Principles and Practice of Surveying (PS) (PS) Exam Blueprint

What This Exam Validates

The Principles and Practice of Surveying examination is the professional licensure exam for surveyors and is taken after the FS exam and the experience required by the candidate's licensing board. It is a closed-book computer-based test taken with an electronic reference handbook, and the specification covers professional survey practices, standards and specifications, business practices, the several areas of surveying practice, and legal principles. Legal principles carry the largest single share of the paper and a further block covers boundary practice specifically, so the exam is substantially a test of law as applied by a surveyor: common law boundary doctrine, conveyances, easements and unwritten rights sit alongside control networks, construction staking and topographic survey practice.

Who Should Take This Exam

The PS exam is for surveyors who have passed the FS exam and completed the experience their state board requires, and who are ready to take professional responsibility for boundary determinations and to seal survey plats and legal descriptions.

Skills You Should Be Ready to Demonstrate

• Common law boundary doctrine, evidence and unwritten rights
• Conveyances, easements, rights of way and legal descriptions
• ALTA/NSPS, FEMA and NGS standards and specifications
• Control, construction, as-built and topographic survey practice
• Survey business practice, liability and professional ethics

How to Prepare

Weight the study plan towards legal principles and boundary practice, which together dominate the paper, and study them as a surveyor applies them rather than as abstract law: work from evidence to conclusion the way a boundary resolution actually proceeds. Learn the ALTA/NSPS and FEMA standards precisely, because those questions turn on specific requirements rather than judgement and are reliably winnable. Use the PS Reference Handbook throughout preparation so its contents are familiar on screen, and rehearse the business practice and liability material, which candidates routinely under-prepare relative to its share of the exam.

Domain Study Guidance

Professional Survey Practices: Study Guidance

NCEES allocates 20 to 30 questions to Professional Survey Practices, about 23 percent of the paper, making this one of the blocks that decides the result. The published knowledge areas include Research public/private record sources, Provide clear communication for the supervision and responsi, Utilize applicable surveying methods to map geodetic positio, Apply surveying principles and computations to determine sol. Work these directly from the reference handbook supplied in the exam, because the tables and figures on screen are the ones you must be able to find quickly under time pressure.

• Research public/private record sources
• Provide clear communication for the supervision and responsibility of field procedures to ensure timely and complete dat
• Utilize applicable surveying methods to map geodetic positions to datums, projections, and coordinate systems atmospheri
• Apply surveying principles and computations to determine solutions and final documentation
• Identify land development solutions to prepare land use plans for client implementation

Standards and Specifications: Study Guidance

NCEES allocates 11 to 17 questions to Standards and Specifications, about 13 percent of the paper, making this one of the blocks that decides the result. The published knowledge areas include Understand the ALTA/NSPS land title surveys requirements for, Apply FEMA requirements to determine or validate existing co, Apply NGS standards for horizontal and vertical control, Apply the National Map Accuracy Standards. Work these directly from the reference handbook supplied in the exam, because the tables and figures on screen are the ones you must be able to find quickly under time pressure.

• Understand the ALTA/NSPS land title surveys requirements for owners, lenders, and title companies statutes and local reg
• Apply FEMA requirements to determine or validate existing conditions relative to published floodplain guidelines
• Apply NGS standards for horizontal and vertical control
• Apply the National Map Accuracy Standards (NMAS) and the Federal Geographic
• Identify the appropriate monumentation standards for compliance when setting monuments

Business Practices: Study Guidance

NCEES allocates 6 to 9 questions to Business Practices, about 7 percent of the paper, making this one of the blocks that decides the result. The published knowledge areas include Perform general business practices and procedures to discern, Determine and implement risk management procedures to limit , Conduct business in a manner to maintain professional integr, Practice effective oral and written communication with clien. Work these directly from the reference handbook supplied in the exam, because the tables and figures on screen are the ones you must be able to find quickly under time pressure.

• Perform general business practices and procedures to discern the client’s needs and your capabilities to provide an effe
• Determine and implement risk management procedures to limit liability and protect the public
• Conduct business in a manner to maintain professional integrity utilizing accepted industry standards of practice
• Practice effective oral and written communication with clients, staff, related professionals, and the public clients (e.

Areas of Practice/Types of Surveys: Study Guidance

NCEES allocates 10 to 15 questions to Areas of Practice/Types of Surveys, about 12 percent of the paper, making this one of the blocks that decides the result. The published knowledge areas include Establish, densify, and tie into control networks and geodet, Perform construction layout surveys for the designed infrast, Perform corridor surveys and alignments for roads, utilities, Perform as-built surveys to document positions and elevation. Work these directly from the reference handbook supplied in the exam, because the tables and figures on screen are the ones you must be able to find quickly under time pressure.

• Establish, densify, and tie into control networks and geodetic network surveys relative to datums, projections, and coor
• Perform construction layout surveys for the designed infrastructure relative to the plan and/or specifications benchmark
• Perform corridor surveys and alignments for roads, utilities, and other linear features
• Perform as-built surveys to document positions and elevations of new and/or original infrastructure for compliance and f
• Perform topographic surveys utilizing appropriate methodologies

Legal Principles: Study Guidance

NCEES allocates 23 to 35 questions to Legal Principles, about 27 percent of the paper, making this one of the blocks that decides the result. The published knowledge areas include Understand legal principles as applied to survey evidence th, Understand common and statutory law for the purpose of ident, Understand legal principles of sequential and simultaneous c, Understand legal descriptions for real property transactions. Work these directly from the reference handbook supplied in the exam, because the tables and figures on screen are the ones you must be able to find quickly under time pressure.

• Understand legal principles as applied to survey evidence them to the final product
• Understand common and statutory law for the purpose of identifying boundary locations and property interests
• Understand legal principles of sequential and simultaneous conveyances for the purpose of determining boundary locations
• Understand legal descriptions for real property transactions to document boundary locations and property interests
• Understand easements, servitudes, and rights of way

Areas of Practice/Types of Surveys (Boundary Division): Study Guidance

NCEES allocates 15 to 23 questions to Areas of Practice/Types of Surveys (Boundary Division), about 18 percent of the paper, making this one of the blocks that decides the result. The published knowledge areas include Perform surveys to retrace existing land parcel boundaries b, Perform surveys to establish new parcels, lots, and units, Perform surveys to retrace or establish easements and rights, Prepare legal descriptions. Work these directly from the reference handbook supplied in the exam, because the tables and figures on screen are the ones you must be able to find quickly under time pressure.

• Perform surveys to retrace existing land parcel boundaries by analyzing records and field data and applying legal princi
• Perform surveys to establish new parcels, lots, and units
• Perform surveys to retrace or establish easements and rights of way
• Prepare legal descriptions
• Perform surveys to determine littoral and riparian rights and boundaries

Exam-Day Guidance

The exam is closed book with the electronic handbook supplied on screen, and the identification requirements are those in the NCEES Examinee Guide. Plan the scheduled break rather than treating it as spare working time.