Design and document real civil and structural projects from surveying and geotechnical investigation through concrete, steel, wood, and masonry design, wind and seismic loading, foundations, retaining walls, and stormwater — 17 core modules, 7 complete real-project design packages (residential foundation, steel warehouse, parking garage, retaining wall, commercial office, bridge approach, stormwater system), a 12-template documentation kit, and a certificate of completion. One-time $4.99 purchase, no account required.
Explore the Full Curriculum →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.
A PE (Civil with a Structural depth) is the baseline engineering license. The SE (Structural Engineering) is an advanced 16-hour exam for designing significant or high-risk structures; some states require it specifically to practice structural engineering or use the "Structural Engineer" title.
A PE Civil with a geotechnical depth is the baseline license. A GE (Geotechnical Engineer) is an additional title/authority that some states require specifically to practice geotechnical engineering — it builds on the PE.
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.
Not usually for geotechnical engineering, which is licensed as engineering. Engineering-geology and geologic-hazard work may require a Professional Geologist (PG) or Certified Engineering Geologist (CEG), depending on the state and scope.
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 or, later, the SE.
The PE and SE exams are open-book in the sense that NCEES provides a reference (on-screen for the PE, your own bound standards for the SE); all are computer-based and time-pressured, so fast reference navigation matters.
NCEES publishes annual first-time pass rates for each PE Civil depth exam separately (Construction, Geotechnical, Structural, Transportation, Water Resources & Environmental) rather than one combined "PE Civil" rate. First-time pass rates across the depths typically run in roughly the 50-65% range and vary by depth and by year — check the current NCEES pass-rate report for the specific depth exam you are taking.
Yes, by most measures. The SE is a 16-hour, two-component exam (Vertical Forces and Lateral Forces) compared to the PE Civil's single 8-hour exam, and NCEES-published first-time pass rates for the SE components typically run lower than PE Civil pass rates — often in the 40-55% range per component. Most candidates treat the SE as requiring several months of dedicated, essay/problem-based preparation beyond what the PE required.
The FE Civil exam has a first-time pass rate generally in the 65-70% range according to NCEES data. It is taken close to graduation while foundational coursework (statics, structures, geotechnical, hydraulics) is still fresh, which is a major reason first-attempt pass rates run higher than the PE or SE.
How a roof load actually gets to the ground — why tributary area (a load-distribution accounting method) and load path (the physical, unbroken chain a load must travel through) are two different ideas, illustrated with an interior-vs-edge-column plan view and a broken-connection elevation.
Why a slender column can suddenly bow sideways and fail at a load far below its material strength — Euler's formula, why effective length (not yield strength) controls it, and the difference between global column buckling and local flange/web buckling.
Why loose, saturated sand can turn to liquid during an earthquake — how rising pore water pressure drives effective stress toward zero, and why firm-looking ground at the surface doesn't mean a site is safe.
Why a beam can pass its strength (ULS) check with a comfortable margin and still sag, bounce, or crack under everyday loads — deflection and vibration limits are a separate design check, not an automatic byproduct of strength.
Why a swaying building's own weight creates an extra P×Δ overturning moment first-order analysis can't see — and how, in flexible enough structures, that effect can compound into a destabilizing feedback loop.
Why losing one member shouldn't bring down the whole building — how redundant load paths, key element design, and tie forces stop a single local failure from cascading into a progressive collapse.
Why codes never ask you to design for full wind and full seismic at once — wind is an external pressure that scales with exposed surface area, seismic is an internal inertial force (F = ma) that scales with mass, and ASCE 7 evaluates them in separate governing combinations.
Why ASD applies one blanket safety factor entirely on the material side, while LRFD splits calibrated margin across separate, load-type-specific factors and a strength-reduction factor φ — and why that split is exactly why modern codes shifted to LRFD as the primary method.
Why the same column can have two different 'areas' assigned to it for two different purposes — tributary area for gravity load, and the often-larger influence area that continuous framing requires specifically for live load reduction calculations.
Why a moment frame resists lateral load through rigid, moment-transferring beam-column joints with no diagonal bracing at all, while a braced frame resists it through a diagonal member in axial tension/compression — a real architectural-openness-vs-steel-efficiency tradeoff, not an upgrade path from one to the other.
