The Civil Engineering Academy Podcast13 Nov 2025

The New SE CBT Exam: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly With Brandon Dashwood

If you thought the PE was tough, wait until you hear everything Brandon Dashwood has to say about the SE exam after taking it himself. (Hint: it’s not good news. 😬)

Brandon is a Structural Engineer at PARADIGM Structural Engineers who’s deep in the grind of passing the most brutal exam in the civil engineering world — the SE Exam. The catch?

The exam has now gone from pencil-and-paper to computer-based (CBT), and the whole exam experience is now, let’s just say…a big mess! 😅

From becoming closed-book to a clunky interface to a new way to do what used to be the written portion, Brandon gives a first-hand look at what the new CBT SE Exam is really like — the good, the bad, and the downright frustrating.

If you’re a structural engineer planning to go that route and take the SE, this conversation gives you a candid look behind the curtain of the new format and all the aspects of it that you need to know for when your time comes.

Tune in to learn what the new SE exam is really like — and all the bugs that the NCEES will need to be looking into.

🧠 TUNE IN TO LEARN:

The Restrictions for PEs That Make the SE Required for Different Types of Work
2 Reasons Why You'll Want to Get the SE Despite the Work It Requires
What the SE Exam Used to Be Like & How It Was Scored
How the SE Exam Works Now With the New CBT Format
2 Downsides of the CBT Format for the SE Exam
The Even-Lower Pass Rates for the SE Exam in the CBT Format
How the Written Portion of the SE Changed (And Became More Frustrating!)
His Own Experience Passing 3 Out of the 4 Sections of the Exam
How the SE Exam Results and Diagnostic Report are Released
The Third (and Biggest!) Downside of the SE in the CBT Format
How Does the NCEES Grade the SE Exam?
His 3 Recommendations for How the SE Exam Should Actually be Administered
What The NCEES Should've Done Before Rolling out the New Format to the Public
Does the SE Exam Have Its Own Handbook, Like the PE?
Will the NCEES Work Out the Kinks in the (Flawed) CBT Format?
How Much It Costs to Take the New CBT SE Exam
Why He Keeps Trying to Pass His Last Portion Even Though the Exam Is Flawed
His Sincere Hope for this New Exam Format Regarding the Entire Industry

🔗 RESOURCES MENTIONED:

PARADIGM Structural Engineers

University of California, Davis

💬 CONNECT WITH BRANDON:

bdashwood@paradigmse.com

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