Power Review Course Options

jbro02 · Jul 1, 2010

Hello -

I've been trolling through the boards for a while but this is my first time posting lol.

I just took the PE -Power Exam in April 2010 and unfortunately I will be taking it again (missed it barely) in OCT 2010 :smileyballs:

I'm on the fence in regards to taking a review course for this thing to help polish up and refine a few of those areas that I'm a little weak in.

I live in the DFW area of Texas. Test Masters offers a review course which is only offered in Houston, TX and is about a 4 hour drive....blah. Not only that, it's very expensive at around $1700 plus the hotel charges.

I actually took the Test Masters course for the FE exam about 3 years ago after my first unsuccessful attempt on the FE flying solo. Ultimately, there course helped me tremendously as I passed the second time no problem.

I've seen some other online courses offered for the PE - Power Exam such as GA Tech's Review Course. It's around $875 for the course and it's pre-recorded lectures and review sessions. They provide you with the class notes and a copy of NCEES Sample Exam Questions as part of the course fee. The good thing about this particular course is that is self-paced and you can watch the sessions over-and-over again as needed.

GA Tech's Review Course

I'm curious if anyone has any experience with this particular course or any others...good or bad experiences as I'm just looking for feedback at this point.

I used these books for studying on the first round:

EERM manual

NCEES Sample Questions

Camara - EE Practice Problems

Camara - EE Quick Ref. Guide

2007 NESC

2002 NEC

Ugly's EE Ref. Guide

I just got the updated 2008 NEC edition.

I'm thinking about picking up Schaum's book and Wildi's book as additional references.

Thanks in advance for everyone's opinions / suggestions.

-J

KEG · Jul 1, 2010

I liked the GA Tech review. I was down to my fourth and final try. The course material was easy to follow and I liked being able to view it on my own time. I did try to stick to a weekly schedule ( you don't want to try and view all the modules in one day or weekend). I think the course, many hours of working problems, and knowing the NEC very well helped me to finally pass. Good luck.

Gans · Jul 1, 2010

jbro02 said:
Hello -
I've been trolling through the boards for a while but this is my first time posting lol.

I just took the PE -Power Exam in April 2010 and unfortunately I will be taking it again (missed it barely) in OCT 2010 :smileyballs:

I'm on the fence in regards to taking a review course for this thing to help polish up and refine a few of those areas that I'm a little weak in.

I live in the DFW area of Texas. Test Masters offers a review course which is only offered in Houston, TX and is about a 4 hour drive....blah. Not only that, it's very expensive at around $1700 plus the hotel charges.

I actually took the Test Masters course for the FE exam about 3 years ago after my first unsuccessful attempt on the FE flying solo. Ultimately, there course helped me tremendously as I passed the second time no problem.

I've seen some other online courses offered for the PE - Power Exam such as GA Tech's Review Course. It's around $875 for the course and it's pre-recorded lectures and review sessions. They provide you with the class notes and a copy of NCEES Sample Exam Questions as part of the course fee. The good thing about this particular course is that is self-paced and you can watch the sessions over-and-over again as needed.

GA Tech's Review Course

I'm curious if anyone has any experience with this particular course or any others...good or bad experiences as I'm just looking for feedback at this point.

I used these books for studying on the first round:

EERM manual

NCEES Sample Questions

Camara - EE Practice Problems

Camara - EE Quick Ref. Guide

2007 NESC

2002 NEC

Ugly's EE Ref. Guide

I just got the updated 2008 NEC edition.

I'm thinking about picking up Schaum's book and Wildi's book as additional references.

Thanks in advance for everyone's opinions / suggestions.

-J

Also consider taking some electrician's practice exam's. Do a search for nec practice exams and you'll find dozens of free practice exams. This will help you get used to flipping through the NEC to find answers to questions, and may give you the ability to answer a few questions without looking them up.

jbro02 · Jul 1, 2010

KEG said:
I liked the GA Tech review. I was down to my fourth and final try. The course material was easy to follow and I liked being able to view it on my own time. I did try to stick to a weekly schedule ( you don't want to try and view all the modules in one day or weekend). I think the course, many hours of working problems, and knowing the NEC very well helped me to finally pass. Good luck.

