Online Review Course Recommendation

[thebard]

I am looking to take the PE (Power) Exam in October and am looking for online review course recommendations. I'm leaning toward doing a live online course since it would most effectively get me into a routine since I would want to be in attendance at a set time each week. But I know one drawback of this is you cannot skip through material if you know it won't be very useful to you (ex: instructor answers a question on a topic you already have mastered). So, I don't necessarily have to do live online. Also, I don't plan to fail the exam, but having a guarantee would be nice.

I've already looked at the following:

• Test Masters
  
• School of PE
  
• PPI
  
• GA Tech
  

The Test Masters and School of PE seem too condensed for the live online courses. One month just seems too short. The GA Tech course is cheaper than the others and seems like a lot of people have used it and like it, but how many hours of lectures is it? I didn't see that on the course site. The PPI live online course spans a little over two months which seems good, and comes with more materials than the others, but I'm not sure of the quality of the course itself. I took the PPI FE course and wasn't too impressed with it, but admittedly it was during the revamping of the FE exams themselves to the more discipline specific ones (still, I think it could have been much better), so I'm not sure what their typical courses are like under normal conditions.

Which review course do you like and why? What are your experiences with Live Online vs watching lectures on demand? How much value did you get out of the course you took? Any other suggestions you would have for me and what I'm looking for?

Thanks

 

[knight1fox3]

Welcome! Lots of threads already exist which should answer most of your questions. Try searching for some of them and see if you still have any questions. :thumbs:  

 

[thebard]

I have looked around quite awhile and it's pretty overwhelming trying to consolidate everything into a coherent summary of the different courses. Plus, I've seen little about PPI courses. I was hoping to have opinions all in one place to save me more time and this may bring value to others who are looking for the same information. Hopefully people aren't discouraged from posting here.

 

[trainrider]

I recommend you reach out to each review course and ask them for this information. With what I've read so far in this forum, each review course is lacking in some form or another. Also, no review course will guarantee you will pass, if they do they are lying. It's up to you to put together what you might need for this exam and the only way to do that is to read several threads in this forum. There is no quick path for this exam either, so expect to put in the hours for your preparation. Good Luck!

 

[thebard]

I recommend you reach out to each review course and ask them for this information. With what I've read so far in this forum, each review course is lacking in some form or another. Also, no review course will guarantee you will pass, if they do they are lying. It's up to you to put together what you might need for this exam and the only way to do that is to read several threads in this forum. There is no quick path for this exam either, so expect to put in the hours for your preparation. Good Luck!

I'm not sure where you got that idea but actually a pass guarantee is very common with review courses (but of course it only means you can repeat the course for free if you don't pass). Also, I cannot ask the companies for much of the information I am asking for here. They won't be able to tell me individuals overall experiences with the course. Sure PPI and Test Masters for example have testimonials and pass rates, but this obviously doesn't reflect any negative experiences or criticisms specific to that prep course.

I guess I fail to see how just asking for people's experiences with different review courses, rather than continuing to wade through a bunch of forums is something inappropriate to be doing here. I've already spent a couple of hours researching on these forums and the course websites themselves and would just like to know more about them from people who have actually used them.

 

[trainrider]

I'm not sure where you got that idea but actually a pass guarantee is very common with review courses (but of course it only means you can repeat the course for free if you don't pass). Also, I cannot ask the companies for much of the information I am asking for here. They won't be able to tell me individuals overall experiences with the course. Sure PPI and Test Masters for example have testimonials and pass rates, but this obviously doesn't reflect any negative experiences or criticisms specific to that prep course.

I guess I fail to see how just asking for people's experiences with different review courses, rather than continuing to wade through a bunch of forums is something inappropriate to be doing here. I've already spent a couple of hours researching on these forums and the course websites themselves and would just like to know more about them from people who have actually used them.

Best of luck, like knight1fox3 said, please feel free to search through the threads.

 

[knight1fox3]

I have looked around quite awhile and it's pretty overwhelming trying to consolidate everything into a coherent summary of the different courses. Plus, I've seen little about PPI courses. I was hoping to have opinions all in one place to save me more time and this may bring value to others who are looking for the same information. Hopefully people aren't discouraged from posting here.

LOL, nothing about engineering is easy. You already have the info at your disposal. 

Best of luck, like knight1fox3 said, please feel free to search through the threads.

:thumbs:

 

[matt267 PE]

nothing about engineering is easy.

Except the Power PE exam.

