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Closing the Book on the PE Exam?

Future candidates for the Principles and Practice of Engineering Exam may have to rely on fewer resources during testing, as exam administrators explore implementing a closed-book testing policy.

Jerry Carter, executive director of the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying, says that concerns over exam security may lead the organization to change its policy.

While the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam is a closed-book exam with the exception of some NCEES-provided references, PE exam takers can use unlimited references, as long as the references are bound. It has become common for candidates to show up for the exam with wagons, push carts, and suitcases of reference materials. "The problem is that if they bring in this much material, you don't know what information they may be taking from the exam away in that reference material," Carter says. "It's an obvious threat."

NCEES is surveying examinees about how many reference books they brought into the testing site and how many of these references were actually used. "In reality, for many of the discipline exams, they just need a few reference books," Carter says.

NCEES's Committee on Examinations for Professional Engineers, chaired by George Roman, P.E., will be reviewing the current policy in order to address issues surrounding security concerns and computer-based testing. The taskforce will be making recommendations about transitioning PE exams to computer-based testing at NCEES's next annual meeting.

Carter anticipates that the council could approve a course of action to transition to computer-based testing. "We need to get some controls in place to better police the exam site, and by doing so it helps to facilitate the process if we decide to move to computer-based testing," he says.