Review Course Pass/Fail

[ksml114]

EET, civil structural - pass

I took school of PE last spring, and did not pass. Breadth class was good. Depth, no. 

Did you do both depth and breadth for EET? Both worth it?

 

[JGipe1]

EET

Civil - Transportation

Pass. Would highly recommend.

 

[Owism]

Hello everyone,

First and foremost I'd like to thank everyone for the rollercoaster ride while waiting for the exam results. 

Please list what reference books you used during the exam.  I heard "least is best" so I limited myself to a few instead of flipping through too many books:

1. Power Reference Manual - Camara
   
2. NEC 2014
   
3. Spin UP practice exams - practiced 2 of these exams... passed both with 75%.
   
4. NEC Practice exam
   
5. School of PE notes and Solutions
   
6. Graffeo book - I referenced this one the most in the exam but never beforehand
   

I know there are multiple threads everywhere on this but I figure someone has already seen that, so I'll just ask you to list the link here.

Thanks for your assistance.

MY background : Im not a practicing power engineer, but I do have an electrical engineering education (small circuits). This was the first time I was exposed to Transmission, Generators, and majority of the items on the exam. I took the School PE course and it taught me alot. I figure I need to practice more how "per units" work and get the NESC book.  Any advice of yours is appreciated. My diagnostic is attached but I have no idea what to make of it. The topics are so generalized I dont know which problems to practice for each to get better. Any thoughts are welcome

Thanks

 

[scottyknu]

EET

Civil : WRE

Pass, first attempt

 

[WA_Civil_PE]

1st attempt I used ASCE morning breadth review for Civil. Self-study for afternoon.  Failed April 2016 with 50/80.

2nd attempt I reused the ASCE morning breadth review material and used the On-Demaind Structural Depth from EET.  Passed October 2016.  Highly recommend the EET courses.  The course helped guide me through what was necessary to know with all of the code references on the exam.  I probably used the binder they provide for 85-90% of the afternoon problems.  The rest were code look ups.

 

[beekeeper07]

I am posting on the boards for the first time ...

I took Civil-Transportation, and passed. This is the 2nd time I've taken the test, but I last took the test in April 2010, and hadn't attempted again until this year. I really felt I needed a review course for the breadth portion of the exam because I had been out of school too long (graduated from college in 2005).

I used the PPI Live Online Course that came with a guarantee (as long as I met all the requirements to get the guarantee, including purchasing all their recommended materials, doing 80% of the homework, attending 80% of the courses-live or watching recordings later, and completing a breadth practice test). The breadth coverage in the course was good, but the depth coverage was iffy for transportation. Transportation was the very last subject to be covered in lecture and in the homework, and this was about 2.5 weeks before the test. So I did a lot of review work for my depth subject on my own while studying the breadth topics simultaneously. There were some technical issues with the lectures, but I had trouble distinguishing when that was related to my own hardware and internet connection, and when it was related to the course itself. I completed every homework assignment, attended every lecture and office hours session (all OH were optional), and completed the breadth practice exam. I also completed a depth practice exam on my own, but since it wasn't required for the class guarantee, I never scanned that one to submit. All in all, the course seemed expensive (I think it was one of the highest priced online courses available) but I really wanted the guarantee in case I needed to retake the course. The expense was worth it, because I held myself much more accountable. I definitely don't regret taking the course, but I understand that a lot of self-disciplined engineers don't need a course.

 

[aagerr452]

School of PE 

Civil - Construction

passed.

 

[gloriguti]

ASCE

Environmental

Didn't pass, class was not good

 

[Lucas]

CE- Construction-Passed

Studied mostly using the CERM and Civil Engineering Academy.  CEA has an awesome YouTube channel for free where they walk you through problems, it was extremely helpful since I've been out of school for about eight years.  Unfortunately I can't say that the practice test I bought from them was very good, riddled with typos and miscalculations.  But I didn't mind paying for it, after I used their free YouTube channel for hours of instruction I kinda felt like they earned the money even if the test wasn't great.

 

[Sarturo]

School of PE, Ondemand Option

Mechanical - Mechanical Systems & Materials

1st Time Pass!!

