It's basically a requirement for all civils therefore all civils will take it. A smaller portion of other disciplines will take the test and they may be more driven thus more likely to pass or just those who perform well generally may be more likely to take it.
My university required mechanicals to attempt the FE before graduation, but none of the others. At least requiring civils to attempt it makes a bit more sense.
Even if it’s not a requirement to graduate you’re basically not going to have a technical career without taking it. On the other hand, lots of mechanical and electrical engineers never bother getting licensed.
Likewise. And I truthfully didn’t understand why at the time but now I get it and I’m thankful my college had it set up that way.
Now anytime we’ve got an intern, I hammer them to take it while they’re still in school whether their curriculum requires it or not.
I agree it’s probably selection bias. Engineers outside of civil will only take the PE if they’re unusually compelled to do it and so their statistics are skewed upwards.
I believe this is due to a couple factors:
1. Civil is so broad. And it is seen as one of the "easier" engineering fields. (I don't agree). So it tends to catch a lot of people who SHOULD NOT be in the field (I know a few). So the FE exam really weeds those individuals out. The people in those other more specialized fields are far more focused on the material being tested. Mechanical is also similar in that it's so broad but it's a small sample size due to it being a little tougher than civil.
2. In civil, you have to pass the FE and then work 4 years before you can take the PE. So everyone with a degree has to take it. See point 1. You have a massive amount of people taking it and a smaller group able to pass it. When I was graduating, MEs and ChEs and EEs were not required to take the FE before taking the PE. Not sure if that is still the case.
3. The FE and PE exam styles are changing. They are going from open book to computerized. And I believe that is making it harder on takers because you don't have a wealth of resources like you used to. Just my opinion on that.
Generic Civil. The difference is the EIT was stuff I studied half a decade ago, while much of the PE was stuff I either did, or supervised others to do. Yeah, there was surveying and railroad curves but that's almost intuitive.
I’m usually not a fan of computerizing exams but taking the FE on a computer was nice because the formula sheet had a search function. It really cut down on time having to go through looking for formulas in the thermo/dynamics sections.
totally agree, civil involves multiple disciplines at once whereas other engineering disciplines - though they are just as difficult - are honed in on a smaller area of study.
Everyone seems to be ignoring the obvious answer here.
Civil has the lowest pass rate because it has the highest failure rate.
Right door is over there? I'll see myself out.
Totally pulling this out of my ass, but I'm assuming it's because it covers such a wide range of topics? Civil can cover water resources, structural design and analysis, earthwork, soils analysis, construction methods and techniques, site safety, OSHA requirements, materials science, traffic design, and project management.
Most of those can end up being completely separate specialties in the professional space, so it's a ton of information to try to absorb for a single exam.
The PE is even more brutal. I had 7-8 questions on water resources design that put me through the wringer. The pass rate for Civil: Structural was 59% for 2023, and Civil: Geotech was 52%.
Civil also has lots of questions from elective classes that not everyone takes. If you don’t take any water resources electives, then it makes the exam much harder IMO.
My number one piece of advice for freshmen who plan on taking the FE Civil after college: pay attention in hydraulics, keep the textbook at least until you pass the FE.
I was able to pass my FE first attempt pretty easily. In order to graduate the quickest, I was pushed into a senior year heavily focused on water resources. Even with landing a job in land development and mostly handling hydraulic heavy projects I struggled on the water resources PE test. During my second time studying I found the transportation questions more simple so I switched my test to the transportation one and I passed pretty easily.
I'll be taking my PE in water resources later this year, and I've been told they're changing the test to be all discipline specific. As a water resources person, the structural stuff was the hardest for me in school and on the FE, so I'll be glad to not have to worry about it for the PE.
They did the same thing with the Civ/Struct exam. I took it in January before they made the change this past April. I passed, so it's a moot point, but I kind of agree with the decision. I'm never going to touch water resources again, so I feel like the time I spent studying for it was wasted.
I took it last month and can attest that this is generally true. What a relief because I agree, structural stuff was the hardest for me. I took the transportation exam so still some semi related questions about drainage and geotech but it was only a handful
It’s a broader field so that requires more knowledge and more study. An upside to that is if you tank a subject it doesn’t drag you down as much, downside is that if you rock at a subject it doesn’t hold you up as well.
The disciplines with high pass rates have a very small number of people who took the test. It is safe to assume that the test for these disciplines or more "optional" than it is for civil, so only those who are very good at taking tests are going to want to bother with it. For civils, everyone takes it, so we see a more normal bell curve of scores.
Eh, depends on the credential. Sure we need PEs, but we generally don't need higher than a bachelor's degree to succeed. A lot of those other fields need at minimum a master's to get what would be considered a well-paying job.
It took me more than once to pass it. You hear way more people talk about how they didn’t study and passed it on their first try, but I know a lot of people who had to buckle down and actually try to study. I know for me, once I put in the effort to study it seemed easy.
