FE Exam Pass Rates by Discipline (2026 NCEES Data)
An FE pass-rate table is useful context, but it is not a personal probability calculator. The published NCEES figures cover a defined group of first-time examinees, and NCEES does not publish a universal raw passing score.
Current published FE pass rates by discipline
The live NCEES table was rechecked on July 20, 2026 and is labeled January 2026. NCEES says FE pass-rate populations are updated in January and July, so confirm the source before quoting the figures in a study plan or advising another candidate.
| FE discipline | Exam volume | Pass rate | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chemical | 405 | 68% | Year round |
| Civil | 4,116 | 63% | Year round |
| Electrical and Computer | 1,283 | 69% | Year round |
| Environmental | 508 | 68% | Year round |
| Industrial and Systems | 109 | 61% | Year round |
| Mechanical | 3,074 | 72% | Year round |
| Other Disciplines | 519 | 61% | Year round |
Who is included in the NCEES table
The headline percentages do not represent every candidate. NCEES states that this table covers examinees who took the FE for the first time, attended an EAC/ABET-accredited engineering program, and tested within 12 months of graduation.
A candidate who graduated years ago, is retaking the exam, or followed a different education path should not treat the published percentage as an estimate of personal odds.
FE Civil pass rate in context
The January 2026 table lists a 63% FE Civil pass rate across 4,116 examinees in the defined reporting group. That is the largest discipline sample in the table, but it still does not describe repeat examinees, candidates testing more than 12 months after graduation, or every education pathway.
For an FE Civil candidate, the useful next step is not to convert 63% into a personal forecast. Compare current performance across the 16 topic areas, repair weak high-weight sections, and retest under mixed and timed conditions.
- Use the public FE Civil specification to build a complete coverage map.
- Use original mixed practice to identify concept, setup, handbook, unit, and pacing errors.
- Use later timed work to test whether repaired skills remain available without a topic label.
There is no published FE passing score
NCEES reports FE results as pass or fail and does not publish the passing score. Correct responses are converted to a scaled score so minor differences in difficulty across exam forms can be accounted for.
That means rules such as '70% always passes' are informal shortcuts. A practice percentage can help you track consistency, but it cannot reproduce the scoring decision for a live exam form.
- There is no deduction for wrong answers, according to the NCEES scoring explanation.
- Passing and failing examinees are not forced into a predetermined percentage split.
- Candidates who do not pass receive a diagnostic report showing relative topic performance.
How to use pass-rate information productively
A better preparation loop starts with mixed questions, identifies weak high-weight topics, and retests those topics after focused study. Track accuracy, time, confidence, and error type instead of chasing an unpublished passing-score target.
- Separate concept errors from handbook-search, unit, calculator, and time-management errors.
- Give more study time to weak topics that also carry meaningful specification weight.
- Use full timed practice later in the plan, after the core setup process is stable.
The number nobody frames well: repeat-taker pass rates
Pass rates for candidates retaking the FE are far lower than first-time rates — commonly cited in the range of roughly 25 to 37 percent, versus first-time bands in the 60s and 70s. That is counterintuitive until you see why, and the why is the useful part.
It is not that retaking is penalized, and it is not that repeat takers are weaker engineers. The well-prepared candidates mostly passed the first time and left the pool, and many who remain repeat the same preparation that did not work. Walking in blind twice produces the same outcome twice, which means the fix is entirely upstream of the exam.
What separates passers from repeat takers
Across candidates, the pattern is consistent and rarely about raw ability. Every habit on the passer side is a decision, not a trait.
- Passers weight study time to each topic's share of the exam specification; repeat takers spread time evenly or toward favorite topics.
- Passers practice full sections under a timer; repeat takers practice untimed and run out of time on the real exam.
- Passers are fast in the reference handbook; repeat takers lose minutes hunting for equations.
- Passers find weak areas early and fix the highest-weight ones first; repeat takers discover weak areas during the exam.
Primary sources
FE exam pass rates FAQ
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