# School of PE or testmasters



## Engineer2 (May 28, 2013)

I'm planning to take the CE PE next April (2014) with emphasis on structures in the afternoon.

There is a testmasters review class (in person) close to where I live. I would have to drive about 1.25 hrs to get to a School of PE class. I work best with a class course and not online.

Does anybody know which review class is better or are they the same?

The format seems to be the same - all weekends with instructor time and problem solving.


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## 305Gurl (May 28, 2013)

I recommend SOPE since that is the one I took and passed the exam. Personally have not taken Testmasters, so I cannot say which is better.


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## LSPE (May 29, 2013)

Engineer2 said:


> I'm planning to take the CE PE next April (2014) with emphasis on structures in the afternoon.
> 
> There is a testmasters review class (in person) close to where I live. I would have to drive about 1.25 hrs to get to a School of PE class. I work best with a class course and not online.
> 
> ...


Both SOPE and Testmasters can help for AM exam to score around 33-35 out of 40. you need to work your self for PM.

good luck.


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## daxx1313 (Oct 30, 2013)

LSPE said:


> Engineer2 said:
> 
> 
> > I'm planning to take the CE PE next April (2014) with emphasis on structures in the afternoon.
> ...


I agree 100% with LSPE's statement. School of PE prepared me enough to hopefully get a good score for the am and the pm was almost entirely learned from self study. There were topics in the pm that I had never seen, but if you understand unit conversions and what they're looking for you can start to manipulate the information and come up with an educated guess.


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## daxx1313 (Oct 30, 2013)

BTW, I took the School of PE online weekend review course, and it helped dramatically. The classes were tough to get through (8-hrs on Sat &amp; Sun), but you will be much better off taking it. I would suggest the on-line review course over the in-person sessions because the course lectures can be reviewed multiple times. The review was totally worth the $1300.


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## odu_engineer (Oct 30, 2013)

I would recommend to go with SofPE.


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## NinjaPanther (Nov 8, 2013)

LSPE said:


> Engineer2 said:
> 
> 
> > I'm planning to take the CE PE next April (2014) with emphasis on structures in the afternoon.
> ...




The focus of 'School of PE' is more on the AM section, but they now offer 8-hours of review for the PM sections too. The depth review for transportation was helpful, but not as comprehensive as the breadth reviews. You definitely need to have some sort of background in your depth discipline - in the PM, it would be hard to get by on the review course alone. All in all, I would definitely recommend SoPE, even more so if I end up passing.


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## daxx1313 (Dec 9, 2013)

daxx1313 said:


> BTW, I took the School of PE online weekend review course, and it helped dramatically. The classes were tough to get through (8-hrs on Sat &amp; Sun), but you will be much better off taking it. I would suggest the on-line review course over the in-person sessions because the course lectures can be reviewed multiple times. The review was totally worth the $1300.




A little update... I passed the 8-hour because I took the School of PE course. As I previously stated, I personally would recommend the online version over the in person. The reviewing of the course work really helped. Without the class I most certainly would not have passed.


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## electrical_power (Dec 9, 2013)

Has anyone tried ppi2pass course review?


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## Golden Eagle PE (Dec 9, 2013)

electrical_power said:


> Has anyone tried ppi2pass course review?


I heard it stinks. I am doing School of PE based on all the positive reviews.


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## strkr98 (Feb 6, 2014)

I took TestMasters review course and passed. I found it very helpful.


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## Hamdih10 (Feb 25, 2014)

Is there any way, I can buy the material for the testmaster structural PM portion of the Civil PE


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## John QPE (Feb 25, 2014)

Hamdih10 said:


> Is there any way, I can buy the material for the testmaster structural PM portion of the Civil PE




Yeah, you register for the class.


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## ofareggie (Apr 21, 2014)

My quick review of School of PE:

I took the SoPE review course for the FE Fall 2011. Helped a lot, I passed.

I took it again for the PE Fall 2013... not so fortunate.

So since they offer the course again for free if you don't pass the first time, I took it again for the April 2014 exam and am extremely disappointed with the course (at the time of me writing this, I have not received my results yet). It appears this organization is slipping. The instructors are phoning it in and there appears to be no quality control as the notes and example problems are riddled with typos. The interaction with the instructors is a joke, if you have questions on concepts or examples you will receive 1 word answers.

What I will say for the SoPE is that it forces you to sit down for a certain period of time, open your review manual, take some notes and work some problems. It helps to knock of some rust and is pretty effective for review the AM material, but you're on your own for the PM depth. In my opinion borrowing your coworkers practice exams helped infinitely more than this review course.


