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biged

Mild Mannered Civil Engineer
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Hello everyone!

I have a friend who's already licensed in NC but is planning to take the CA Seismic & Surveying in about a year. Does anyone have any recommendations for a great Seismic Review Course?

I passed the exam back in 2000 and have been out of touch with who's offering these courses.

I appreciate any help you can give. Thanks.

 
Hiner's seminar is highly recommended. Fortunately, his class is now available via webinar in addition to the traditional classrooms, so your friend can learn seismic principles if he/she is only planning to come to CA for the exam.

http://www.seismicreview.com/

 
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X2 on the Hiner class. Webinar is both live and at your leisure. Hiner not only understands seismic but the test as well. i would suggest buying his book. reading it in full and working some of the problems, and then taking the webinar. That way you will never be behind.

There are cheaper courses available though.

 
X2 on the Hiner class. Webinar is both live and at your leisure. Hiner not only understands seismic but the test as well. i would suggest buying his book. reading it in full and working some of the problems, and then taking the webinar. That way you will never be behind.
There are cheaper courses available though.

sac engineer and jeremy,

Thanks for the insight. I'll be passing this along to my co-worker. Much appreciated.

 
Just to throw in my useless two cents, I thought Hiner's review was great. But if I didn't pass the exam, I'll probably change my opinion. The online webinar was pretty convenient and clear. I couldn't imagine a better review.

 
Just to throw in my useless two cents, I thought Hiner's review was great. But if I didn't pass the exam, I'll probably change my opinion. The online webinar was pretty convenient and clear. I couldn't imagine a better review.

Cashing in on the $0.02. Thanks for the point of view. I completely understand.

 
X2 on the Hiner class. Webinar is both live and at your leisure. Hiner not only understands seismic but the test as well. i would suggest buying his book. reading it in full and working some of the problems, and then taking the webinar. That way you will never be behind.
There are cheaper courses available though.

sac engineer and jeremy,

Thanks for the insight. I'll be passing this along to my co-worker. Much appreciated.
I took the Hiner class for the October exam and didn't pass but I felt like it was still a good class and worth my time and money. I think I just didn't spend enough time studying outside of the class, I did pass the general/structural and surveying. This time around I studied only using the Hiner workbook and felt very well prepared for the exam. The first time I only went through the example problems but after going through every multiple choice problem this time I realized they covered almost all of the material and it was more helpful to work the multiple choice than the example problems.

 
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I think the point has been beaten with a stick but I will add to it. Hiner all the way. It took a Civil PE review class and Hiner's. I would have to say that Hiner's class is so much more organized and as another said above he knows the material very well and instructs in a way that is easy to understand. If you have time to go through the book ahead of time you can't go wrong but if you have time to work problems between sessions you should be fine too.

 
I'll beat the dead horse a bit here as well. Two years ago, I took the Chelipati Seismic Review Course. It was heavy on the code and I nearly passed. I scored proficient or marginal in everything except distribution of seismic forces, which was deficient. I tried to brush up on that on my own for the next cycle and failed miserably. I got the same result the third time I took the test. The seismic was the only thing standing in the way of me getting my PE.

This last time (April 2009), I decided to start over with all of my review. I reprinted all of my reference materials, purchased a IBC 2009, and took the Hiner Seismic Design Review Course. I did about 200 hours of studying, and did another 250 problems. I also did 2 practice exams from Lindberg. I have to say that I never felt so prepared to sit for an exam. When I finished the exam, I felt like I made that exam cook me dinner and give me a back rub.

I passed and I'm now a PE.

You should take the Hiner SDR classes, period. He offers them in both live webinar and 'on-demand' versions. They are both the exact same course and well worth the $600 it cost for the course and the accompanying book. It was 100% worth the money.

 
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I am down to only the Seismic. I really, really do not like this topic. :( I am almost through Chapter 4 of Hiner's book and I'd say only 33% of the material has registered in my brain (not Hiner's fault, my fault). I really don't want to shell out hundreds of dollars for a review course so I am going to continue trying to learn from only the Hiner manual.

I'm curious though, what do you guys think of the Mansour classes and study material? http://www.passpe.com/products/materials.html

 
I am down to only the Seismic. I really, really do not like this topic. :( I am almost through Chapter 4 of Hiner's book and I'd say only 33% of the material has registered in my brain (not Hiner's fault, my fault). I really don't want to shell out hundreds of dollars for a review course so I am going to continue trying to learn from only the Hiner manual.
I'm curious though, what do you guys think of the Mansour classes and study material? http://www.passpe.com/products/materials.html
After you don't pass in October, remember what everyone here said. Get the course.

 
I am down to only the Seismic. I really, really do not like this topic. :( I am almost through Chapter 4 of Hiner's book and I'd say only 33% of the material has registered in my brain (not Hiner's fault, my fault). I really don't want to shell out hundreds of dollars for a review course so I am going to continue trying to learn from only the Hiner manual.
I'm curious though, what do you guys think of the Mansour classes and study material? http://www.passpe.com/products/materials.html
After you don't pass in October, remember what everyone here said. Get the course.

