If you passed, what review course did you take?

[BEL]

EET?

School of PE?

Testmasters?

If you took any of the above prep/review classes for breadth and/or depth can you tell a little bit about the class you took? Online on-demand? In person classroom? Online webinar? The binder materials provided? First time or repeat test-taker? Quality of instructors?

Thanks!

 

[civilengrdude]

i took a local 500$ 10-week (1 day a week) course, but it wasn't worth the effort honestly.  practice problems were the only thing useful to me.

for the WRE exam (breadth and depth), i'd say 60% of the content was from the practice exam, the other 20% was from references and experience, and 20% was luck and if it was something you've come across with your experience

 

[JaxTeller]

I self studied and passed it on my third try. I did the WRE in California. The CERM and Lindeburg Practice Problems book cover pretty much everything on the breadth and depth.

 

[Lucas H]

SOPE

 

[engrTunis88]

I took SOPE and failed the exam twice, gonna try EET this time around....I felt that SOPE underprepared me :/

PS: Not a PE yet per my Username, just optimistic.

 

[PTY PE]

I took the EET after failing the first time around. It was absolutely very helpful and it gave me a study structure which I needed. I did the webinar for Depth and the On-Demand for Breadth since I was too late to sign up for webinar. Some of the conceptual questions in the test I could easily remember seeing them in the lectures so all it took was to open the binders and find the right answer less than 40 secs in those questions.

 

[Lucas H]

I took school of PE and passed at my first attempt this round but I understand why ppl taking this course cannot pass! It is just refreshed notes and you need to use cerm all the time to hunt for the answer in the exam day! Depth is terrible and thank god I used manuals a lot at work so I didn’t depend on the notes from SOPE! There is no way I can pass just by using the damn notes! 

I took SOPE and failed the exam twice, gonna try EET this time around....I felt that SOPE underprepared me :/

PS: Not a PE yet per my Username, just optimistic.

 

[GA-Engr]

I didn't take a course and just passed (Mechanical, Thermal and Fluids) first try.  I'm not sure if you are just getting started or what, but here are my tips.  If I was to study again, I would spend 95% of time working problems, the other 5% preparing my reference material.  These are the books I would recommend:

MERM (obviously)

NCEES Practice Exam

PPI Practice Exam

NCEES Practice Problems and Solutions  (get the old one that has all three breadth sections and work some of the HVAC problems as well).

As you work through the practice problems from the other books, tab your MERM out.  Also write notes on things to remember in your MERM.  Mine is full of equations I scribbled down that may exist somewhere else in the book, but then I didn't have to flip to another section to find them.  Also, markup your index for terms how you would search for them (also print out the index when you first start so you can mark it up, I ended up transferring my notes from book to printout near the end).  Then when you get a good idea of which chapters you are referencing the most, go through those chapters and work all sample problems.  Do all the problems from the practice material and those sections of the MERM at least twice and you should be ready to go.  I wasted about a month going through the MERM chapter by chapter (like actually reading it), was not nearly as effective as working problems.  I spent the last 6 weeks pretty much exclusively working problems.  I would imagine a similar approach for the other tests would be adequate as well, but everyone is different so who really knows.  If you think a class would help, go for it, I personally didn't think it would be worth the money.

Do NOT use 6 minute solutions from PPI, the questions are convoluted, have errors, not even close to same types of questions on the exam, what a waste of time.

My background; about 10 years out of school when I took the test, slacked off a little in college, and a lot of my work experience was not strictly engineering, so I definitely had to relearn a lot of this material.... however I have always been a really good test taker, esp. standardized tests... so take my advice with that in mind.

 

[engrTunis88]

WORD ^^

 

[DoctorWho-PE]

EET?

School of PE?

Testmasters?

If you took any of the above prep/review classes for breadth and/or depth can you tell a little bit about the class you took? Online on-demand? In person classroom? Online webinar? The binder materials provided? First time or repeat test-taker? Quality of instructors?

Thanks!

ASCE on demand.  (10) 2-hour videos covering each of the AM topics.  PDFs of the lectures, which were mostly useful.  There were 3 sets of practice problems, and on the hydrology he included several in the lecture also.  For me it helped to solidify the morning.  I also had access to the afternoon sessions, those I did not find as helpfull, at least for structures.

 

[Rwhit PE]

School of PE- Transportation (On-Demand)- 1,100$

This covered a substantial breadth class (construction, geotech, structures, water, survey, basic traffic) and an excellent depth class (in my case I chose Transportation). 

On-Demand Option Notes

I chose On-demand due to having 2 kids running around at home under the age of 4 and because I was able to start the course back at the end of April. I watched the videos at work during lunch, twice a week after work, and on the weekends (when the kids were napping). 

Course Notes: 

The course notes came in pdf format. I got them all printed at the local Staples (got really good at that). It was a bit of a pain, but it is what it is. I had binders for Construction/Strutures, Geotech/Water, Transpo depth & then a transpo depth problems binder. I used these HEAVILY in preparation for the exam and during the exam. They were an excellent, excellent resource and really served to focus my attention on the material that mattered. 

Email & Questions: 

I did have one question about calculating seasonal factors, and the instructor got back to me within the day I submitted the question. The online message boards were also helpful on the SoPE website to connect with other class mates to share info and resources.