My only complaint was a lot of the practice problems for the machine design questions where from the 2011 NCEES practice exam. 

 

[User1]

Civil-Structural PASS!!

Self "study"

Second try.

I'm not really sure how I did it. I took some practice exams but I think what helped me the most was hierarchy in test taking. go through and answer questions that require no thought or calculation, then go back through for problems with short easy calcs, then keep progressing that way. 

Congrats to all who passed, and best of luck who those who are yet to pass. Don't give up, you can do it!!!!

 

[joy21]

Did you do both depth and breadth for EET? Both worth it?

For this round exam, I took EET Depth (structural) only.  For breadth, I studied with School of PE material from last (April) class.

EET structural depth class was totally worth it.  I mainly studied their lecture notes and practice problems, almost exclusively. EET lectures cover pretty much everything in exam specs.  I have to say I am practicing structural engineer and I am "familiar" with codes, etc, already.  I just did not have enough time to refresh, organize, and practice to prepare for the exam, and EET did this part for me.

On the other hand, School of PE Structural Depth class "outlines" what to study, and covers very limited part in actual lectures/materials.  While their lecture is not bad at all, it is simply not enough to prepare for the exam. (And the reason to take Exam Prep classes is to prepare for the exam, right?) You have to find your own way to cover rest of it. (And I did not have time to do that in April.)

Speaking of Breadth classes, my guess is any known classes are OK, including School of PE that I took, and maybe EET, too.

One last remark for future exam takers.

I really, really, really, do NOT like CERM. Yes, it is a "must" have book, I don't dispute, and you may want this book with you in the exam room.  As a matter of fact, I looked up this book for a few questions in the morning session, and probably, I got those questions right thanks to this book.  But study with it? I tried, tried, and tried, and finally gave up. Class materials are a WAY better way to prepare for the exam (at least for me).

Many people in this board mentioned that they studied only CERM for breadth and passed. Definitely it worked for them. Not for me.  Please take this as just one man's opinion.

 

[FenderSteve]

Dr. Tom's Classroom

Mechanical Discipline - Thermal Fluid Systems

Passed, I would recommend this course for anyone taking thermal fluids. It would probably help to a degree for those taking HVAC, although he does not focus on it.

He also offers Mechanical: Machine Design and Civil but I can give no feedback on those.

 

[CPEE]

Testmasters - Failed.  1st Attempt.

Electrical - Power

 

[allgood]

Civil-Structural PASS!!

Self "study"

Second try.

I'm not really sure how I did it. I took some practice exams but I think what helped me the most was hierarchy in test taking. go through and answer questions that require no thought or calculation, then go back through for problems with short easy calcs, then keep progressing that way. 

Congrats to all who passed, and best of luck who those who are yet to pass. Don't give up, you can do it!!!!

Yaaaay!!! Time for a bonus and/or raise. I'm hoping for both. Maybe a company car too?

 

[groov3lite]

Civil - Transportation

I attended Testmasters in Dallas, TX. Certainly there were some things to complain about, but in the end, the course was the key to passing for me. I have horrible study habits, a wife, a 2 year old daughter, a dog, a full time job, a house to maintain, etc etc. I took the course because I knew it was the only way I'd really force myself to study. The course suggested an outside-the-classroom to classroom hours study ratio of 2:1. I may have studied 8 hours in total outside of the class, and even that's a stretch.

I took the NCEES practice exam the weekend before the actual exam and crushed it. I completed it in 5 hours, did not rework/check any solutions, and scored a 92. Every recent PE I spoke with told me the practice exams were much more difficult than the actual exam. I was in the clouds the week leading to the exam thinking it would be a piece of cake.

I took all required manuals, except for the HCM, on advice from coworkers, or anything relating to pavement design.

