Design standards and the reference handbook

NCEES supplies the PE Civil Reference Handbook and the listed design standards inside the exam, as searchable PDFs. You cannot bring your own copies, and NCEES does not sell or hand out the standards beforehand.

Handbook	On screen, from your MyNCEES account beforehand
Design standards	On screen, one chapter open at a time
Own copies	Not allowed in the exam room
Standards updated	For exams from April 2027

Standards supplied from April 2027

Standard	Title
29 CFR Part 1926	Safety and Health Regulations for Construction (U.S. Department of Labor, 2024), the listed subparts, including fall protection and excavations
EM 1110-2-1902	Engineering and Design: Slope Stability (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2003)
FHWA HIF-12-026	Hydraulic Design of Highway Culverts, Hydraulic Design Series Number 5, 3rd edition (2012)
FHWA NHI-06-086 (HEC 14)	Hydraulic Design of Energy Dissipators for Culverts and Channels, 3rd edition (2006)
Recommended Standards for Wastewater Facilities	2014 edition (Great Lakes-Upper Mississippi River Board)
Recommended Standards for Water Works	2022 edition (Great Lakes-Upper Mississippi River Board)
UFC 3-220-05	Dewatering and Groundwater Control (2004)

How the references work

Each standard is provided as individual chapters, and only one chapter can be open and searched at a time.
The handbook and the standards are available for the whole exam.
Solutions that rely on a standard are scored on the edition in NCEES's list; answers based on other editions receive no credit.
Exam specifications change every 5 to 7 years; design standards change more often, and NCEES posts them 6 months before they take effect.

How our questions handle them

Our questions never reproduce the handbook or a standard. When a question needs a coefficient or a limit, the stem gives it, so you practice the method and the units; on exam day you find the same value in the on-screen reference.

Try 4 questions

Question 1Culverts, inlets, gutters and storm sewers

A 48-in. circular concrete culvert on a slope of 0.01 ft/ft carries 90 cfs with its inlet submerged. For this inlet, the inlet control equation is HW/D = 0.0398 [Q / (A D^0.5)]^2 + 0.67 − 0.5 S, with HW and D in ft, Q in cfs and A the full barrel area in ft2. The headwater depth under inlet control is most nearly:

Question 2Construction and work zone safety

A lane closure on a road posted at 40 mph closes one 12 ft lane. The traffic control plan gives the merging taper length as L = W x S for speeds of 45 mph or more and L = W x S² / 60 for speeds below 45 mph, with W the offset in ft and S the speed in mph. The minimum merging taper length is most nearly:

Question 3Ion exchange, adsorption, ozone and UV

A UV reactor delivers an average intensity of 12 mW/cm2 to water that spends an average of 3.5 s in the irradiated zone. Taking dose as intensity times exposure time, the UV dose is most nearly:

Question 4Sludge treatment and disposal

A gravity thickener 12 m in diameter receives 230 m³/d of primary sludge at 1.5% solids. Take the sludge density as 1,000 kg/m3. The solids loading on the thickener is most nearly:

Next step

Take the free diagnostic Try the free open channel lesson

NCEES's Water Resources and Environmental exam specifications (April 2027)

Questions people ask

Do I get the PE Civil Reference Handbook in the exam?

Yes. NCEES supplies it on screen as a searchable PDF, and you can view it beforehand from your MyNCEES account. NCEES does not sell printed copies.

Can I bring my own design standards?

No. Personal copies are not allowed in the exam room; NCEES supplies the listed standards on screen.

Which standards are supplied for Water Resources and Environmental?

From April 2027: 29 CFR Part 1926, EM 1110-2-1902, FHWA HIF-12-026 (HDS 5), FHWA NHI-06-086 (HEC 14), the Recommended Standards for Wastewater Facilities (2014), the Recommended Standards for Water Works (2022) and UFC 3-220-05.