Good to hear. Thanks for the reply - I appreciate it!

-J

Gans said:
Also consider taking some electrician's practice exam's. Do a search for nec practice exams and you'll find dozens of free practice exams. This will help you get used to flipping through the NEC to find answers to questions, and may give you the ability to answer a few questions without looking them up.

That's a good idea...never got around to doing that the first time. After working through the given problems in the NCEES Sample questions - I thought I had them down cold. But the questions on the April exam proved to be slightly more challenging in some respects. Just knowing the Code and how to find the information is the biggest part of it I believe.

Thanks again for the advice!

-J

megavar · Jul 2, 2010

I'm taking the Irvine Institute's course online starting in August (for Oct 2010 power exam). Cost +-$700 incl books (Chelapati) The course content seem to follow the NCEES exam format fairly closely. I passed the FE last year (22yrs out of school in South Africa) after taking the Villanova online FE course last year. The math, economics, electrical, chemistry were good but the non-electrical lectures were a bit un-organized.

will keep you posted - good luck with your studies!

:band:

jbro02 · Jul 2, 2010

megavar said:
I'm taking the Irvine Institute's course online starting in August (for Oct 2010 power exam). Cost +-$700 incl books (Chelapati) The course content seem to follow the NCEES exam format fairly closely. I passed the FE last year (22yrs out of school in South Africa) after taking the Villanova online FE course last year. The math, economics, electrical, chemistry were good but the non-electrical lectures were a bit un-organized.will keep you posted - good luck with your studies!

:band:

Ok - yeah I saw their online program too. I'm in the process of emailing Ga Tech's program to ask some more specific questions about the lectures and how they're set up. That was one of my biggest concerns, was enrolling in a class / course that didn't really follow the NCEES path. I want to make sure that it focuses on the specifics of the actual PE - Power Exam and not just a basic refresher on college level power classes.

Thanks for your input.

-J

KEG · Jul 2, 2010

jbro02 said:
megavar said:

I'm taking the Irvine Institute's course online starting in August (for Oct 2010 power exam). Cost +-$700 incl books (Chelapati) The course content seem to follow the NCEES exam format fairly closely. I passed the FE last year (22yrs out of school in South Africa) after taking the Villanova online FE course last year. The math, economics, electrical, chemistry were good but the non-electrical lectures were a bit un-organized.will keep you posted - good luck with your studies!

:band:

Click to expand...

Ok - yeah I saw their online program too. I'm in the process of emailing Ga Tech's program to ask some more specific questions about the lectures and how they're set up. That was one of my biggest concerns, was enrolling in a class / course that didn't really follow the NCEES path. I want to make sure that it focuses on the specifics of the actual PE - Power Exam and not just a basic refresher on college level power classes.

Thanks for your input.

-J

Its not a review of college level power. Dr. Callen will tell you that his goal and the goal for the course is for you to pass the PE exam. He even spent time going through the NCEES sample questions during one of the sessions. And once you've paid for the course, you can take it as many times as you wish. My old company actually paid for the course in 2003 when I first applied for the exam. Unfortunatley, the state board did not accept some of my experience so I didn't get to take the exam then even though I had already completed the review course. Regardless, I only had to pay a small admin fee when I took the course online in 2009.

jbro02 · Jul 2, 2010

KEG said:
Its not a review of college level power. Dr. Callen will tell you that his goal and the goal for the course is for you to pass the PE exam. He even spent time going through the NCEES sample questions during one of the sessions. And once you've paid for the course, you can take it as many times as you wish. My old company actually paid for the course in 2003 when I first applied for the exam. Unfortunatley, the state board did not accept some of my experience so I didn't get to take the exam then even though I had already completed the review course. Regardless, I only had to pay a small admin fee when I took the course online in 2009.

Good stuff - we'll this thing keeps sounding better and better.

The price is good

It's self-paced

You can watch over-n-over

Online = No travel

Thanks

-J

Tammy-IIT · Jul 9, 2010

jbro02 said:
megavar said:

I'm taking the Irvine Institute's course online starting in August (for Oct 2010 power exam). Cost +-$700 incl books (Chelapati) The course content seem to follow the NCEES exam format fairly closely. I passed the FE last year (22yrs out of school in South Africa) after taking the Villanova online FE course last year. The math, economics, electrical, chemistry were good but the non-electrical lectures were a bit un-organized.will keep you posted - good luck with your studies!

