OGCashMonet
Structural
- Feb 21, 2025
- 3
Just for context, I'm a multi-state PE who passed FE/PE/CA Seismic/CA Surveying all on first try. I'm not coming from a place of complaining about NCEES. In fact, I think they've done a relatively good job and have had no issues. I am genuinely just curious how this organization is allowed to have a monopoly on engineering testing.
Is there literally no other organization that wants to compete with them?
Is the NCEES to State Board lobby that strong that states would not accept any other organizations testing?
For nuance, I understand the need to uphold standards and a singular organization is the most efficient way to keep the assessment of engineering ability standardized. However, it does seem like the lack of competition means that the overall product is suffering. Why is there no option for me to take a paper SE exam? How does a pass rate of 55% drop to 14% simply by change of testing apparatus? Why change from (2) tests you have to pay for to (4) tests you have to pay for? How are the prices for these tests set? At the very best, they have a monopoly and can set prices for these tests to whatever they would like. I'm not on the attack of NCEES, but I am curious why there is no other competing product from any other organization like ASCE or SEAOC.
Is there literally no other organization that wants to compete with them?
Is the NCEES to State Board lobby that strong that states would not accept any other organizations testing?
For nuance, I understand the need to uphold standards and a singular organization is the most efficient way to keep the assessment of engineering ability standardized. However, it does seem like the lack of competition means that the overall product is suffering. Why is there no option for me to take a paper SE exam? How does a pass rate of 55% drop to 14% simply by change of testing apparatus? Why change from (2) tests you have to pay for to (4) tests you have to pay for? How are the prices for these tests set? At the very best, they have a monopoly and can set prices for these tests to whatever they would like. I'm not on the attack of NCEES, but I am curious why there is no other competing product from any other organization like ASCE or SEAOC.