NCEES Structural I Exam

Exam Format
Subjects Covered
Design Codes
ASD or LRFD?
System of Units
Exam Dates
Passing Rates
Advice from Previous SE Examinees

What is the NCEES Structural 1 exam format?

The Structural I exam consists of 80 multiple-choice problems, and examinees must work all of them. The exam is 8 hours long, divided into equal halves, morning and afternoon.

What are the subject areas covered on the exam?

Here are the exam specifications from NCEES:

I. Analysis of Structures: 31% (approximate percentage of the examination)

A. Loads: 7%

1. Dead loads (e.g., weight of the structure, equipment weights, facades)
   
2. Superimposed and live (e.g., finishes, mechanical equipment, partition loads, live load reductions, pattern, skip, pedestrian)
   
3. Snow (e.g., drifting)
   
4. Moving (e.g., vehicular, pedestrian, crane)
   
5. Thermal
   
6. Shrinkage and creep
   
7. Impact (e.g., vehicular, crane and elevator)
   
8. Settlement
   
9. Ponding
   
10. Hydraulics (e.g., stream flow, wave action, scour)

B. Lateral Forces: 8%

1. Wind
2. Seismic
3. Earth retention
4. Hydrostatic

1. Statics (e.g., determinate and indeterminate, location of forces and moments, rigid body diagrams)
2. Development of a structural system to resist effects of lateral forces
3. Seismic static force analysis procedures
4. Code requirements pertaining to the configuration of a structural system to resist effects of horizontal torsional moments
5. Relative rigidity force distribution analysis (e.g., rotational analysis)
6. Procedures to analyze building with horizontal/plan and vertical irregularities
7. Procedures to analyze diaphragms (e.g., flexible and rigid diaphragms)
8. Code-prescribed static lateral force analysis procedures to determine limitations of story drift
9. Wind analysis procedures

1. Computer-generated structural analysis techniques (e.g., modeling, interpreting and verifying results)
2. Code coefficients and tables
3. Force diagrams
4. Simplified analysis methods (e.g., moment distributions, influence lines, portal frame method/cantilever method)
5. Shear and moments diagrams

II. Design and Details of Structures: 69%

A. General Structural Considerations: 7%

1. Material properties and standards
2. Load combinations
3. Deflection
4. Camber
5. Vibration
6. Anchorage of a structural system to resist uplift and sliding forces
7. Fatigue (for concrete and steel, AASHTO)
8. Strengthening systems to improve existing structural capacity
9. Specifications, quality controls and coordination with other disciplines

1. Tension members
2. Columns
3. Base plates/anchor bolts
4. Beams, plate girders
5. Trusses
6. Beam-columns
7. Connections (e.g., bolted, welded)
8. Ordinary moment frames
9. Special moment resisting frames
10. Bracing
11. Ordinary braced frames
12. Eccentric braced frames
13. Composite steel design

1. Working stress/strength design for bridges
2. Flexural members (e.g., beams, joists, bridge decks and slabs)
3. Compression members
4. Two-way slab systems
5. Pre-stressed concrete
6. Shear walls
7. Attachment of elements to concrete (e.g., inserts, attachment plates, dowels)
8. Diaphragms
9. Reinforcing bar details
10. Bridge piers
11. Crack control
12. Flexural-compression members

1. Sawn beams
2. Glue-laminated beams
3. Columns
4. Bearing walls
5. Shear walls
6. Plywood diaphragms (e.g., drag struts, chords)
7. Trusses
8. Bolted, nailed, and screwed connections

1. Reinforced masonry
2. Flexural members
3. Compression members
4. Flexural-compression members
5. Bearing walls
6. Slender walls
7. Shear walls
8. Seismic detailing for shear walls and nonbearing walls
9. Attachment of elements to masonry

1. Design coefficients (e.g., active, passive, at rest, bearing, coefficient of friction, cohesion)
2. Soil profiles in selection of foundation systems (e.g., geotechnical reports, boring logs, settlement, and groundwater table)
3. Overturning, sliding, and bearing
4. Spread footings
5. Combined footings/mat foundations
6. Piles (concrete, steel)
7. Drilled shaft/drilled pier/caisson
8. Gravity walls
9. Cantilever walls
10. Basement walls for buildings
11. Effect of loads placed adjacent to foundation

NOTE: Some problems may require knowldge of engineering economics. Approximately 20% of the exam will test bridge knowledge. The knowledge areas mentioned here are not exclusive or exhaustive.

Which design method does the exam require: ASD or LRFD?

Candidates may choose either the ASD or LRFD method to work exam problems.

What system of units does the exam use?

Per NCEES, only US customary (English) units are used on this exam.

Review and reference materials for this exam can be found in our Online Catalog.