FE exam results · Checked September 26, 2026

What is the FE exam passing score?

NCEES does not publish the FE exam passing score. There is no official 70% cutoff or published number of correct answers that guarantees a pass. Your result is reported as pass or fail; candidates who fail also receive a diagnostic report.

That answer applies to Civil, Mechanical, Electrical and Computer, Other Disciplines, and the other FE disciplines. A percentage found on a prep site can be a practice target, but it is not an NCEES passing requirement. Source: NCEES exam scoring.

Is 70% enough to pass the FE exam?

A 70% practice score tells you that you answered seven out of ten questions correctly on that particular practice set. It does not tell you what result the same performance would produce on an official FE form. A short chapter quiz, a repeated problem bank, and an unseen full exam measure different things even when their percentages match.

Use a practice target to decide what to review. Keep the conditions beside it: first attempt or repeat, timed or untimed, handbook only or open notes, and full discipline coverage or selected topics. Improving from 60% to 70% under the same conditions is useful evidence of progress. Comparing 70% on unrelated sets is much weaker evidence.

How NCEES scores the exam

NCEES starts with correct responses, then scales the score to account for small differences in form difficulty. It compares that result with a minimum ability standard. Wrong answers do not subtract points, and there is no preset proportion of candidates who must fail. First-time and repeat candidates face the same standard. NCEES scoring process.

The exam also contains unidentified, unscored pretest items. This is another reason that dividing an assumed cutoff by all 110 questions cannot reconstruct the official result. Treat every question as worth attempting because you cannot identify those items. NCEES Examinee Guide, exam content.

Passing score and pass rate answer different questions

A discipline with a 66% pass rate does not require 66% correct answers. It means that roughly two-thirds of the reported group passed. Choosing a discipline by pass rate alone also overlooks how closely its subjects match your coursework.

Can you calculate your score from the diagnostic report?

No. Its 0–15 area values are scaled feedback, not percentages or counts of correct answers. The comparison line represents the average performance of passing candidates, not an area cutoff. Averaging the bars or multiplying them by question counts does not recover your raw score. Examinee Guide, sample diagnostic report.

For a retake, turn the report into a short list of subjects to revisit. Start with areas where your performance was well below the reference, then consider their question ranges. The diagnostic report section of our retake guide shows how to convert that list into study priorities.

What to record on your next practice exam

Record correct answers by knowledge area, unanswered questions, and where time ran out. Keep calculation mistakes separate from questions you could not set up. This tells you whether another week should go into content review, reference searching, or completing a full sitting.

A practice percentage becomes useful only when the source, scope, and conditions stay attached to it. EngineerProof provides one free worked problem for every current knowledge area, plus a no-account sample PDF for each discipline. Each separately sold Form A is a USD 29 printable PDF with 110 original questions, complete worked solutions, and a knowledge-area score sheet. It is independent preparation material, not an official NCEES form, score conversion, or pass guarantee.

Official computer-based results usually arrive within 7–10 days in MyNCEES. Until then, a prep score cannot substitute for the result. NCEES results timing.