- The Exam at a Glance
- Format, Item Types, and the Shared Clock
- The Five Official Domains
- Domains 1 and 2: Systems and Facilities
- Domains 3, 4, and 5: Operations, Work Design, Quality
- Fees, Dates, and Scheduling Mechanics
- Scoring Facts That Shape Strategy
- What You Can and Cannot Bring
- Eligibility Pathway: What Is and Is Not Universal
- Sequencing Your Review by Domain
- Frequently Asked Questions
- PE-I&S has 85 questions across five domains, each allocated 14-21 questions; no domain dominates.
- NCEES charges a $400 exam fee per attempt; separate state board application fees may also apply.
- Testing time is 8 hours 30 minutes inside a 9 hour 30 minute Pearson VUE appointment.
- The most recent NCEES table shows a 69% first-time pass rate and 29% for repeat examinees.
The Exam at a Glance
This page condenses the facts that matter most for the NCEES Principles and Practice of Engineering - Industrial and Systems exam (official label: PE Industrial and Systems). It is a licensure examination administered by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) and delivered at approved Pearson VUE test centers. If you are still orienting yourself on what the credential is, start with What Is PE-I&S? and then return here for the numbers.
| Item | Fact |
|---|---|
| Administrator | NCEES |
| Test provider | Pearson VUE, approved test centers, in person |
| Questions | 85 total, including unidentified unscored pretest items |
| Testing time | 8 hours 30 minutes |
| Appointment length | 9 hours 30 minutes (includes 2-minute NDA, 8-minute tutorial, 50-minute scheduled break) |
| Exam fee | US$400 per attempt (board application fees separate) |
| Frequency | Annual, single-day computer-based administration |
| Scheduled date | October 28, 2026 |
| Units | SI and USCS |
| Result reporting | Pass/fail against the NCEES minimum-competence standard |
Format, Item Types, and the Shared Clock
The exam is not purely multiple choice. NCEES uses a mix of item types, and each rewards a slightly different habit under time pressure.
- Multiple choice: the familiar single-best-answer format.
- Multiple correct: you must identify every correct option; there is no partial credit.
- Point-and-click: you select a location on a graphic, such as a point on a chart or diagram.
- Drag-and-drop: you order or match elements, which suits process sequences and classification tasks.
- Numerical fill-in: you compute and type a value rather than choosing from options, so rounding and units discipline matter.
Scored items receive correct/incorrect credit only. Because there is no partial credit, a multiple-correct item with one wrong selection earns nothing, so read the instruction line carefully before you commit.
Two Sections, One Clock
The exam is divided into two sections that share the testing clock. A submitted section cannot be reopened. That has a direct tactical implication: do not submit a section until you have used your flagging and review time for it, because there is no returning later. The 85-question total also includes unidentified unscored pretest items, so you cannot tell which questions count. Treat every item as live.
The Five Official Domains
The NCEES specification organizes the exam into five numbered objectives. These are official exam objectives, not preparation-curriculum headings, and the subtopics listed beneath each one in the specification are illustrative rather than exhaustive. Critically, NCEES publishes question-count ranges rather than fixed percentage weights, and every domain shares the same range.
| # | Domain | Official Question Range |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Systems Engineering | 14-21 |
| 2 | Facilities Engineering and Planning | 14-21 |
| 3 | Operations Engineering | 14-21 |
| 4 | Work Design | 14-21 |
| 5 | Quality Engineering | 14-21 |
The practical message is balance. No single domain has a larger allocation than the others, so a candidate who is brilliant in quality engineering but weak in facilities planning has no structural cushion. A deeper walkthrough lives in PE-I&S Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 5 Content Areas.
Key Takeaway
Do not rely on percentage estimates you may see on course pages. Use the NCEES specification itself as your blueprint. The 2026 NCEES professional-activities study is a research announcement, not a replacement blueprint, so the current specification still governs.
Domains 1 and 2: Systems and Facilities
Domain 1: Systems Engineering
This domain tests how you think about a system across its life, from requirements through operation, rather than any single machine or process. Expect questions that ask you to structure a problem before solving it.
- Translating stakeholder needs into requirements and tracing them through design
- Modeling and simulation concepts, including when each is the right tool
- Decision analysis under uncertainty and trade-off evaluation among alternatives
- Reliability and system-level performance thinking
- Project and lifecycle considerations that affect system architecture
Domain 2: Facilities Engineering and Planning
This is where physical layout, flow, and capacity meet cost. Many items here are quantitative and reward careful setup of the problem before any arithmetic.
- Facility layout and material-handling analysis, including flow between departments
- Location and siting decisions weighed against cost and service factors
- Capacity and space planning for production and warehousing
- Ergonomic and safety considerations that constrain layout choices
- Economic comparison of alternatives, since facility choices are capital decisions
Both domains reward the ability to choose a method, not just execute one. A frequent trap is solving an elegant calculation for the wrong objective. If you are gauging how demanding this material is relative to your background, How Hard Is the PE-I&S Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 gives a candid read.
Domains 3, 4, and 5: Operations, Work Design, Quality
Domain 3: Operations Engineering
The day-to-day running of production and service systems: planning, scheduling, inventory, and flow.
- Production planning, forecasting, and inventory control models
- Scheduling and sequencing logic
- Queueing and throughput analysis, where unit consistency decides correctness
- Optimization and linear-programming style problems
- Supply chain and logistics concepts tied to operational decisions
Domain 4: Work Design
How people perform tasks, how long tasks should take, and how to design them safely and productively.
- Time study, standard-time determination, and work sampling
- Methods analysis and process improvement
- Human factors and ergonomic evaluation
- Workplace safety and job design
- Learning-curve and labor-cost estimation
Domain 5: Quality Engineering
Statistical and managerial tools for controlling and improving process output.
