PE Fire Protection follows the NCEES specification effective April 2027: 85 questions across 8 knowledge areas, up from 4. The old Active and Passive Systems area is now five systems topics — water-based, fire alarm, smoke control, special hazard, and passive and structural protection. Water-Based Fire Protection Systems is the largest at 12–18 questions, while Fire Science and Smoke Control Systems carry the highest difficulty rating.
70–106, across 8 topics
Effective April 2027
8 or 8.5 hours testing; 9 or 9.5 hours for the appointment
Ranked by question count weighted against the spec's own difficulty rating — not question count alone, since a smaller topic rated harder can be worth more study time than a bigger, easier one.
System Selection · Design criteria · Selection of principal components · Calculations
Heat transfer · Fire chemistry · Fire dynamics
Performance-based design and fire risk assessment · Fire models · Energy storage systems
Every topic in the official NCEES spec, with its question range and share of the exam. Study Scheduler allocates your study hours in this same proportion automatically.
Water-Based Fire Protection Systems, at 12–18 of the exam's 85 questions. Fire Protection Analysis and Fire Science follow at 10–15 each; no single area dominates the April 2027 exam the way Active and Passive Systems did before.
8 from April 2027: Fire Protection Analysis, Fire Science, Smoke Control Systems, Fire Alarm and Signaling Systems, Water-Based Fire Protection Systems, Special Hazard Systems, Passive and Structural Fire Protection, and Human Behavior and Evacuation.
For how many hours to budget, week-by-week study plans, and how Study Scheduler weights your plan — see the full PE study guide.
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