CA Seismic Practice Exams - Difficulty

[Stardust]

Howdy, for those that have taken any of the following practice exams as well as the CA Seismic exam, I have a question on the level of difficulty.

Please respond with a number: 1 to 5 where 1 = way easier, 2 = somewhat easier, 3 = close to reality, 4 = somewhat harder, and 5 = way harder.

• PPI - California Civil Seismic Principles Practice Exams, https://ppi2pass.com/seismic-principles-practice-exams-sixth-edition-sppe6.html
  
• Mansour - Seismic Practice Exams and Solutions for Civil PE License, https://www.amazon.com/Seismic-Practice-Exams-Solutions-License/dp/1940409780/ref=dp_ob_title_bk
  
• EET - Practice Exams for the California Seismic Principles Civil P.E. Examination, http://www.eetusa.com/books/seismic-textbook
  
• PE Prepared - Civil PE Practice Exam: California Civil Seismic Principles, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1722837268/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i5
  

Also, feel free to recommend other practice exams that I could consider buying

Thank you!!!!

 

[Baby Hamster]

The Hiner workbook (comes with practice exams) is all you really need. EET is great as well of course. You only need one of those (either Hiner or EET).

 

[Stardust]

My version of Hiner workbook does not have his practice exams and I don't believe those are sold separately, so I'm looking to other resources..

 

[ThePEmaster]

@Stardust I have not passed....waited for results 2nd attempt but EET is definitely worth every penny

 

[Stardust]

Thank you, passing wasn't a requirement to respond haha. I have EET practice problems, but didn't take their course.

Best of luck!

 

[ThePEmaster]

Thank you, passing wasn't a requirement to respond haha. I have EET practice problems, but didn't take their course.

Best of luck!

haha well your set then just do those problems eventually you will pass then

 

[krisEng]

Howdy, for those that have taken any of the following practice exams as well as the CA Seismic exam, I have a question on the level of difficulty.

Please respond with a number: 1 to 5 where 1 = way easier, 2 = somewhat easier, 3 = close to reality, 4 = somewhat harder, and 5 = way harder.

• PPI - California Civil Seismic Principles Practice Exams, https://ppi2pass.com/seismic-principles-practice-exams-sixth-edition-sppe6.html
  
• Mansour - Seismic Practice Exams and Solutions for Civil PE License, https://www.amazon.com/Seismic-Practice-Exams-Solutions-License/dp/1940409780/ref=dp_ob_title_bk
  
• EET - Practice Exams for the California Seismic Principles Civil P.E. Examination, http://www.eetusa.com/books/seismic-textbook
  
• PE Prepared - Civil PE Practice Exam: California Civil Seismic Principles, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1722837268/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i5
  

Also, feel free to recommend other practice exams that I could consider buying

Thank you!!!!

I just took the seismic exam and I think I have a good chance at passing it!

The "Fundamentals of Seismic Analysis and Design of Buildings" and "Practice Exams for the California Seismic Principles Civil PE Examination" were extremely helpful. I was surprised to see examples/drawings in the "Fundamentals of Seismic Analysis and Design of Buildings" book that looked almost identical to the real exam. The "Fundamentals of Seismic Analysis and Design of Buildings" book is pretty thick and super organized. At least 90% of the exam questions can be found in this book. Based on your ratings, I would give those two books a 3 (close to reality). 

I only used the books in addition to the helpful cheat sheets that came with the EET course. I didn't have to buy the California Building Code, ASCE 7-10, etc. If you can, I would recommend taking the EET seismic course. 

 

[vip-eng]

I would recommend you buy  “Civil PE Practice Exam: California Civil Seismic Principles “ from Amazon it’s one practice exam but was really helpful and mimics the actual exam pretty good, I had 2 look-up questions in the real exam that were in the book. 

 

[Stardust]

Thanks guy, will definitely make sure I have my hands on the EET and PE Prepared practice exams 

 

[aeriekah]

• PPI - California Civil Seismic Principles Practice Exams - Unknown
  
• Mansour - Seismic Practice Exams and Solutions for Civil PE License - Unknown (I did however work on his 300 Seismic Problem book)
  
• EET - Practice Exams for the California Seismic Principles Civil P.E. Examination - 3
  
• PE Prepared - Civil PE Practice Exam: California Civil Seismic Principles - 3
  

 

[Stardust]

Thanks aeriekah, good to know EET and PE Prepared practice exams are representative of the real thing.. I will make sure to work thru those in details a couple times!

 

[Edwardo Rodrigez]

I took my seismic class with Ahmed Ibrahim and the class was very well organized. However, the exam was super difficult and unusual. It was heavily focused on structure. However, it was very similar to what Ahmed thought in his class and even though it was hard, i still passed the first time. I am very happy with investing time and money in the right place and i recommend him.

I believe he is the only person out there who offers the seismic course with new code implemented for January 2020. Best of luck to you all. 

 

[Cecilia Dominguez]

The Hiner workbook (comes with practice exams) is all you really need. EET is great as well of course. You only need one of those (either Hiner or EET/AEI).

So I took the Hiner course with the book and practice exams, and thought the real exam was SIGNIFICANTLY harder. I felt very confident going into the exam, but when I got to the problems, I could not get the correct answer for the life of me. I just spoke to a coworker who had the same feeling as me. (Did anyone else have this impression)? 
Either way, I did not pass the first  time, so I will look into getting the EET/AEI practice exams. I do have the 4th edition of the Fundamentals  (EET) book and thought it was pretty disorganized. Are the webinars better? Maybe that would be worth it instead...

 

[C. Ryan]

So I took the Hiner course with the book and practice exams, and thought the real exam was SIGNIFICANTLY harder. I felt very confident going into the exam, but when I got to the problems, I could not get the correct answer for the life of me. I just spoke to a coworker who had the same feeling as me. (Did anyone else have this impression)? 
Either way, I did not pass the first  time, so I will look into getting the EET/AEI practice exams. I do have the 4th edition of the Fundamentals  (EET) book and thought it was pretty disorganized. Are the webinars better? Maybe that would be worth it instead...

i used Hiner's course, all videos, tests, etc, and passed.  that being said, the real test was a lot harder then the practice tests.  Hiner's practice problems were key for me, but there were several problems on the test that i just couldnt work out at all (educated guess time)