PE Civil: Structural Pass Rate, Format & Study Guide

NCEES's own 2024 Squared statistics report shows the PE Civil: Structural exam had a 57% pass rate among first-time takers (3,194 examinees) and 39% among repeat takers (1,333 examinees), for NCEES fiscal year 2023-24 (Oct 2023-Sep 2024).

NCEES limits examinees to one attempt per testing window and no more than three attempts in any 12-month period. Because state licensing boards — not NCEES directly — administer applications, the exact reapplication process for a retake depends on your state board, though the $400 NCEES exam fee applies again each time you sit.

Your raw number of correct answers (no penalty for wrong guesses) is converted to a scaled score that adjusts for minor differences in difficulty between exam forms. The passing threshold is set by a panel of licensed engineers through a formal standard-setting study rather than a fixed percentage, and NCEES is explicit that it does not publish the passing score.

The exam is 80 questions in a single 9-hour appointment (breadth plus your Structural depth module), so stamina matters as much as content knowledge — practice full-length timed sessions, not just short study blocks. NCEES doesn't publish a domain-by-domain weighting the way some other boards do, so use the official PE Civil: Structural exam specifications to see which structural systems (buildings vs. bridges, vertical vs. lateral forces) carry the most questions, and get fast at navigating the electronic reference handbook and design standards provided on-screen, since you'll need to pull from them quickly under time pressure.