How to search the FE Reference Handbook
Short answer
Search for the name of the section or equation — "Manning", "Rational Formula", "Horizontal Curve" — not for a symbol or a page number, and know which chapter you are heading for before you search. For FE Civil, the Civil Engineering chapter is cited far more than any other: 28 of the 68 section citations in the solutions of NCEES’s FE Civil practice exam (July 2020).
Checked against the sources below on October 20, 2026.
Where FE Civil questions send you
We indexed which handbook chapter and section each published solution in the NCEES FE Civil Practice Exam (July 2020) cites. 68 of its 100 solutions name a section; the rest are mostly ethics and judgement items that need none.
| Handbook chapter | Questions citing it |
|---|---|
| Civil Engineering | 28 |
| Mechanics of Materials | 9 |
| Statics | 7 |
| Fluid Mechanics | 7 |
| Mathematics | 5 |
| Dynamics | 4 |
| Engineering Probability and Statistics | 3 |
| Materials Science | 2 |
| Industrial and Systems | 2 |
| Engineering Economics | 1 |
Search terms worth knowing by heart
These are section names the practice exam’s solutions cite. Each is a phrase you can type, and each lands you at the formula rather than at every page that mentions a variable.
| Topic | Search for |
|---|---|
| Soil properties, settlement, earth pressure | Geotechnical; Ultimate Bearing Capacity; Retaining Walls |
| Open-channel flow | Manning |
| Peak runoff | Rational Formula |
| Weirs | Weir Formulas |
| Pipe friction loss | Head Loss |
| Highway curves | Horizontal Curve Formulas |
| Cut and fill | Earthwork Formulas |
| Freeway capacity | Basic Freeway Segment |
| Project cost and schedule tracking | Earned-Value Analysis |
| Concrete beams | Reinforced Concrete |
| Determinacy and stability | Determinacy |
| Stress transformation | Mohr |
Habits that save minutes
- Decide the chapter first, then search. "Is this Fluid Mechanics or Civil Engineering → Hydrology?" is a two-second question that saves scrolling through both.
- Search for words, not symbols. Section and equation names are text; Greek letters and subscripts are not reliable search terms.
- Use a distinctive word. "Manning" finds one equation; "flow" finds hundreds of pages.
- Check units at the section header. Several Civil equations exist in both US customary and SI forms, and the constant changes with the units.
- Practise with the current edition. Download 10.6 free from MyNCEES and do your practice lookups in it, so the layout is familiar.
Why this matters on the clock
The FE allows 5 hours 20 minutes of exam time for 110 questions — under three minutes each. A lookup that takes a minute longer on every third question costs over half an hour across the paper.
Keep reading
Frequently asked questions
Can you search the FE Reference Handbook during the exam?
Yes. NCEES supplies an electronic, searchable FE Reference Handbook on screen during the exam. You cannot bring your own copy.
Which part of the handbook matters most for FE Civil?
The Civil Engineering chapter. In our index of the NCEES FE Civil practice exam, 28 of the 68 solutions that cite a section cite that chapter, followed by Mechanics of Materials, Statics and Fluid Mechanics.
Should I memorise handbook page numbers?
No. Page numbers moved between editions 10.5 and 10.6. Section names are the stable thing to learn.
Where do I get the handbook to practise with?
Download it free from your MyNCEES account. Use the edition in effect for your exam date.
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.