How to choose your four PEO technical exams (and when two is enough)
PEO lets candidates in its four-exam technical program pick their own exams from any engineering discipline — most other Canadian regulators assign them instead. Here is a decision framework built only on what you can verify before you pay, plus the Good Performance rule that can cut four exams down to two.
The two rules that actually constrain the choice
PEO places applicants without a CEAB-accredited engineering degree into a four-exam technical program — and then, unusually among Canadian regulators, lets them pick the exams. Two published rules do most of the work; the rest is strategy.
The shape is fixed; the discipline is not. PEO's Technical Exam Program page states the program is four exams: two Group A and one Group B, each from any engineering discipline, plus one Complementary Studies (CS) exam, which is non-technical. Asked "Am I required to write technical exams strictly according to my discipline?", PEO's FAQ answers: "No. Candidates who complete all four exams can choose exams from any discipline."
The waiver is stricter than the program — and you get one attempt at it. PEO's Good Performance policy lets new exam registrants finish sooner. At your first sitting you write two technical exams instead of four, either two from Group A or one from Group A and one from Group B, and PEO states both must be from the same engineering discipline. Score at least 65 per cent on both and PEO waives the remaining two, effective once it has your WES course-by-course verification, or your bachelor's transcript for a US institution.
Three restrictions each close a door candidates assume is open:
Both exams must be written at the same sitting. One now and one next session does not qualify. You must not have written any of the four already — the CS paper included. Asked whether someone who has already passed the required Complementary Studies exam can still qualify, PEO answers: "No. Good Performance is only available to candidates who have not yet written any of the required confirmatory exams." Registering and withdrawing is not writing. PEO states a candidate who withdrew from an earlier sitting without writing anything may still be eligible, judged on the first sitting at which they do write.
So the first decision is not "which exams" but "am I attempting the waiver". Miss 65 on either paper and you continue with the four-exam program — but you have spent your only attempt, because PEO states that "those who have previously written PEO technical exams do not qualify."
A framework built only on things you can verify
Four inputs are knowable before you pay.
1. Syllabus scope. PEO publishes a topic paragraph for every exam on its discipline pages; the Mechanical list is headed "PEO Syllabus of Examinations, 2016 Edition". Read the paragraph, not the title: it tells you whether the paper covers material you actually use. It is the only input really about you.
2. Format and aids. Each online session's shared exam schedule marks every exam with a calculator format, an open- or closed-book designation and its own aids line. On EGBC's Status of Online Academic Exams page, the "Exam Formats and List of Aids" link resolves to that same PDF — one document, not two. Format 1 means no calculators permitted; Format 2 means any non-communicating, non-programmable calculator is permitted. For open-book exams the footer adds that "only physical/printed textbooks or notes are permitted; digital copies are not allowed."
Lines vary far more than the open/closed label suggests:
"Open" is not blanket permission — several open-book papers allow one textbook only and bar loose notes and worked solutions — and "Closed" does not always mean a bare desk: the Mathematics line permits a two-sided hand-written aid sheet.
That table is an illustration, not a forecast. Every figure is session-specific, and the schedule is revised after it is declared final: EGBC said the final Fall 2026 schedule would be posted by 7 August, yet the live file is stamped 14 September 2026, a week before that session's first exam, so an August download was already stale. Open the current PDF for your session, check the stamp, find your code, and look again close to your date. Do not take a format from this article, or any other.
3. Do past papers exist at all? EGBC's past-exam archive, which PEO points its candidates to, runs from May 2013 to December 2019 only. EGBC states that exams from 2020 and later are no longer online, that solutions are not available, that past exams should not be the main method of study, and that it "does not have examples of every exam format on file." PEO adds that if none are listed for your exam, none exists.
4. Is the exam in your session at all? Not every code runs every session. PEO publishes a per-session list of exams being set — the Spring/Summer 2027 list was last updated 10 September 2026 — and says that if an exam is missing, email the Exam Centre by the deadline to have it set for the next sitting. APEGA runs the same arrangement, so look early.
Two grouping traps. First, codes differ across regulators: the Fall 2026 schedule notes that PEO uses 16-Mec-A6 for Advanced Fluid Mechanics and 16-Mec-B6 for Fluid Machinery while the national numbering runs the other way, so other regulators' candidates write under the swapped code. PEO puts A6 in Group A and B6 in Group B; since your program needs a set count of each, confirm the grouping before you buy.