Why a slab supported on all four edges isn't automatically two-way — it's the aspect ratio L/S that decides whether load spans almost entirely in one direction (L/S ≥ 2) or splits between both (L/S < 2), and why that split is what makes punching shear the governing check at columns in beamless flat plates.
Why the same lateral load can split 50/50 between two very differently-stiff shear walls, or funnel mostly into the stiffer one — a flexible diaphragm distributes by tributary area like a simple beam, while a rigid diaphragm distributes by relative stiffness and must also be checked for torsion.
Why post-tensioning isn't a rival to prestressing but one of its two methods — pretensioning stresses strand before the pour and transfers force by bond, while post-tensioning stresses a tendon after the concrete cures and transfers force through mechanical end anchorages.
12-section interactive reference covering site grading, Rational Method storm drainage, AASHTO pavement design, water/sewer utilities, surveying, traffic engineering, stormwater LID, NPDES permits, and site plan standards.
12-section interactive reference covering USCS soil classification, SPT/CPT site investigation, Terzaghi bearing capacity, deep foundations, slope stability, Rankine earth pressure retaining walls, ground improvement, and seismic liquefaction.
14-section interactive reference covering ASCE 7 load combinations, AISC 360 steel design, ACI 318 concrete design, AWC NDS wood design, seismic ELF method, wind loads, steel connections, and deflection limits.
43-section interactive guide covering foundation, framing, column/beam layout, wall sections, slabs, staircases, roof details, connections, and boundary walls, plus structural calculations and 24 full-size reference drawings.
18-section illustrated guide covering cantilever retaining walls, footing punching shear, drilled shafts, braced excavations, RC columns, cantilever balcony detailing, composite steel beams, roof trusses, steel connections, bridge pier seismic design, tunnel linings, curtain walls, and the gravity load path.
46-section illustrated guide to residential structural diagnostics and repair — gravity and lateral load paths, framing fundamentals, foundation bearing pressure, structural vs non-structural crack diagnosis, differential settlement, underpinning and pier retrofit, retaining walls, and seismic and fire damage assessment.
19-chapter illustrated guide following one residential retaining wall use case start to finish — topographic site evaluation, applied soil mechanics, geotechnical investigation, drainage as a structural consideration, wall-system selection, Rankine lateral earth pressure and stability checks, ACI 318-19 member design, construction sequencing, permitting, liability, cost, and maintenance.
10-section illustrated guide to the applied side of structural practice — steel-frame load paths and ASCE 7-22 combinations, a field misfabrication and connection-repair case study, anchor bolt and shear-stud embedment design, a seismic retrofit case study of a masonry school, and a steel/concrete/timber/masonry material-selection comparison.
10-chapter cross-discipline code reference covering how the IBC, NEC, ASCE 7, and NFPA fire codes coordinate as one system, IBC occupancy classification and fire separation, ASCE 7 structural loads and material codes, real reinforced-concrete and medium-voltage-switchgear reference drawings, and codes across civil, mechanical, electrical, chemical, aerospace, and interdisciplinary engineering.
27-section illustrated guide following one case-study house from lot selection to move-in — zoning and site analysis, floor plans and exterior architecture, structural load path, MEP systems design, permitting and materials, step-by-step construction, and warranty/maintenance — paired with real civil, floor/basement, elevation/roof, HVAC, and plumbing drawing sheets.
37-section illustrated guide to reading and coordinating a full construction drawing set — architectural/structural/civil disciplines, floor and framing plans, elevations and sections, foundation systems and geotechnical distress, RC and steel detailing, gravity and lateral load paths, shear walls, and structural assessment/seismic retrofit — with 27 real reference drawings.
26-section guide covering structural fundamentals (loads, ASCE 7 seismic ELF method, ASD/LRFD load combinations, the four structural materials), a fully worked cantilever retaining wall design use case from site survey through construction, and five residential structural-integrity case studies — cracking, differential settlement, post-fire, post-earthquake, and renovation load increase — illustrated with 18 real project figures.