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However, you can take the FS exam in any state, as it is the same exam nationwide. It's the PS exam which is state specific.
This is a dated thread, but I felt the need to update in case anyone is searching for information like I have been.?ÿ The PS is now a national exam like the FS and so it can be taken in any state.?ÿ However, there is a third state-specific exam for all states.?ÿ I mean state-specific in that the material is specific to your state, in addition to the mandated location that you sit for the exam.?ÿ As I understand it, the PS (before becoming computer-based and given all year) was state-mandated for location of the exam, but the material was always national.
Also, for license candidates for PA, where your experience slate gets wiped clean after taking the FS, I wonder how they handle someone who gained experience in another state, like NJ, then took the FS and PS within a few months of one another.?ÿ I ask because this is my situation.?ÿ NJ has no requirement about when you gained the experience.?ÿ I have seven years of experience dating back to 2011, all before passing the FS.?ÿ I passed the FS in December 2017 and and passed the PS in March 2018.?ÿ I expect to be licensed in NJ after taking the state-specific exam this year.?ÿ Would PA deny my application for comity??ÿ Under their logic, I wouldn't be eligible for comity until after I gained four more years experience after December 2017 - even if I am licensed in another state.?ÿ That couldn't be the spirit of their law... could it?
NY is so bogged down with their regulations and paperwork.?ÿ After 15 years of experience and licensed in two other states, they told me I didn't have enough experience on paper to qualify.?ÿ?ÿ I fixed that, and got it, but dealing with their board is a pain.
I've known people in Mass who took the test, passed, but then had to prove afterward that they were qualified to take the test.?ÿ Seems kind of crazy to tell someone they weren't qualified to take a test after they already passed it.
Years ago Montana was tough to get qualified to take they LS test, so everyone was getting licenced in Idaho. Reciprocity was a snap. So idI say do whatever it takes to met your goals. Good luck!
I don't know if it's still the case, but when I lived in MI, they started counting the qualifying experience only after one earned an LSIT certificate, and to qualify to take the LSIT, one had to have graduated with?ÿ BS in Surveying or civil engineering or be in the senior year and on track for graduation.
The reasoning behind only counting experience after earning the LSIT certificate is that the applicant is more likely to have engaged in actual useful and appropriate experience during that entire time.
In CA, experience pre- and post-LSIT may be used to meet the minimum criteria.?ÿ A big part of the problem with that is some applicants for the LS may have worked in surveying for 6 years and gotten to the position of chief, but too often that 6 years consisted of a year of learning to become a decent chainman, repeating the same experience 5 1/2 times, and then getting a promotion to chief because the company had to field another crew in short order, so they promoted the chainman who had been around longest and learned many of the basic buttons to push to make the appropriate lights on the equipment flash at the right times.
Of course they do need to have passed the LSIT (FS) prior to taking the LS.?ÿ Ric can better describe the requirements and process now, but when I took it in CA, there was a requirement for 2 years of experience.?ÿ In reality, they did not employ any means of verifying the experience the applicant claimed, so the only real qualification (1993 IIRC) was that the applicant's check cleared.
Taking the FS in another state does not in any way jeopardize your ability to get licensed in your home state.?ÿ The test alone, unless the State defines it so, is not the only criteria to be met to be considered as holding a valid LSIT certification.?ÿ If your state has additional qualifications, they simply will not recognize the certification given by another state until one has met all of the qualifications of the home state and applied for that recognition.?ÿ In most cases, that application for recognition is presumed when one applies to take the LS exam.
The LSIT certification does not confer any authority to practice surveying independently in any measure in any state (of which I am aware), and does not permit one to perform any survey functions beyond what any other unlicensed person may perform.?ÿ Therefore, there isn't anything of legal substance that one would be circumventing by taking the exam in another state.
In my case, I was a resident of WA at the time and had about 12 years of overall survey experience.?ÿ At least at that time, and perhaps still, WA was very particular about the experience they would count as qualifying, and one had to qualify by experience to take the LS before being permitted to take the LSIT (at least that was my understanding at the time).?ÿ With my 12 years, I knew that once the BOR sifted through it, my amount of qualifying experience would be close, but perhaps not quite enough.
I was attending OIT at the time to complete the BS degree I had gotten about half way through in MI several years before.?ÿ Several classmates, some from CA, some from OR were applying to take the FS/LSIT (whatever it was called at the time) and were going to drive to Sacramento to take it.?ÿ I looked into it, decided that I'd rather get it out of the way than take the LSIT, the National LS, and the State LS on consecutive days, and only after graduating 2 years later.
