What is on the FE Industrial and Systems exam?

The FE Industrial and Systems exam is 110 questions in 5 hours and 20 minutes, covering 13 knowledge areas under the specification effective July 2020. Probability and Statistics is the widest range, at 10 to 15 questions. Five areas sit at 9 to 14 questions each: Engineering Economics, Modeling and Quantitative Analysis, Manufacturing, Service, and Other Production Systems, Facilities and Supply Chain, and Quality. The exam is closed book, with the electronic FE Reference Handbook as your reference.

How many questions fall in each knowledge area?

NCEES states each knowledge area as a range of questions. On every FE specification, the low ends of those ranges add up to 100 of the 110 questions, and the rest of the form is filled inside the published bands. The first seven areas, in specification order, are these.

Specification order continues with these six areas.

A given exam can land anywhere inside each band, so prepare for the low end as the floor and be ready for a form that uses the high end.

Which areas take the largest share of the exam?

Probability and Statistics, at 10 to 15 questions, is the only range that starts at 10. The work runs from counting, sets, and combining events to distribution shape, expected value, and the central limit theorem. You also need interval estimates and hypothesis tests (including normal, t, and chi-square cases, error types, and sample size), straight-line fits with residual and correlation checks, and experiment designs that compare factors, including ANOVA and factorial layouts.

Engineering Economics is 9 to 14 questions. You shift cash flows through time, including compounding that is not once a year, and you rank alternatives with present worth, equivalent annual cost, future worth, rate of return, and benefit-cost comparisons. Cost items cover fixed and variable cost, the point where cost meets revenue, estimates, overhead, inflation, incremental comparisons, sunk cost, and replacement. Tax items cover MACRS and straight-line depreciation, cash flow after tax, and recapture. The time value of money practice problems are the right drill for the factor work in this band.

Four more areas use that same 9 to 14 range. Modeling and Quantitative Analysis asks you to organize data and logic, formulate and interpret a linear program, and build random models such as queues, Markov processes, and draws taken by inverting a probability function. Manufacturing, Service, and Other Production Systems covers shaping processes, throughput and line balance in plants and service systems, short-horizon forecasts, inventory and schedule planning, and process improvement. Facilities and Supply Chain covers layout and location, staffing and machine capacity, material handling, and network design from pooled stock through single-level and multilevel distribution. Quality covers both the management system (planning methods, structured design tools, and loss functions) and the control tools (charts, capability, sampling plans, and curves that show how a sampling plan behaves).

Three areas run 8 to 12 questions. Engineering Management joins planning and organization with project schedules, earned value, performance measures, and decisions under uncertainty. Human Factors, Ergonomics, and Safety joins displays and controls with workplace hazards and with fitting tasks to body size and strength. Systems Engineering, Analysis, and Design joins requirements and configuration control with risk tools, life-cycle choices, and reliability for series and parallel equipment, including time-to-failure measures and availability.

Work Design is 7 to 11 questions on methods charting, time standards, work sampling, and learning curves, while Mathematics is 6 to 9 questions on areas and volumes, calculus, and matrices and vectors. Engineering Sciences and Ethics and Professional Practice are each 4 to 6 questions: sciences is a short sample of thermofluids, statics and dynamics, materials, and circuits, and ethics covers licensure, agreements, public protection, and professional duty.

How heavy are economics and statistics here?

Mathematics (6 to 9), Ethics and Professional Practice (4 to 6), Engineering Economics (9 to 14), and Probability and Statistics (10 to 15) are the four areas on this specification that also appear when you compare FE disciplines. On this exam they are not equal: statistics and economics are wide bands, while mathematics and ethics are short ones. A set of practice problems built for another discipline will not match these widths. Which topics are on every FE exam? lines those shared areas up across the seven disciplines.

Engineering Sciences remains a small slice on this form. Put your hours into the industrial bands first, and use sciences to stay fluent with the handbook pages you might need for a few items.

