California Special Civil Engineer Examination Program (CSCEE)

Licensure Examination for Civil Engineers to Practice in California 

The California Board for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors (BPELS) regulates the practice of engineering in California. In order to obtain a license to practice civil engineering in California, a candidate must pass not only the national examination but also the California Special Civil Engineer Examination (CSCEE) consisting of two multiple-choice examinations, one in Seismic Principles and one in Engineering Surveying. These examinations are administered in April and October each year. The CSCEE assesses a candidate's California-specific seismic principles and engineering surveying knowledge, skills and abilities.

This program description covers the last 2 ¼ years of a 3 ¾ -year contract that HumRRO assumed when it acquired Professional Management and Evaluation Services (PMES) in December 2006. Specific project activities are summarized below.

Project Management

HumRRO provides ongoing project planning, scheduling, and management. A technical report is provided following each administration.

Test Plan Specifications and Outline

Before HumRRO assumed the contract, PMES used the test plan provided by BPELS to prepare test plan specifications and operational definitions for the job content in each test plan category. PMES also prepared an outline of measurement requirements, which includes content category weights and the minimum number of items to measure each task.

Item Bank Review and Recoding

With the input of subject matter experts (SMEs), PMES developed a cross-classification between the new test plan’s content areas and similar content in the prior test plan. This cross-classification was used to help the SMEs confirm a new classification code for each item in the item bank. PMES then updated the database to reflect the new test plan classifications.

Examination Development

PMES guided the development of the 2006 examinations. HumRRO assumed the contract about midway through the development of the April 2007 exam and will continue through the October 2008 exam. The development process includes development meetings, review meetings, and field tests with SME committees. HumRRO is also responsible for preparing final materials for printing.

Exam Analysis

Following each administration, HumRRO retrieves and inventories all exam materials, and scans answer sheets. HumRRO performs standard item and test level analyses and provides candidate score reports and diagnostic reports.

Standard Setting, Scoring, and Reporting

For each exam, HumRRO conducts a standard setting session with a panel of SMEs to set the pass/fail score. HumRRO performs standard item and test level analyses and provides candidate score reports and diagnostic reports.