EET Seismic Review

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I've never actually had any contact with Dr I. The only thing EET ever asked of me was to fill out a class survey (for the depth and breadth).

I just received a card in the mail from Samir today congratulating me. It is this personal relationship with the instructors that really sets EET apart.

 
This is my second posting on EB and I want to thank those who congratulated me for passing the last section of the PE exam last October. Like many other busy individuals who are trying to pursue professional licenses, I find it very difficult, having a family and working full time, to find the time to sit and study, and the brains to understand and comprehend. Especially when my last schooling was about 30 years ago. This required dedication and a good professional program/class to follow and that class happened to be the EET.

I met Dr. Ibrahim in person a few times, and I was lucky enough to have attended his seismic webinar class, including a very helpful simulation test. I spoke previously about my experience with EET but I’d like to share an event that might helps those who are still working on the PE exam and address anyone who questions this school's legitimacy. The school and the instructors are genuine and they care so much for their students. They go above and beyond to deliver, to answer any question at almost any time of the day of the week and to provide the utmost help that they can. There were only two participants in my EET CA-Seismic simulation test because both of us were busy during the regular scheduled simulation test and therefore Dr. Ibrahim offered to spend ten hours of his valuable time on a weekend day with the two of us to test us and help us understand how to tackle each question and solve them efficiently. I can speak for myself that my background is in Architecture while all my experience was in the FWY/Road construction and partially in bridge construction. My experience did not help me understand Seismic to a point where I can be confident that I can study and pass it on my own. Dr. Ibrahim walked me through a strategy to solve the problems comfortably. The 8 hours test with Transportation depth was another challenge to me and seriously, these three talented and dedicated instructors, Samir, Nazrul and Amir helped me understand the material, focus on what is important, and limit my studying to follow the NCEES Syllabus. I can’t appreciate their efforts enough

 
FWIW - I took the 8 hour EET review, and passed the 8 hour exam. Hurray right? I also took the Steven Hiner seismic review course (as I do absolutely nothing structural for work) and passed the Seismic Principles exam. Hurray. I think it just goes to show, if you study hard enough, you will pass with either.

 
EET doesn't provide a Civil-structural depth course for the PE Exam, any alternatives you can recommend?

EET suggested Irvine, has anyone taken this prep course? Review?

 
X-post of my EET experience from the "EET helped me PASS the NCEES PE Exam":

I’m going to echo what has been said above. I took in-person EET Civil review classes for the 8-hr and the seismic portions of the exam, and passed - primarily thanks to them.


My background is in Chemical engr, and I only took one civil class while in undergrad so I already felt waaaaay behind the eight ball from the jump. Everything was new to me, and I was stressing hard. I didn’t even know where to start. I signed up for the EET 8-hour review course, with the Transportation depth area. EET breaks up the teaching to reflect the exam - the first half you cover everything, then the depth portion in the 2nd half. The first half is taught by all of the instructors, who teach whatever the field of expertise is. The instructors give you some tips/tricks/advice along the way and really useful homework problems. Then the 2nd half is more one-on-one with a single instructor. Maybe not true one-on-one, but the classes are small so you’re not lost in a sea of people, and you can get true interactions so it feels one-on-one. Samir taught the transportation portion and boy was he helpful, in almost every way. He is extremely knowledgable, experienced, friendly, positive, supportive, and makes himself available after class, or via email, or in-person, or during the office hour/study sessions that are held during the week. I expressed my nervousness/anxiety about taking the test, and he reassured me that as long as I did the work, I’d be ok. It’s a lot of work, make no mistake about that, with the tabbing, the homework, quizzes, random difficult questions that interweaves some of the topics that were covered that day, and practice tests, but in the end Samir was correct. I passed the 8-hr exam on the first try.

