# PPI SE Course, anyone taking it?



## PowerStroke79_PE (Feb 4, 2018)

Anyone here taking PPI SE course right now? I'm thinking about possibly taking it after April, in preparation for the October Exam, but I had a bad experience with the PE exam course (civil/structural). For the SE its an entirely different professor ( or professors) teaching it so I was hoping maybe someone was taking this exam.

Thanks for any comments.


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## TehMightyEngineer (Feb 5, 2018)

Up until this spring I used to teach it. Any specific questions you have?


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## PowerStroke79_PE (Feb 5, 2018)

TehMightyEngineer said:


> Up until this spring I used to teach it. Any specific questions you have?


You are the guy my boss took the SE course with. He highly recommended I take it because of you. Then I logged on to check the instructor and you were gone.... 




.

I wanted to know if the current professors followed a structure, a plan, to teach the course. I don't want to sign up for a course where random problems and lectures are just improvised. I really like the PPI books, they have areas which sometimes don't show how equations resolve, but overall they are great sources for study and practice. Do you teach anymore? Particularly I was hoping for good lectures in analysis and load transfer (lateral). Do you know how well this is covered in the course cureently? 

Thanks!


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## TehMightyEngineer (Feb 6, 2018)

Hemi79 said:


> Do you teach anymore?


Glad your boss appreciated my efforts, that sort of recommendation is what makes me sad I left. Unfortunately all I could manage was 3 years teaching that course; it's a challenge to teach and was just taking too much time out of my year to be worth it. Of course the other instructor is still there (Nate) and he does a great job with the concrete and bridge sections of the course. Nate knows the new instructor they brought in to replace me personally, but I haven't talked with the new instructor. I can get you their contact information if you don't have it.



Hemi79 said:


> I wanted to know if the current professors followed a structure, a plan, to teach the course.


The course follows the Structural Engineering Reference Manual for the most part, with additional sections added to cover the more advanced topics. Everything is very structured to ensure you stay on track and motivated. This is likely the most lauded feature of the course. We do have "office hour" lectures where we prepare some problems ahead of time but also do a little bit of improvised work as well, but they are scattered throughout the course.



Hemi79 said:


> Particularly I was hoping for good lectures in analysis and load transfer (lateral).


We do a fair bit of time on those but they could use some additional emphasis. I felt we covered them well but not extensively. Of course we're condensing so much of structural engineering into a relatively small span of time; thus some sacrifices must be made on completeness. In addition we have to accommodate engineers that my not do building or bridge design in their normal day to day work; thus a lot of the review is just that, a review of the basics. Are you taking bridges or buildings?


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## PowerStroke79_PE (Feb 6, 2018)

TehMightyEngineer said:


> We do a fair bit of time on those but they could use some additional emphasis. I felt we covered them well but not extensively. Of course we're condensing so much of structural engineering into a relatively small span of time; thus some sacrifices must be made on completeness. In addition we have to accommodate engineers that my not do building or bridge design in their normal day to day work; thus a lot of the review is just that, a review of the basics. Are you taking bridges or buildings?


I'm taking Buildings. Im on the fence between School of PE or PPI. I will be reviewing from now to May on my own and then sign up for a course. Thanks for all the information and if you can PM the contact info for the PPI instructors that would be great. Thanks for the comments and help!


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## TehMightyEngineer (Feb 7, 2018)

It is worth mentioning that the last PPI course survey we did got 28 out of 30 people rating the course as 4 to 5 out of 5 and only 1 of those 30 wouldn't recommend the course. Obviously any review course is full of compromises but I think PPI has struck a decent balance between cost, time, complexity, and effectiveness. School of PE and PPI are pretty much on the same footing so I'd say you'll likely boil it down to the little details; timing of the course, other recommendations, cost, etc.

I'll get that contact info for you.


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## sayed (Feb 9, 2018)

Hemi79 said:


> Anyone here taking PPI SE course right now? I'm thinking about possibly taking it after April, in preparation for the October Exam, but I had a bad experience with the PE exam course (civil/structural). For the SE its an entirely different professor ( or professors) teaching it so I was hoping maybe someone was taking this exam.
> 
> Thanks for any comments.


if only something like adobe captivate existed...


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## School of PE (Feb 9, 2018)

Hemi79 said:


> I'm taking Buildings. Im on the fence between School of PE or PPI. I will be reviewing from now to May on my own and then sign up for a course. Thanks for all the information and if you can PM the contact info for the PPI instructors that would be great. Thanks for the comments and help!


We may be biased, but we recommend School of PE.  

Feel free to check out http://www.schoolofpe.com/se/ for more information. We offer testimonials on the individual pages for lateral and vertical. If you have any questions or concerns about our courses please feel free to give us a call at 614-873-7475 or email us at [email protected]


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## TehMightyEngineer (Feb 9, 2018)

Woohoo, good to see School of PE on here interacting with engineers. The more support from the various review course providers the better. I believe PPI's marketing people also view these forums as well.