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## WR/ENV_Instructor (May 14, 2014)

I agree with most posters above. Either SoPE and Testmasters will help you pass the exam and know ahead that you are expected to work on your own for PM questions. Both classes will help lay the foundation for PM study efforts. You cannot simply attend all the classes and expect to pass. You *MUST* study and work problems on your own!

I personally favor in-person classes as it forces your attention. If not extremely self-disciplined, there are simply too many distractions at home for an online course. Online, weekday, evening classes have an additional disadvantage of being tired from prior workday. As a PE review course instructor, I see the most benefit from in-person, weekend classes.

But in the end, it all comes down to individual. Be true to yourself and match your strengths/weaknesses. Good luck!


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## Canes017 (May 14, 2014)

Golden Eagle said:


> electrical_power said:
> 
> 
> > Has anyone tried ppi2pass course review?
> ...


I actually highly reconmend the ppi course at least from a mechanical PE prep standpoint. Just make sure you sign up for the course with Richard Davis. That guy has been teaching PE prep courses since 1991 and was fantastic. He even threw in several pointers and example problems for the afternoon portions, I've never heard of any other PE prep courses that do that.

It was pricey but I feel pretty good about my chances thanks to that course.


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## JoeyPinoy (May 30, 2014)

To those who attended classes, what would you say the advantage is over a more independent approach such as working through the MERM? Was there a collaborative element with your professors and class mates?


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## Janizzle (Jun 2, 2014)

I'm thinking about signing up for School of PE, I'll be taking the Environmental Exam. They only offer it online, and there is an option to take it On Demand or to do the live classes. Which option is better? The live classes start up to a month and a half before the exam, which seems like it would be too much of a cram session.


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## matt267 PE (Jun 2, 2014)

The nice thing about a live online class is the ability to ask the instructors questions if you don't understand a part of the lecture.


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## Mike M PE (Jun 2, 2014)

JoeyPinoy said:


> To those who attended classes, what would you say the advantage is over a more independent approach such as working through the MERM? Was there a collaborative element with your professors and class mates?




SOPE uses the MERM exclusively along with separate problems to drive home the concepts. The MERM alone is fine but lacking in problems and from what I've heard the accompanying problems 6 MS are difficult and not representative of the actual exam. I like the SOPE's structure but my biggest criticism of the course is that the classes start about 6 weeks before the exam so you really have to be studying BEFORE taking the class (which was my mistake).


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## SNAPE/SMOTT PE (Jun 2, 2014)

mmcdowell25_PE said:


> JoeyPinoy said:
> 
> 
> > To those who attended classes, what would you say the advantage is over a more independent approach such as working through the MERM? Was there a collaborative element with your professors and class mates?
> ...


For ME's, check out Dr. Tom's classroom. I'm currently taking the online only version of the course, but have sent questions into Dr. Tom so there is support. So far I feel like his review is good, and he reviews for the morning and for the afternoon as well (MD and TFS). He basically tells you what to study and what you can skip, and reviews problems in detail. It's a 20 week course, so not much time left before you have to start compressing the study plans.


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## speedbump (Jun 2, 2014)

JoeyPinoy said:


> To those who attended classes, what would you say the advantage is over a more independent approach such as working through the MERM? Was there a collaborative element with your professors and class mates?


Taking an online class (any of the ones mentioned) will help you focus better and study smart. It will also convey in solving the problems quickly (thru tables, charts, etc). Time is your #1 enemy for this exam.

I took the School of PE as more of a review as I self studied for about 4 months (MERM, Shigley, NCEES) prior. I thought it was pretty good and I am convinced it helped me pass (1st attempt). Study material was on par with the difficulty with the exam (AM session only). The PM is entirely self study. What the NCEES lists as the fundamentals within the PM depth, you need to know very well, both quantitatively and qualitatively.

For the cost, Dr. Tom's seem to have the best value as its 20 weeks and covers AM and PM, but looks like it already started.

If you self study, try resurrecting your college text books for problems (around same difficulty as exam), 6MS (slightly harder than exam), NCEES (easier than exam), MERM (really difficult). Repetition helps, as well as getting exposure to as much problems (and understanding them right or wrong) as possible.


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## UKRaid_09 (Jun 2, 2014)

Has anyone heard any reviews on Excel Test Prep? They offer classes in the Bay Area and Irvine, CA.


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## SNAPE/SMOTT PE (Jun 3, 2014)

Dr Tom's live class has started. The online only is at your own pace. But really I wouldn't cram it in too much.


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