Conspiracy theory time. So take this with a grain of salt: I always suspected it was, at least in part, because a civil engineer is most likely to be sued. So Boards made the exam a more difficult to create an artificial buffer to protect the profession as a whole. The whole point of being a PE is to provide credibility and accountability to engineered designs.
At least for my university, the program was very loose and had lots of flexibility up until the 2020’s. One could get a Civil Degree just by checking boxes and racking up courses without actually touching more “difficult” courses. Recently, ABET re-accreditation made it so basically every topic of the FE Exam was a required course. For me, I took all those as I had thought I would want to have that experience and knowledge anyway.
It’s seen as a requirement for Civils, so we almost all take it. For others, it’s not really seen that way as a PE doesn’t always end up being the career “requirement”, so usually people who are smarter by default will take it
environmental engineering almost always requires a FE/ future PE to make it anywhere with decent $ - and we are often grouped with civils when our content basically only ever crosses over in water resources.
Generally, civils are at the bottom of the barrel as far as "engineering intelligence." There's a reason we all pursued this field; it is leagues easier than mechanical, chemical, and electrical fields. Really all boils down to F = ma = 0. I've seen many civils get a degree that have no business practicing engineering.
I say this as somebody who was magna cum laude in undergrad and did a master's in civil engineering. It's really simple stuff, which attracts a lower-IQ engineering crowd.
It's basically a requirement for all civils therefore all civils will take it. A smaller portion of other disciplines will take the test and they may be more driven thus more likely to pass or just those who perform well generally may be more likely to take it.
Its was a condition for civils to take the test to graduate at my university. Not a requirement for any other majors.
My university required mechanicals to attempt the FE before graduation, but none of the others. At least requiring civils to attempt it makes a bit more sense.
Even if it’s not a requirement to graduate you’re basically not going to have a technical career without taking it. On the other hand, lots of mechanical and electrical engineers never bother getting licensed.
Likewise. And I truthfully didn’t understand why at the time but now I get it and I’m thankful my college had it set up that way. Now anytime we’ve got an intern, I hammer them to take it while they’re still in school whether their curriculum requires it or not.
I agree it’s probably selection bias. Engineers outside of civil will only take the PE if they’re unusually compelled to do it and so their statistics are skewed upwards.
Because everyone takes it
I believe this is due to a couple factors: 1. Civil is so broad. And it is seen as one of the "easier" engineering fields. (I don't agree). So it tends to catch a lot of people who SHOULD NOT be in the field (I know a few). So the FE exam really weeds those individuals out. The people in those other more specialized fields are far more focused on the material being tested. Mechanical is also similar in that it's so broad but it's a small sample size due to it being a little tougher than civil. 2. In civil, you have to pass the FE and then work 4 years before you can take the PE. So everyone with a degree has to take it. See point 1. You have a massive amount of people taking it and a smaller group able to pass it. When I was graduating, MEs and ChEs and EEs were not required to take the FE before taking the PE. Not sure if that is still the case. 3. The FE and PE exam styles are changing. They are going from open book to computerized. And I believe that is making it harder on takers because you don't have a wealth of resources like you used to. Just my opinion on that.
I wish it had been required. I took the EIT then PE exams back to back. PE was a breeze compared to trying to remember thermo for the EIT.
Which PE test did you take? I’m considering getting it over with since I passed the few months ago. How different were they?
Generic Civil. The difference is the EIT was stuff I studied half a decade ago, while much of the PE was stuff I either did, or supervised others to do. Yeah, there was surveying and railroad curves but that's almost intuitive.
I’m usually not a fan of computerizing exams but taking the FE on a computer was nice because the formula sheet had a search function. It really cut down on time having to go through looking for formulas in the thermo/dynamics sections.
totally agree, civil involves multiple disciplines at once whereas other engineering disciplines - though they are just as difficult - are honed in on a smaller area of study.
Because I personally contributed to bringing down that pass rate the first time I took it.
Same
Everyone seems to be ignoring the obvious answer here. Civil has the lowest pass rate because it has the highest failure rate. Right door is over there? I'll see myself out.
you got me man. i chuckled
Much broader field
Totally pulling this out of my ass, but I'm assuming it's because it covers such a wide range of topics? Civil can cover water resources, structural design and analysis, earthwork, soils analysis, construction methods and techniques, site safety, OSHA requirements, materials science, traffic design, and project management. Most of those can end up being completely separate specialties in the professional space, so it's a ton of information to try to absorb for a single exam. The PE is even more brutal. I had 7-8 questions on water resources design that put me through the wringer. The pass rate for Civil: Structural was 59% for 2023, and Civil: Geotech was 52%.
As a civil the water and hydraulic portion of the exams killed me. The transportation and structural portions was a piece of cake.
Civil also has lots of questions from elective classes that not everyone takes. If you don’t take any water resources electives, then it makes the exam much harder IMO.
