Practice PPE Exams

NPPE exam day looks different now. Here’s what actually happens.

Most EITs don’t go to a test centre anymore.
Since 2020, the NPPE has been designed to run as a fully remote, computer‑based exam you write from home under online proctoring. Test centres are only used in exceptional cases.

The basic setup
You take the exam on your own computer using Google Chrome and a secure browser (Guardian) provided by the testing vendor.
You must run the system readiness check on the exact device you’ll use on exam day, and fix any issues before exam day.

New in 2026: second camera
Starting with the June 2026 sitting, you’re required to use your smartphone or tablet as a second camera.
You connect it by scanning a QR code in the exam system, place it in landscape mode, and position it so the proctor can see your face, hands, and workspace.

Where to write
Plan to write at home on your personal device.
Work or school computers are usually not allowed because of firewalls and software restrictions.
If your device fails the readiness check on exam day and you have to rebook, you may be charged a second exam fee.

If something goes wrong
Any technical problem needs to be raised with the proctor while you’re still in the session.
If your connection drops, your second camera fails, or you feel your performance is affected, use the chat and escalate immediately.
Once the exam session ends, it is very hard to get anything changed.

When the NPPE runs
The NPPE is offered five times per year (Jan/Feb, April, June, Aug/Sept, and Nov) over three consecutive days, with morning and afternoon sittings.

Knowing the logistics ahead of time removes one source of stress. Save this for when your NPPE window opens.

If you’ve already written the NPPE:
What surprised you most about the remote proctoring experience? Share it in the comments.

📣 FREE Webinar: Get Your P.Eng. Faster
🗓️ Wednesday, June 24 | ⏰ noon EST
(9 AM Pacific | 10 AM Mountain | 11 AM Central | 1:30 PM Newfoundland)

Want to become a licensed engineer sooner?

Join this free webinar to learn:
✔️ The most important steps to get your P.Eng. licence
✔️ Mistakes that slow people down (and how to avoid them)
✔️ How long it takes and how much it costs in 2026
✔️ Smart ways to pay for your licence
✔️ PEO’s proposed change from 4 years to 2 years of experience
– what it actually means, and whether it makes sense in your situation

I’ll walk through real timelines, common detours that add months (or years), and how to decide if the “4 to 2 year” change is actually an advantage for you or mostly noise.

BONUS: One person who attends live will win a FREE course (worth $350)!

This webinar is perfect whether you're just getting started or already working toward your licence. You'll leave with a clear plan and useful tips for your engineering career.

🔗 Register now at https://g.practiceppeexams.ca/fb-webinar — and take one step closer to your P.Eng.! Space is limited!

Practice PPE Exams

Most engineers dread the CBA.

Here are 3 moves to make it your strength instead of your stress.

Step 1: Know your association’s CBA template
Most regulators use an online portal now. That’s your home base.

Benefits of working inside the portal:
• You see exactly what assessors see
• Character counters keep you within limits
• Built‑in prompts remind you what each competency wants

✅ Action: Log in, open one competency, and skim every field and help text before you start writing in Word.

Step 2: Choose non‑routine problems with no pre-determined solution.
Assessors are looking for judgement, not job descriptions.

Avoid:
• AI‑generated responses
• Day‑to‑day duties (“attended meetings…”)
• Short examples – aim near the character limit
• Copy‑pasted Situation sections across competencies

Instead, for each competency:
• Pick a specific, non‑routine problem
• Describe what you decided, changed, or fixed
• Use Situation–Action–Outcome so the story is easy to follow

✅ Action: Review your draft examples. Replace any “routine task” with a non‑routine problem where your judgement actually mattered.

Step 3: Pick the right validators (and manage them)

Validators confirm your examples. The best ones:
• Know your work well
• Are responsive by email
• Were a P.Eng. (or equivalent outside of Canada) at the time of the work
Avoid:
• People on leave, retired, or slow to reply
• Personal emails only (harder for regulators to trust)

Canadian experience must be validated by a P.Eng.; international experience by someone licensed where you worked.

✅ Action: Call or message each validator before you submit:
“Hi [Name], I’m applying for my engineering licence and would appreciate your support as a validator. Are you comfortable confirming the projects we worked on together?”

