Ohio's Engineers and Surveyors Board | Exams

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Board home > Exams home > PE exam experience

PE exam experience

Acceptable experience defined
Ohio Administrative Code section 4733-9-02

(A) Satisfactory engineering work shall be of a nature such that its adequate performance requires engineering education, training, or experience and must be demonstrated through the application of the mathematical, physical and engineering sciences. Satisfactory engineering experience shall include but not be limited to, an acceptable combination of the following types of engineering activities:

(1) Design or conceptual design of engineering works, products, or systems;

(2) Development or optimization of plans and specifications for engineering works, products, or systems;

(3) Analysis, consultation, investigation, evaluation, planning or other related services for engineering works, products, or systems;

(4) Planning the use or alteration of land, water, or other resources;

(5) Engineering for development of operating and maintenance manuals;

(6) Engineering for construction, or inspection of construction for the purpose of assuring compliance with drawings or specifications;

(7) Engineering for materials testing and evaluation;

(8) Any other work of a mechanical, electrical, electronic, chemical, hydraulic, pneumatic, geotechnical, or thermal nature that requires engineering education, training or experience for its adequate performance;

(9) Teaching of engineering subjects.

(B) The board will consider satisfactory graduate study resulting in a graduate degree, or degrees, in engineering or surveying equal to experience up to a maximum of two years’ credit of the engineering or surveying experience required. Credit for work experience and for undergraduate or graduate study, occurring within the same period, shall not exceed the elapsed calendar time during which this occurs.

(C) In the review of engineering experience, the board shall consider whether the experience was sufficiently complex and diverse, and of an increasing standard of quality and responsibility and whether the quality of engineering work shows minimum technical competency.

Crediting engineering experience before graduation

IMPORTANT! Even though Ohio law allows experience credit to be awarded prior to graduation, the Board discourages the use of co-op time for experience because of comity problems with other states. Some states will require an Ohio registrant applying for comity registration to re-pass the PE exam for licensure if the four years of experience was not entirely earned after graduation.

The Board's law says, in part:

A specific record of four years or more practical experience in engineering work completed in addition to, and not overlapping in time, any school work completed under divisions (A) (1) (a) of this section that is acceptable to the board, not more than two years of which may be before graduation but after the completion of the second year of college.

Since we credit four years for the undergraduate degree, you must be in school for more than four years to receive any “extra” credit. For example, let’s say you started college in September 1997 and graduated May 2002:

09/1997 subtracted from 05/2002 = 4 years and 9 months

This person can receive a maximum of nine months engineering experience credit because that’s the calendar time elapsed minus the four years we already credit.

To actually get credit for the nine months in this example, you need to specify the experience in your application. Plus, don’t forget we only credit experience after the sophomore year.

Add your experience after graduation up until the application deadline (120 days before the exam, NOT the exam date) and you know where you stand.

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Exam qualifications are not determined by Board staff

REMINDER…While the Board staff can and does answer your exam questions by email, fax and telephone, the Board staff cannot determine if you are qualified to take an NCEES exam. Your qualifications are reviewed by the Board's panel of experts after you have applied.

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STATE OF OHIO
ENGINEERS AND SURVEYORS BOARD
50 W BROAD ST STE 1820
COLUMBUS OH 43215-5905

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