 

[youngmotivatedengineer]

When looking at review courses reviews, keep in mind the date of when the course was taken.  The courses are only as good as the people giving the presentations. As with most courses, some presenters will be better than others.  I used ASCE review course and there was a presenter who went slow, went over problems in details and mentioned items or problem types that are common problems or common problem types for the exam. There were other presenters who flew by the material, did not explain the calculations/formulas and by time you figured out where he pulled numbers from he was already moving to the next slide.  If you contact the course providers, ask them who are presenting the topics in the upcoming course and try to do internet research on those individual presenters. If it's new presenters, the information presented during the course could be different than the previous course. 

 

[thebard]

When looking at review courses reviews, keep in mind the date of when the course was taken.  The courses are only as good as the people giving the presentations. As with most courses, some presenters will be better than others.  I used ASCE review course and there was a presenter who went slow, went over problems in details and mentioned items or problem types that are common problems or common problem types for the exam. There were other presenters who flew by the material, did not explain the calculations/formulas and by time you figured out where he pulled numbers from he was already moving to the next slide.  If you contact the course providers, ask them who are presenting the topics in the upcoming course and try to do internet research on those individual presenters. If it's new presenters, the information presented during the course could be different than the previous course. 

This explains EXACTLY one of the reasons why I want to get peoples opinions now on courses they took, rather than only looking at older threads....

 

[thebard]

LOL, nothing about engineering is easy. You already have the info at your disposal. 

Engineering is also about coming up with innovative solutions to help others when they ask, or even just posting links to other threads about this topic, rather than just telling someone who's spent hours researching to just continue doing the same thing.

Might I propose someone putting a sticky on this forum with links to previously discussed topics about exam prep courses and materials? I think it would be helpful for lots of people if they can more easily find review course and other recommendations if it truly is inconvenient or inappropriate to ask for new and fresh opinions on review courses like I've been trying to do.

I really don't mean to be rude here, I just don't understand why there needs to be so much hesitation to what I'm asking for. Surely there is a better way...

 

[knight1fox3]

someone who's spent hours researching to just continue doing the same thing.

If you truly spent hours researching this topic, you should have all the info you need by now (though finding info can really be done in about 30 min).

Might I propose someone putting a sticky on this forum with links to previously discussed topics about exam prep courses and materials? I think it would be helpful for lots of people if they can more easily find review course and other recommendations if it truly is inconvenient or inappropriate to ask for new and fresh opinions on review courses like I've been trying to do.

That would be impractical. And most of the members who wrote the reviews you are searching for are no longer present on this forum. 

I really don't mean to be rude here, I just don't understand why there needs to be so much hesitation to what I'm asking for. Surely there is a better way...

There is no hesitation at all. The better way you speak of, instead of rambling on back and forth on this thread, is to simply use the search function provided on this forum.

 

[thebard]

If you truly spent hours researching this topic, you should have all the info you need by now (though finding info can really be done in about 30 min).

That would be impractical. And most of the members who wrote the reviews you are searching for are no longer present on this forum. 

There is no hesitation at all. The better way you speak of, instead of rambling on back and forth on this thread, is to simply use the search function provided on this forum.

I can see I'm not going to get anywhere on this topic with you...I'm done trying. While I'm sure most interactions you've had with new users has been positive, I really think you need to rethink how you approach certain new users on here who are looking for help. This is especially true being Staff on this website and thus an ambassador for it because it can reflect poorly on the site itself. Just telling someone new to this site and the entire PE prep process (and who hasn't been an active user on here for many years like yourself) who has already searched for awhile, has run into difficulty and is genuinely looking for help, to tell them with dogged insistence to just keep doing more of the same and to "simply use the search function" among other of your comments is not only unhelpful, but rather condescending.

 

[knight1fox3]

I can see I'm not going to get anywhere on this topic with you...I'm done trying. While I'm sure most interactions you've had with new users has been positive, I really think you need to rethink how you approach certain new users on here who are looking for help. This is especially true being Staff on this website and thus an ambassador for it because it can reflect poorly on the site itself. Just telling someone new to this site and the entire PE prep process (and who hasn't been an active user on here for many years like yourself) who has already searched for awhile, has run into difficulty and is genuinely looking for help, to tell them with dogged insistence to just keep doing more of the same and to "simply use the search function" among other of your comments is not only unhelpful, but rather condescending.

I can assure you that simply telling a member that they should try putting forth a bit more effort (as other countless members have done in the past) searching for information in previous threads is not going to damage an already well-established reputation that this forum has. Furthermore, what some new members fail to realize is that the "staff" on this forum provide help to others, board maintenance, and other upkeep activities in their "spare" time in addition to their full-time career(s). Sometimes information cannot be handed over on a silver platter. A little extra effort on the user's part is often required when seeking specific information. If we took the time to echo things like this every time a member simply asked for it, it would be very redundant and time-consuming. The old phrase, "work smarter, not harder" applies here. Good luck on your searching. :thumbs: