Review Course Recommendation

I just passed the Civil Exam in TN after 5 attempts. I biggest change was the review that I took. I recommend the School of PE online course and many hours of problem solving. Instructors were good and understandable, notes were great and it really prepared me for the morning. As a matter of fact when I was revewing the morning questions and rating them on a scale of 1 to 3, 3 being the hardest, I remember only having 1 or 2 questions that were rated as 3. It was a werid feeling knowing I could answer a great portion of the questions. Just my take on a review course that really helped me pass the test. ASSED2:

I'm planning on taking the PE in the fall. I've narrowed it down to School of PE, Testmasters, or Goswami online courses. I would prefer online and from the sounds of it School of PE is pretty good. How much did the course cost you and also I assume you took it this past winter?

kenny911 said:

I'm planning on taking the PE in the fall. I've narrowed it down to School of PE, Testmasters, or Goswami online courses. I would prefer online and from the sounds of it School of PE is pretty good. How much did the course cost you and also I assume you took it this past winter?

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The course was around $900, my employers paid for it. Thank goodness. Even has a retake policy if you don't pass. I took the course this spring, it was 5 consecutive weekends from 9 to 5. Great notes, great format. Also had a bonus class on my afternoon choice.

Civil Eng Chick said:

I just passed the Civil Exam in TN after 5 attempts. I biggest change was the review that I took. I recommend the School of PE online course and many hours of problem solving. Instructors were good and understandable, notes were great and it really prepared me for the morning. As a matter of fact when I was revewing the morning questions and rating them on a scale of 1 to 3, 3 being the hardest, I remember only having 1 or 2 questions that were rated as 3. It was a werid feeling knowing I could answer a great portion of the questions. Just my take on a review course that really helped me pass the test. ASSED2:

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I took the exam 5 times as well and then registered for School of PE and finally passed. I totally recommend them...

I took the course in NY by LaGuardia Airport...it was a 40+ mile drive one way, several weekends in a row, but I know it made the difference. Wish I had shelled out the $1100 bucks two years ago. Self study did help me tho...I knew the CERM upside down, and the course moves at a VERY fast pace...so self study is necessary. But taking the course right before taking the PE totally did it.

kenny911 said:

I'm planning on taking the PE in the fall. I've narrowed it down to School of PE, Testmasters, or Goswami online courses. I would prefer online and from the sounds of it School of PE is pretty good. How much did the course cost you and also I assume you took it this past winter?

Click to expand...

I took Goswami's course. His book and his course are both excellent. He is extremely knowledgeable, and has a great feel for what to expect from the exam. He provides excellent, in-depth notes that essentially expand on the material in his book. He also provides lots of sample problems (AM & PM) for each area. At the end of the course, he provides a full 80 question breadth & depth practice exam. You will also have the opportunity to save and replay the on-line sessions.

This is what really helped me pass. I started working through the All-in-One book from page 1 a couple of months before the review course began. It was much easier for me to get into than CERM. I read through it all, and worked most of the examples except for those that I felt sure would not be on the AM. I continued with this through the review course always staying further ahead in the book than we were in the course. That way, when we got to a subject in the course, I would already have covered it in the book. That familiarity with the material and its repetition were key to getting it to sink in.

That being said, I still put in a lot of independent study and problem solving time along with the course. It takes a lot of work, but it's worth it!

POed Mommy said:

Civil Eng Chick said:

I just passed the Civil Exam in TN after 5 attempts. I biggest change was the review that I took. I recommend the School of PE online course and many hours of problem solving. Instructors were good and understandable, notes were great and it really prepared me for the morning. As a matter of fact when I was revewing the morning questions and rating them on a scale of 1 to 3, 3 being the hardest, I remember only having 1 or 2 questions that were rated as 3. It was a werid feeling knowing I could answer a great portion of the questions. Just my take on a review course that really helped me pass the test. ASSED2:

Click to expand...

I took the exam 5 times as well and then registered for School of PE and finally passed. I totally recommend them...

I took the course in NY by LaGuardia Airport...it was a 40+ mile drive one way, several weekends in a row, but I know it made the difference. Wish I had shelled out the $1100 bucks two years ago. Self study did help me tho...I knew the CERM upside down, and the course moves at a VERY fast pace...so self study is necessary. But taking the course right before taking the PE totally did it.

Click to expand...

