In this week’s Pass the FE Exam article (and video above), I discuss what FE Exam passing score you will need to achieve to pass the FE Exam.
Firstly, you should know that there is no set number of problems or specific quantitative scores that we can cite as the passing score for the FE Exam, it doesn’t exist.
The exam is scored on a pass or fail scale and NCEES, the organization that administers the exam, does not provide an exact score needed to pass. NCEES has used a term “scaled score” in the past, which is confusing
The score you need to pass the FE exam shouldn’t fundamentally change your philosophy or approach to the exam or your preparation. In past articles on our website here, you will find that I have provided sound strategies for preparing and taking the exam on test day. It should not change regardless of how many problems you need to get right to pass. But it is important to have a goal to shoot for.
The Following Are the Links to some Articles on the Topic for Your Reference:
NCEES generally does not provide a specific number of questions required to answer correctly for one to pass. However after doing the research and referring to different articles listed above it has been said that out of 110 problems, to pass, you will need to answer approximately 50 to 60 percent of them correctly.
NCEES has published a short explanation in the Examinee guide here, of how to score in the FE Exam.
Here Is the Outline of the NCEES:
The FE exam is a computer based exam or CBT now. As mentioned earlier, the exam results are based on the total number of correct answers, there are no deductions for wrong answers. The score is then converted to a scaled score, which adjusts for any minor differences in difficulty across the different exam forms.
This scaled score represents an examinee’s ability level and is compared to the minimum ability level for that exam, which has been determined by subject-matter experts through psychometric statistical methods. You probably remember hearing about this in elementary school where teachers scaled test scores, maybe using a bell-curve to determine the passing score.
In their guide, NCEES says that exam results for computer-based exams are generally available in 7 to 10 days after you take the exam. You will receive an email notification from NCEES with instructions to view your results in your MyNCEES account. Results will include information specific to your licensing board regarding how you should proceed based on your performance.
Exam results are reported as pass/fail. If you did not pass the exam, you will receive a diagnostic report indicating subject areas of relative strength and weakness. The diagnostic report can assist you if you decide to retake the exam. NCEES gives a detailed diagnostic report mentioning where you should focus on your study, if you have to retake the exam.
Below Is the Sample of How the Diagnostic Report Looks Like:
I hope you found this week’s article helpful. In upcoming articles, I will share some more studying strategies and also cover some more problems including engineering economics practice problems.
We publish videos weekly on our Pass the FE Exam YouTube Channel. Be sure to visit our page here and click the subscribe button as you’ll get expert tips and tricks each week – to ensure your best success – that you can’t get anywhere else. Believe me, you won’t want to miss a single video.
Lastly, I encourage you to ask questions in the comments of the videos or here on this page and I’ll read and respond to them in future videos. So, if there’s a specific topic you want me to cover or answer, we have you covered.
I’ll see you next week.
Anthony Fasano, P.E.
Engineering Management Institute
Author of Engineer Your Own Success
Because 10 out of 110 of the questions on the exam day are not used to determine your final score and are only considered “practice problems”, the 50% to 60% range is misleading. Potentially you can end up in a situation where you get exactly 60-65% of the 110 correct (66 to 70/110) and still fail, reason being that 10 of the questions were not used in grading so you don’t pass because you didn’t’ get the specific questions you needed correct.