rate (First Attempt)
PE Agricultural and Biological Engineering	Once per year	81%
PE Architectural Engineering	Once per year	58%
PE Chemical Engineering	Year-round	63%
PE Civil: Construction Engineering	Year-round	64%
PE Civil: Geotechnical Engineering	Year-round	64%
PE Civil: Structural Engineering	Year-round	61%
PE Civil: Transportation Engineering	Year-round	61%
PE Civil: Water Resources and Environmental Engineering	Year-round	72%
PE Control Systems Engineering	Once per year	62%
PE Electrical and Computer: Computer Engineering	Once per year	67%
PE Electronics, Controls, and Communications	Once per year	72%
PE Electrical and Computer: Power Engineering	Year-round	61%
PE Environmental Engineering	Year-round	68%
PE Fire Protection Engineering	Once per year	80%
PE Industrial and Systems Engineering	Once per year	62%
PE Mechanical: HVAC and Refrigeration Engineering	Year-round	75%
PE Mechanical: Machine Design and Materials Engineering	Year-round	72%
PE Mechanical: Thermal and Fluids Systems Engineering	Year-round	78%
PE Metallurgical and Materials Engineering	Once per year	67%
PE Mining and Mineral Processing Engineering	Once per year	80%
PE Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering	Once per year	56%
PE Nuclear Engineering	Once per year	54%
PE Petroleum Engineering	Once per year	42%

PE Exam Passing Rate for Repeaters (January 2025)

If a student doesn’t pass the first time, they can always take the exam again. Students can take the test as many times as they want.

The pass rates for repeaters for the year January 2025 are mentioned below:

PE Exam Discipline	Test Availability	Pass Rate (Repeat)
PE Agricultural and Biological Engineering	Once per year	N/A
PE Architectural Engineering	Once per year	20%
PE Chemical Engineering	Year-round	35%
PE Civil: Construction Engineering	Year-round	41%
PE Civil: Geotechnical Engineering	Year-round	46%
PE Civil: Structural Engineering	Year-round	42%
PE Civil: Transportation Engineering	Year-round	42%
PE Civil: Water Resources and Environmental Engineering	Year-round	50%
PE Control Systems Engineering	Once per year	32%
PE Electrical and Computer: Computer Engineering	Once per year	0%
PE Electronics, Controls, and Communications	Once per year	35%
PE Electrical and Computer: Power Engineering	Year-round	42%
PE Environmental Engineering	Year-round	48%
PE Fire Protection Engineering	Once per year	43%
PE Industrial and Systems Engineering	Once per year	39%
PE Mechanical: HVAC and Refrigeration Engineering	Year-round	50%
PE Mechanical: Machine Design and Materials Engineering	Year-round	56%
PE Mechanical: Thermal and Fluids Systems Engineering	Year-round	66%
PE Metallurgical and Materials Engineering	Once per year	33%
PE Mining and Mineral Processing Engineering	Once per year	45%
PE Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering	Once per year	71%
PE Nuclear Engineering	Once per year	0%
PE Petroleum Engineering	Once per year	33%

Strategies to Boost Your PE Exam Success

PE Exam pass rates offer a general idea of historical performance. However, focusing solely on statistics won’t guarantee your success. Here are actionable strategies to significantly increase your chances of taking the exam:

Craft a Personalized Study Plan

The National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) provides recommended study hours for each PE Exam discipline. While these serve as a starting point, create a study plan tailored to your needs. Identify your strengths and weaknesses through practice problems and focus more study time on challenging areas. For instance, a Civil PE candidate might dedicate extra hours to structural analysis problems if they consistently score lower in that section on practice exams.

Practice Makes Progress: Leverage Practice Exams:

Taking practice exams under timed conditions mimics the actual PE Exam experience. This approach reveals knowledge gaps you need to address before exam day. Practice exams also help develop effective test-taking strategies.

Imagine a Chemical PE practice exam reveals time management issues during the breadth portion. By analyzing performance, you can learn to prioritize questions and allocate time more effectively during the actual exam.

