FE Civil Ethics and Professional Practice practice problems
6 free FE Civil Ethics and Professional Practice practice problems with answers and full worked solutions. Ethics and Professional Practice carries 4–6 of the 110 questions on the FE Civil exam (NCEES specification effective July 2020). Pick an answer to check it, then read the worked solution and why each wrong choice is wrong.
6 worked Ethics and Professional Practice problems
Question 1 of 6
An engineer is asked to give public testimony on a proposed development while being paid by the developer. What must the engineer do?
Show the answer and the reasoning
Why A
Public statements must be objective and truthful, and engineers must disclose any interest that bears on the statement. Paid testimony is entirely proper once the relationship is on the record.
Why B is tempting
Sincerity does not substitute for disclosure. The audience is entitled to know who is paying so it can weigh the testimony itself.
Why C is tempting
Being retained does not disqualify an engineer from testifying. It creates a disclosure obligation, not a bar.
Why D is tempting
Presenting paid testimony as independent is an affirmative misrepresentation, and it is worse than mere non-disclosure.
Question 2 of 6
A retaining wall designed by a licensed engineer fails. In a negligence claim, the standard against which the engineer's conduct is measured is:
Show the answer and the reasoning
Why B
Professional negligence is measured against the ordinary standard of care in the profession, not against perfection. An engineer who met that standard is not negligent even if the structure fails.
Why A is tempting
Engineers are not insurers of their work. Absent an express warranty, the law does not require a guarantee of performance.
Why C is tempting
Budget compliance is a contractual matter and says nothing about whether the professional standard of care was met.
Why D is tempting
The standard is objective. What a reasonable practitioner would have done governs, not what this engineer subjectively believed.
Question 3 of 6
The industrial exemption found in many state licensing statutes generally allows:
Show the answer and the reasoning
Why D
The exemption is narrow: it covers work done by employees on their own company's products or facilities. It does not extend to offering engineering services to the public, and its scope varies by state.
Why A is tempting
Offering services to the public is exactly what the exemption does not cover. Corporate employment does not change that.
Why B is tempting
Sealing is a personal act of the engineer in responsible charge and is never delegated to an unlicensed person under the exemption.
Why C is tempting
The exemption concerns licensure, not competence. The ethical duty to work within one's competence applies regardless.
Question 4 of 6
For a contract between an owner and an engineer to be enforceable, it must include:
Show the answer and the reasoning
Why C
These are the classical elements of an enforceable contract. Many professional service agreements are enforceable without notarisation, and some are enforceable without being written at all.
Why A is tempting
Writing helps prove terms and some contracts must be written, but notarisation is not a general requirement for enforceability.
Why B is tempting
Compensation must exist as consideration, but it need not be a fixed lump sum. Hourly and cost-plus agreements are equally enforceable.
Why D is tempting
Licensing boards regulate practitioners, not individual contracts. They play no role in forming an agreement.
Question 5 of 6
An engineer prepares a technical paper drawing substantially on analysis carried out by a junior colleague who has since left the firm. How should authorship be handled?
Show the answer and the reasoning
Why D
Engineers must give credit for engineering work to those to whom credit is due. Leaving an employer does not extinguish a contributor's claim to recognition for work they performed.
Why A is tempting
Employment status has no bearing on who did the work. Credit follows the contribution, not the current payroll.
Why B is tempting
Attributing to the firm alone still denies the individual the recognition the codes require.
Why C is tempting
Discarding sound analysis to sidestep an attribution question weakens the paper and does not resolve the ethical duty.
Question 6 of 6
An engineer discovers an error in a design already issued for construction. The error will not endanger anyone but will cost the client money to correct. What is the engineer's obligation?
Show the answer and the reasoning
Why D
Engineers owe their clients honesty and must act as faithful agents. Prompt disclosure of an error is required regardless of whether safety is involved, and delaying it usually increases the eventual cost.
Why A is tempting
Fear of a claim is not a defence. Concealment converts a professional error into a breach of the duty of honesty, which is treated far more seriously.
Why B is tempting
A silent correction still leaves the client uninformed about work already in progress against the erroneous design.
Why C is tempting
Waiting to be caught is not disclosure. The obligation arises when the engineer learns of the error.
Going further
Frequently asked questions
How many Ethics and Professional Practice questions are on the FE Civil exam?
Between 4 and 6 of the 110 questions, according to the NCEES FE Civil specification effective July 2020.
Are these real NCEES exam questions?
No. NCEES does not release its exam questions. These are original FE-style problems written to the NCEES specification and the FE Reference Handbook; every calculated key is checked by two independent solution methods.
Are these Ethics and Professional Practice practice problems free?
Yes. All 6 problems on this page, with answers and full worked solutions, are free and need no account.
Check where you stand, free
The quick diagnostic is eight FE Civil questions in about ten minutes, with no account. The free mock is a full 110-question, 5 hour 20 minute FE Civil paper with a worked solution for every question.