Question 1

What are the PE Civil depth options?

Accepted Answer

NCEES offers five PE Civil depth exams: Construction, Geotechnical, Structural, Transportation, and Water Resources & Environmental. You take a shared breadth portion plus the depth you choose.

Question 2

Do site/land-development engineers need a surveying license?

Accepted Answer

Engineering and surveying are separate licenses. A PE can design site improvements, but setting boundaries, preparing plats and legal descriptions generally requires a Professional Land Surveyor (PLS) license. Many site professionals hold both.

Question 3

Is the FE required before the PE?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You must pass the FE (Fundamentals of Engineering) to become an EIT, then gain qualifying experience — typically about four years — before sitting the PE.

Question 4

Are the civil PE and surveying exams open book?

Accepted Answer

They are open-book in the sense that NCEES provides a searchable on-screen reference handbook; the exams are computer-based and time-pressured, so fast reference navigation matters.

FE Civil (Fundamentals of Engineering)