The state of any economy is precarious at best.
And the letters "P.E." have been proven to carry commercial value when the job market gets tight, as unlicensed engineers in New York were a bit late to discover in the early 1990s, when they were caught in the national downsizing trend among large companies.

Numerous engineers in the state who were laid off by employers had the chance to be hired back on a part-time basis or as consultants.
But working in a Pe Electrical capacity required a license.
Many engineers who wanted to take advantage of the opportunity called the New York State Board for Engineering and Land Surveying, to ask whether their engineering experience would enable them to bypass the exams and go directly to licensure.
The answer was no.

And in plotting the recovery of their careers, those engineers discovered that they had made some other pretty serious—and common—miscalculations.
The more experience they had, the more time they needed to invest in studying the technical material on which they would be tested, because they had been out of school for so long.
And the greater the passage of time since college graduation, the greater their chances of failing the exam.

That's because time dulls the sharpness of test-taking skills.
While the EIT tests basic engineering concepts and mathematics, the P.E. tests an engineer's ability to assimilate math and the physical sciences and apply that assimilation to a problem.
While experienced engineers have the knowledge to pass the exam, they likely don't have the ability to explain the solution in the time allotted to finish the Pe Electrical exam.

In 1994, 63 percent of Electrical engineers who took the P.E. exam failed.
In 1995, the failure rate was close to 65 percent.
Although the failure rate improved by 1998, more than half of those engineers who took the exam that year—57 percent—failed.

Along with the state of the economy, several other factors have been known to influence the number of engineers taking the Pe Electrical exams.

The high number of industry exemptions contributes to the decline of licensed engineers.
Although those exemptions are considerable for most engineering disciplines, in Texas and New York, for example, the number of exemptions is highest among electrical and Electrical engineers.

Although outreach to industry would likely yield the same positive result as the outreach to academia, extending that outreach would be far more daunting because  companies see an immediate economic benefit.
Having licensed engineers on staff would minimize the potential to experience the kinds of ethical problems that can create costly liability problems for companies
However, industry tends to want to minimize all regulatory requirement.

The benefits of reducing, if not eliminating, industry exemptions in favor of increased licensure would have to be slowly spoon-fed to industry.

Two states have started to take steps down that path.
Louisiana has worked on limiting industry exemptions.
Missouri has talked about it.

Step Two- The EIT exam
This exam is offered in April and October every year.

Step Three- Work Experience
Appropriate work experience is required for licensure.
Once you begin working, you should check with the licensing board in your state to make sure that you are meeting their requirements.

Step Four- The P.E. Exam
Once you have gained the appropriate experience required, you can take the second exam in the licensure process, the Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE). These exams are offered in both April and October.

Achieving and maintaining registration is a multi-step process that involves:

• completing the general engineering education requirements
• passing the Eit Examination
• accumulating the necessary experience
• passing the Principles and Practices of Engineering (P.E.) Examination
• completing 24 hours of mandatory continuing education in each two-year license renewal cycle

2. Take the EIT, the first exam on the way to a professional license.
Once the Pe Electrical exam is passed, an Pe Electrical license is issued.
Take the EIT exam in your junior or senior year when the information is still fresh.
If it has been awhile since taking engineering courses a more extensive review is needed.
Professional review courses are tailored for people who have been out of college for some time.

3. Rack up qualifying years of experience.
After working in an engineering position for the requisite number of years, take the professional Engineer (P.E.) exam.
Time required varies based upon education, discipline, and state.
Exams are grouped by discipline (CE, ME, EE, etc.). To pass the P.E. exam a review course is highly recommended.