Section 1270.20  Examinations

a)         An applicant for enrollment as a Surveyor Intern shall pass the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) Fundamentals of Land Surveying Examination.

b)         An applicant for licensure as a Professional Land Surveyor shall have passed the required FS examination and the following examinations:

1)         NCEES Principles and Practice of Land Surveying Examination; and

2)         Illinois Jurisdictional Examination.

c)         The scoring of the NCEES Fundamentals of Land Surveying Examination and the NCEES Principles and Practice of Land Surveying Examination and the determination of scores shall be as approved by NCEES.  Separate scores shall be given for each examination and the scores shall be reported as pass/fail.

d)         The Illinois Jurisdictional Examination shall be reported as pass/fail. The Jurisdictional Examination shall include, but not be limited to, the following areas:

1)         History of the public land surveying system in Illinois;

2)         Jurisdictional Standards and Ethics (knowledge of prevailing professional standards and ethics specific to Illinois);

3)         Jurisdictional Legal Precedent and Principles (knowledge of legal principles and requirements specific to Illinois);

4)         Jurisdictional Field Techniques (knowledge of field research techniques specific to Illinois); and

5)         Jurisdictional Record Sources (knowledge of sources of records and information specific to Illinois).

e)         Retake of Examination.

1)         Applicants who do not pass the NCEES Fundamentals of Land Surveying Examination, the NCEES Principles and Practice of Land Surveying Examination or the Illinois Jurisdictional Examination will be required to retake only the examinations failed.

2)         Scores from examinations already passed under a previous application shall be carried over and applied to subsequent applications.

3)         Fundamentals of Surveying Examination scores do not expire, with exception as noted in Section 1270.5(f)(1).

f)         Candidates who fail an examination may not review their examination booklet or the associated answer sheets.  Rescoring of the examination or any individual problem is not permitted; however, a retabulation of the numerical score will be permitted for a paper examination, but no retabulation of a computer-based examination is allowed.

g)         Examinations may be given in various formats with different application submittal dates depending on the examination format. 

1)         The Illinois Jurisdictional examination is administered in paper format on varying dates year-round as prescribed by the examination administrator.

2)         Examinations administered in a computer-based format.  Applicants may attempt a particular NCEES exam one time per testing window and no more than three times in a 12-month period, which begins with the examinee’s first attempt.

h)         If an applicant has failed an examination, the examination may not be waived for licensure.

(Source:  Amended at 47 Ill. Reg. 798, effective January 5, 2023)