ASCE REview course? Worth it?

[############01]

HAs anyone taken this course? It's online, 2 hours each friday from Feb through the exam. They allow you to retake if you fail. It's about $700 for members.

 

[mfleming29020]

At this time, I cannot say if the ASCE Environmental Review course is better or well recommended but I did sign up for it and look forward to maximizing the course. The guarantee is attractive and the subjects covered appear to be comprehensive. The price is not bad either considering that they guarantee that you should pass. If anyone else has taken or signed up for the course, please leave a post. Perhaps we could start a little ASCE study group.

 

[Dleg]

Make sure you check back here and let everyone know what you thought of the course - it sounds interesting. I wish it had been offered back when I took the exam.

 

[############01]

so far my overall impression is "meh"

I had a colleague send me his testmasters review notes and I have found those much more helpful.

Advice to future test review course shoppers: If you are going to put $1000+ into review, plus the hours you sit in class, go ahead and spend on the higher end for a more comprehensive course. If I fail the exam, I can retake this course free, but that is irrelevant if the course doesnt cover the material in the first place.

I am mostly disgruntled due to the haz waste/emergency ops review session last week. The woman who presented wasnt an engineer at all and the whole thing was very non-technical. I wonder if ASCE's intended presenter for that session fell out at the last minute and they had to recruit someone, anyone, at the last minute.

 

[CU07]

If it makes you feel better about that session, the questions I can remember from my exam on those topics were all pretty general, either testing your knowledge of the regulations or questions about specific wastes...no calculations that I can recall. I guess radioactivity and noise were in the same general category too, and there were calculations for those.

The review course I took on solid waste was useless and I was similarly disgruntled, but I found the same for that exam - not a lot of calculations and not a whole lot on regulations, mostly word problems set up to be solid waste questions because they were related to landfills or recycling. Maybe these sessions are harder to teach for the exam? We probably just had bad instructors.

 

[############01]

Yeah, I can see how it would be a more qualitative topic. But it miffed me that they used someone who isnt a PE. It is the ASCE, afterall. It seemed a pretty reasonable assumption that ASCE instructors would actually be engineers and this person wasnt. Not that non-engineers don't have valuable info on the topic but the instructor should be someone who has actually passed the test themself, in my opinion, or AT LEAST someone who has a technical engineering education (with content in things like thermodynamics, physics, calculus, etc.)

 

[Janizzle]

I was considering signing up for the ASCE course, but based on what you say I may have to pass on that afterall. Was there anything that you found valuable from the review?

 

[akg117]

Hi,

I am debating whether or not to sign up for a PE Environmental review course. Among the School of PE and ASCE, which one is better in terms of covering all topics that are important for the exam? Are the practice problems that they provide in review course useful or very much different from what we have in EERM?

Thanks,

AK

 

[CU07]

I didn't take School of PE or ASCE so I'm not much help, but in case no one chimes in who can speak to those, I wanted to say that I watched the NC State DVD course and thought it was generally very helpful. It's not enough practice problems to be your only source but the quality of the instruction was good. The review course I referred to upthread was an in-person course at a local university, which was good in terms of getting me studying and had a few good instructors, but also had a couple duds.

 

[akg117]

Thank you CU07. I am waiting to heat from those that had done one of those review courses.

 

[Janizzle]

Hi,

I am debating whether or not to sign up for a PE Environmental review course. Among the School of PE and ASCE, which one is better in terms of covering all topics that are important for the exam? Are the practice problems that they provide in review course useful or very much different from what we have in EERM?

Thanks,

AK

I used the School of PE and I highly recommend. It definitely helped me pass! They provide a ton of practice problems and notes with example problems that are extremely helpful. Worth every penny. Let me know if you have any other questions!

You will need more than what's in the EERM, though it does cover just about everything that's on the exam. I think there is now a 3rd edition of the EERM, I'm not sure if they made any significant changes though....

 

[akg117]

Thank you Janizzle. I started preparing, but I will register for April exam only if I feel confident enough. One question is- if we look at NCEES book for PE Environmental, there are several qualitative questions. From your experience, does SOPE review gives enough information on how to handle (I mean review materials) such questions in exam? I went through those questions in NCEES book and it took sometime to figure out where to look for answers . As I searched for those questions immediately in my computer it was easy to find, but if it is exam, I should have all the relevant material in the form of a hard copy. So that scares me!

 

[Dleg]

^I can't speak for any of the review courses, but in my opinion the only way to prepare for the qualitative questions is to build yourself a comprehensive set of references that cover all the topics (excellent advice in here on what books that should include), and make reading and tabbing a daily routine for the 3 months or so before the exam. Nothing will prepare you better than knowing what is in your references, and how to find it in a hurry when you need to. That means knowing which book to look in, how that book is structured, and being able to find things quickly in it, whether through your own tabbing and highlighting, or using the index.

 

[Blue 8]

I've been going back and forth about taking the SOPE class. That's a lot of money out of pocket. But I feel like I need more practice problems.

 

[akg117]

@Blue8: I feel the same about SOPE review course!

 

[Blue 8]

Actually if you register now, you can get $300 off if you're one of the lucky first 15. I canceled my registration but am thinking about reapplying. I'm so nervous about this exam.

 

[Janizzle]

Yes, the SOPE definitely provides a lot of practice questions including those that are more qualitative in nature. I agree - the list of recommended references on this forum are key to getting those questions right. I can say that there some odd ball questions on the exam in October that I would not have been able to get right if I didn't have the right books. Try to buy them up as early as possible and as cheaply as possible - older editions are fine.

You could always see if your employer will reimburse you for the School of PE course. It's a big investment upfront but they guarantee that you'll pass. If you don't pass, then you can take the course again for free. It also provides structure for your studying. You could do the On-Demand, but I waited until the course actually started live about 6 weeks before the exam. Of course I was studying with the EERM beforehand!

 

[Blue 8]

Thanks for the insight Janizzle. My wonderful employer doesn't pay for the course but I went ahead and reregistered anyway. Figured with the pass guarantee and ability to retake if I fail, it's worth it. I've been reading, yes reading, the EERM and watching the NC State DVDs thus far. I'm a context person so before I dive into the problems I need general understanding. Then attempting the problems. Notice I said attempting. Lol

There seem to be so many good references in the same discipline so it's hard to determine which is best. Half.com has been a good resource.

Can't say thank you enough for all the information previous test takers have provided.