Second, the session lists carry Basic Studies codes (the 04-BS series), which are not among the four slots here. They belong to other programs: PEO's Specific Exam Program, on its pre-15-May-2023 applicant path, states they are a prerequisite to be addressed first, and APEGA's Board of Examiners assigns them directly — its sample letter reads "04-BS-7, 10, 13."
What nobody can tell you, including us
Pass rates for individual technical exams are not published by PEO, EGBC or APEGA. There is no official table of easy and hard papers, so any ranking you meet is somebody's impression. We will not publish one. The honest variable is the distance between a syllabus paragraph and what you can do under time pressure, without your usual references, in a proctored sitting. "Which exam is easiest" is the wrong question; "which syllabus paragraph describes work I have actually done" is the right one.
The facts that make a PEO purchase irreversible
These are PEO's terms; do not assume they hold at another regulator, and note that the 50 per cent pass mark below is one APEGA shares.
The pass mark for all PEO exams is 50 per cent. All PEO exam purchases are final and non-refundable. You cannot change your selection once a purchase is made, and exams are not transferable between sittings. PEO's wording: "you should be prepared to take any exam you purchase." Registration deadlines are firm; PEO cannot accommodate late registrations. Exams run twice a year, with PEO registration opening in January for Spring/Summer and June for Fall/Winter. Spring/Summer 2027 opens 4 January 2027 and closes 29 January 2027.
Elsewhere the rules differ, and the difference is worth money. EGBC lets candidates defer an exam to a future session through their online account, free of charge if the request is in by the deferral deadline — for Fall 2026 that was 17 July 2026, after which EGBC's deferral process document states that no changes are permitted and a missed exam forfeits the fee. Check the deferral document for your own session. APEGA lets them reschedule or cancel by email before the registration deadline, with no refund afterwards.
On fees, check your own regulator, not a national figure. APEGA publishes $500 plus GST per technical exam registration and caps candidates at five per session; PEO does not publish its technical exam fee on its exam pages — the amount appears in the PEO portal at registration, so confirm it there or with the Exam Centre. APEGA's figure is on APEGA's technical exam page. Check your own regulator before you commit.
Two things in PEO's FAQ that change the calculus
Attempts are unlimited. PEO states candidates have unlimited attempts until they pass the number of technical exams required to apply for a licence.
You do not have to re-write a paper you failed. PEO's answer is explicit: "Candidates are not required to re-write a failed exam, and may purchase a different exam in a future session." A failed paper is not a debt to clear — if a Group B elective suits your background poorly, fill that slot with a different Group B exam later.
Neither is a national rule: APEGA also lets candidates move on without clearing a failed exam, but requires the assigned exams to be passed within the time frame its Board of Examiners specifies.
If you are not a PEO applicant
The choice described above is a PEO feature. EGBC states that "specific examinations are assigned to you by Engineers and Geoscientists BC after a detailed assessment of your academics" and tells candidates not to sign up before exams are officially assigned; you must finish before the deadline in your assignment letter. APEGA's Board of Examiners mails an assessment letter naming the exams and courses required, after which you may write them and/or take approved equivalent university courses, request a reconsideration or reassessment, or withdraw. If you hold an assignment letter, follow it: do not choose, and do not register for an exam you were not assigned. Time limits, attempt rules and courses in lieu differ sharply by province.
EGBC and the partnering regulators also state that they "do not endorse and are not affiliated with any third-party exam preparatory services or institutions" — this site included.
Before you pay
Open the current session schedule, check its "Updated" stamp and find your exact code. Read PEO's syllabus paragraph for every exam on your shortlist. Check the EGBC archive for past papers. Decide whether you are attempting the Good Performance pair or the full four. Then buy, knowing it is final.
Disclosure: this site sells preparation courses at CAD $199 each, 180 days of online access, for four exams on that schedule: 04-BS-1 Mathematics, 11-CS-1 (shown in our shop as 23-CS-1) Engineering Economics, 16-Mec-B5 (22-Mec-B5) Product Design and Development, and 08-Mfg-B4 Product Design and Development — the same paper under the manufacturing code, sold separately.
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Verified 22 September 2026 against PEO's Technical Exam Program page, Application Process FAQ, Mechanical Engineering exams page and Spring/Summer 2027 exam list; EGBC's Fall 2026 exam schedule (stamped "Updated: September 14, 2026"), Past Academic Exams, Academic Examinations and Status of Online Academic Exams pages; and APEGA's technical exams page. Deadlines, fees, formats and aids change between sessions, and the schedule is revised within a session — confirm every detail with your own regulator before you register.