PE Civil exam pass rates — all five exams, and what the numbers tell you

About two in three first-time PE Civil candidates pass, and the rate runs from 60% to 71% depending on which of the five exams you sit. Here are the current figures for all five, the last two full years for comparison, and what the numbers can and can't tell you about your own attempt.

Current pass rates, by exam

NCEES refreshes pass rates for its year-round exams twice a year: in July, covering January–June, and in January, covering July–December. These are the July 2026 figures.

Exam	First-time takers	First-time pass	Repeat takers	Repeat pass
Water Resources & Environmental	2,620	71%	876	49%
Geotechnical	434	63%	201	44%
Structural	1,624	62%	847	43%
Transportation	1,929	61%	1,097	43%
Construction	1,000	60%	417	38%
All five (our calculation)	7,607	≈65%	3,438	≈44%

Source: NCEES PE Civil exam page, "Last Updated: July 2026" (January–June 2026 takers). The all-five row is our candidate-weighted combination of NCEES's per-exam figures. NCEES doesn't publish one.

The last two full years

A half-year is a small sample for the smaller exams. Geotechnical had 434 first-time takers. Full fiscal years give steadier numbers:

Exam	First-time pass, 2023–24	First-time pass, 2024–25	Candidates, 2024–25
Water Resources & Environmental	68%	71%	5,697
Transportation	63%	59%	5,460
Structural	57%	61%	4,193
Construction	55%	62%	2,281
Geotechnical	58%	65%	1,142

Source: NCEES Squared 2024 and Squared 2025 (fiscal years run October to September). Candidates = first-time plus repeat takers. The 2023–24 year straddles the April 2024 change, when each Civil exam became a single 80-question test with no breadth section. Treat it as a different exam, not just an earlier year.

Two things hold across every period: Water Resources & Environmental has both the most candidates and the highest first-time pass rate, and every Civil exam passes a clear majority of first-time takers.

Resist reading this as a difficulty ranking

A 71% next to a 60% looks like one exam is easier. It may not be. Each exam draws a different population. Who sits it, how long they've practiced in that field, and how they prepared all move the rate as much as the questions do. A pass rate compares groups of people. It doesn't compare exams.

The honest use of the table is the reverse. For any of the five, most prepared first-time candidates pass. The exam that matches your daily work is the one where your experience does the most for you, and that effect is bigger than any gap in this table. Which PE Civil exam should you take?

Why repeat takers pass at a lower rate

Across the five exams, repeat takers pass at roughly 38–49%, well below first-timers. It seems backwards: they've seen the format and they have a diagnostic report.

It's the population again. First-time takers include everyone whose preparation worked. Repeat takers are, by definition, the group whose first preparation didn't. Put the same method in again and you tend to get the same result. That's what the repeat column shows.

If you're retaking, the useful reading is to change the method, not only the hours. For every miss, work out why each wrong option was wrong, not just which answer was right. Then retest yourself on fresh problems, not on ones you've already seen. The method that moves a score.

What a pass rate can't tell you

It's a population statistic. It says nothing about how prepared you are, and there's no reliable way to place yourself inside it in advance. NCEES scores against a scaled cut score and doesn't publish a passing percentage. Practice-exam scores also predict poorly in both directions, especially on problems you've worked before.

What it is good for is setting your effort. Six or seven in ten passing means this is neither a lottery nor a formality. It rewards structured preparation weighted to your weak areas and to the heavy areas on your exam's specification.

Where CastorPrep fits

We build exam-real practice and a grounded AI tutor for NCEES PE exams. PE Civil: Water Resources & Environmental is live. If you're sitting WRE, start there. Practice is free with an account.

Seven in ten pass WRE on their first attempt. First attempt or your next one, the plan is the same: find your weak areas early, practice on problems you haven't memorized, and be one of them.

This page is updated each January and July when NCEES publishes new figures.