I have a few questions about the PE Civil Exam. Do you have to take the depth and breath exam on the same day and time? If you pass the breath exam but failed the depth can you just take only depth afterward? Is the PE Surveying exam taken by everyone or only for those who want to practice surveying? Is FE required to have before taking PE? I heard through my colleagues that if you have 2 yrs of work experience, you can take PE directly without FE.
Assuming you are trying to get licensed in CA:
1) yes you have to take the depth and breadth portion of the 8-hr exam on the same day and time, it's technically 1 exam just broken into 2 parts so you're not answering questions for 8 hours straight. it's a pass/fail so it doesn't matter if you do better/worse in either section, you'd have to retake the 8-hr exam again
2) surveying is a CA state specific exam, so if you want to get licensed in CA you must take and pass both surveying and seismic exams after you pass the 8-hr PE exam and get approved by the board. CA is a total of 3 exams after passing the FE
3) FE is required to have before taking the PE. there are waivers but that requires many years of experience and honestly not worth the hassle. if you're going to sit for the 8-hr PE, FE is good practice for that.
You may have misinterpreted your colleagues, or they are licensed elsewhere, but in CA the process to getting licensed goes:
1) Take and pass FE
2) Take and pass PE (does not require you to apply to the board in order to sit for this exam, can take as soon as you pass FE, work experience is not necessary)
3) Submit your application (this requires 2 years of qualifying work experience in order to be approved to sit for the CA surveying and seismic exam, you also need to submit transcripts, fingerprints, and minimum of 4 references)
4) Once your application gets approved, take and pass surveying and seismic exams
5) license number gets issued a few weeks after you have passed both
