Administered by California Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists (BPELSG)
The Civil Engineering Surveying exam runs 2.5 hours and is taken only after a California civil engineering license application is approved in technical review.
Data analysis and evaluation, including traverse closure and error, is the largest block at 30%.
The second California-specific exam for civil engineering licensure, covering survey planning, field data collection, traverse and level computation, mapping and construction surveying.
An application for California civil engineering licensure approved in technical review.
The California civil engineering license path
California engineer-in-training certification requires passing the Fundamentals of Engineering (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 Professional Engineer (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 Engineering Surveying exam is weighted
Content area
% of the exam
Survey Planning
25
Field Data Collection
15
Data Analysis and Evaluation
30
Mapping
10
Construction Surveying
20
California Engineering Surveying 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 Engineering Surveying sample question
Field data: slope reduction · an original practice item written only from publicly available sources, not a real exam question
A slope distance of 350.00 ft is measured at a vertical angle of 4°00′. What is the horizontal distance?
24.41 ft
349.15 ft
350.85 ft
374.41 ft
Answer and working
B. 349.15 ft
Horizontal distance = slope distance × cos(vertical angle) = 350.00 × cos 4° = 350.00 × 0.99756 = 349.15 ft. 24.41 ft is the vertical difference (the sine), 350.85 divides by the cosine instead of multiplying, and 374.41 adds the vertical difference to the slope distance.
California Engineering Surveying questions answered
Who can sit the Civil Engineering Surveying exam?
An application for California civil engineering licensure approved in technical review. 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 Engineering Surveying exam weighted?
Survey Planning 25%; Field Data Collection 15%; Data Analysis and Evaluation 30%; Mapping 10%; Construction Surveying 20%.
What is the Civil Engineering Surveying 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
Survey Planning
Field Data Collection
Data Analysis & Evaluation
Mapping
Construction Surveying
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 Engineering Surveying (CES) Job Analysis 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.