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. Applicants will normally have up to three (3) attempts to write the NPPE, and must pass the NPPE within the prescribed timeframes.
- Legacy applications (before May 15, 2023): 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. Legacy applicants must pass the NPPE within two years of their notification that academic requirements have been satisfied.
- FARPACTA applications (as of May 15, 2023, and onwards): NOTE that applicants must take the NPPE by the date PEO specifies. This deadline ensures an application can be processed within 180 days, including exam-processing time.
Applicants can take the NPPE after PEO confirms their application is complete. After the applicant receives notification from PEO confirming their application is complete, including instructions for writing the exam and the date by which they must take it, the NPPE registration tab will appear on the application homepage. Applicants can use the registration tab to register for an upcoming exam within the current registration window.
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.
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.
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 [email protected] 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 |
|---|---|---|
| April 8 - 10, 2024 | January 5 - February 19, 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