All,
I'd like to supplement the post above with some personal experience -- also, I'm not on any kind of payroll, or receiving any kind of compensation for writing this review, in fact, I'd likely lose my job if I did accept anything like that. I just really believe in this class and what they're doing at AEI, and want to spread the good word.
My Background:
I've been working in the industry since 2006, currently working as an owner's rep for a large auto manufacturing company, finished my masters in 2010, and got my PE in 2010 as well. Since then, I've decided that the SE, while at the moment in Michigan isn't required, it eventually will be - its also a nice feather to have in your cap. In addition, I don't like managing and directing engineers who I am not at least as credentialed as, and we do work all over the world, and in some states we do have SE's as our structural engineer of record. So I made the choice to do it!! It was scary, as I've been 'out of the game' of design since about 2016. I considered myself a strong engineer in certain areas (structural steel, and concrete slab / supported slab work as that makes up about 90% of my scope items), all that said, I certainly was sure that I wouldn't stand a chance on this test, so I knew I had to take a review course.
I looked around online, at various big names (PPI {Kaplan}, School of PE), and I kept seeing the AEI acronym coming up, and I did a quick google search on them, and it seemed like a smallish specialized outfit, that caters to mostly west coast folks. So I did more research, read through all the major engineering forums (engtips, engineerboards...etc), and couldn't find a negative review of AEI, in fact, I would be looking up a different course, and the thread would be filled with people praising the quality of the AEI course... so I decided to roll the dice on this organization, and I could not be happier.
NOW, full disclosure here, I did take both tests in October 2019, I came close to passing one, and the other, not quite as close. I was disappointed, and yet, not really all that worried. I used the AEI course to prep for the Oct 2019 exams, and kept a study log, between both courses, and self directed study, I put in about 750 hrs., spanning over approx. 6 months. Doing the math, it was approx. 25 hours per week of study, and about 20 hours per week of class/lecture time. Yes, a second job, basically, lol. Covid19 obviously made re-taking in April not possible, so I'm gearing up again for this fall.
About the courses:
The classes are about 1100 each, (I haven't checked the latest price), so if taking one or both, either way it isn't cheap, and that was certainly a factor in my decision - however when compared to the other courses out there, AEI is right on point in terms of competitive pricing, and that is just speaking in terms of cost, not even addressing the value proposition. In terms of value, this course is by far and away under priced in my opinion. (I hope the folks running AEI don't see this and increase costs, lol). What is this value I'm referring to?
- The courses are streamed live, and available on demand, which is critical for most full time professionals, folks with families, and other obligations. I was a diligent student, and still couldn't make every class, so having the ability to stream them on demand was great!
- The course materials. Each course, Lateral and Vertical, come with a 4" or 5" ring binder, FILLED, with the courses notes, quick examples in the notes, and long form essay examples broken out into separate sections, workshops, homework's, and summary sheets. Both professors are more than happy to give suggestions on how to manage that information. The notes themselves are produced well, easy to read, numbered, and organized in a table of contents, as well as (most important in my opinion) heavily cross referenced with corresponding code provisions. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Each professor (more on them later), holds back certain materials, and / or creates additional material based on a particular classes needs. To me that conveys a sense of pride and ownership in their work, and its important for me as a consumer, having spent nearly 2200 dollars, to feel like I'm getting the latest and greatest and best information. The additional material may be supplemental home work problems that zone in on a certain topic, it could be additional handouts that function as summary sheets, or procedures to follow, or comprehensive examples. The slides presented during the course, are clearly a function of the notes, or maybe vice versa, but what is nice, is that the lecture isn't just the professor reading the notes, you'll see things and topics in the slides that show up in the binder, but are elaborated on much more -- the best part is both professors will often times remind the class to screen shot and print the slides they like, or any random sketch to explain a topic and so forth. Additional materials not included in the binder are the mini-exams, practice exams, and quizzes. The quizzes are generally random, scattered throughout the lectures, and often times are used to illustrate a point, either way, they're worth a screen shot and printing. After all was said and done, my binders grew, each around 25 to 30% in page count after printing out all the additional class materials and solutions. A quick comment on these materials -- the homework get progressively harder, the workshops are great for getting familiar with a topic, the practice tests are tuned to be similar to the actual test, and the mini-exams are a bit over tuned to help train you to be fast. The summary sheets are INVALUABLE for the test. They're consolidated sections of the most important equations, definitions, useful tables, and so forth. For timber design alone, having all of your C-factors in one spot was great! For the steel lateral, there were design guides created for certain SFRS that give step by step, code referenced, explanations on how to design structural elements within those systems. (I've seen notes and materials from other courses, so I can speak here with a bit of authority, AEI's were the most comprehensive and organized that I encountered, AND, have also talked with other folks in the AEI course, that took other courses, who commented on how much better / more comprehensive the AEI course is).
