PEO technical exams, explained

Every P.Eng applicant at PEO has their academics assessed. A degree from a program accredited by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB) meets the standard. Other degrees are compared with it, and the gaps are filled with exams.

That is a large share of applicants. In 2023, 5,321 of PEO's 8,481 P.Eng applications (63%) came from non-CEAB graduates, and in 2025, 2,523 of the 5,579 new P.Eng licence holders were internationally educated.

PEO's program page describes four exams: two Group A exams and one Group B exam, which may come from any engineering discipline, and one Complementary Studies (CS) exam. To qualify for fewer exams under PEO's Good Performance policy, the two technical exams it counts must come from the same discipline. Your assessment letter is the final word on what you must write.

Each code tells you what it is. In 16-Civ-A1, 16 is the 2016 edition of the syllabus, Civ is civil, and A1 is Group A, exam 1. Group A exams are the core of a discipline; Group B exams go further into one area. 11-CS-1 is the Complementary Studies exam in Engineering Economics, and the 04-BS exams are Basic Studies such as Mathematics or Mechanics of Materials.

• Group A: the core of your discipline, for example 16-Civ-A1 Elementary Structural Analysis
• Group B: an advanced or specialised subject, for example 16-Civ-B8 Management of Construction
• Complementary Studies: 11-CS-1 to 11-CS-4, such as Engineering Economics
• Basic Studies: 04-BS-1 to 04-BS-16, such as Mathematics

• 16-Civ-A1 Elementary Structural Analysis
• 16-Civ-B8 Management of Construction
• 11-CS-1 Engineering Economics

PEO runs two sittings a year, both written remotely by computer: Fall/Winter, from September to December, and Spring/Summer, from April to July. Registration for Fall/Winter 2026 ran from June 22 to July 17, 2026. For Spring/Summer 2027 it opens on January 4, 2027 and closes on January 29, 2027.

The exams are written problems, not multiple choice. Book rules differ by exam: EGBC's Fall 2026 schedule, which uses the same codes, lists 11-CS-1 as open book, 16-Civ-A1 as closed book and 16-Civ-A2 as closed except for handbooks and textbooks. Check the rules printed for your own exam.

PEO says the exact exam dates should be available one to two months before each sitting starts, and it points to EGBC's status page for online academic exams for notices. Our dates guide keeps the schedule for each sitting.

• PEO exam dates, 2026 to 2027

PEO does not post past papers on its own site. It points to EGBC's past academic exams page, which holds papers from 14 sittings, May 2013 to December 2019, without solutions, because the two regulators use the same exams. How to practise with them is in our past papers guide.

• Technical exam past papers

Every exam PEO can assign is in its Syllabus of Examinations, grouped by discipline. Our syllabus page lists each code with its title, and the exam pages show what each one covers.

• Every technical exam code

Start from the syllabus for your code, learn the book rules, and spend most of your time writing full solutions under time pressure.

• How to prepare for a technical exam
• Ways to prepare, compared

Engineers Canada is studying a national approach to assessing non-CEAB applicants, with a business case due in mid-2027. Nothing has changed yet, and PEO's current program applies to anyone assigned exams today.

Technical exams cover the academic requirement. You still need the National Professional Practice Exam (NPPE) and the experience requirement, which PEO assesses through its competency-based assessment (CBA).