:band:

Click to expand...

Ok - yeah I saw their online program too. I'm in the process of emailing Ga Tech's program to ask some more specific questions about the lectures and how they're set up. That was one of my biggest concerns, was enrolling in a class / course that didn't really follow the NCEES path. I want to make sure that it focuses on the specifics of the actual PE - Power Exam and not just a basic refresher on college level power classes.

Thanks for your input.

-J

Hello there,

If you are trying to take an exam, please review our information online at www.irvineinsitute.org. We have been helping students since 1973. We provide student with gauranteed pass, so what have you got to loose? Many schools lower the price but fail to teach student what they need to know for the exam. We have live seminars and archive through out the country. If you missed anything in class, you can go back to review again and again. The workbooks gave you sample close to the exam. The classes are starting soon. Good luck to you.

Tammy

cdcengineer · Jul 9, 2010

Tammy - why are you spamming so hard for the Irvine review course?

25 posts in a day all regarding the course - shame!

knight1fox3 · Jul 19, 2010

jbro02 said:
Good stuff - we'll this thing keeps sounding better and better.
The price is good

It's self-paced

You can watch over-n-over

Online = No travel

Thanks

-J

jbro02, thanks for the information. I also will be taking the power PE exam in Oct. 2010 (2nd time as well =( ). I am curious to know if you went ahead with the GA Tech Review course or found out anymore new information. I was actually thinking about taking some sort of review course this time around to reinforce certain concepts through practice problems. Evidently the NCEES and Kaplan practice problems weren't enough of a review for me. Anyway, let me know on the GA Tech review course. Thanks! =)

jbro02 · Jul 31, 2010

knight1fox3 said:
jbro02, thanks for the information. I also will be taking the power PE exam in Oct. 2010 (2nd time as well =( ). I am curious to know if you went ahead with the GA Tech Review course or found out anymore new information. I was actually thinking about taking some sort of review course this time around to reinforce certain concepts through practice problems. Evidently the NCEES and Kaplan practice problems weren't enough of a review for me. Anyway, let me know on the GA Tech review course. Thanks! =)

I haven't decided yet on the course...I think it starts up in mid August (a few weeks away).

I actually got a copy of the PE Power notes from Test Masters from a friend that took the course back in 2008. The only catch is that the notes were based on the old format of the test - back when there was not 3 separate modules (Power, Electronics, and Computers) as it is setup now.

After looking over the notes and sifting through the information that was relevant - there is still a substantial amount of good info on Power related topics...equations, formulas, problems /solutions, etc...

I think for right now, I am going to take a few weeks to study these notes and try to get a good feel for what's in there and then make my decision on whether or not I need to spend the money on the GA Tech Review Course.

I took the time and effort of scanning all the notes into their individual subjects as pdf files (I think it's over a 1000 pages total). I did this at work haha - but it still took forever even our fancy copy machine lol. I also made myself a copy of all the original notes b/c I had to return the Test Masters book back to my friend.

Stay tuned...

-J

bambooi · Aug 2, 2010

JBRO:

How much did you study the first time around? I'm considering taking this GA tech class as well. I also sent you a private message.

jbro02 · Aug 5, 2010

bambooi said:
JBRO:
How much did you study the first time around? I'm considering taking this GA tech class as well. I also sent you a private message.

I studied for about 3 months.

2 -3 hrs each night and then 6 hrs or so on Sat. / Sun

I felt that it was enough - bu then again, the more time you have to devote to working problems, the better off you will be from my past experiences.

-J

knight1fox3 · Aug 8, 2010

jbro02 said:
bambooi said:

JBRO:
How much did you study the first time around? I'm considering taking this GA tech class as well. I also sent you a private message.

Click to expand...

I studied for about 3 months.

2 -3 hrs each night and then 6 hrs or so on Sat. / Sun

I felt that it was enough - bu then again, the more time you have to devote to working problems, the better off you will be from my past experiences.