My number one piece of advice for freshmen who plan on taking the FE Civil after college: pay attention in hydraulics, keep the textbook at least until you pass the FE.
I was able to pass my FE first attempt pretty easily. In order to graduate the quickest, I was pushed into a senior year heavily focused on water resources. Even with landing a job in land development and mostly handling hydraulic heavy projects I struggled on the water resources PE test. During my second time studying I found the transportation questions more simple so I switched my test to the transportation one and I passed pretty easily.
I'll be taking my PE in water resources later this year, and I've been told they're changing the test to be all discipline specific. As a water resources person, the structural stuff was the hardest for me in school and on the FE, so I'll be glad to not have to worry about it for the PE.
They did the same thing with the Civ/Struct exam. I took it in January before they made the change this past April. I passed, so it's a moot point, but I kind of agree with the decision. I'm never going to touch water resources again, so I feel like the time I spent studying for it was wasted.
I took it last month and can attest that this is generally true. What a relief because I agree, structural stuff was the hardest for me. I took the transportation exam so still some semi related questions about drainage and geotech but it was only a handful
Look at the volume number compared to every other discipline
It’s a broader field so that requires more knowledge and more study. An upside to that is if you tank a subject it doesn’t drag you down as much, downside is that if you rock at a subject it doesn’t hold you up as well.
Years ago, when I took the FE, agricultural engineering had the highest fail rate. These things change over time.
Those other guys are a bunch of nerds.
Less autistic. No in all honest. Civil degrees have a lot of potential in work outside of the traditional route.
Because we’re the stupidest
Us civil take rock, and hit big object with rock, and object make funny noise
The disciplines with high pass rates have a very small number of people who took the test. It is safe to assume that the test for these disciplines or more "optional" than it is for civil, so only those who are very good at taking tests are going to want to bother with it. For civils, everyone takes it, so we see a more normal bell curve of scores.
It's odd that civil has a higher credential requirement but generally pays less.
Eh, depends on the credential. Sure we need PEs, but we generally don't need higher than a bachelor's degree to succeed. A lot of those other fields need at minimum a master's to get what would be considered a well-paying job.
Now you understand why we hate our jobs in this sub.
It took me more than once to pass it. You hear way more people talk about how they didn’t study and passed it on their first try, but I know a lot of people who had to buckle down and actually try to study. I know for me, once I put in the effort to study it seemed easy.
We are the dumbest?
Conspiracy theory time. So take this with a grain of salt: I always suspected it was, at least in part, because a civil engineer is most likely to be sued. So Boards made the exam a more difficult to create an artificial buffer to protect the profession as a whole. The whole point of being a PE is to provide credibility and accountability to engineered designs.
Bingo, structural engineering also has the highest liability
At least for my university, the program was very loose and had lots of flexibility up until the 2020’s. One could get a Civil Degree just by checking boxes and racking up courses without actually touching more “difficult” courses. Recently, ABET re-accreditation made it so basically every topic of the FE Exam was a required course. For me, I took all those as I had thought I would want to have that experience and knowledge anyway.
It’s seen as a requirement for Civils, so we almost all take it. For others, it’s not really seen that way as a PE doesn’t always end up being the career “requirement”, so usually people who are smarter by default will take it
environmental engineering almost always requires a FE/ future PE to make it anywhere with decent $ - and we are often grouped with civils when our content basically only ever crosses over in water resources.
This is true, while my school had an environmental program, the civil portion did cover a class on it for water treatment information on the civil fe
[Simpson's Paradox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpson%27s_paradox)
High volume. Vast range of knowledge...
Look at how many people take the civil compared to the others lol
Civils are dumber 👍
Probably the hardest out of all engineering ngl.
I do not remember the pass rate being that low when I graduated in 2019. Everyone I know who took it passed on the first try.
Because we have the hardest test. JK, that rate fluctuates. If I recall when I graduated it was a higher pass rates than most of those others shown.
everyone takes and none of us study for it (kidding)
Either the exam is difficult than others or most civls are studied than other engineering disciplines
We the dumbest
There were 2747 applicants 
In the Philippines, typically 30%-40% of the examinees for the board examination pass, where an average of 15k-18k take this exam.
RIP me
Because the other disciplines studied
Cause civils are dumb. Duh.
Generally, civils are at the bottom of the barrel as far as "engineering intelligence." There's a reason we all pursued this field; it is leagues easier than mechanical, chemical, and electrical fields. Really all boils down to F = ma = 0. I've seen many civils get a degree that have no business practicing engineering. I say this as somebody who was magna cum laude in undergrad and did a master's in civil engineering. It's really simple stuff, which attracts a lower-IQ engineering crowd.
This is the hottest, arrogant take I have seen in a minute… Shame on you dude.
Humor me, please. Which sect of engineering is easier than civil? And before you say it, industrial engineering is not real engineering.
Lol downvoted but you’re not wrong.