After you submit:
• Follow up about every 2 weeks once the portal shows requests were sent
• If someone has not responded after ~6 weeks and 3 follow‑ups, swap them for another suitable validator.

⸻
Need help with your Competency-Based Assessment (CBA)? Start our CBA Blueprint mini-course for free:
FB: https://g.practiceppeexams.ca/CBA-FB

Engineering isn’t just about design and analysis — it’s also about responsibility.

That’s why NPPE Topic 4: Law for Professional Practice carries 25% of the exam marks.

Every decision an engineer makes has legal and ethical implications. This topic connects technical work with professional accountability, showing how the law shapes our duties, protects the public, and guides ethical practice.

https://youtu.be/50ixaVYw8JQ. — watch our 50m summary of topics 1 and 2 where I explore how Canada’s legal system defines the framework engineers work within — from contracts and liability to professional regulation and public safety.

Topic 1 – The Canadian Legal System
We start by breaking down how laws are made, interpreted, and applied:
🔹 The Canadian Constitution and Charter of Rights and Freedoms — foundations for rights, responsibilities, and fairness.
🔹 The court system — from provincial courts to the Supreme Court — and how legal disputes in engineering flow through this structure.
🔹 The difference between statute law, common law, and civil code (in Quebec) — and why engineers must understand how contracts and liabilities are interpreted differently across jurisdictions.
🔹 Public vs. private, civil, criminal, and administrative law — and how each connects to engineering practice and duty of care.

Topic 2 – Contract Law: Elements, Principles, and Applications
Contracts are at the heart of every engineering project.
We cover:
🔹 The five essential elements of a valid contract (offer, acceptance, intention, consideration, capacity, legality).
🔹 How to handle amendments, waivers, and breaches, and what remedies like damages or injunctions actually mean.
🔹 The role of risk management clauses — limitation of liability, indemnification, force majeure, and liquidated damages — to protect professionals and clients alike.
🔹 Real-world examples of procurement methods, tendering, and delivery models like Design-Bid-Build and Design-Build.

Understanding the legal framework behind engineering isn’t just about passing the PPE Exam — it’s about being a responsible professional who can manage risk, uphold ethics, and protect the public.

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Want to get your NPPE started properly? https://g.practiceppeexams.ca/fb-NPPE for 11 FREE lessons and 125 practice questions.

We are proud to celebrate the 32 Practice PPE Exams clients who have officially earned their licenses.

Your dedication, persistence, and hard work have led to this well-deserved achievement.

Cheers to the June 2026 graduating class!

Ismael Ncharre Njoya, M.Eng, P.Eng,(PMP)® (ENS)
ALICE MACASAET, PMP®, C.E.T., LEED GA (PEO)
Saleh Hamdan, P.Eng., PMP (PEO)
Shirien Nouri, P. Eng (APEGA)
Ranjini Harish, PEng (PEO)

+ 28 more. For the full list, see our LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:7468344776380067840/

Thinking about leaving Canada but want to keep your P.Eng.?

This comes up a lot, and the options are less obvious than they look.

Engineers usually ask some version of:
“I’m moving outside Canada for a few years. What should I do with my P.Eng. licence?”

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: there is no single “out‑of‑country” membership category in Canada. What you can do depends heavily on your regulator, and the choices have real consequences for fees, CPD, and how easy it is to come back later.

At a high level, most paths fall into three buckets:

1. Keep your licence active and declare “not practising.”
You stay licensed, but:
-You may still owe full dues.
-You may still have to complete certain annual declarations / modules (even if CPD is reduced or waived).

2. Move to a formal non‑practising / reduced‑fee category (if it exists)
-EGBC, for example, has a true Non‑Practising status at about 25% of full fees with no CE requirement, but you must use a qualifier like “P.Eng. (Non‑Practising)” and later meet reinstatement criteria.
-PEO and APEGA have narrower routes for any fee relief (retirement, parental leave, disability, unemployment, full‑time studies).

3. Voluntarily cancel and try to reinstate later
-Possible everywhere, but often means a new application or extra steps under whatever rules exist when you return.
-Easier to avoid if there’s any realistic chance you’ll want to practise in Canada again.

