To get a PE license in Texas, you need a qualifying engineering degree, a passing score on the NCEES FE and PE exams, a passing Texas Ethics of Engineering exam, at least 4 years of creditable engineering experience (8 if your degree isn't from an accredited program), and references from 3 licensed professional engineers. That's the summary on the Texas Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors (TBPELS) licensing requirements page. The EIT certificate sits in the middle as an optional but useful step, because it lets you take the PE exam before your experience is complete.
This post walks through each step in order, with every requirement linked to the TBPELS or NCEES page it comes from. It's written so a manager can forward it to a new graduate, and so the graduate can use it as a checklist. Rules and fees change, so confirm the details with TBPELS before you apply.
The whole path on one page
Here is the sequence most engineers with an accredited bachelor's degree follow. Each row is expanded below.
| Step | What it involves | Where it's handled |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Degree | Accredited engineering degree, or a qualifying non-accredited degree | Your university |
| 2. FE exam | Computer-based, 110 questions, offered year-round | NCEES |
| 3. EIT certificate | Optional in Texas; valid 8 years | TBPELS |
| 4. Experience | 4 years (accredited degree) or 8 years (non-accredited), documented in an SER | Your employer |
| 5. PE exam | Texas EITs can take it before the experience is complete | NCEES |
| 6. Application | Form and fee, SER, 3 PE references, transcripts, Ethics exam, fingerprints | TBPELS |
Step 1: The degree decides your experience clock
TBPELS sorts degrees into accredited and non-accredited. An accredited degree is, most commonly, a Bachelor of Science in engineering from an EAC/ABET accredited program in the United States. The licensing requirements page also lists Board-approved equivalents, including some Canadian, Mexican, and Washington Accord programs. A bachelor's in engineering technology from a TAC/ABET program, or a Board-approved science or math degree, counts as non-accredited.
The difference matters most for the clock. With an accredited degree, you need at least 4 years of creditable experience. With a non-accredited degree, you need at least 8. Every degree also needs at least 8 hours of math beyond trigonometry and at least 20 hours of engineering science, per the same page.
Graduate school helps. The TBPELS licensing FAQ says the Board gives one year of engineering experience credit for each advanced degree from an ABET-accredited program. Experience before your degree generally doesn't count, with narrow exceptions under Board Rule 133.43(b), and work that earned you course credit never does.
Step 2: Pass the FE, ideally before or right after graduation
The FE is the NCEES Fundamentals of Engineering exam. According to the NCEES FE exam page, it's a computer-based exam given year-round at Pearson test centers, with 110 questions in a 6-hour appointment that includes 5 hours and 20 minutes of exam time. The exam fee is $225, paid to NCEES.
Texas lets you take it early. The TBPELS exams page says undergraduates within two full-time semesters of graduating from an approved program can sit for the FE, and so can graduate students in engineering master's or PhD programs.
If your engineers are still deciding whether to bother, this post on who actually needs the FE covers it. If they're preparing now, start with how to pass the FE exam.
Step 3: Get the EIT certificate (optional, but worth it)
The Engineer in Training certificate is the Board's record that you have a qualifying degree and passed the FE. Per the TBPELS EIT page:
The same page is clear that an EIT certificate isn't required to apply for a Texas PE license. So why get one? Because of decoupling.
Step 4: Take the PE exam early through decoupling
Since May 1, 2016, Texas EITs can register for the PE exam before they've earned the required experience. The TBPELS decoupling page says the only requirement is to be a Texas EIT. Current EITs who haven't taken a PE exam before are approved automatically when they register, and they get as many attempts as they need while they hold EIT status. The old three-attempt limit no longer applies.
Passing early doesn't make you a PE. You still finish the experience and then apply for the license.
Without EIT status, the order flips. You apply to TBPELS first, and the exams page says new applications must reach the Board at least 4 months before the exam date. (One answer on the FAQ page says 90 days, so check the current deadline with the Board.)