I took Hiner’s seismic on-demand class, and didn’t pass the first time. That said, I probably didn’t put forth the necessary effort to study/learn, since I was also studying for the 8-hr and surveying portions at the same time. During the 8-hr EET class, other classmates raved about the EET seismic class, taught by Dr. Ibrahim. Since my 8-hr class was such a valuable and rewarding experience, I figured I’d try their seismic class too, which is taught by Dr. Ibrahim. Everything I said about Samir above can extend to Dr. Ibrahim as well. Knowledgable, experienced, friendly, positive, supportive, available, etc. Again, like the 8-hr class, the seismic class will be a lot of work, with the tabbing, homework, quizzes, etc…, but if you do it, and are able to keep up, you’ll be confident going into the exam and you’ll have a pretty good chance of passing. I passed the seismic portion on my 2nd attempt.

One last thing I’ll say about EET is that the instructors don’t treat you like just another person who’s paying to take their class, or a number, or a faceless body. They actually care about you, and about whether or not you pass, not because it’s good for their business (let’s be honest, it is), but because you can move forward in your career/life.

PE earned May 2015.

tl;dr - if you’re thinking about taking an EET class, go for it. Highly recommended. Do the work, and you’ll be in a good position to pass.
 
EET doesn't provide a Civil-structural depth course for the PE Exam, any alternatives you can recommend?

EET suggested Irvine, has anyone taken this prep course? Review?
Has anyone taken Irvine Institute of Technology? I was looking at it for the Civil PE Exam for Structural Depth.

 
EET doesn't provide a Civil-structural depth course for the PE Exam, any alternatives you can recommend?

EET suggested Irvine, has anyone taken this prep course? Review?
Has anyone taken Irvine Institute of Technology? I was looking at it for the Civil PE Exam for Structural Depth.
I remember making inquiries at the same time as speaking to the guys from EET. I remember picking EET over Irvine because of the good impression I got from EET

Irvine didn't seem as appealing - but again I could be biased - anyone else who took the Irvine course?

 
EET doesn't provide a Civil-structural depth course for the PE Exam, any alternatives you can recommend?

EET suggested Irvine, has anyone taken this prep course? Review?
Has anyone taken Irvine Institute of Technology? I was looking at it for the Civil PE Exam for Structural Depth.
I remember making inquiries at the same time as speaking to the guys from EET. I remember picking EET over Irvine because of the good impression I got from EET

Irvine didn't seem as appealing - but again I could be biased - anyone else who took the Irvine course?
How are you studying for the structural depth since EET does not have a course for structural depth? There seem to be no options to take a course for structural depth besides School of PE or ASCE.

 
I took SoPE for my first attempt in April '15

Using those notes for AM+PM, I supplemented AM topics with the EET course

 
I took SoPE for my first attempt in April '15

Using those notes for AM+PM, I supplemented AM topics with the EET course
How was the Structural Depth review for School of PE? Did they cover the material well? After taking the exam do you think they prepared you for the Structural Depth? Based on your experience what was better for the AM, School of PE or EET? Thanks.

 
The depth portion felt rushed with SoPE but to be fair it was offered as "bonus material" and covered only ~2 weeks before the actual PE Exam

My mistake was depending on the 24 bonus hours that were offered, you will need to spend time prepping for the depth structural portion on your own

That being said, it did give me a good broad picture of the depth portion and gave me some structure so I can further prepare for my second go around this coming week.

In terms of the AM portion, both covered the material equally thoroughly, with plenty of practice problems and theory notes to keep you busy. For me, an edge EET has is that it arranges the offered binder/notes in the same format and breakdown of the NCEES Exam and guidelines vs. SoPE arranging it in major civil groups (Struct, Water, Construction, Geo)

If this gave EET an edge for the AM portion I'll let u know in around a weeks time

 
The depth portion felt rushed with SoPE but to be fair it was offered as "bonus material" and covered only ~2 weeks before the actual PE Exam

My mistake was depending on the 24 bonus hours that were offered, you will need to spend time prepping for the depth structural portion on your own

That being said, it did give me a good broad picture of the depth portion and gave me some structure so I can further prepare for my second go around this coming week.

In terms of the AM portion, both covered the material equally thoroughly, with plenty of practice problems and theory notes to keep you busy. For me, an edge EET has is that it arranges the offered binder/notes in the same format and breakdown of the NCEES Exam and guidelines vs. SoPE arranging it in major civil groups (Struct, Water, Construction, Geo)

If this gave EET an edge for the AM portion I'll let u know in around a weeks time
Thanks. I am no longer working in civil engineering and was planning to take the Structural Depth. I have no work experience in structural engineering but was looking for a course. I appreciate your help. Good luck on the exam.

