What is on the FE Chemical exam?

The FE Chemical exam has 110 questions in 5 hours and 20 minutes, and it is closed book except for an electronic reference handbook. The July 2020 specification lists 17 knowledge areas, and Material/Energy Balances carries the widest range at 10 to 15 questions. Fluid Mechanics/Dynamics, Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer, and Mass Transfer and Separation each run 8 to 12 questions, while Chemistry and Biology, Chemical Reaction Engineering, and Process Design each run 7 to 11.

FE Chemical knowledge areas and question ranges

NCEES assigns every knowledge area a question range, and the current specifications for all seven FE disciplines have been in effect since the July 2020 exams. In every FE specification, the low ends of those ranges add up to 100 of the 110 questions, and the other 10 questions sit above those floors, with the specification leaving open which areas receive them.

The ranges below follow the FE Chemical specification order.

What the largest chemical areas cover

Material and energy balances

Material/Energy Balances is the only area whose range starts at 10 and runs to 15 questions, and it covers steady mass balances and mass balances with accumulation, the same split for energy balances, and flowsheets with recycle or bypass. Reactive systems, including combustion, are also in this area. The usual task is to pick a boundary, account for every stream, and close the math with stoichiometry or an energy term.

Fluids, heat, and mass transfer

Fluid Mechanics/Dynamics covers fluid properties, dimensionless groups such as the Reynolds number, and the mechanical energy balance through pipes, valves, fittings, packed beds, and networks. Bernoulli items use hydrostatic pressure and velocity head, and the area also includes laminar and turbulent flow, orifice and Venturi meters, pumps, turbines, compressors, vacuum systems, compressible flow, and non-Newtonian fluids.

Heat Transfer covers conduction, natural and forced convection, and radiation, along with overall, local, and fouling coefficients. Equipment items include double pipe and shell and tube exchangers, flow arrangement, log mean temperature difference, and the number of transfer units.

Mass Transfer and Separation covers molecular diffusion, including unsteady cases and property estimates, and convective mass-transfer coefficients. Separators include distillation, absorption, extraction, membranes, and adsorption, with stage methods such as graphical work (McCabe-Thiele) and stage efficiency, and continuous-contact methods covering transfer units, height of a transfer unit, height equivalent to a theoretical plate, and the number of theoretical plates. Humidification, drying, and evaporation belong here as well.

Thermodynamics

You need properties of pure components and mixtures, including specific volume, internal energy, enthalpy, entropy, free energy, and the ideal gas law, with data drawn from steam tables, psychrometric charts, or phase diagrams. The area includes the first and second laws, isothermal, adiabatic, and isentropic paths, phase changes, and the efficiencies of power, refrigeration, and heat-pump cycles. Equilibrium work reaches fugacity, activity coefficients, Raoult’s law, chemical equilibrium, and heats of reaction and mixing.

Chemistry, reactors, and process design

Chemistry and Biology is wider than a single plant course. Inorganic work covers concentration units, acids and bases, redox, solubility, pH, and electrochemistry, while organic work covers naming, structure, and reactions. Analytical chemistry covers wet methods and instruments, and biology covers how cells are organized, metabolic cycles, enzymes and proteins, genetics and expression, and bioprocessing such as fermentation and aerobic or anaerobic treatment.

Chemical Reaction Engineering covers rate laws, reaction order, and the Arrhenius form of the rate constant, along with conversion, yield, and selectivity for reactions that may run in series or parallel, be reversible, and be homogeneous, heterogeneous, or biological. Reactors include batch, semibatch, continuous stirred tank, and plug flow, in gas or liquid phase, and catalysis covers mechanisms, biocatalysis, and the physical properties of catalysts.

Process Design covers process flow diagrams and piping and instrumentation diagrams, equipment choice and scale-up, and cost estimates that use indices and equipment costs. Design questions also reach efficiency, sustainability, green engineering, inherently safer design, and checking a design against its specification, and the standards cited here include regulatory rules and ASTM, ISO, and OSHA documents.

Shorter chemical ranges

Safety, Health, and Environment (5 to 8) covers hazardous properties and safety data sheets, industrial hygiene, studies such as HAZOP and layer of protection analysis, relief of overpressure and underpressure, waste rules, and reactivity hazards such as runaways. Process Control (4 to 6) covers process dynamics, strategies such as feedback, feedforward, cascade, ratio, and PID tuning, and the sensors, valves, interlocks, and controllers that implement a loop. Materials Science (4 to 6) covers properties under temperature, stress, and chemical attack, corrosion control, and metals, polymers, ceramics, and composites. Engineering Sciences (4 to 6) covers basic dynamics, work and energy, and circuit relations such as Ohm’s law and Kirchhoff’s laws. Solids Handling (3 to 5) covers particle size and interparticle forces, crushing, grinding, crystallization, and moving or storing solids and slurries.

Mathematics, statistics, economics, and ethics

On this exam, Mathematics is 6 to 9 questions, Probability and Statistics is 4 to 6, Economics is 4 to 6, and Ethics and Professional Practice is 3 to 5. For the topics that show up on every FE exam, see which topics are on every FE exam.

