# what exactly are the pass rates?



## californiadude (Oct 6, 2011)

here it shows the pass rates are 50% +/- 5%

http://www.pels.ca.gov/applicants/oct10eit.shtml

http://www.pels.ca.gov/applicants/exam_statistics.shtml

here it shows pass rates for first time test takers around 75-80%

http://www.ncees.org/Exams/FE_exam.php

these numbers are so far off. maybe the the number of repeat test takers are so high that lower the overall passrate down significantly.



These pass rates represent April 2011 FE candidates who attended EAC/ABET-accredited engineering programs.

Exam Module	First-time takers	Repeat takers

Chemical	87%	46%

Civil	79%	42%

Electrical	71%	30%

Environmental	86%	41%

Industrial	71%	62%

Mechanical	81%	32%

Other Disciplines	74%	32%

i took the averages passrates for total 1rst time test takers and got 78%, total for repeat takers is 41%.

from the CA.pels.gov site it says total passrate independent of 1rst or repeat status was 55%.

solved the weighted averages.

*basically out of all the test takers 37.8% of people are 1rst time takers; 62.2% are repeat takers in order to arrive at the weighted average pass rate of 55%. *

i think i did this right. but it seems pretty ridiculous no?


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## Road Guy (Oct 10, 2011)

50% is the lowest numbers I have heard to be honest, I think only the first time takers passing percentage is all that should matter....


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## Mike in Gastonia (Oct 19, 2011)

Plus, the ones you posted from ncees say eac accredited programs and california's doesn't. so you're not comparing apples to apples. somebody posted on here somewhere that you don't even need a college degree to take the exam in ca if you have enough experience. so it looks like they lump all of their candidates together.


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## DS58 (Oct 19, 2011)

Also, in determining the overall averages for 1st time passes (78%) and repeat passes (41%), there is an assumption made that all the disciplines are equally weighted. Still, the numbers surprise me...


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## mudpuppy (Oct 19, 2011)

Yeah, it definitely sounds like CA has a lower overall pass rate than the national average. Digging some more into the numbers on CA's website, they post 1st time vs. repeat takers for 2002:

*Pass Rate Comparison - 1st Time vs. Repeat Test Takers*

*ENGINEER-IN-TRAINING (FUNDAMENTALS)*

# Tested # Pass Pass % # Fail Fail % 1st Time 1766 1174 66.48% 592 33.52% Repeat 1390 358 25.76% 1032 74.24%

with an overall pass rate of 49%. These rates are quite a bit lower than what you calculated from the NCEES numbers.

(data from http://www.pels.ca.gov/applicants/multistats.shtml)


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## mudpuppy (Oct 19, 2011)

Ok, that didn't post very well, but the numbers are available in the link.


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## JoeyFE (Oct 24, 2011)

To be honest, I don't think the pass rates are true that they post. I think the most accurate method is determining the pass rate for your self. Go to your state board &gt; download the excel sheet for FE students that passed the exam. They list all students that passed the exam in that state. However, the problem lies in finding how many students took the exam to begin with. Probably have to make a rough estimate there. BTW you won't be able to do a pass rate per specific field but rather as a general engineering community.

Students that passed/Total Students = % passed


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## IlPadrino (Oct 24, 2011)

JoeyFE said:


> ... I think the most accurate method is determining the pass rate for your self. .... However, the problem lies in finding how many students took the exam to begin with.


How will you possible know how many people took the exam?!? If you don't know, you can't, with any sense of accuracy, pretend to know the pass rate.


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## JoeyFE (Oct 24, 2011)

It doesn't hurt to ask them. For all I know, there could be a resouce already in existance that says how many people have taken the test.

Anyhow, for the sake of saying that they are telling the truth. By knowing how many people passed the test, and knowing the percent that has passed, you can determine the total amount of test takers.


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