NYS FE Exam or Fundamentals of Engineering Exam transforming to Computer Based Testing in 2014

Many of our New York State Society of Professional Engineers (NYSSPE) refer to the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam as the NYS FE exam however this is a national examination.  Beginning in January of 2014 the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) will offer the FE and Fundamentals of Surveying (FS) exams exclusively on computers.   These new computer based tests (CBT) will be offered at Pearson VUE testing centers across the United States.

If you are taking the exam in the State of New York, you will have to follow the proper registration procedure which is currently being developed by the New York State Education Department.  Once this information is available we will post on our site and link to it from this article.

The new computer based tests can now be administered more often, and results from the tests can be delivered more quickly.  Before, tests were offered twice a year, once in April and once in October, with candidates waiting 8-10 weeks for results.  With the new CBT, tests will be offered in two-month testing windows.  The windows run January-February, April-May, July-August and October-November with no testing during the months of March, June, September and December.  Candidates are allowed to take the test one time per testing window and no more than three times per 12-month period.  Results will now be delivered to the candidates in as little as 7-10 days.

The exam is six hours in length, including a tutorial, the exam, a break (25 min), and a brief survey at the conclusion of the exam.  The actual length of the exam is five hours 20 minutes.  Other rules such as the fact that the exam is closed book and only NCEES-approved calculators are allowed remain unchanged.

Additional Information:

• The cost for the exam is between $225-250.
• Pearson VUE testing centers can be located using this MAP
• A list of approved calculators can be found HERE.
• Approved comfort aids can be found HERE.

Reference: http://cbt.ncees.org/

Note: NYSSPE facilitates posting on this blog, but the views and accounts expressed herein are those of the author(s) and not the views or accounts of NYSSPE, its officers or directors whose views and accounts may or may not be similar or identical.  NYSSPE, its officers and directors do not express any opinion regarding any product or service by virtue of reference to such product or service in this blog.