2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) Examination, administered by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES), is a nationally normed assessment of examinees’ understanding of knowledge gained during undergraduate studies in engineering. At XXXXXXXXXXXXXX, all students pursuing a degree in engineering are required to take the FE Examination. Students enrolled in civil engineering at XXXXXXXXXXX are not required to pass the FE Examination unless they are pursuing a “with honors” designation on their transcript and diploma. Like all engineering programs with students taking the FE Examination, the civil engineering program receives an aggregated summary of student performance in specific specification areas which includes a national-level comparison. Students in the civil engineering program at XXXXXXXXXXXX are required to self-report their pass/fail results. This allows the civil engineering program to compile a by-name listing of student performance (pass/fail but not by specification area).

A degree in civil engineering at XXXXXXXXXXXX requires completion of 146 credits, including 16 courses in the civil engineering program. Of those courses, two are selected from a list of engineering technical electives. Students pursuing a degree with honors are required to take one additional elective. The choice to select particular electives and academic performance in those electives is presumed to influence student preparation and performance on the FE Examination and is part of the focus of this study.

Using a database of by-name pass/fail performance inclusive of four-years of information (2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022) this study will investigate if a positive correlation exists between pass/fail performance, grade point average within the academic program, and performance within specific electives. Statistical analysis will be performed to determine the significance of any relationships that are found. Discussion will be presented to address the potential for differences in causation and correlation between variables.

This study is being conducted to help the civil engineering program evaluate if particular elective courses result in better preparation for students to pass the FE Examination. This study will help inform curricular changes that are under consideration. The results of this study will be of interest to the faculty and administrators at other civil engineering programs as they evaluate changes to their own curricula.