Did you take both the refresher review and the problem solving workshop or just the refresher review? Thank you for sharing your experience with the School of PE and Congratualtions on passing!

tmaxcn said:

POed Mommy said:

Civil Eng Chick said:

I just passed the Civil Exam in TN after 5 attempts. I biggest change was the review that I took. I recommend the School of PE online course and many hours of problem solving. Instructors were good and understandable, notes were great and it really prepared me for the morning. As a matter of fact when I was revewing the morning questions and rating them on a scale of 1 to 3, 3 being the hardest, I remember only having 1 or 2 questions that were rated as 3. It was a werid feeling knowing I could answer a great portion of the questions. Just my take on a review course that really helped me pass the test. ASSED2:

Click to expand...

I took the exam 5 times as well and then registered for School of PE and finally passed. I totally recommend them...

I took the course in NY by LaGuardia Airport...it was a 40+ mile drive one way, several weekends in a row, but I know it made the difference. Wish I had shelled out the $1100 bucks two years ago. Self study did help me tho...I knew the CERM upside down, and the course moves at a VERY fast pace...so self study is necessary. But taking the course right before taking the PE totally did it.

Click to expand...

Did you take both the refresher review and the problem solving workshop or just the refresher review? Thank you for sharing your experience with the School of PE and Congratualtions on passing!

Click to expand...

I took the School of PE course too and passed the PE the first time. I only started to study when the school of PE course began and took 2 weeks off fro, work before the exam.

I too recommend the school of PE course, refresher and workshop. The workshop classes would force you to solve problems and try hard to find solution as you are in the exam day.

The school of PE would over prepare you for the morning part, but for the afternoon part you need to be very familiar with the codes and have real experience in your field to pass (I am talking about Structural afternoon), and the school of PE online review class for the afternoon part was not that good as the morning classes.

POed Mommy said:

Civil Eng Chick said:

I just passed the Civil Exam in TN after 5 attempts. I biggest change was the review that I took. I recommend the School of PE online course and many hours of problem solving. Instructors were good and understandable, notes were great and it really prepared me for the morning. As a matter of fact when I was revewing the morning questions and rating them on a scale of 1 to 3, 3 being the hardest, I remember only having 1 or 2 questions that were rated as 3. It was a werid feeling knowing I could answer a great portion of the questions. Just my take on a review course that really helped me pass the test. ASSED2:

Click to expand...

I took the exam 5 times as well and then registered for School of PE and finally passed. I totally recommend them...

I took the course in NY by LaGuardia Airport...it was a 40+ mile drive one way, several weekends in a row, but I know it made the difference. Wish I had shelled out the $1100 bucks two years ago. Self study did help me tho...I knew the CERM upside down, and the course moves at a VERY fast pace...so self study is necessary. But taking the course right before taking the PE totally did it.

Click to expand...

Congratulations POed Mommy. I too attaned the LaGuardia class with you and passed.

hamada128 said:

tmaxcn said:

POed Mommy said:

Civil Eng Chick said:

I just passed the Civil Exam in TN after 5 attempts. I biggest change was the review that I took. I recommend the School of PE online course and many hours of problem solving. Instructors were good and understandable, notes were great and it really prepared me for the morning. As a matter of fact when I was revewing the morning questions and rating them on a scale of 1 to 3, 3 being the hardest, I remember only having 1 or 2 questions that were rated as 3. It was a werid feeling knowing I could answer a great portion of the questions. Just my take on a review course that really helped me pass the test. ASSED2:

Click to expand...

I took the exam 5 times as well and then registered for School of PE and finally passed. I totally recommend them...

I took the course in NY by LaGuardia Airport...it was a 40+ mile drive one way, several weekends in a row, but I know it made the difference. Wish I had shelled out the $1100 bucks two years ago. Self study did help me tho...I knew the CERM upside down, and the course moves at a VERY fast pace...so self study is necessary. But taking the course right before taking the PE totally did it.

Click to expand...

Did you take both the refresher review and the problem solving workshop or just the refresher review? Thank you for sharing your experience with the School of PE and Congratualtions on passing!

Click to expand...

I took the School of PE course too and passed the PE the first time. I only started to study when the school of PE course began and took 2 weeks off fro, work before the exam.

I too recommend the school of PE course, refresher and workshop. The workshop classes would force you to solve problems and try hard to find solution as you are in the exam day.

The school of PE would over prepare you for the morning part, but for the afternoon part you need to be very familiar with the codes and have real experience in your field to pass (I am talking about Structural afternoon), and the school of PE online review class for the afternoon part was not that good as the morning classes.

Click to expand...

I took School of PE and i thought everything was good except the structural. I took the online class. I also took the school of PE SE1 review class a few years back and the structural professors were really bad. If you aren't doing Structures, or if you already know structures well, then I suggest School of PE. I wish i would have done PassPE.com their notes are much better. I know because I took a few free review classes from them. I passed the civil PE in april 2011.