National Professional Practice Exam (NPPE)

A requirement for licensure, the NPPE is a 2.5 hour, closed-book, on-line exam on ethics, professional practice, engineering law and professional liability.

What is the NPPE?

The National Professional Practice Examination (NPPE) is a 2.5 hour, closed-book, on-line exam on ethics, professional practice, engineering law and professional liability. Eligible applicants may write the NPPE at any time (within the time frame provided by PEO) as they acquire 48 months of engineering work experience required for licensure. To reduce the time to licensure, applicants are encouraged to write the NPPE early in the time frame provided by PEO.

The NPPE is held five times a year (January/February, April, June, August/September and November). The exam is conducted via remote proctoring, meaning applicants will write the exam from their homes. Special accommodations can be made for those applicants with a demonstrated need. Contact the PEO Exam Centre for information about making special accommodation requests.

PEO's Exam Centre will send applicants a registration notice when they are eligible to write the exam.

The NPPE confirms knowledge of professionalism, law, and ethics. Twelve engineering and geoscience self-regulatory organizations in Canada currently use the NPPE. The NPPE follows all relevant standards detailed in the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing to ensure that the exam program is valid, reliable, and fair (psychometrically defensible).

For more information about this examination please see the Candidate Guide in the NPPE Document section below.

Writing the National Professional Practice Exam

The exam has 110 multiple-choice questions based on 6 subject areas. These are based on information in the textbooks and other resources. You have 2.5 hours to complete the examination. Although the NPPE contains specialized vocabulary and terms, the exam is not used as a test of English language proficiency and is regularly verified (using standard readability measures) to function at a readability level of approximately grade 10.

Read about the NPPE syllabus 

Three textbooks and several free resources are recommended as study materials to prepare for the NPPE.

Read about recommended study materials

Several practice tests are available to help you prepare for the NPPE. Practice test questions are ones used on previous NPPE exams. The practice test gives you detailed feedback showing you your areas of strength and weakness in terms of learning. To best use the practice tests, we recommend that you take one early in your studying process and then later to determine which areas you still need to focus on.

The practice test site also sells an NPPE preparation package, which includes the two textbooks and access to a 100-question practice test at a discounted price.

Order practice tests

Order an NPPE preparation package

Examination sittings and locations

The NPPE is offered five times per year. Each session for that month offers the exam six times: one morning and one afternoon slot over three days.

The exam is conducted via remote proctoring, meaning applicants will write the exam from their homes. Please see information on remote proctoring.

National Professional Practice Examination (NPPE) Documents

 

National Professional Practice Examination (NPPE) and results schedule

Candidates that register to write the NPPE should receive a booking confirmation email with their exam date and time from Yardstick approximately three to four weeks from the scheduled NPPE date. 

Contact Meazure Learning (Yardstick) at testingsupport@getyardstick.com if you have not received this confirmation within three weeks from the scheduled NPPE date.

 

NPPE Dates Registration open from Results issued by email approximately by
January 23 - 25, 2023 October 27 – December 5, 2022 February 12, 2023
April 3 – 5, 2023 January 6 – February 13, 2023 April 27, 2023
June 5 – 7, 2023 March 24 – May 1, 2023 July 10, 2023
September 11-13, 2023 June 7 – July 17, 2023 September 30, 2023
November 6 – 8, 2023 August 24 – October 2, 2023 December 1, 2023
January 22 - 24, 2024 October 30 - December 4, 2023 February 15, 2024
April 8 - 10, 2024 January 5 - February 16, 2024 April 28, 2024
June 3 - 5, 2024 March 25 - April 29, 2024 July 5, 2024
September 9 - 11, 2024 June 7 - July 15, 2024 October 4, 2024
November 18 - 20, 2024 August 26 - October 7, 2024 December 10, 2024

Suggested Textbooks

You will receive an email invite two months prior to each sitting you are eligible for. You will need to download the study materials and review the suggested textbooks below. All this information is required to be reviewed to successfully pass the NPPE.

*Please note that textbooks cannot be purchased at PEO. Please contact the publisher or your local university. 

Professional Practice and Ethics

Gordon C. Andrews, Patricia Shaw, John McPhee "Canadian Professional Engineering and Geoscience: Practice and Ethics”, 6th Edition, 2019, published by Nelson Education Ltd.
ISBN: 0-17-676467-4
Tel: (416) 752-9448 or 1-800-268-2222
Fax: (416) 752-8101 or 1-800-430-4445
www.nelson.com
 

Engineering Law and Professional Liability

Title: "Law for Professional Engineers, Canadian and Global Insights", Fifth Edition, 2019 Published by: McGraw-Hill Education
Author: D.L. Marston
ISBN: 978-1-260-13590-9
Tel: 1-800-565-5758
Fax: 1-800-463-5855
www.mheducation.ca/professional
 

Title: “Practical Law of Architecture, Engineering, and Geoscience”, Third Canadian Edition, 2015 Published by Pearson Canada
Author: Brian M. Samuels and Doug R. Sanders
ISBN: 978-0133575231
Tel: 1-800-567-3800
www.pearson.com/ca/en.html