- Statistical process control and control-chart interpretation
- Process capability analysis and sampling plans
- Design of experiments and hypothesis testing
- Reliability and failure analysis in a quality context
- Quality management systems and continuous-improvement frameworks
Fees, Dates, and Scheduling Mechanics
The NCEES exam fee is US$400 per attempt. That figure is distinct from any application, licensing, or approval fees charged by your state or territorial board, which vary and are set by that board. Budget for both, and verify the board portion directly. A complete cost view, including practice materials, is in PE-I&S Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
- Delivery: in-person at an approved Pearson VUE test center, computer-based.
- Exam day: scheduled October 28, 2026, an annual single-day administration.
- Question set: all examinees in a given administration receive the same question set.
- Appointment structure: a 9 hour 30 minute appointment wraps the 8 hours 30 minutes of testing time with the NDA, tutorial, and a 50-minute scheduled break.
Scoring Facts That Shape Strategy
NCEES reports pass/fail based on whether your scaled score meets the minimum-competence standard. It does not publish a numerical passing score, so any claim of an exact percentage-correct cutoff is not something you should trust. For the full treatment, see PE-I&S Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.
| Scoring Fact | What It Means for You |
|---|---|
| No deduction for wrong answers | Answer every question; never leave an item blank |
| No partial credit | Multiple-correct and numerical items are all-or-nothing |
| Unscored pretest items included | Some questions do not count, but you cannot identify them |
| Pass/fail reporting only | No domain-level numeric target to aim for |
Pass Rates in Context
The NCEES table (updated January 2026) shows a 69% first-time pass rate based on 80 examinees, and a 29% repeat pass rate based on 21 examinees. Treat these with care: the figures reflect the prior October administration, not the upcoming October 2026 sitting, and the examinee counts are small. The gap between first-time and repeat results is still instructive, since repeat candidates often return after a first failure and may face persistent gaps. More analysis is in PE-I&S Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows.
What You Can and Cannot Bring
The exam is closed book. You work from the supplied searchable electronic reference handbook, and personal reference materials are prohibited. You may use one NCEES-approved calculator. Because the handbook is searchable, a meaningful part of your preparation is learning where formulas and tables live and how quickly you can retrieve them, not memorizing everything.
Official Practice Material
NCEES sells an official e-book practice exam for $59.95 with 85 questions and solutions. It is based on the October 2020 specifications and carries the same content as the 2020 print edition. NCEES has also posted errata for the practice exam (copyright 2020, ISBN 978-1-947801-05-9, posted May 1, 2023), so check the errata before trusting any solution that looks off. Pair it with a broader plan from PE-I&S Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt, and use the PE-I&S practice tests to drill items across all five domains.
Eligibility Pathway: What Is and Is Not Universal
Who may sit for the exam, and what approval they need, is controlled by the licensing board you select. There is no single national prerequisite. A common licensure pathway looks like this:
- An EAC/ABET-accredited engineering bachelor's degree
- Passing the FE exam
- Four years of acceptable engineering experience
- Passing the PE exam
That sequence is common but not a universal exam-sitting prerequisite, so your board's rules take precedence. Likewise, NCEES Record applications for engineering use five U.S.-licensed engineer references, but this is not universally required to sit for the exam either. Confirm everything with your board, and read PE-I&S Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify for a fuller picture.
Renewal Is a License Matter
This is a licensure examination, not a separately renewable NCEES certification. After you are licensed, the issuing state or territorial board sets the renewal period and the continuing-professional-competency requirements. Passing the exam does not create an NCEES-managed renewal clock.
Career and Pay Context
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $102,440 for industrial engineers as of May 2025. That is an occupation-wide figure, not a PE-specific salary and not a measured licensure premium, so do not read it as what a license alone adds. For a careful look at whether the investment pays off, see PE-I&S Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis and Is the PE-I&S Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026.
Sequencing Your Review by Domain
Because all five domains share the same 14-21 question range, a review plan should aim for balanced competence, with extra hours aimed at your weakest areas. One reasonable ordering front-loads the shared quantitative foundations, then moves through domains that build on one another.
Shared Foundations
- Probability, statistics, and engineering economics, since they recur across Domains 1, 2, 3, and 5
- Handbook navigation: practice searching for formulas and tables quickly
Domains 3 and 5
- Operations Engineering and Quality Engineering both lean on statistics and are calculation-heavy
- Drill queueing, inventory, control charts, and capability analysis with numerical fill-in items
Domains 2 and 4
- Facilities planning and Work Design reward method selection and careful units
- Practice layout, location, time study, and ergonomics problems
Domain 1 and Full Simulation
- Systems Engineering ties the other domains together, so it benefits from late review
- Take the official 85-question practice exam under timed, handbook-only conditions
Key Takeaway
Use your first timed practice attempt as a diagnostic, not a verdict. Sort missed items by domain, then spend your remaining weeks on the two weakest. For more on how people prepare, see the overview at PE-I&S Training.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are 85 questions in total, which include unidentified unscored pretest items. Each of the five domains is allocated 14-21 questions, and no domain carries a larger allocation than the others.
The NCEES exam fee is US$400 per attempt. Your state or territorial board may charge separate application fees, which vary by board, so confirm those directly with your licensing board.
NCEES does not publish a numerical passing score. Results are reported as pass or fail based on whether your scaled score meets the NCEES minimum-competence standard, and there is no penalty for incorrect answers.
No. The exam is closed book. You use the supplied searchable electronic reference handbook and one NCEES-approved calculator, and personal reference materials are prohibited.
No. Scored items receive correct or incorrect credit only, so multiple-correct, drag-and-drop, and numerical fill-in items are all-or-nothing. Read instructions carefully and watch rounding and units.