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.
