National Professional Practice Exam (NPPE)

Canada · Canadian engineering regulators · licensing

54practice questions written to this syllabus
1subjects

Format

110 MCQs (100 scored), 2.5 hours, remote-proctored, English or French, five sittings a year.

Sections

Over the years

Law and ethics, not agricultural content. Blueprint from 2017; a review was expected mid-2026.

Official source: https://www.nppexam.ca/en/preparation/blueprint/

Subjects this exam draws on

Professional Practice, Ethics & Laws54 questions

Five practice questions, worked

Original questions written to this exam's published syllabus and pattern. Not past papers.

1. According to the first fundamental canon of the NSPE Code of Ethics, what must engineers hold paramount?

  1. The safety, health and welfare of the public
  2. The interests of the client who pays for the work
  3. The reputation and profitability of their employer
  4. The technical standards of their professional society
Answer and working

A. The safety, health and welfare of the public

The first canon requires engineers to hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public. Duties to clients and employers (as faithful agents) come after it, so when they conflict with public safety, public safety prevails.

Professional Practice, Ethics & Laws · Codes of ethics for engineers

2. The Citicorp Center case of 1978 is usually taught as an example of which kind of professional conduct?

  1. An engineer hiding a design weakness to protect his reputation until it was too late
  2. A contractor substituting cheaper materials without the engineer's knowledge
  3. An engineer reporting his own design weakness and having it fixed before any failure
  4. A licensing board revoking a licence for sealing drawings not prepared by the engineer
Answer and working

C. An engineer reporting his own design weakness and having it fixed before any failure

William LeMessurier found that his completed building was more vulnerable to quartering winds than intended, partly because welded connections had been changed to bolted ones. He told the owner and authorities and the connections were reinforced. It is the standard positive example of putting public safety ahead of self-interest.

Professional Practice, Ethics & Laws · Codes of ethics for engineers

3. An engineer working abroad finds that a local rule permits guards to be omitted from threshers, which would be illegal in her home country. Her employer proposes to omit them. What does professional ethics require?

  1. Follow the local rule, since engineers must obey the law where the work is done
  2. Follow the local rule but warn users verbally, which meets the duty of care
  3. Require guards anyway, treating the local law merely as the bare minimum
  4. Refer the matter to her home country's courts before taking any position
Answer and working

C. Require guards anyway, treating the local law merely as the bare minimum

Local law sets the minimum. An engineer remains bound by the code of the body that registered her, which puts public safety first, so a legal but dangerous practice is still unacceptable. Verbal warnings do not replace guarding, which ranks above warnings in the safety hierarchy.

Professional Practice, Ethics & Laws · Codes of ethics for engineers

4. Which FIDIC standard form is intended for engineer-procure-construct (turnkey) projects in which the contractor takes most design and construction risk?

  1. The Red Book
  2. The Yellow Book
  3. The Silver Book
  4. The Green Book
Answer and working

C. The Silver Book

FIDIC's Silver Book is for EPC/turnkey projects. The Red Book is for construction designed by the employer, the Yellow Book for plant and design-build, and the Green Book is a short form for simple or low-value work.

Professional Practice, Ethics & Laws · Contracts and specifications

5. When the drawings and the specification in a contract conflict, how is the conflict usually resolved?

  1. By choosing whichever document favours the contractor
  2. By asking the lowest-ranking site supervisor to decide
  3. By the order of precedence of documents stated in the contract
  4. By using whichever document was printed most recently
Answer and working

C. By the order of precedence of documents stated in the contract

Contracts normally list an order of precedence among their documents. Where ambiguity remains, courts often interpret against the drafting party (contra proferentem), which can favour the contractor, but the stated precedence comes first.

Professional Practice, Ethics & Laws · Contracts and specifications

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