In a new article, I walked through what PEO, EGBC, and APEGA actually offer today, with direct links to each regulator so you can verify details and use the same questions for your own association:
https://practiceppeexams.ca/blog/moving-out-of-canada-maintain-peng-licence/

If you do stay licensed and keep a practising status, your CPD obligations follow you abroad. Most regulators accept CPD done anywhere in the world, but you still need a plan and a clean record.

That’s exactly why we built CPD Companion – to help licensed engineers (including those working outside Canada) plan, find, and track CPD without scrambling at renewal or during an audit:
https://practiceppeexams.ca/cpd-companion/

If you’re a P.Eng. working abroad or planning a move, I’d be curious:
How are you handling your licence and CPD right now?

5 STEM Scholarships in July You Should Apply For

These STEM scholarships offer students funding, recognition, and opportunities to support your academic and professional goals.

1. Canadian Posture & Seating Centre Scholarship (University of Waterloo)
Who: Engineering or Science student in their second, third, or fourth year, or in Graduate Studies, at the University of Waterloo
Deadline: July 1, 2026
Amount: $1,000 to $2,500
Details: https://uwaterloo.ca/student-awards-financial-aid/awards/canadian-posture-seating-centre-scholarship

2. David M. Forget Memorial Award in Geology (University of Waterloo)
Who: Year Two student in Earth Sciences, Geological Engineering, or another Earth major program at the University of Waterloo
Deadline: July 1, 2026
Amount: Up to $1,500
Details: https://uwaterloo.ca/student-awards-financial-aid/awards/david-m-forget-memorial-award-geology

3. GeneTex Scholarship
Who: STEM majors (including engineering) enrolled at an accredited postsecondary institution, based on academic standing
Deadline: July 13, 2026
Amount: $2,000
Details: https://scholarships360.org/scholarships/search/genetex-scholarship/

4. Ontario Professional Engineers Foundation for Education Undergraduate Scholarship (University of Waterloo)
Who: Full-time undergraduate students in CEAB-Accredited Engineering programs at the University of Waterloo
Deadline: July 15, 2026 (1B Winter & Spring Terms)
Amount: $1,500
Details: https://uwaterloo.ca/student-awards-financial-aid/awards/ontario-professional-engineers-foundation-education

5. University of Manitoba Entrance Bursary
Who: High school students entering their first year at the University of Manitoba in any direct entry faculty (including engineering)
Deadline: July 15, 2026
Amount: from $400 to $1,000
Details: https://umanitoba.ca/financial-aid-and-awards/bursaries

If this helps you or someone in your network, feel free to share it so more future engineers can benefit.
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I’m Gavin Simone, P.Eng. (AB), LEED AP, founder of Practice PPE Exams.

We help EITs across Canada get their P.Eng. up to 50% quicker, with fewer delays and less back‑and‑forth with their association, so they can support their families and careers sooner.

👉 Start with a free licensing mini‑course here:
https://g.practiceppeexams.ca/stem_fb

Note: Always double‑check deadlines and eligibility on the official pages before applying; details can change year to year.

Big news for engineers‑in‑training in Ontario.

PEO has approved a change to reduce the minimum P.Eng. experience requirement from 4 years to 2 years, starting July 1, 2026.

https://www.peo.on.ca/apply/become-professional-engineer/application-requirements

If you’re an EIT, here’s what it actually means:
✅ You may be eligible to apply in roughly half the time, once this is in force
✅ The competency standard hasn’t changed – you still need to demonstrate all 34 CBA competencies
✅ Two years is a minimum, not a promise – it removes some “waiting time” for people who are genuinely ready

In other words, PEO is saying: if you can clearly demonstrate competence, the calendar shouldn’t be the main barrier.

A few important details:
→ Pre‑graduation experience (co‑op, internships) does not count toward the 2‑year minimum
→ Graduate study (master’s, PhD) may count toward both the minimum and your CBA, depending on your situation
→ Ontario and Quebec will be the only provinces at 2 years; most other regulators still use 4+ years of experience

For high performers who hit their competencies early, this can be a real accelerant.