I'll pass, you'll see. I am very motivated.

Still curious what you guys think about the Mansour study materials.

 
I am down to only the Seismic. I really, really do not like this topic. :( I am almost through Chapter 4 of Hiner's book and I'd say only 33% of the material has registered in my brain (not Hiner's fault, my fault). I really don't want to shell out hundreds of dollars for a review course so I am going to continue trying to learn from only the Hiner manual.
I'm curious though, what do you guys think of the Mansour classes and study material? http://www.passpe.com/products/materials.html

Sorry to not answer the question, but I'm not going to answer the question. Instead, I'll say that I was planning on just reviewing the Hiner workbook without the class (much like you are). I ended up taking the class because my company was willing to cover the cost.

When I was self-studying, there were a lot of sections in the book that I zoned out for and then had problems remembering. When you do the webinar (I did the recorded version), you hear what he puts an emphasis on in each of his sections. That helped me recall a lot more of the information. Although it was a bit pricey, I say it is totally worth it.

(update: I passed. yay.)

 
Hi everyone,

Someone asked this question already but no response. Has anyone took Dr. mansour's classes? any recommendations on which review class to take?

 
Hi everyone,Someone asked this question already but no response. Has anyone took Dr. mansour's classes? any recommendations on which review class to take?

I would also like to know, He offers some free webinars on other subjects like construction AM and Transportation AM, Anyone else taken his classes?

 
Hi everyone,Someone asked this question already but no response. Has anyone took Dr. mansour's classes? any recommendations on which review class to take?

I would also like to know, He offers some free webinars on other subjects like construction AM and Transportation AM, Anyone else taken his classes?
Can you please provide a link to these free webinars? I was not aware of them. Thanks.

 
biged... I was out of the country in my preparation. I didn't attend any review classes but I used every available resources that I could reach. NOT ONLY that, I deed my detailed study on the basics principle. remember, though it's an open book, you may not have the time to open the books that you will be bringing in to the exam. so you need to be clever on how to prepare a summary notes (i used stick on post it). LASTLY, you need to burn that candle in solving examples. from time to time, the board exam changes their topics of questions.

if you just failed again, congratulations! you are almost there buddy... don't give up! keep up and hold your determination to reach your goal.

i was on the same boat with you and I understand your sentiments but it's not the end of the world... opportunities are awaiting!

BTW, for seismic I used Hiner as my main reference. for survey, I used Reza's and Cuomo. the rest, i relied on the internet.

i wish i could help you more... if you believe in prayer, that's the main thing that helps you boost your confidence.

don't stop, believing!

GOOD LUCK!

 
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Hi everyone,Someone asked this question already but no response. Has anyone took Dr. mansour's classes? any recommendations on which review class to take?

I would also like to know, He offers some free webinars on other subjects like construction AM and Transportation AM, Anyone else taken his classes?
Can you please provide a link to these free webinars? I was not aware of them. Thanks.

If you go to his website:

http://www.passpe.com/index.html

Towards the bottom of the home page you see in a box:

Fall 2011 Webinars

We will be offering selected 2-hours Civil P.E., Seismic, and Surveying Review webinars for FREE this Fall. We invite you to attend our Free webinars to see why we are the best in the market.

E-mail us for the Free 2-hours Webinars:

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

email one of the addresses and then whenever they are planning a free webinar they will tell you. I actually just got the email Friday night for the free webinars Sat and Sunday for Seismic. I'm watching them right now.

He has a book (which i have not bought yet, because i'm not sure i'm taking CA special exam)

so his lectures he doesn't use Powerpoints he uses the book, which i actually like. then if he needs to do some extra drawings he cuts to another screen and draws them. he later emails you the scans of his drawings.

I'm a fan of his classes, I wish he offered a class for the 16hr SE exam.

 
Hi everyone,Someone asked this question already but no response. Has anyone took Dr. mansour's classes? any recommendations on which review class to take?

I would also like to know, He offers some free webinars on other subjects like construction AM and Transportation AM, Anyone else taken his classes?
Can you please provide a link to these free webinars? I was not aware of them. Thanks.

If you go to his website:

http://www.passpe.com/index.html

Towards the bottom of the home page you see in a box:

Fall 2011 Webinars

We will be offering selected 2-hours Civil P.E., Seismic, and Surveying Review webinars for FREE this Fall. We invite you to attend our Free webinars to see why we are the best in the market.

E-mail us for the Free 2-hours Webinars:

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

email one of the addresses and then whenever they are planning a free webinar they will tell you. I actually just got the email Friday night for the free webinars Sat and Sunday for Seismic. I'm watching them right now.

He has a book (which i have not bought yet, because i'm not sure i'm taking CA special exam)

so his lectures he doesn't use Powerpoints he uses the book, which i actually like. then if he needs to do some extra drawings he cuts to another screen and draws them. he later emails you the scans of his drawings.

I'm a fan of his classes, I wish he offered a class for the 16hr SE exam.


I e-mailed about the free Seismic webinar the day you posted this and still have not yet heard back. :(

 
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