 
This October I took both the CA Seismic and Surveying exams and passed them both. In the spring I took the EET 8 hour review course for both the breadth and water resources and environmental engineering depth portion and passed the 8 hour exam on my first try. The class and instructors were great, especially the instructor Nazrul whom teaches the entire depth portion of the course. Because of the positive experience I had with the 8 hour review course I didn't think twice about signing up for the EET Seismic exam review course. Before I specifically talk about my experience with the EET Seismic course I'll share a couple of the things that I considered between EET and Hiner. First off, I like the online format that EET uses, Adobe Connect and that EET doesn't restrict it's students to a specific number of hours to utilize the online material. Secondly, the class was located in Sacramento and this allowed me to attend the live seminar versus having to drive to the bay area to attend Hiner's course. Lastly, from my experience with previous EET instructors they give there students all of the resources necessary and time, including one on one time to pass these exams. 

The EET Seismic teacher is Ahmed and he is a very friendly and knowledgeable individual. I enjoyed the entire time that I was in his class and that I had the opportunity to meet such a nice person and colleague in the engineering community. Before signing up for the EET Seismic review course I had not taken a seismic class at any point in my undergraduate studies. Ahmed's class is designed to help students whether they are completely new to the subject matter or if they have a foundation it will only make it that much stronger. Ahmed is very thorough in his lectures and takes the time to make sure that the class is following him and that there are no questions. At the end of the course we take one full day to go over a simulation exam which consists of taking an exam in pieces then solving them in class and providing us with techniques and tips to solve the problems faster and efficiently. I found this to be one of the most valuable sessions because anyone that has taken the CA exams knows that these tests require a very specific type of test taking strategies on top of the knowledge. Ahmed also provides his students with an additional test booklet with 3 practice exams as well access to an online testing site to practice the 3 exams online in a very similar format to the actual exam. Ahmed worked with me directly one on one to set up my studying schedule 2 weeks prior to my exam. Let me tell you that it was strenuous, but after my preparation I felt confident going into the exams. One other thing that stuck out to me about Ahmed and his dedication to his students was when I asked to meet with him online to review some of my questions. His reply was let him know when I was online and he would meet me. To my surprise he was extremely sick with flu and still didn't hesitate to meet with me to answer all of my questions. We meet online around 8 pm for a session that I thought would last an hour maximum. Oh was I in for a surprise not only did Ahmed answer my questions, but he started to ask my additional questions and reviewed material with me until 10:30 pm. I'm not sure that there is any other review course out there with the amount of resources available for students that want to take advantage of it. Lastly, Ahmed holds a consultation every Thursday during the course and is available for 3 hours to go over homework and questions from the previous weeks lecture. If you take advantage of these consultation hours especially the first hour you pretty much will have Ahmed to yourself to answer any questions you have. We even spoke on the phone multiple times leading up to the exam. 

I'm very glad and feel fortunate that a co worker of mine introduced me to Nazrul last spring and that I decided to enroll with EET. I'm not sure that I could've been as disciplined in my studies without the help of Nazrul and Ahmed's review course. Now I can look back on this experience and proudly say that I have my PE thanks to this wonderful program. I also hope to continue to stay in contact with both Ahmed and Nazrul as they are both great resources and such nice individuals. 

 
First of all, let me just be honest that I just created an account with this website a few minutes ago solely for the purpose of posting my high recommendations for Dr. Ibrahim’s EET seismic review course, workbook, and practice exams.  Being busy with my daily work and family, I have never posted any review for any “Products” I purchased previously.  However, I feel that sharing my great experience with all of you on his courses in this forum is the only best way to show my sincere appreciations to Dr. Ibrahim. I meant to post it immediately after I passed the exam.  I feel guilty for the delay in posting due to my busy work.   