I am of course biased as well, but mostly in that I only have personal experience with PPI. Obviously very few engineers participate in more than one review course which makes it hard to judge. I do like that both PPI and School of PE are putting out statistics on exam passing rates, that plus the testimonials makes a very decent metric of quality.


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## PowerStroke79_PE (Feb 10, 2018)

Thanks for the input everyone. I think Im gonna give School of PE a shot. Looking at previous binders of both Im leaning towards S.P.E., but I still have some time to think it over. Again thanks for taking the time to help out @TehMightyEngineer


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## TehMightyEngineer (Feb 12, 2018)

Hemi79 said:


> Thanks for the input everyone. I think Im gonna give School of PE a shot. Looking at previous binders of both Im leaning towards S.P.E., but I still have some time to think it over. Again thanks for taking the time to help out @TehMightyEngineer


Best of luck with your studies!


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## sayed (Feb 12, 2018)

Hemi79 said:


> Thanks for the input everyone. I think Im gonna give School of PE a shot. Looking at previous binders of both Im leaning towards S.P.E., but I still have some time to think it over. Again thanks for taking the time to help out @TehMightyEngineer


EET has the best reviews. Ask the repeat takers. (those who have taken more than one course)


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## PowerStroke79_PE (Feb 13, 2018)

sayed said:


> EET has the best reviews. Ask the repeat takers. (those who have taken more than one course)


Thanks for the recommendation.


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## ninolta (Apr 18, 2018)

I'm a little disappointed with School of PE this time around. I took their class for the PE exam and I thought it worked out pretty good. For the SE vertical forces though, I found the classes to be unorganized and notes a little bit all over the place, also instructors sometimes unprepared. But who knows, a miracle might happen and I pass the vertical part. Then maybe I will revisit my statement


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## David Connor SE (Apr 18, 2018)

I taught the concrete and bridges section after TehMightyEngineer.  I only did it once because of time constraints with my day job. I like a good economy, but I am really busy because of that and just don't have time to balance work, personal, and teaching the PPI SE Exam review course. I got some good feedback from some of the my students, but those tended to be the one's that passed. 

However, one of the advantages of taking the PPI class is that you get copies of all of there SE exam review books.  I think that would cost around $500 if you just bought them separately. They are all good books in my opinion.


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## PowerStroke79_PE (Apr 19, 2018)

David Connor said:


> I taught the concrete and bridges section after TehMightyEngineer.  I only did it once because of time constraints with my day job. I like a good economy, but I am really busy because of that and just don't have time to balance work, personal, and teaching the PPI SE Exam review course. I got some good feedback from some of the my students, but those tended to be the one's that passed.
> 
> However, one of the advantages of taking the PPI class is that you get copies of all of there SE exam review books.  I think that would cost around $500 if you just bought them separately. They are all good books in my opinion.


Thank you for the reply. I plan to take the lateral in October 2018. I think for the first run im going to work a lot of problems and follow the NCEES SYLLABUS stringently for a change. I followed EET deligently twice and no success with the PE. And its fair to say  theyre not the problem. Taking the ppi depth structural last october was a problem but im missing something and i think its grinding. I plan to get your book and give it a go for the 20% bridge stuff, although hopefully covering your book 100%. All the work has given me serenity and a sense of direction when approaching engineering problems and i think ill get it done soon at least for the PE. My attempt of doing PE on a Friday and SE on a Saturday is really an attempt of over studying the Structural part for the PE. And experiencing the SE secondly. Of course i will shoot at passing.


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## PowerStroke79_PE (Apr 19, 2018)

ninolta said:


> I'm a little disappointed with School of PE this time around. I took their class for the PE exam and I thought it worked out pretty good. For the SE vertical forces though, I found the classes to be unorganized and notes a little bit all over the place, also instructors sometimes unprepared. But who knows, a miracle might happen and I pass the vertical part. Then maybe I will revisit my statement


Howd the vertical go?


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## User1 (Apr 19, 2018)

Hemi79 said:


> Thank you for the reply. I plan to take the lateral in October 2018. I think for the first run im going to work a lot of problems and follow the NCEES SYLLABUS stringently for a change. I followed EET deligently twice and no success with the PE. And its fair to say  theyre not the problem. Taking the ppi depth structural last october was a problem but im missing something and i think its grinding. I plan to get your book and give it a go for the 20% bridge stuff, although hopefully covering your book 100%. All the work has given me serenity and a sense of direction when approaching engineering problems and i think ill get it done soon at least for the PE. My attempt of doing PE on a Friday and SE on a Saturday is really an attempt of over studying the Structural part for the PE. And experiencing the SE secondly. Of course i will shoot at passing.


whoa. you're sitting for the PE, then one day of the SE in the same weekend!?


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## PowerStroke79_PE (Apr 19, 2018)

tj_PE said:


> whoa. you're sitting for the PE, then one day of the SE in the same weekend!?