Mathematics here includes analytic geometry, logarithms, trigonometry, single-variable calculus, ordinary and partial differential equations, Laplace transforms, and numerical work such as Newton-Raphson, curve fitting, and error propagation, along with linear algebra and significant figures. Probability and Statistics includes common distributions, expected value, hypothesis tests and simple designed experiments, mean and spread, regression, and control limits.

Economics covers the time value of money (present worth, annual worth, future worth, and rate of return), break-even and benefit-cost comparisons, risk, and choosing among projects with unequal lives, depreciation, or a lease, buy, or make decision. Time value of money practice problems line up with that area. Ethics and Professional Practice covers codes from professional and technical societies, contracts and related agreements, public health, safety, and welfare, and intellectual property. Ethics and the NCEES Model Rules practice problems are a focused set for that short range.

Handbook chapters chemical examinees open most

You use one electronic reference during the exam. In FE Reference Handbook 10.6, these chapter starting pages match the heavy and supporting areas:

• Chemical Engineering: page 243
• Thermodynamics: page 143
• Fluid Mechanics: page 181
• Heat Transfer: page 209
• Chemistry and Biology: page 86
• Mathematics: page 36
• Instrumentation, Measurement, and Control: page 225
• Engineering Economics: page 235

Engineering Probability and Statistics starts on page 64, Materials Science on page 117, and Dynamics on page 102. Safety starts on page 15, Ethics and Professional Practice on page 4, and Units and Conversion Factors on page 1. The index starts on page 467.

Handbook 10.6 has no chapter title for balances, separations, reactors, solids handling, or process design. We suggest you open Chemical Engineering for those areas, then use the index when a formula sits under another heading. Process control matches Instrumentation, Measurement, and Control. How to use the FE Reference Handbook is worth practicing on its own, because search time comes out of the same 5 hours and 20 minutes as the problems.

FE Chemical pass rate for first-time takers

NCEES last updated its FE pass-rate table in July 2026. For first-time takers, the Chemical row lists a volume of 743 and a pass rate of 68%. Volumes and rates for the other FE disciplines are collected on the FE exam pass rate page.

How to turn the ranges into a study order

We suggest you treat each low end as the block you should be able to work, and each high end as the priority signal. The 10 questions above the floors can land in any area, so a plan that only drills balances still leaves most of the 110 questions to chance.

One way to order the 17 areas:

1. Material/Energy Balances first. Both ends of its range are the highest on the spec.
2. Fluid Mechanics/Dynamics, Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer, and Mass Transfer and Separation, the four areas at 8 to 12 questions.
3. Chemistry and Biology, Chemical Reaction Engineering, and Process Design, the three areas at 7 to 11.
4. Mathematics (6 to 9), then Safety, Health, and Environment (5 to 8).
5. Probability and Statistics, Engineering Sciences, Materials Science, Economics, and Process Control, each 4 to 6.
6. Solids Handling and Ethics and Professional Practice last among the topics, each 3 to 5. Keep them in the plan, since a short area is still several scored items.

Put that order on a calendar with a 60-day FE study plan, and keep the chemical ranges as the topic weights while using the calendar only to spread the weeks.

Frequently asked questions

How many questions are on the FE Chemical exam?

The FE Chemical exam has 110 questions, and the appointment is 5 hours and 20 minutes. The July 2020 specification gives each of the 17 knowledge areas a range, and those ranges are how the 110 questions are distributed. The low ends across an FE specification account for 100 questions, and the other 10 are spread above the floors.

What is the hardest part of the FE Chemical exam?

The specification publishes question ranges and gives no difficulty ranking. Material/Energy Balances can contribute 10 to 15 questions, and Fluid Mechanics/Dynamics, Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer, and Mass Transfer and Separation can each contribute 8 to 12. A weak topic in that group can occupy more of your form than a weak topic in Solids Handling or Ethics and Professional Practice, so use the range, not a rumor about trick questions, to decide where to spend extra practice.

What is the FE Chemical pass rate?

In the NCEES table last updated in July 2026, first-time FE Chemical takers had a pass rate of 68% on a volume of 743. The table is a historical count for first-time takers in each discipline, and it is separate from the way your own exam is scored.

Which handbook chapters matter for FE Chemical?

In FE Reference Handbook 10.6, Chemical Engineering starts on page 243, Thermodynamics on page 143, Fluid Mechanics on page 181, and Heat Transfer on page 209. Chemistry and Biology starts on page 86, Mathematics on page 36, Instrumentation, Measurement, and Control on page 225, and Engineering Economics on page 235. The index starts on page 467. Learning those starting pages before exam day keeps you from scrolling the electronic file from the first page on every item.

Sources

1. NCEES FE Chemical CBT exam specifications (PDF). Retrieved October 3, 2026.
2. NCEES: FE exam. Retrieved October 3, 2026.
3. NCEES FE Reference Handbook 10.6 (free PDF in MyNCEES). Retrieved October 3, 2026.