Conclusion: 

I would not have passed without School of PE. No way. No how. I needed something to focus my studies and the videos combined with the practice problems really organized my study schedule. I got into a nice groove with things in April and finished the coarse in August so I was able to spend the final 2 months just running practice problems. The cost is high, but that covers both breadth and depth. And again, I found both to be invaluable in my studies. Also helps that my firm reimburses me on passing for the course. 

 

[smrob]

I'm Civil-WRE

I took SOPE On-Demand the first time and failed.  The second time, I took the EET WRE Depth On-Demand course (thanks to EB recommendations).  Doing a live webinar, if your work/family situation allows, would probably help keep studying on a better schedule.  I chose the On-Demand because baby twins .

SOPE was okay for the breadth, but the WRE depth review wasn't sufficient, IMO.  The first time I took it, there were items in the test spec that weren't even covered by SOPE.  EET's material is based on the test specs.

Comparing the two, the EET WRE depth review is much more comprehensive (I can't speak for their breadth review).  The EET binder is much better organized - which helps save time on the test.  I barely used the CERM for the WRE questions (maybe not even at all).  Many of the concept questions were actually covered in the review, so for many it was just a matter of double checking myself to make sure I'd chosen the right answer.  The instructor for EET's WRE, Nazrul, is probably the best instructor I've ever had.   I can honestly say that I am already a better WRE engineer because of EET's course.

For the money (the costs are about the same), EET is a much better investment.  The binder(s) alone is worth the money.  You have to put in the work, though.  EET provided a ton of excellent (quantity and quality) practice problems.  You have to do them ALL and make sure you grasp the concepts.  

 

[HSPE]

Took Civil/Structural for the first time and (probably barely) passed with a score of 70 according to TXBPE.

Lots of reviewing of CERM. Worked through the official practice test. Did some problems from third party publishers. By my estimate I spent about a 100 hours studying over a course of about 8 months.

No review courses. 

If I had to do it over again, I should have studied the codes more. Spent a lot of precious time looking for things and I wasn't sure where to look.

I think what differentiates me is that I have a masters in civil engineering and I'm still somewhat fresh out of school; 4.5 years.

 

[neelspeaks2u]

I took School of PE, Passed Civil- Construction 1st Attempt !

 

[blee26]

Testmasters (here in the Bay Area it's through Excel Test Prep), PM Transportation, 1st timer. 

 

[Rwhit PE]

SOPE was okay for the breadth, but the WRE depth review wasn't sufficient, IMO.

I've heard this quite a bit on this board that the WRE depth is lacking. Thats disappointing to hear especially since I found the Transportation Depth really good.

 

[dannybananie]

I used School of PE. I took the WRE depth and passed on the first try. I thought the water resources review from SOPE was sufficient but thought the structural and wastewater topics were lacking. The practice problems from SOPE were helpful to the actual exam along with the NCEES practice exam book. 

 

[JesColorado]

Environmental Exam - I took School of PE. For the majority of the test I only referenced my notes/slides/practice problems from the course. SOPE did not touch on every single topic tested so I did have to use some of my other books (Cooper and Alley, Metcalf and Eddy, etc.) to answer a handful of questions. Ultimately though, I felt that I relied very heavily on my SOPE notes/slides/practice problems throughout the exam. I did a ton of self studying on the side, too. The SOPE was helpful in regards to refreshing my memory on topics I had forgotten since college and providing me with references during the exam, but if I hadn't studied additionally on my own I do not think I would have passed. I also recommend doing the problems in the Environmental Reference Manual. Yes they are harder and longer than the NCEES problems, but I think they reinforce concepts. 

 

[youngmotivatedengineer]

I took EET Construction Depth webinar class and found it extremely helpful. Their binder is put together very well and Samir knows his stuff. In addition to what you get in the binder, he uploads additjonal documents to their website with additiinal slides or additional resources. Samir responds quickly to emails. Choosing webinar vs. On demand will depend on your schedule.  Their breadth was about 8 hours long each Saturday.  For my construction depth, it was 3.5 hours ( usually ran over the original 3hrs scheduled due to amount of material to cover) and started 5pm PT. This meant 8pm for me in NJ which wasn't too bad since it gave me time to eat and get my kids mostly ready for bed before class started. If you take the webinar you do get access to the recordings to go back to past topics or make up a session if you miss 1. 

 

[DeJo81]

I took School of PE and passed the Mechanical Machine Design and Materials PE Exam first try.  I signed up for the live classes w/ the on-demand option, thinking I would be revisiting the lectures several times.  However, in the classes, you are only able to type questions to the instructor using a chat window - this proved difficult w/ multiple people asking questions (sometimes the lecture was derailed because of this...).  Looking back on it, I did not ask too many questions, so could have saved money only ordering the on-demand classes.

The course was good in three ways: 1) it forced me to study a minimum of 15 hours/week for 5 weeks.  2) it covered material that I hadn't been exposed to in years. 3) provided decent handouts w/ practice problems and equations that I used as reference material in the PE exam.

Materials used exam day (all books were tabbed and highlighted from solving practice problems):

• Notes/worked problems from SOPE
  
• MERM
  
• NCEES FE Reference Handbook
  
• Machinery's Handbook
  
• NCEES Practice Exam
  
• Mechanics of Materials Book (Hibbeler)
  
• Schaum's Outline - Machine Design