I took the seismic exam in April 2015 and passed with first try. Previously I have a PE license from another state, so this allowed me to get my CA license within a year after I moved to California.  The only seismic resources I relied on were Dr. Ibrahim’s review workbook, practice exams, and of course listening through his great review course. I chose his course based on reading previous postings at the engineerboards, and comparing it with other courses’ features (such as whether you can play back the video unlimited or not).  This is by far the best seismic course that allows a short cut to passing the exams with confidence. 

Before I signed up for the course, I had absolutely no knowledge of seismic principles and had very little background in structural engineering. Using the study strategies he distributed through the beginning of the course, and considering my specific available time --working full time weekdays and having to take care of my young child during the early evening hours and weekend time, I was able to set up a schedule that allowed me to listen through his on-demand webinar lectures at my own pace (mostly during late evening hours), review the course materials, and do adequate practice problems. I would say that so long as you follow a good study plan as provided in Dr. Ibrahim’s course, the on-demand webinar is just as effective as a live course or seminar.

During his lectures, Dr. Ibrahim provided us with all the latest codes and all the problem solving skills to pass the exam. I would say that it would be impossible for me to grasp the essential concepts without listening through his lectures first since most of the subject materials were so foreign to me previously. The review book is well organized and everything is well explained in detail, allowing me to digest the course material adequately after listening the corresponding lectures. It also provides ample practice questions for me to achieve the level of understanding needed for the exam questions. During the last stage of preparation, his computer based practice exams allowed me to find my weak points and get fully prepared for the real exam. They are really great practice exams very similar to the breadth and depth of the actual exam.

Dr. Ibrahim really cared about each of his students passing the exam. He went above and beyond to make sure his students were prepared. Even though I was mostly relying on the on-demand webinar, he emailed me several times to check up on my progress and make sure that I was studying in a timely manner, and answer my questions beyond his course time. I have never seen someone like him who is so passionate about teaching and cares about his students. 

By now the exam is over for 8 months and my memories of the course materials have started to fade shortly after learning that I have passed the exam, however, the appreciations for Dr. Ibrahim’s course and devotion of time to his students have become deeper as time goes by. Thank you Dr. Ibrahim for your great professionalism and personality, great teaching skills, profound knowledge, and for helping me meet my basic new job requirement (I was required to pass civil PE within two years at my new position)!

There is no better seismic review workbook and course than this one from Dr. Ibrahim. I highly recommend this workbook and course to people who would like to pass the seismic exam with first try!

 
Paid for EET on the Feb 1st, 2016. Got my books in the mail by Feb 3rd and started the class by Feb 6th. Receipt as attached for proof.

Everything I want to say is pretty much an echo of all the previous reviews. At first I was skeptical of all the amazing reviews by all the new posters, but he is the real deal. Another thing to consider is that you can rewatch all his lectures with no time limit, compare to Hiner's. It is very helpful if you need to go back to a specific topic. 

I can also vouch for Haritha from the "Spring 2016 CA-Survey/Seismic exam takers?", I remember seeing her name in the webinar. 



The one thing I wish could be better from EET is the book. To me, Hiner's book is better formatted with the equations and layout, but I like the contents and how the topics are organized better in the EET. It was definitely a lot easier for me to find the answers for the theory questions.

The only one I would stay away from is the Seismic from irvine institute of technology. LOVED the survey class from them, but the same students in those class absolutely hated their Seismic class and even demanded a refund.

eet.png

 
I just took the seismic exam for the second time two nights ago so I'll throw in my two cents. I'm a water/wastewater engineer and I have absolutely no structural experience except for the basics needed to pass the 8 hr exam. I'm a good exam taker but I'm structurally inept. For example, I took steel design in college and that went over my head. I tried to study seismic by myself the first time around using Hiner's book. I failed miserably.

The second time around I juggled with the idea of either taking Hiner's course or jumping on the EET bandwagon with Dr. Ibrahim. It was pretty sketchy with all of the 100% reviews on Amazon, Reddit, and here - it felt pretty scammy to be honest. Nonetheless, I decided to take a risk and go with EET. At first, Dr. Ibrahim's accent was a little tough for me, but I got used to it and everything flowed from there. I watched all of the lectures, did all of the homework problems in the book twice, did all of the workshops and took the 2 paper practice exams and 3 computer based practice exams. I felt OK, I was scoring 70%-80% on the exams when all was said and done. I went from not knowing ANYTHING to being able to confidently answer questions and understanding basic concepts. The lectures helped explain the concepts, but the real help was just going through and grinding through the homework problems and examples until everything clicked. 