Expecting a hellish exam, those of us who had applied formed a study group and met a couple times per week for the next 3 months.?ÿ With a bit more than half my degree, experience, and regular studying, I was surprised, almost shocked, at how easy the exam seemed to be.?ÿ I used less than half the time needed in the morning and about half of the afternoon and spent the rest of my time at the gun show occurring elsewhere on the State Fairgrounds.?ÿ Turned out to be a pleasant road trip.
2 years later, I took my first LS exam in OR and had no trouble having the results of the LSIT taken in CA accepted.
Some States require residency for issuance of a first license.
I did not know that - which ones are you aware of?
I'm away from my library (on the beach) at the moment. Will check when I get home..
When I got my first license you had to pass all the tests and then apply. I actually took the PS, then the State test, then the FS in the same cycle. I doubt you can do that anywhere now...
I took the FS exam through California without any desire or expectation to practice there. No need to keep up a pretense, they simply don't ask and didn't seem to care. California has the lowest requirements and easiest application process of any I could find for an LSIT. Two years of any combination of survey education or experience. No reference letters, no college transcripts, just a two page application, a fingerprint card, and then 90 days of waiting. Transferring it to my home state was trivial. It was accepted right away. With this method, I cut down my path to licensure by over a year.
When I was a senior in Penn State's surveying program, Pennsylvania law still required that you be a college graduate to?ÿtake the FS exam?ÿif you were using a four-year degree as your qualification to sit for the exam.?ÿAt any rate, a bunch of us drove down to Virginia to take the test. No need to lose the 6 months until the next testing cycle.
I think Pennsylvania has fixed that now so you can sit for the exam in the spring of your senior year. But yeah, get that test out of the way as soon as you have a chance.
Some States require residency for issuance of a first license.
I did not know that - which ones are you aware of?
New Hampshire?ÿ
Update: The Pennsylvania comity application process does not concern itself with the timing of the applicant's experience. Subsequent to my first post, I became licensed in New Jersey in October 2018. In addition to three years field, office, and boundary experience (either before or after the LSIT), NJ requires a four-year degree in land surveying. I was able to get the NJ Board to accept my civil engineering degree and my 30 credits of (undergraduate and graduate) survey courses as equivalent to a four-year degree in surveying. I had to pay $300 for a Credentials Evaluation (like they require for foreign applicants or those that did not graduate from ABET accredited schools), but they looked at my entire curriculum and deemed me worthy.
The NJ education requirement is more stringent than PA, so I had no issues there. I applied by comity to PA, using my NCEES record showing the dates of my experience, and was approved to take the Pennsylvania State-Specific Exam. It's computer-based at PearsonVue. They started taking appointments in June during the pandemic. I'm scheduled to take the exam tomorrow (July 17, 2020).
The PA requirement for someone with a BS CE is to have 10 surveying credits. I had 6 surveying credits as an undergrad and got 6 more at an NJ Community College. Alfred State SUNY has 8 4 credit and 2 3 credit survey courses in their Civil Engineering department, so look there first.
If you cannot pass the FS after three tries I agree you need further education.
Paul in PA
You need an AS degree or junior standing in a BS program, Back in the old days to get your AS you needed to take a specific surveying course that would not count for your BS, but if you were smart you got your AS and a head start on your experience. No matter how much experience you have, once you take the FS it starts again at zero, unless they have recently changed that.
Paul in PA
Congrats on getting to this point. Where are you taking the exam? Should be a no brainer for you.
Paul in PA
I took the exam in Center City, Philadelphia at 1800 JFK Boulevard. It was NOT (I repeat, NOT) a no-brainer. Most of what I studied was not on the exam and most of the exam consisted of material that I did not study and for which I had no reference books. I really went in blind, not knowing what kind of questions (besides material from Knud's book) there would be. I had to simply reason out some of the answers and hope for the best. My advice to the next applicant would be to sign up for the review course given by the Pennsylvania Society of Land Surveyors (PSLS). I know they have one at the annual conference in January, but there may be another given in August. There needs to be a practice exam available for purchase so a person knows what to study. The general outline given in the PearsonVue handbook is very general. For instance, it says, "Utilities" are on the exam. But what about utilities? You can't just say, "Utilities" and expect that to help. Okay, so I'm annoyed.
All that being said, I was given a print-out after the exam that said I passed. Thank goodness.
Thanks for the info.?ÿ I am starting to follow the path of taking the PA specific exam.?ÿ I may wait until the conference in January to take the review course.?ÿ Or maybe just chance it.?ÿ
Jim
@lady-pels Hi, I have a civil engineering degree in New Jersey. I took the FS Exam, waiting on my results. I am also registering for my Surveying Masters Degree. With all this back-up information and with your experience, will New Jersey accept this education requirements and provide me with a surveying license if i Pass all the exams? I see you had experience with the New Jersey Board. Should I reach out to the Board?