-J

I studied about 1.5 hrs each night after work and around 2-4 hrs each weekend for 2.5 months. Perhaps this wasn't enough. I did all the review problems in the NCEES power book and all problems in the Kaplan review. Maybe just these alone also weren't enough. I even did a mock exam and redid all the NCEES problems 3 days before the exam. So I am looking for ways to improve and am seriously considering taking the online review course. I may also purchase a copy of the chelapati book. Any other thoughts on this?

jbro02 · Aug 9, 2010

knight1fox3 said:
jbro02 said:

bambooi said:

JBRO:
How much did you study the first time around? I'm considering taking this GA tech class as well. I also sent you a private message.

Click to expand...

I studied for about 3 months.

2 -3 hrs each night and then 6 hrs or so on Sat. / Sun

I felt that it was enough - bu then again, the more time you have to devote to working problems, the better off you will be from my past experiences.

-J

Click to expand...

I studied about 1.5 hrs each night after work and around 2-4 hrs each weekend for 2.5 months. Perhaps this wasn't enough. I did all the review problems in the NCEES power book and all problems in the Kaplan review. Maybe just these alone also weren't enough. I even did a mock exam and redid all the NCEES problems 3 days before the exam. So I am looking for ways to improve and am seriously considering taking the online review course. I may also purchase a copy of the chelapati book. Any other thoughts on this?

Work the problems over and over until you can begin to recognize other similar questions and be able to solve them without searching through your notes. That is going to be an important focus for me on this next round.

Another factor is just the basic knowledge of Power Systems in general - the kind of knowledge that doesn't come from a book, but rather it is derived from experience. You either have it or you don't...this is the unfortunate truth.

I would bet that the majority of engineers with say 10 or more years experience probably have higher first time pass rates than those with less experience. Just my 2 cents

-J

HopefulFirstTimer · Aug 17, 2010

I'm enrolled in the Georgia Tech course and it opened today. So I go to login to get started and they are having networking problems that is preventing me from being able to log in...ahhh!

Dr. Callen is the person that persuaded me into taking the course. I also looked at other options but he seemed confident that taking his course and reviewing the practice problems that come with the course would best prepare me to pass the exam.

I have read through the 7th Edition EERM (ppi) for the first time and was wanting to get started with the Georgia Tech class tonight but seems to be delayed a night.

I've studied ~24 hours since the first of the month with plans to begin ramping up a bit over the next 10 weeks or so. Do you think that is enough? I've read that doing problem after problem is the only way of truly preparing for the exam.

I'd like to get it done the first time, but am not getting my hopes up.

thewalt33 · Aug 18, 2010

I'm enrolled in the GT class as well. I watched the intro last night and am anxious to get going with the rest. I'm a little bummed that they haven't sent out the notes yet. It would be nice to follow along with the notes.

Seems promising though.

jbro02 · Aug 18, 2010

HopefulFirstTimer said:
I'm enrolled in the Georgia Tech course and it opened today. So I go to login to get started and they are having networking problems that is preventing me from being able to log in...ahhh!
Dr. Callen is the person that persuaded me into taking the course. I also looked at other options but he seemed confident that taking his course and reviewing the practice problems that come with the course would best prepare me to pass the exam.

I have read through the 7th Edition EERM (ppi) for the first time and was wanting to get started with the Georgia Tech class tonight but seems to be delayed a night.

I've studied ~24 hours since the first of the month with plans to begin ramping up a bit over the next 10 weeks or so. Do you think that is enough? I've read that doing problem after problem is the only way of truly preparing for the exam.

I'd like to get it done the first time, but am not getting my hopes up.

You're on the right track...from my experiences in the past, whenever you think you've studied enough - do it some more. Utilizing all the extra studying time between now and the day before the exam is ESSENTIAL>

Think positive - you will pass it.

I'm signing up for the GA course today too - it's good to hear several other people are as well.

-J

HopefulFirstTimer · Aug 19, 2010

I've watched the first 4 parts of Module 1 (GT), but am still waiting on the notes also. So far so good.

Dr. Callen seems to be very up to date on the material and is dedicated to this course and being available for students if questions arise.

Power Review Course Options

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