NCEES Squared 2025 data
FE pass rates by discipline: read the denominator first
NCEES reported 57,902 FE attempts for fiscal year October 2024 through September 2025. That total contains two different cohorts: 41,422 first-time attempts and 16,480 repeat attempts. Read the volume and cohort before using any percentage.
Primary source: NCEES Squared 2025 (FE table on page 15), checked August 31, 2026. NCEES publishes rounded percentages, so they cannot reconstruct an exact number of passing candidates.
| Discipline | First-time attempts | Pass rate | Repeat attempts | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FE Chemical | 1,873 | 68% | 316 | 35% |
| FE Civil | 16,639 | 61% | 9,863 | 32% |
| FE Electrical and Computer | 5,882 | 64% | 2,020 | 31% |
| FE Environmental | 2,543 | 67% | 1,092 | 37% |
| FE Industrial and Systems | 547 | 62% | 118 | 25% |
| FE Mechanical | 11,552 | 69% | 2,120 | 37% |
| FE Other Disciplines | 2,386 | 61% | 951 | 29% |
| Attempt volume | 41,422 | — | 16,480 | — |
Four questions before interpreting a rate
- Is this the first-time or repeat cohort?
- How many attempts sit behind the percentage?
- Which reporting period does the table cover?
- Does the proposed inference describe a cohort, or one person?
What the table does not establish
These rows do not rank discipline difficulty. Candidate education, preparation, time since coursework, and discipline selection differ, so the table cannot isolate a cause. It also cannot assign an individual a 61%, 69%, or 25% probability of passing.
First-time and repeat examinees are scored to the same standard. The NCEES scoring explanation says there is no predetermined percentage that must pass or fail. A lower repeat-cohort rate is an observed group result, not evidence that a retake is made harder.
Use candidate-level evidence next
A repeat candidate has a diagnostic report that is more specific than this population table. The diagnostic-to-retake guide shows how to rank areas without converting the 0–15 scale into guessed raw scores. FE Civil candidates can then record a full independent form on the 14-area FE Civil scorecard.
EngineerProof practice PDFs use original questions and do not reproduce the Pearson VUE interface or official NCEES items. A practice result is not a conversion to an NCEES result.
Sources, ownership, and corrections
NCEES owns and publishes the underlying statistics. EngineerProof is responsible for this transcription, arithmetic, visualization, and interpretation. Report a suspected error through the contact details on the EngineerProof about page.