The PE exam itself depends on discipline. For example, the NCEES PE Mechanical page says that exam is computer-based and offered year-round, with 80 questions in a 9-hour appointment and a $400 fee paid to NCEES. TBPELS notes that some PE exams run year-round and others only a few times a year, so check your discipline's NCEES page. Results come back in about 8 to 10 weeks through your MyNCEES account.
Step 5: Build the experience record from day one
This is the step where most delays happen, and it's the one a manager can help with most.
TBPELS wants experience that shows "responsible charge" readiness: work that applies engineering knowledge and judgment, grows in quality and responsibility over time, and sits in one dominant discipline. The requirements page says the Board prefers design and analysis work. Design means producing plans, details, or specifications from engineering principles. Analysis means modeling and data collection that lead to a conclusive recommendation or report. Supervision by a PE is recommended but not required.
All of it goes into a Supplementary Experience Record (SER). TBPELS suggests keeping a diary of your work and then summarizing it in an SER of about 6 to 12 pages, written in the first person with active engineering verbs, starting from your first job after graduation.
What the engineer should do
What the manager can do
Step 6: References, the Ethics exam, and the application
References
You need reference statements from 3 currently licensed PEs, or 5 if you're asking for an exam waiver. The PEs can be licensed in any jurisdiction, and out-of-state PEs include proof of an active license. Under Board Rule 133.51(b), a PE who didn't work with you can still review your SER and serve as a reference, per the requirements page. Each reference reads and co-signs your SER and completes the Reference Statement form.
The Texas Ethics of Engineering exam
Every applicant takes it. It's open book, covers the Texas Engineering Practice Act and Board Rules, and can be taken online or downloaded and mailed in, according to the exams page. It goes in with your license application.
The application itself
The TBPELS application process page lists what to send:
An NCEES Record can stand in for transcripts, experience verification, and references, but you still complete the full application and the Ethics exam. Two rules catch people. First, the minimum experience must be earned before you submit; an application that claims too little is non-approved, and the fee isn't returned. Second, the FAQ says you get 45 days to complete your materials, with one optional 30-day extension on written request, before the application is administratively withdrawn. Average processing is about two months.
After approval, the Board mails a pocket card and certificate. The new licensee page notes that if you passed the PE within one calendar year before your license was issued, you're exempt from continuing education for the first renewal period.
What it costs, in the fees TBPELS and NCEES publish
For an engineer taking the PE Mechanical exam, the published fees add up like this: $225 for the FE (NCEES) + $15 for the EIT + $400 for the PE (NCEES) + $75 for the PE application (TBPELS fees) = $715. That leaves out fingerprinting, transcripts, retakes, prep materials, and the seal you'll buy after licensure. Other PE disciplines may carry a different exam fee.
What about exam waivers?
Texas does waive exams, but rarely for early-career engineers. The TBPELS waiver page allows an FE waiver for applicants with 8 years of creditable experience and an accredited degree (12 years with a non-accredited degree), 5 PE references, and a written request. You're not eligible if you failed any FE in the past two years or failed it three or more times anywhere. PE waivers are limited to PhD engineering educators teaching in Texas, engineers licensed in another US state, and former Texas license holders. For a graduate today, the exams are the faster route.
A realistic timeline
For an engineer with an accredited bachelor's and no graduate degree, the fastest path looks like this:
A master's from an ABET-accredited program can take a year off the experience requirement. An engineer who skips the FE in school can still take it later, but they'll be relearning statics and thermodynamics while working full-time.
Getting your engineers through the FE
The FE is the step where employers have the most influence, because it's the one most likely to stall. I hold a BS and MS in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech and spent more than eight years as a design engineer at Fortune 500 companies, and I teach a private 8-week FE cohort for employers. It's 24 hours of live online sessions, one 3-hour session a week, for FE Mechanical or FE Other Disciplines. The price is $5,400 for up to 6 engineers, which works out to $900 each, then $700 for each additional engineer. A cohort of 8 is $5,400 + 2 x $700 = $6,800, or $850 per engineer.
Request a proposal for FE exam training for your engineers. If you're an engineer preparing on your own, one-on-one FE exam prep is built around your diagnostic and your test date.