For everyone else, the path is the same as before – just with a lower floor on the time requirement.

If you’re an EIT planning your NPPE or CBA under the new rules, what questions do you have?

Two recent questions from engineers‑in‑training that many NPPE and CBA candidates struggle with.

On the NPPE
Q: What’s the real difference between being unprofessional and being incompetent?

A: They’re not the same thing, and the distinction matters on the exam.
Unprofessional = how you act. Rudeness, disrespect, ignoring policies or codes of conduct. It’s a conduct issue.

Incompetent = what you can (or can’t) do. Repeated technical mistakes, poor judgment, and not meeting the standard of practice. It’s a capability issue.

You can be skilled but unprofessional. You can be well‑intentioned but incompetent. On the NPPE, you’re expected to recognize which is which in a scenario and what the association should do about it.

On the CBA
Q: I held two short‑term roles early in my career (~6 months combined, both under a P.Eng.) but I’ve lost touch with those supervisors. Do I need to include competencies from those jobs?

A: No. You can write competency examples from any experience, as long as you have a suitable validator for it.

In your application, you’ll still list those short‑term roles in your work history. But for competency examples, it’s completely fine to focus on your current (or most recent) role if that’s where you can be properly validated.

The real question is: Can you score a 3 or better on all competencies using only that experience?

Start there:
1. Review the rating scale:
https://www.egbc.ca/getmedia/1fbd065e-0c88-4286-826a-0ec416278fd7/Competency-Rating-Scale-Summary.pdf.aspx
2. Look back at your full work history.
3. For each competency, pick the hardest, most complex problem you solved that best demonstrates it.
4. Then choose the validator who actually saw you do that work.

Questions like these come up constantly. If you’re working through licensing steps like the NPPE or CBA, you don’t have to figure it out alone:
https://g.practiceppeexams.ca/fb-cq

✈️ Engineering the Skies—One Fold at a Time Happy National Paper Airplane Day!

From classrooms to boardrooms, folding and flying a paper airplane sparks wonder and inspires us to explore the principles of aerodynamics, design, and innovation. Here are three engineering grads who embody the spirit of innovation and flight:

Jas Barmi, P.Eng. Jas is a structural analysis engineer at Boeing, specializing in stress analysis and design engineering, with a passion for advancing aerospace and sustainable energy technologies. He led the University of Manitoba SAE Aero Design team to a first-place finish, demonstrating leadership and innovation in aircraft design competitions that inspire future engineers. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jas-barmi/

Ashraf Othman, P.Eng. DAR A seasoned aerospace engineer and Transport Canada Design Approval Representative (DAR), Ashraf is a Senior Engineering Specialist (R&D) at De Havilland Aircraft of Canada and the founder of Othman Aviation Ltd., an independent engineering consultancy specializing in aircraft design and certification. His career includes pivotal roles at Viking Air and over two decades as an Airworthiness Engineer at the National Research Council's Flight Research Laboratory. His expertise in airworthiness and flight research has advanced rigorous engineering standards and inspired innovation in aeronautical design. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashraf-othman-p-eng-dar-10145211/

Karthik Dhanabalan, P.Eng., M.Eng., PMP Karthik is an engineering lead at FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd., specializing in aircraft certification engineering and having over 10 years of experience in aerospace structures and composites. He combines expertise in finite element analysis, damage tolerance, and aircraft structural repair with a strong background in project management and research, having led innovative projects such as the development of a low-cost subsonic ramjet engine and natural composite materials. https://www.linkedin.com/in/karthikdhanabalan/

These professionals exemplify how the foundational concepts learned from folding paper planes can evolve into careers that keep our skies safe and innovative. Let's take a moment to appreciate the engineers who turn simple ideas into soaring realities.

These individuals are not affiliated with or endorsing Practice PPE Exams; we simply admire their contributions to engineering in Canada.



Inspired to engineer new possibilities from a single sheet of paper? Take the next step towards your P.Eng. designation! Practice PPE Exams proudly supported over 4,000 EITs as they navigated the licensing process last year. Visit us at https://practiceppeexams.ca/ to get .