USA guide to chartership
In the US, registration or licensure of Professional Engineers is performed by individual states, and it’s only valid in that particular state. That’s why many Professional Engineers maintain licenses in several different states.
The National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) website contains current general licensing requirements and exam topics.
The licensing procedure varies but the general process is:
- You’ll graduate with a degree from an ABET accredited four-year university program in engineering.
- You’ll complete a standard Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) written exam. Completion of the first two steps will qualify you as an Engineer-In-Training (EIT), sometimes also called an Engineer Intern (EI).
- You’ll accumulate a certain amount of engineering experience under the supervision of a Professional Engineer (P.E.) In most states, the requirement is four years but in others it’s lower.
- You’ll complete a written Principles and Practice in engineering (PE) examination, testing knowledge and skills in a chosen engineering discipline (mechanical, electrical, civil, for example), as well as engineering ethics.
In a few states, it’s possible to bypass Step 1 and apply to take the registration examinations - as long as a P.E. will sponsor the applicant and work experience can be substituted for academic experience.
The years of experience may also vary. For instance, in California it’s possible to take a Principles and Practice in Engineering exam with only two years’ experience after a bachelor's degree, or one year of experience after grad school.
Some states also have state-specific examinations, most notably California.
Principles & Practice exams
Upon passing the PE exam, an engineer is then eligible to be registered in their State to stamp and sign engineering drawings and calculations as a PE.
While the PE itself is sufficient for most engineering fields, some states require a further certification for structural engineers. For this, you’ll need to pass the Structural I exam and/or the Structural II exam.
See the detailed specifications for the Principles and Practice exams:
- PE Architectural
- PE Civil
- PE Control Systems
- PE Electrical and Computer
- PE Environmental
- PE Fire Protection
- PE Industrial
- PS
- PE Mechanical
- PE Nuclear
- PE Structural I
- PE Structural II (not necessary in every state)
Exam length: ranges from 6–8 hours, divided into morning and afternoon sessions. Examinees must participate in both sessions on the same day.
Question type and count: there will be 80–100 multiple-choice questions for all exams, except the PE Structural II. The Structural II consists of 8 essay questions, of which the examinee answers 4.
Breadth/depth: the PE Civil, PE Electrical and Computer, and PE Mechanical exams offer a breadth exam in the morning session and a depth exam in the afternoon session. The breadth exam is the same for all examinees. The depth exam is selected by the examinee.
All exams are open book. However rules may vary for each jurisdiction. Please contact your licensing board for more details.