Which handbook chapters will you use?

How you use the FE Reference Handbook is a search skill: you need the chapter, then the relation, under time pressure.

In handbook 10.6, Industrial and Systems Engineering starts on page 422, Engineering Probability and Statistics on page 64, and Engineering Economics on page 235, the three chapters that line up with the widest question bands. Mathematics starts on page 36, Ethics and Professional Practice on page 4, and Safety on page 15, where many hazard and hygiene relations sit.

Sciences items are spread through earlier chapters. Statics starts on page 95, Dynamics on page 102, Materials Science on page 117, Mechanics of Materials on page 130, Thermodynamics on page 143, and Fluid Mechanics on page 181. Circuit relations are in Electrical and Computer Engineering, which starts on page 361. The index starts on page 467, useful when you know the symbol but do not remember the chapter.

What is the FE Industrial and Systems pass rate?

NCEES last updated its FE pass-rate table in July 2026, where first-time takers for Industrial and Systems show a volume of 259 and a pass rate of 67%. The same table reports the other disciplines.

Industrial and Systems is the smallest volume in that table, so read 67% as the result for those 259 first-time takers. What is the FE exam pass rate? gathers these NCEES figures in one place.

How should you order your study?

We suggest ordering topics by the low end of each range, which builds the floor of the exam first. One way to split it:

1. Probability and Statistics, the area whose range starts at 10.
2. The five areas whose range starts at 9: Engineering Economics, Modeling and Quantitative Analysis, Manufacturing, Service, and Other Production Systems, Facilities and Supply Chain, and Quality.
3. The three areas whose range starts at 8: Engineering Management, Human Factors, Ergonomics, and Safety, and Systems Engineering, Analysis, and Design.
4. Work Design, then Mathematics.
5. Engineering Sciences and Ethics and Professional Practice.

This order is a study suggestion, since a real form can use any count inside each published range. Put the list on a calendar with a 60-day study plan for the FE exam, and keep economics and statistics in the rotation throughout, because their floors are the highest on this specification.

If you are still choosing a discipline, the Florida board advises you to select the FE exam that best corresponds to your undergraduate degree. Compare the seven specifications on which FE exam you should take.

Frequently asked questions

How many questions are on the FE Industrial and Systems exam?

The exam has 110 questions and a time limit of 5 hours and 20 minutes. Those questions come from 13 knowledge areas in the specification that took effect in July 2020. Each area is a range: Probability and Statistics is 10 to 15 questions, and five areas are 9 to 14 questions.

What is the hardest part of the FE Industrial and Systems exam?

NCEES publishes question ranges and does not publish a difficulty rank by area. The ranges still tell you where a weak topic can remove the most items. Probability and Statistics is 10 to 15 questions, and Engineering Economics, Modeling and Quantitative Analysis, Manufacturing, Service, and Other Production Systems, Facilities and Supply Chain, and Quality are each 9 to 14. Secure statistics, economy, optimization, and production planning before you give equal time to the areas set at 4 to 6 questions.

What is the FE Industrial and Systems pass rate?

For first-time takers, the NCEES table last updated in July 2026 shows a 67% pass rate for Industrial and Systems, on a volume of 259. In that same table, Mechanical is 73% and Other Disciplines is 61%. The percentage describes that reported group.

Which handbook chapters matter for FE Industrial and Systems?

In FE Reference Handbook 10.6, Industrial and Systems Engineering starts on page 422, Engineering Probability and Statistics on page 64, and Engineering Economics on page 235. Mathematics starts on page 36, Ethics and Professional Practice on page 4, and Safety on page 15. The exam is closed book, so the electronic handbook is the reference you will have.

Does your major decide which FE exam you take?

The Florida board advises choosing the FE discipline that best corresponds to your undergraduate degree. Other licensing boards publish their own rules on which exam they accept.

Sources

1. NCEES FE Industrial and Systems 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.