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A nite element analysis (FEA) using macro-based input commands was used to model the cumulative damage failure process of a continuous-bre ceramic composite loaded in exure. The modelling was predicated by the subject material which exhibited asymmetric stress-strain response for uniform uniaxial monotonic tensile and compressive loading. The FEA model of the prismatic rectangular exural beam was composed of separately meshed bre and matrix elements loaded in fourpoint exure. The cumulative damage process was modelled using a macro-based input code combined with an element 'kill' command that was used to change the stiffnesses of those bre and matrix elements whose respective ultimate tensile strengths were exceeded by the resulting tensile stresses. Matrix elements were allowed to support compressive stresses up to the ultimate compressive strength of the matrix material. However, unsupported bre elements (i.e. those coincident with 'killed' matrix elements) were not allowed to support compression. Even though the model did not explicitly include the behaviour of the interphase material, good agreement between the FEA results and experimental test results was found for the subject three-dimensionally braided Nicalon 2 bre-reinforced b-SiC matrix composite.