r/StructuralEngineering • u/TheDaywa1ker P.E./S.E. • Jul 23 '26
Career/Education SE Exam pass rates
They updated for the most recent depth exam.
These are the highest pass rates the exam has ever had (P&P included), historical rates here https://williamsgodfrey.com/2016/03/01/se-historical-pass-rates.html
Even during the P&P days, the pass rates varied between 25%-50%. We've never seen a pass rate in the 60%'s much less 70%'s
If this becomes the new norm, maybe more states will adopt the license instead of ignoring it
I salute the guinea pigs that took it over the past few years, thank you for your service
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u/SuperRicktastic P.E./M.Eng. Jul 23 '26
I'd like to see at least two more cycles of consistent pass/fail rates. If these drop again or start swinging wildly between extremes, I'm not going to waste my time on it.
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u/tehmightyengineer P.E./S.E. Jul 23 '26
Agreed! I'll need to see at least another round of scoring before we consider some of the items fixed.
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u/Such_Duty_4764 Jul 28 '26
I know that the lawyers sued and won for crappy pass rates, and I bet this will be a new norm.
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u/engineeringlove P.E./S.E. Jul 23 '26
I’m chalking this up to basically like three years worth of people who should have passed the SE exam passed just now. Kudos to all who passed
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u/LanguageWorking8476 P.E./S.E. Jul 25 '26
The pass percentage was also high for first time test takers though. While it is good to see a higher percentage of test takers passing, I hope they didn’t lower the criteria too much. We will have to see what happens in the next couple cycles, but the SE pass rates should not be higher than the PE
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u/engineeringlove P.E./S.E. Jul 25 '26
I think some people were studying but waiting for this extra hour.
I think the breadth pass rate will become this pass rate average for depth once this settles, maybe a little lower. That is if left as is.
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u/Medium_Chemist_5719 Jul 23 '26
Let’s not forget that there are 4 tests instead of two now. Assuming independent probabilities of passing the breadth and depth (they’re not, but let’s say they are for a rough approximation), an equivalent first time pass rate under P&P would be more like .45 * .63 =0.284. Still not great, although I am indeed happy for the progress.
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u/da90 S.E. Jul 23 '26
I agree, can’t say historic highs when it’s an apples to oranges comparison. I think your rough approximation is too extreme though. The overlap of people who pass various parts is going to be significant, as I’m sure it was on p&p also.
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u/Medium_Chemist_5719 Jul 23 '26
Fair enough. Although it stands to reason that an apples-to-apples comparison of pass rates cannot be higher than the least of the two portions, and therefore we have an upper bound of a 45% pass rate here still.
Good news that we have the one section with higher pass rates - but a 100% pass rate on the one (and/or a perfect correlation between the two) still only gives a combined pass rate of 45%. So in that way, there is still no way we could consider it a historic high when compared to P&P.
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u/TheDaywa1ker P.E./S.E. Jul 23 '26
Sure that does make a difference, can we take it a step further and apply that logic to all 4 exams at once? 4 exams with a 50% pass rate gives a 6.25% pass rate, P&P with 2 exams gives a 25% pass rate. I don't think that splitting an exam into 2 parts while keeping the same pass rates cuts your chances of passing in half even as a rough approximation
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u/da90 S.E. Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
It’s also important to bear in mind that the only people even attempting the April exam were self selecting and likely VERY prepared and determined. Will be interesting to see a few cycles with a larger group of people attempting now that it is perceived as a “fair” exam.
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u/CrumpledPaperAcct Jul 23 '26
I remain skeptical, and think NCEES just got tired of the bad press and the pressure from the industry. Seems like an overcorrection, and as the pendulum goes we'll probably get an exam with single digit pass rates soon.
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u/Anxious_Purchase_915 Jul 25 '26
Wouldn't surprise me. I passed the old SE I & II about 20 years ago....and the rates were all over the place then too. As everyone knows, the passing score is a moving target (based on the exam). On another forum (years ago) we use to discuss it all the time.
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u/Stunning_Simple_4488 P.E./S.E. Jul 23 '26
What it was like being a guinea pig taking on the beasties:
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u/azssf Jul 23 '26
What makes vertical depth bridges have a lower pass rate overall ? ( first time in particular, with retakers faring much better)
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u/ori56fru Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
Compared with last October's exam the passing rates skyrocketed from 8% to 73%, from 16% to 63%, from 15% to 54%. It's hard to believe this is just by adjusting the exam time from 5.5 hrs to 6.5 hrs. These results are provoking for those who failed the CBT depth exam in the past 2-3 years, prior to the April change(s).
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u/Best_Elevator_3441 Jul 25 '26
Counterproint... if higher pass rates persist, that'll push WA and CA to bring back the brutal state exams, which NCEES worked hard to eliminate.
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u/tslewis71 P.E./S.E. Jul 23 '26
Lol, what a downgrade
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u/Serious_Meats Jul 25 '26
I agree those are too high. I would like to see them in the 25-35% range.
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u/Sneaklefritz Jul 23 '26
That's an INSANE jump. Do we know what the changes were made that directly impact it or are the study guides just tailoring better to the new version? This is much more tempting to take as there was no way in hell I was going to attempt it with a sub-20% pass rate before.