# PE - Civil (California and Illinois)



## utoots21 (Feb 11, 2009)

I like to be in a hurry to move forward with my career. Given that I only have 1.5 years of experience it will be a long time waiting to take the PE Exam. All of my co-workers, classmates, friends are currently studying for the exam. Unfortunately, the requirement in illinois is 4 years of experience before you can even apply. That's why I plan to take the PE Civil portion in California next year and transferring it over to Illinois once I get 3 years, 9 months (Yes I read the laws) of experience.

Considering the bureaucracy in California and Illinois, am I delusional to coughup $500-$700 (cost of application including plane tickets and hotel) versus $100 Illinois application just so I could take the test earlier?

One more question, since I am an out of towner to California laws, I was wondering if I can just take the 8-hour Civil exam in California without taking the 5 hour seismic/surveying portion, and somehow transfer that to Illinois (which does not care about seismis/surveying, however, does care about licensure from other states).

BTW, I'm new to this board. I would just like your honest opinion in my plan.


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## McEngr (Feb 11, 2009)

Unfortunately, you can't have your cake and eat it. You'll have to pass all of them. Life could hand you a lot of unexpected things. It may not hurt to just go for it in case you ever need it.


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## snickerd3 (Feb 11, 2009)

utoots21 said:


> I like to be in a hurry to move forward with my career. Given that I only have 1.5 years of experience it will be a long time waiting to take the PE Exam. All of my co-workers, classmates, friends are currently studying for the exam. Unfortunately, the requirement in illinois is 4 years of experience before you can even apply. That's why I plan to take the PE Civil portion in California next year and transferring it over to Illinois once I get 3 years, 9 months (Yes I read the laws) of experience.
> Considering the bureaucracy in California and Illinois, am I delusional to coughup $500-$700 (cost of application including plane tickets and hotel) versus $100 Illinois application just so I could take the test earlier?
> 
> One more question, since I am an out of towner to California laws, I was wondering if I can just take the 8-hour Civil exam in California without taking the 5 hour seismic/surveying portion, and somehow transfer that to Illinois (which does not care about seismis/surveying, however, does care about licensure from other states).
> ...


They are real sticklers in IL.

I had 3 yrs 11.5 months at the time of application (may) to sit for the Oct test and they sent a letter requiring me to redo my verification of work experience since it didn't say 4 yrs, even though by the time the test I would have well over 4yrs.


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## Tark62 (Feb 12, 2009)

> Considering the bureaucracy in California and Illinois, am I delusional to coughup $500-$700 (cost of application including plane tickets and hotel) versus $100 Illinois application just so I could take the test earlier?


Yes, this approach may well be delusional.

State boards generally use the exact same NCEES exams, and will typically honor passing PE exam results obtained out-of-state. So it is possible, in some cases, to pass the NCEES Civil PE exam "early" in California, and then have that passing result accepted later in another state.

Unfortunately, this approach won't work in every state. The problem is that some states will automatically reject out-of-state NCEES exam results -- even passing results -- if the exam was taken before fulfillment of the in-state experience requirement. And Illinois appears to be one of those states.

NCEES recently surveyed state boards nationwide about this issue. NCEES asked:



> If a comity applicant took the PE examination in another jurisdiction before obtaining the experience required in your jurisdiction, would your statutes require that the applicant retake the PE examination, even if the applicant has the experience required by your jurisdiction at the time of comity application?


The Illinois PE Board responded as follows:



> Yes


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## utoots21 (Feb 13, 2009)

Tark62 said:


> Yes, this approach may well be delusional.
> State boards generally use the exact same NCEES exams, and will typically honor passing PE exam results obtained out-of-state. So it is possible, in some cases, to pass the NCEES Civil PE exam "early" in California, and then have that passing result accepted later in another state.
> 
> Unfortunately, this approach won't work in every state. The problem is that some states will automatically reject out-of-state NCEES exam results -- even passing results -- if the exam was taken before fulfillment of the in-state experience requirement. And Illinois appears to be one of those states.
> ...


Hey thanks for the link. That helped settle everything. One more question, say the state required 4 years experience, however, application deadline is when I have 3 years 10 months, would i still be able to apply, and just reapply late when I have my 4 years?


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## snickerd3 (Feb 13, 2009)

utoots21 said:


> Hey thanks for the link. That helped settle everything. One more question, say the state required 4 years experience, however, application deadline is when I have 3 years 10 months, would i still be able to apply, and just reapply late when I have my 4 years?


Same thing happened to me (see earlier post). Since your employment verification forms are submitted separately by the company/boss, you could have your current boss hold off on sending in their form until you have the required for years. If they do send it in early the State will send you a letter stating you didn't have enough time in and have them resubmit the form.


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