Professional Engineer Examination (Japan)技術士

Overview

The Professional Engineer Examination (技術士試験, gijutsushi shiken) is Japan's national route to the professional engineer title. It has two stages, a first-stage and a second-stage examination, both run by the Institution of Professional Engineers, Japan (IPEJ) as the designated examination body.

The second stage requires the qualification of assistant professional engineer (技術士補), which is the pathway the first stage leads into. The second stage is the exam for the professional engineer (技術士) title.

Levels or stages

First-stage examination

• Open to anyone: the 2026 notice states there is no limit by age, education or work history.

• Written test only.

• Held for 20 technical fields (every field except Comprehensive Technical Management).

• People with certain qualifications can be exempted from part of the test under the enforcement regulations of the Professional Engineer Act.

Second-stage examination

• Open to people who hold assistant professional engineer status and meet an experience requirement (see Who can apply).

• A written test followed by an oral test. Only those who pass the written test sit the oral test.

• Held for 21 technical fields: the 20 above plus Comprehensive Technical Management.

Who can apply

First stage: no restriction on age, education or work experience.

Second stage: you must hold assistant professional engineer status and meet one of three experience routes. Where the notice allows, periods from the routes can be added together.

• Route 1: more than 4 years assisting a professional engineer (more than 7 years for Comprehensive Technical Management).

• Route 2: more than 4 years, after gaining assistant status, of technical planning, research, design, analysis, testing or evaluation work (not merely supporting tasks) under the supervision of a suitably senior person (more than 7 years for Comprehensive Technical Management).

• Route 3: more than 7 years in total of such technical work (more than 10 years for Comprehensive Technical Management, or 7 if you are already a professional engineer in another field).

In every route, people who completed, or are or were enrolled in, a science-stream master's, professional degree or doctoral programme can have the required period reduced by their study time, up to 2 years. Read the notice for the exact conditions.

Exam pattern

First stage (written)

Exam times are notified to candidates individually.

Second stage, written (20 technical fields, from Mechanical to Nuclear and Radiation)

The required subject covers expertise, application ability, problem solving and task execution across the whole technical field. Elective part II covers expertise and application ability in your chosen elective subject, and part III covers problem solving and task execution in it.

Second stage, written (Comprehensive Technical Management)

• Required subject: a multiple-choice part (2 hours) and a descriptive part (3 hours 30 minutes). It tests problem-solving and application ability on safety management, harmony with the social environment, economy (quality, cost and productivity), information management and human resources management.

• Elective subject part II: the same content as in the other fields.

Second stage, oral

The oral test mainly judges suitability to be a professional engineer. It draws on your written answers and your work history.

Syllabus

Each of the 21 technical fields has its own set of elective subjects. IPEJ publishes a table of required and elective subjects for every field as a PDF on its subjects page; use it to pick your field and elective subject before applying.

Marking and results

• First stage, 2026 sitting: successful names are published in the government gazette in February 2027 and a certificate is sent to each passer. Scores are sent to candidates after the announcement.

• Second stage, 2026 sitting: written results are notified individually in November 2026. Final results after the oral test are published in the gazette in March 2027, with a certificate sent to each passer. Scores follow.

• Correct answers to the first-stage test are published soon after the exam. For the second stage, the answers to the multiple-choice part of the Comprehensive Technical Management required subject are published soon after the written exam.

Important dates

First stage, 2026

• Application form distribution: 5 June to 24 June 2026.

• Postal applications: 10 June to 24 June 2026.

• Online applications: 10 June 2026 (from 9:00) to 23 June 2026 (until 17:00).

• Exam date: 22 November 2026 (Sunday).

• Results: February 2027.

Second stage, 2026

• Application form distribution: 24 March to 15 April 2026.

• Postal applications: 1 April to 15 April 2026.

• Online applications: 1 April 2026 (from 9:00) to 14 April 2026 (until 17:00).

• Written exam: 19 July 2026 (Comprehensive Technical Management required subject) and 20 July 2026 (all other subjects).

• Oral exam: a date between December 2026 and January 2027, notified individually, held in Tokyo.

• Written results: November 2026. Final results: March 2027.

Fees

• First stage, 2026: 13,000 yen.

• Second stage, 2026: 20,500 yen per technical field.

How to apply

Applications are submitted by post or through IPEJ's online window for professional engineer examinations and registration. The form needs one recent photograph (4.5 cm by 3.5 cm, head and shoulders, no hat, taken within the past 6 months). Second-stage applicants who qualify for the Comprehensive Technical Management elective exemption must also attach proof of their earlier pass or registration.

The first-stage test is held in 17 prefectures: Hokkaido, Iwate, Miyagi, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Niigata, Ishikawa, Shizuoka, Aichi, Osaka, Hyogo, Hiroshima, Kagawa, Ehime, Fukuoka, Kagoshima and Okinawa. You choose your exam location in advance, and your venue is notified to you personally.

After the exam

First-stage and second-stage passers each have their names published in the government gazette and receive a pass certificate. Registration as an assistant professional engineer or professional engineer is a separate procedure, which the sources reviewed do not describe. Someone who already passed the second stage in a field other than Comprehensive Technical Management can take Comprehensive Technical Management with the elective subject matching that field and is exempt from the elective part.

FAQs