While I completed both the AM and PM sections with an hour to spare, I left the exam thinking if I passed, it would be by a very slim margin. I felt sick to my stomach and knew I was going to have to tell everyone I failed. I absolutely should have had the HCM. The practice exam was completely different than the material I saw on the test, and I was extremely frustrated with it. When I got home, I compiled a list of questions from memory that I was 90% sure I answered incorrectly. I would suggest doing this to anyone leaving the exam feeling poorly. It really helped lift my spirits. When you add them up in your head over and over, the number grows exponentially. Writing them down brings you back to reality.  

Well, I passed with a 92, which matches what I got on the practice exam.

All that said, Testmasters is the only reason I passed. 

.  

 

[nopro]

[...] what helped me the most was hierarchy in test taking. go through and answer questions that require no thought or calculation, then go back through for problems with short easy calcs, then keep progressing that way. 

This was what was crucial to me.  When I took a timed practice test, I freaked out and burned so much time on difficult problems.

When I figured out a method similar to yours, that is when I I felt much better.  It also helped with stress during the exam, when I found I had finished more than half the questions in the first hour. 

 

[enggator]

Civil Transportation - School of PE in Orlando , Florida.

One thing that I would recommend over and over is to learn how to find and skip the hard questions, those that will probably take longer than 5 minutes. not every question is designed as a six minute question, find the easy ones first and leave the heard ones to the end.

Congrats to all and good luck, never give up.

 

[InfinityX2K4]

Civil - Transportation

I attended Testmasters in Dallas, TX. Certainly there were some things to complain about, but in the end, the course was the key to passing for me. I have horrible study habits, a wife, a 2 year old daughter, a dog, a full time job, a house to maintain, etc etc. I took the course because I knew it was the only way I'd really force myself to study. The course suggested an outside-the-classroom to classroom hours study ratio of 2:1. I may have studied 8 hours in total outside of the class, and even that's a stretch.

I took the NCEES practice exam the weekend before the actual exam and crushed it. I completed it in 5 hours, did not rework/check any solutions, and scored a 92. Every recent PE I spoke with told me the practice exams were much more difficult than the actual exam. I was in the clouds the week leading to the exam thinking it would be a piece of cake.

I took all required manuals, except for the HCM, on advice from coworkers, or anything relating to pavement design.

While I completed both the AM and PM sections with an hour to spare, I left the exam thinking if I passed, it would be by a very slim margin. I felt sick to my stomach and knew I was going to have to tell everyone I failed. I absolutely should have had the HCM. The practice exam was completely different than the material I saw on the test, and I was extremely frustrated with it. When I got home, I compiled a list of questions from memory that I was 90% sure I answered incorrectly. I would suggest doing this to anyone leaving the exam feeling poorly. It really helped lift my spirits. When you add them up in your head over and over, the number grows exponentially. Writing them down brings you back to reality.  

Well, I passed with a 92, which matches what I got on the practice exam.

All that said, Testmasters is the only reason I passed. 

.  

Great to hear the class worked out for you too! I have complaints about the class but now I don't really care to elaborate since it worked out in the end. I had the WRE depth and felt like that was the portion of the class with the weakest instructor / notes. In the end it the notes really had almost everything I needed besides maybe 2 theory questions.

I thought the transportation instructor was good because he was engaging, not sure how the depth portion went there for you but for the AM session it was all i needed.

 

[Potrzebie CT PE]

First time, HVAC, School of PE but I only watched half of the classes. The classes were not for me, instead of watching all the classes I worked the 6min solutions (HVAC and TF), a few merm problems, made my own reference notes with formulas, tabbed all merm and all 4 Ashrae books. I separated the 6min solution books into small tests and took several small timed tests. Didnt do well. Then took the NCEES TF timed. Didnt do well. Reworked all problems until I understood or thought I understood. Took the NCEES HVAC timed the weekend before the exam. failed miserably. Went into the test pretty scared thinking I was not going to pass.

I wonder how SOPE HVAC will adjust for the new exam specifications.... SOPE's AM HVAC was good, the PM portion not really.....

TF and MM were not separated into AM and PM so I gave up on their MM and TF classes because the back and forth between  AM and PM subjects for the TF and MM was killing me and I didnt need most of what was covered. Felt like a waste of time sitting there watching PM material for other disciplines.

If i didnt pass I was not going to try them again.