What passing the FE actually gets you

The FE is the first of two exams on the way to a professional engineer licence. Passing it makes you an engineer-in-training — a real, recorded status, but not yet a licence to practise. Here is the whole sequence, how long each part takes, and who decides.

The path, end to end

Five steps. NCEES writes and scores the two exams; every other decision on this list belongs to your state board.

  1. Pass the FE exam

    110 questions in 5 hours 20 minutes, computer-based, sat at a Pearson VUE centre. Most candidates take it in their final year or shortly after graduating.

  2. Certify as an engineer-in-training

    Apply to your state board. Some issue an EIT or EI certificate; others simply record the pass against your file. This step is paperwork, not an exam.

  3. Work under a licensed professional engineer

    The qualifying-experience period, commonly about four years. What counts as qualifying, and how closely a PE must supervise it, is set by your state board — this is the step that varies most.

  4. Pass the PE exam

    A second, discipline-specific exam, normally taken once the experience requirement is met. Some states let you sit it earlier and hold the result until it is.

  5. Hold a PE licence

    You can sign and seal engineering work and take legal responsibility for it. Renewal and continuing education run from here on.

Time from FE exam to PE licenceA bar chart drawn to scale. The FE exam, engineer-in-training certification and the PE exam each occupy days or weeks. The qualifying experience period between them occupies roughly four years — about nine tenths of the total elapsed time.
FE examPE licence
Drawn to scale against a roughly four-year total. Four of the five steps are measured in days; the third is measured in years, and it is almost all of the wait.

What the EIT certificate is, and what it is not

Engineer-in-training is a recorded status showing you have passed the FE and been accepted by a board as working toward licensure. It is what a job posting means by "EIT preferred", and it is what your qualifying experience is counted against.

It is not a licence. It does not let you offer engineering services to the public, sign drawings, or seal calculations. Only a PE licence does that, and only in the state that granted it.

Your state board decides, not NCEES

NCEES writes the exams; a state board licenses you. Experience requirements, whether an EIT certificate is issued at all, fees and application routes all differ by state — so the authority below is the board itself, not this page.

StateLicensing board
TexasTexas Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors
OhioOhio State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors
CaliforniaCalifornia Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists
MichiganMichigan State Board of Professional Engineers
Rhode IslandRhode Island State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers
New YorkNew York Board for Engineering, Land Surveying and Geology
MarylandMaryland State Board for Professional Engineers
ArizonaArizona State Board of Technical Registration
IdahoIdaho Board of Professional Engineers and Professional Land Surveyors
FloridaFlorida Board of Professional Engineers
KentuckyKentucky State Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors
VirginiaVirginia Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, Certified Interior Designers, and Landscape Architects

Board names and links from the NCEES licensing-board directory, checked 17 September 2026. Requirements change without notice: treat the board’s own site as current and this table as a signpost.

Where to go next

Practise for it

A full-length FE Civil mock on the real exam's clock, free once every 30 days, or eight questions in a few minutes to see where you are thin.

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