That's the plan. By that I mean I will be applying to the Board with my updated experience. Assuming I get approved, which I should, that is definitely the plan. I know it sounds crazy. But I really think it can be done, and I've gone over the Breadth and Depth material for the PE so much I think my study plan this time will work.


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## ColoradoPEmaybe (Apr 19, 2018)

squaretaper said:


> It must be a new thing in Sacramento. I've never heard that rule before. The proctor was apologetic and said "it's not my rule," but still. Someone must have given her that directive and I can understand they don't want people building "forts" around themselves.
> 
> Oh well, by the end it was a free-for-all anyway and _everyone_ had _all_ their books on the table, feverishly flipping through references. The PE experience is...unique. Only other engineers get it and I like this little tribe of ours.






Hemi79 said:


> That's the plan. By that I mean I will be applying to the Board with my updated experience. Assuming I get approved, which I should, that is definitely the plan. I know it sounds crazy. But I really think it can be done, and I've gone over the Breadth and Depth material for the PE so much I think my study plan this time will work.


That's probably smart, and also brave. Good Luck!


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## ninolta (Apr 19, 2018)

Hemi79 said:


> Howd the vertical go?


It was very difficult, I don't think I'll pass. I didn't feel confident at all leaving the exam. Big contrast compared to the PE.


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## David Connor SE (Apr 20, 2018)

Hemi79 said:


> That's the plan. By that I mean I will be applying to the Board with my updated experience. Assuming I get approved, which I should, that is definitely the plan. I know it sounds crazy. But I really think it can be done, and I've gone over the Breadth and Depth material for the PE so much I think my study plan this time will work.


My advice is to not overload yourself. Not saying you can't do it, but why kill yourself. I would do the PE until I pass, then SE lateral (easier to study for in my opinion) until I pass, then SE vertical. But if you live in a state that let's you have a "PE" by passing the SE, then just do the SE.


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## PowerStroke79_PE (Apr 20, 2018)

David Connor said:


> My advice is to not overload yourself. Not saying you can't do it, but why kill yourself. I would do the PE until I pass, then SE lateral (easier to study for in my opinion) until I pass, then SE vertical. But if you live in a state that let's you have a "PE" by passing the SE, then just do the SE.


Thank you for your advice. I have  less than two weeks before I sit down and make it my routine again to study for the P.E/S.E. exam. However, the P.E. exam I will take under all circumstances. No way I let it beat me. And the S.E. I just really want to give it a shot. Your comment on "easier to study for in my opinion", was that referring to breaking the exams down to take separately or to the criteria of the exam? Thanks again!


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## David Connor SE (Apr 22, 2018)

Hemi79 said:


> Thank you for your advice. I have  less than two weeks before I sit down and make it my routine again to study for the P.E/S.E. exam. However, the P.E. exam I will take under all circumstances. No way I let it beat me. And the S.E. I just really want to give it a shot. Your comment on "easier to study for in my opinion", was that referring to breaking the exams down to take separately or to the criteria of the exam? Thanks again!


To me the SE lateral exam is easier to study for because you pretty much know that about 75% of the exam is going to deal with seismic questions, and 25% of the exam wind questions. Concentrate much of your studying on ASCE 7 - Seismic.  The attached is a study calendar that I came up with when I was studying for the SE exam and you can see how much time I devoted to each subject. 

https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/ae78ab_adf09b6bd2a64872bdd05459b561e6ca.pdf

The vertical exam is more difficult to study for because the kinds of questions they can come up with is much more broad. But if you follow the NCEES Specification of subject matter for the exam and give proper time to each subject in proportion to what is going to be asked (i.e. don't study cold-formed steel for 2 weeks, because there will only be 1 question) then you should be OK.

Also, the vertical exam is difficult, even though the general consensus is the lateral exam is more difficult. A lot of depends on your experience. If you live on the west coast then probably all of your projects deal with lots of seismic issues, so you will probably think the lateral exam is easier than the vertical. However, both components are difficult.

If I were you I would take it one step at a time. Just concentrate on the PE now and don't even worry about the SE exam until you get passed the PE.


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## PowerStroke79_PE (Apr 23, 2018)

@David Connor, SE  Thank you for your comments. I appreciate you taking the time to put things in perspective. The link for the calendar is just the calendar with no schedules on it, however i have the calendar from your website, hopefully its the same one. I am definitely going to focus on the PE exam.


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## David Connor SE (Apr 24, 2018)

Hemi79 said:


> @David Connor, SE  Thank you for your comments. I appreciate you taking the time to put things in perspective. The link for the calendar is just the calendar with no schedules on it, however i have the calendar from your website, hopefully its the same one. I am definitely going to focus on the PE exam.


Weird, yeah, if you are looking at it on your iPhone then the subjects don't show up. I did it in Blubeam so it sometimes doesn't show properly. It shows up in Blubeam, and yes, it's the same calendar from my website. 

Good luck!


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