TSSE Exam Coverage – 10 Most Tested
Areas
1. Texas Surveying Statutes & Board Rules – Occupations Code
Chapter 1071, TAC Title 22 Chapters 137 & 138, licensure
requirements, seal/signature requirements, continuing education,
and disciplinary provisions.
2. Texas Land Grant History & Spanish/Mexican Units – Headright
grants, pre-emption grants, vara measurement, league/labor
conversions, porciones, and the significance of the San Antonio
Meridian.
,3. Boundary Evidence & Hierarchy of Calls – Natural monuments
over artificial monuments over courses/bearings over distances
over area, Stafford v. King doctrine, parol evidence, and
retracement principles.
4. Texas Navigable Waterways & Riparian Boundaries – Navigability
in fact vs. navigability in law, Small Bill (Civil Practice & Remedies
Code §16.025), accretion vs. avulsion, mean high tide line, and
surveys fronting navigable streams.
5. Texas Coordinate System (State Plane) – Lambert Conformal
Conic projection, NAD83 datum, Texas zones (North, North
Central, Central, South Central, South), scale factors, and
coordinate conversions.
6. Subdivision Regulation & Platting Authority – Local Government
Code Chapter 212 (municipal/ETJ), Chapter 232 (county
, unincorporated areas), Chapter 245 (vested rights), and plat
approval requirements.
7. Property Descriptions & Deed Interpretation – Metes and bounds
construction, calls conflicts, senior vs. junior rights, vacancy
determination, adverse possession periods, and recording
statutes.
8. Texas Professional Ethics & Standards of Practice – Conflict of
interest, competence, client confidentiality, notification
requirements, and professional conduct under Board rules.
9. Measurement Technology & Error Analysis – Total stations,
GPS/GNSS accuracy standards, systematic vs. random errors,
traverse closure, least squares adjustment, and blunder detection.
10. Texas Water Law & Public Land Surveys – Natural Resources
Code Chapter 21, surveys on navigable streams (one-half square
, rule), survey lines crossing navigable streams, and ownership of
riverbeds.
Texas Specific Surveying Exam (TSSE)
TSSE Exam Questions (1–200)
1. Which Texas state agency administers the Texas Specific
Surveying Examination and has statutory authority to regulate the
practice of professional land surveying under the Professional
Land Surveying Practices Act?
A. Texas General Land Office
B. National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying