Administered by California Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists (BPELSG)
The Civil Seismic Principles exam runs 2.5 hours and is taken only after a California civil engineering license application is approved in technical review.
Building forces and analysis procedures together are over half the exam (52%).
One of two California-specific exams every civil engineering applicant must pass on top of the national Professional Engineer (PE) exam.
An application for California civil engineering licensure approved in technical review (which requires having passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) and PE Civil exams and meeting the experience requirement).
The California civil engineering license path
California engineer-in-training certification requires passing the FE exam plus three years of postsecondary engineering education, engineering experience, or a combination of the two.
Six years of qualifying engineering experience in the branch applied for.
An approved (ABET-accredited) engineering degree is credited as four years; an approved postgraduate engineering degree can be credited up to five.
Pass the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) FE and PE Civil exams before applying for licensure.
After the application is approved in technical review, pass the two California exams, Civil Seismic Principles and Civil Engineering Surveying, offered in quarterly windows.
How the Civil Seismic Principles exam is weighted
Content area
% of the exam
Seismic Data and Seismic Design Criteria
8
Seismic Characteristics of Engineered Systems
8
Seismic Vulnerability and Improvement of Structural Systems
6
Seismic Forces: Building Structures
26
Seismic Forces: Non-Building Structures, Components, and Equipment
14
Seismic Analysis Procedures
26
Seismic Detailing and Construction Quality Control
12
California Seismic Principles exam format
Format: multiple-choice, computer-based at Prometric test centers; may include alternative item types
Time: 2.5 hours
Fees: see the certifying body's own page; this site does not print them
California Seismic Principles sample question
Seismic forces: equivalent lateral force · an original practice item written only from publicly available sources, not a real exam question
For a building with seismic weight W = 2,000 kips, SDS = 1.0, response modification coefficient R = 8 and importance factor Ie = 1.0, what is the base shear? Assume the upper and lower limits on the seismic response coefficient do not govern.
31 kips
250 kips
2,000 kips
16,000 kips
Answer and working
B. 250 kips
Cs = SDS ÷ (R ÷ Ie) = 1.0 ÷ 8 = 0.125. Base shear V = Cs × W = 0.125 × 2,000 = 250 kips. 16,000 multiplies by R instead of dividing, 2,000 ignores Cs entirely, and 31 divides by R twice.
California Seismic Principles questions answered
Who can sit the Civil Seismic Principles exam?
An application for California civil engineering licensure approved in technical review (which requires having passed the FE and PE Civil exams and meeting the experience requirement). After the application is approved in technical review, pass the two California exams, Civil Seismic Principles and Civil Engineering Surveying, offered in quarterly windows.
How is the Civil Seismic Principles exam weighted?
Seismic Data and Seismic Design Criteria 8%; Seismic Characteristics of Engineered Systems 8%; Seismic Vulnerability and Improvement of Structural Systems 6%; Seismic Forces: Building Structures 26%; Seismic Forces: Non-Building Structures, Components, and Equipment 14%; Seismic Analysis Procedures 26%; Seismic Detailing and Construction Quality Control 12%.
What is the Civil Seismic Principles exam format?
2.5 hours, multiple-choice, computer-based at Prometric test centers; may include alternative item types. BPELSG's own pages publish the time and format but not a question count.
What this exam covers
Seismic Data & Design Criteria
Seismic Characteristics of Systems
Vulnerability & Retrofit
Seismic Forces: Buildings
Seismic Forces: Nonbuilding & Components
Seismic Analysis Procedures
Detailing & Construction Quality Control
How to study for it here
Practice quizzes — filter to any topic above and work through it with explanations.
Flashcards — spaced repetition over terms, formulas and regulations.
Mock exam — a timed run at this grade.
Official formula sheet — a link to the sheet the certifying body publishes for this exam, where it publishes one, so you study from the real thing.
Free, no account, and progress stays in your browser.
Applying for Civil Engineer licensure, California Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists (BPELSG) (live page, read 2026-09-26)
Topic coverage follows Civil Engineer Seismic Principles Examination Test Plan, effective 2022 (California Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists).
Practice questions are written only from publicly available sources
(that outline and the regulations and references it cites); they are
not real exam questions, which are confidential.
Check current application requirements, fees and exam dates on the
certifying body's own page: official certification page.
Questions, flashcards, and explanations are AI-written from publicly available sources only: the exam content outlines and candidate materials each certifying body publishes without restriction, and the regulations and technical references they cite. No confidential material is used, including actual exam questions, recollections of any exam sat by the author, or any handbook or document released under a confidentiality agreement. Content is then put through repeated review — regulatory values checked against primary sources, every calculation recomputed, and errors corrected — plus spot checks by the author, who holds California water operator certifications and a California civil engineering licence. Those spot checks are sampling, not a professional review: nothing here is stamped, sealed, or offered as engineering advice, and not every item has been individually verified, so mistakes can still slip through.