Strength in Numbers: Find Your PE Exam Community

The PE Exam journey doesn’t have to be a solo endeavor. Consider forming study groups with colleagues or connecting with online communities devoted to the PE Exam. These groups provide a valuable support system. You can share study resources, discuss confusing concepts, and motivate each other throughout preparation. Studies show that group study can improve information retention and boost confidence on exam day.

A personalized study plan, consistent practice with timed exams, and the support of a study community can significantly improve your chances of PE Exam success and obtaining your engineering license.

If you’re looking for a comprehensive resource for your PE Power exam preparation, explore our PE Exam prep program for PE Power.

Our proven, on-demand content and live training have successfully helped thousands of students pass their PE exam.

How to Pass the PE Exam for the First Time?

It is easier to start Preparation for the PE exam a couple of weeks before than to cram all the material just a few days before the exam. The latter exhaust you and leave you with incomplete preparation and more stress, and ultimately impact your performance in the exam. Therefore you should start studying a little ahead of time so that you can prepare better. It is necessary that you brainstorm effectively and figure out what areas you need to work on more and assign more time for those subjects. You can also take help from seniors and teachers or use FE electrical exam online study guide. Moreover, you should practice free PE practice problems in abundance and complete as many of them as possible.

Students should also stay away from social media sites and utilize most of their time preparation. At the same time, they should take breaks to rest and relax. Studying can be tough and stressful. To help you stay focused and energetic, you need to take short breaks so that you can put 100% effort into the preparation. For additional help, you can also take PE License courses. They can help you with the practice of questions and guide you around the exam pattern, tips to pass, and guidance from professionals. These tips ensure that you pass the PE exam on the first try.

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The NCEES® Scoring Process for CBT Exams

Your PE result is based on the total number of correct answers without any negative marking for wrong answers. Your overall PE exam score is converted into an NCEES® scale that reflects the candidate’s performance compared to the minimum benchmark required to pass the exam. The entire process is based on psychometric statistical methods to evaluate candidates’ performance, subject knowledge, and overall ability. All PE exams are scored via the same scoring process without any discrimination between the fresh candidates or repeaters.

PE Exam Prerequisites

The prerequisites for all PE exams are:

A 4-year degree in engineering from an accredited engineering program.
Passing the fundamental engineering exam (FE Exam).
Completing four years of progressive engineering experience under a PE.

If a student has completed all the above steps, they are eligible to sit for the PE Exam and become a professional engineer.

Frequently Asked Questions:

1 - Which PE exam is the hardest?

As per the available data, PE Electrical and Computer Exam is the hardest among all with the least passing ratio of 49 percent.

2 - Is PE more difficult than FE?

No, the FE exam is much more complex than the PE exam because of a more comprehensive course outline and diversity of subjects. Therefore, it is recommended to attempt your FE exam soon after your graduation with fresh knowledge and a maximum grip on your graduate course. We have covered a separate blog detailing the best time to take the FE exam. Perhaps you’d love to check that out.

3 - How many questions at most does the PE exam have?

The PE Exam comprises two formats. 8 hours Format with 80 questions for Civil, Chemical, Power, Mechanical, & environmental PE exams. And another 8 hours 30 minutes format with 85 questions for the rest of the PE exams.

Conclusion

The NCEES® PE exam pass rate can help you determine how to plan and execute your preparation strategy with more focus on weak points. There are plenty of aspects that you must consider while looking at the PE exam pass rates, such as the disciplines, format, availability, etc.

Start by knowing the passing rates and passing scores of the PE exam to develop a clear understanding of how NCEES® scores the PE exam candidates. This piece of writing was intended to give you complete information in a single place. Now it’s time to plan your study and start working on your PE exam preparation with dedication.

Wasim Asghar - P.E, P.ENG, M.ENG

Licensed Professional Engineer in Texas (PE), Florida (PE) and Ontario (P. Eng) with consulting experience in design, commissioning and plant engineering for clients in Energy, Mining and Infrastructure.