I walked into the real exam not quite knowing how all of my efforts would pan out. I sat down, started going through problems, and realized that the exam was actually on par or even easier than EET's homework problems. I walked out feeling pretty confident that I passed. 

I don't like praising for for profit courses, but this guy actually cares about his students and has a pretty good pass rate. EET offers the course for free a second time if you don't pass. I looked at the names on the list from the lectures six months ago to the lectures this spring, and there was only one person out of 35 or so who was retaking the course. I'm willing to post my invoice as well if anyone cares. 

 
I turned in my EET review to Dr Ibrahim this weekend and he said that they will be redoing their book with adobe indesign. 

 
I actually told  Dr Ibrahim  last year that the book could be better if he changed the format of the book, like better layout etc. 

 
I'm adding my 2 cents review of EET Seismic course since there hasn't been one in a while. And I have a couple hundred posts as I write this and have been creeping around this site since 2015 if that helps validate my review :-D

I took the in-person course in summer of 2016 in preparation for this Fall 2016 exam cycle. The course has changed a bit from reading the previous ones. I got

- a course workbook,

- a problems book with 3 practice tests I believe (I never opened it ha!),

- online access to the CBT practice exams and,

- online access for supplemental webinars and contents (recorded live webinars in case you missed the in-person one, summary of equations, IBC/ASCE chapters, other tables etc...)

This course was not fun! Dragging myself to a course every Saturday and putting in 2 additional hours on Tuesdays or Thursdays online for 6-7 weeks add up to a lot of hours not enjoying Summer. But it was that or studying through ski season. I had to choose my poison. I now have to make new friends.

This course was fantastic! Despite the hours being grueling, I learned more from this course than when I tried to do it on my own with another review manual and videos. Dr Ahmed Ibrahim was our instructor. He really cares about getting everyone to pass this exam. Just reading through the book, as a non-seismic or structural person, would have not helped me one bit. It helps to have someone tell you what to look out for. I'm a geotechnical engineer. I have been since 3rd year of undergrad. Went to school on the East coast (no seismic focus), have a masters in geotech, and work in geotech for 10 years now. This test is not about NGA, ground motion prediction, risk analysis and all that stuff us geotechs enjoy so. My point is, I don't do above-ground stuff ever. So, looking at a table to figure out height limitation for a given structure is no big deal but knowing that a J or K superscript could change the answer is totally foreign to me. Taking this class made me realize why, the first time I took the test, they asked 3 questions in a row that were worded the same with loads of "useless extra info". I thought it was a freebie. Nope. That extra stuff meant something.

This course is not about sitting there and absorbing! If you think you'll show up or be in a live webinar and do well, you're wasting your time. But maybe you want to or just need a review. The key for me was actually doing every homework problem, every workshop, every practice exam (minus the one book I had no time to use)... That again amounted to a lot of hours. A lot of it was applying what you learn. At the end, there wasn't a problem I couldn't do because I had a good base. 

This course is about speed improvement! Gaining speed is a big part of this test and this course helps you achieve that. The summary equation sheets are key. I supplemented the hell out of mine and tabbed it. Everything I needed was in there. I think it's my best collage work since kindergarten. I added cutouts, additional pages etc.. I only tabbed a few chapters and pages in my workbook. Most of what was in the workbook that I needed, I photocopied and glued or made it an additional page in the summary sheets binder. That saved a lot of time and the equations are also a big time saver. 

I honestly have nothing bad to say about this course or the instructor. There's always room for improvement, which I have shared with them, but it was everything that I felt that I needed after taking the test once and not passing. I wasn't about to give CA Board more of my money and try this on my own again. This course was money and time well spent. I think if my job had offered to reimburse for this from the beginning, I would have taken the course the first time. 

My advice, if you can afford it, have the time and have no-to-little above-ground seismic background, then take this course. If not, I feel like it's a gamble. But everyone is different.

I give this course 5/5 stars.

 

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