- The topics covered in the course are high percentage topics. Both professors have a vast amount of experience in SE prep, and are familiar with the style of questions asked on the test, and the typical subject matter. Its great b/c at the outset the professors both state that this is a course meant to pass the test, and everything is congruent with that philosophy. Not much time is spent in the 'weeds'. I can say from experience too, there were only a couple bridge questions, (I'm a building guy), that I didn't recognize when taking the tests, and frankly, its unreasonable to expect anyone to teach you the entire AASHTO code in a few weeks.
- Professor and classmate interaction - while only able to speak for myself, I can't express enough how valuable this interaction is. Both professors aren't just willing to stay and field questions and have discussion after or before class, but it almost seems like they're disappointed when people don't ask questions. Also, email. Oh the email. I have dozens of emails from both professors, answering my questions, many of which I had sent in at inappropriate times (11pm, midnight ... etc.). They're always happy to reply, quickly, often times with a sketch, or detailed explanation. As far as the classmates, who better to learn how to take the SE from, then the folks willing to spend their weekends during the summer grinding away on engineering topics, many people having already taking the tests 1, 2, 3, or more times -- just that experience and being able to ask about it was huge. Yes, we're all nerds, and yes we all love this stuff, and yes, if you're willing to put yourself out there and get to know people, you can get great supplements to your existing materials, and only strengthen your odds of passing.
A sub point here - each professor is clearly knowledgeable, experienced, and it shows. Dr. Ibrahim is methodical, consistent, patient, and great at explaining things. Dr. Zayati is someone that you just want to sit and learn from b/c they way he looks at problems, and sees the best or most efficient way to do something is awesome to watch in real time -- he's great at explaining the 'why' behind a code provision, (ask him about estimating Cb or why compatibility is preferable to conjugate beam in a certain situation) or helping you step back and see the big picture enabling you to use logic & inference to help get to answers. Both professors are great, and while they each have their own style, they are very similar in their approach and dedication to delivering the information clearly, and effectively -- which also provides a very nice continuity between the two courses, if you take both.
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Re-take policy, and overall commitment to YOUR success. Having not passed the test, I can speak first hand to this. If you don't pass, the professors follow up with you after the test, they offer support, encouragement, and are pro-active about signing you up again for the re-take. Its not like some obscure, overly complicated process you need to go through to re-take, they take you at your word, and when its close to the next 'semester' they enroll you and email you letting you know.
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Quality. All course materials are prepared well. Presented nicely, organized and so forth. But we're all human, and if someone did find an error in a note, or something, both professors would quickly find and verify the mistake, and within a day or two, certainly before you next class, they'd issue an errata in some cases, or perhaps spend a few minutes making sure everyone gets to see the typo and has a chance to correct their notes. I can only think of once or twice this happened, but it was refreshing to see that they were so good about disseminating that information out to everyone.
Now, maybe you're wondering, well, if you're such a fan of the class, how come you failed the test? That's a good question, to which I'd reply, I didn't fail. At the end of the day, the test is just hard. In fact, I came far closer to passing than I had thought I would, and to me, failing only is giving up. For example, I didn't have any wood or masonry real life experience, just the classes I took in grad school, and for the lateral exam, I got all the wood and masonry correct, and across the two tests averaged 75% or so on the timber and masonry taken together. Meaning, I was able to effectively learn everything I needed in those two topics just from this class. What was encouraging was between both tests, the 80 multiple choice and 8 essays, I can only think of one essay that I didn't really know how to approach, and maybe 10 total MC questions that I had to 'learn on the fly'. Which is really good! Both professors make it a point to inform everyone that the NCEES intentionally throws in curve balls, and test problems, and so you should expect to see things on the test that you really didn't know / or wasn't quite prepared for.
Some of the courses value I didn't fully realize until after the test -- because I had went out and procured many different books, references, guides, and so forth, in addition to the AEI materials. I wheeled in a hand truck that I could barely push, and what I discovered was, I spent about 90% of my 'look up time' in the AEI materials alone. Aside from the codes, I can only think of a half dozen other books / references I'm going to bring next time, meaning I'll be bringing about 50% or less of what I did last time. So, even though the class cost nearly 2200, I would have saved at least half that, if not more, had I really known ahead of time how good that class would be. Anyone reading this, please save your money, msg me, and I'll be happy to share with you what references are the best to supplement your AEI binders with. (I think there are some threads elsewhere on this forum where I do that, but feel free to ask).
My last comment on this course, like everything else in life, you get out of something what you put in. Just taking a class, be it AEI, or any other, likely won't be enough to pass. At the end of the day, all an instructor can do is explain and demonstrate, YOU have to still do the work. That said, through AEI, with Dr. Ibrahim, and Dr. Zayati you will get as close as possible to passing with just their course and their materials alone. Anyone on the fence, as far as should they take a review class, I think that is easy, yes, you should. Which class should you take? That is even easier, AEI offers a
very very high value proposition in terms of all the things I described above making AEI not only the best choice for a review course, but in my opinion, the only choice.
Good luck everyone! I'm fairly active on here, so feel free to msg me any questions you have about this course, I'd be happy to share more of my experiences.
