Review Course Pass/Fail

[Maji]

Trying to get CA PE in Civil by comity so needed to take Survey and Seismic... passed on first try... 

Seismic - EET... Dr Ibrahim is one of the best teachers I have seen and genuinely cares for his students. I believe I had worked out 45 questions out of 55 in the actual exam. That is how good EET's course is. Also now I know the concepts well enough to review others work!

survey- Reza's workbook from another member here and csper course mainly for the 4 CBTs. Between those CBTs and Reza's book, I had got about 40 questions common in the actual exam.

of course future questions can and will vary.

 

[Phatso86]

PPI2Pass

Electrical (Power)

10 years out of college, 1st time taken

PASSED.  Highly recommend the course and instructor (Bobby Rauf). 

i thought the ppi course was terrible.

at least Rauf made it grueling to watch with not a whole lot of insight on topics. I didn't even finish it. All he did was read the powerpoint

 

[Phatso86]

PPI

Civil - Structural

Second timer, failed again. (The first time, I attempted self-study)

use the SERM to study from.

If i remember correctly the morning was all general and easy. afternoon was structural. It was a cakewalk for me because i studied the SERM too.

 

[leggo PE]

use the SERM to study from.

If i remember correctly the morning was all general and easy. afternoon was structural. It was a cakewalk for me because i studied the SERM too.

Thanks, @Phatso86! I had the CERM (must have for the morning), but not the SERM. I will definitely look into it, as I think it might serve well for the PE afternoon and perhaps also the SE.

 

[Maji]

PPI

Civil - Structural

Second timer, failed again. (The first time, I attempted self-study)

Sorry to hear that but keep chugging at it... you will get over that hurdle... my suggestion is to go with EET... they helped an old geezer like me to pass in the first try... you will pass easily with their help.

 

[Tumeric98]

TL;DR version: 

-EET course for Civil Breadth and Construction Depth - worth it

-Hiner course for Seismic - good cheat sheets but hard to follow videos

-Mansour book only for Surveying - very complete

---

I just noticed this thread. I'll throw my hat in for the record. 

I have a mechanical background but I wanted to get my civil due to how civil engineering is licensed in California. 

I got notified in May that I was qualified to take all three tests for civil (8-hr NCEES, CA seismic, and CA surveying). I bought the on demand EET breadth course, the CERM book, Mansour's surveying book and Hiner's seismic book.  In August I bought EET construction depth on demand webinar and Hiners on demand seismic review.

I had a hard time figuring out Hiner's workbook so I ended up buying his on demand course too but it was still hard to follow for me since he jumps around in his videos. You really have to pay attention to the order of lessons. He sends out several emails with password protected files and lesson plans (i.e. Watch this video, do these problems, watch this bonus video...) so make sure you print out everything and mark off as you go since there is so much. You have to be focused on the videos since they are not unlimited viewing. Videos are worth it though since I did pick up how to answer questions quickly and find important info from the IBC.  At the end closer to the test date he sends out links to the simulated exam. His cheat sheet however is awesome. I can quickly look up and calculate periods and response times from his very handy tables .

I liked EET. They give you a big binder with a page on the front showing you the plan and order of videos. I got access to the Spring videos and the Fall videos once available and they are unlimited views then you get one simulated for each test. I pretty much only used the binders for the test. I barely cracked OSHA and the CERM. Very complete and organized though I wished they printed both sides. I like how patient the instructors are in the videos. The Spring videos had a really annoying guy that always asked (in my opionion) stupid questions (he clearly wasn't listening to what the instructor said just a few minutes earlier and would snap at other students trying to help him.  

Mansour's surveying book was great. You can buy it off Amazon. It was all I used. I just read it over three days and did the practice problems at the end of each section. Those practice problems had a good range of very easy lookup knowledge and longer calculations indicative of the actual test. The front of the book has some cheat sheets. It made it very easily to find equations to solve problems quicker, and it definitely helped doing the geomatics on the 8-hr civil. 

 

[ndolap]

I would like to recommend these classes for who is in California (online class): 

* 8 hours exam : EET is the best (I took Tesmaster and School of PE, they are good but for the PM portion not help much to nail you on PM portion). 

* Seismic review also EET with Dr Ahmed Aibrahim ( I did took Hiner but not much help enough to pass since they change the exam method and not enough problem for practice)

* Survey review class CPESR but you need to buy calculator per request from class (I did took Reza but not help much on practice exam)

These are all my experience for you. 

Anyone, cannot pass survey even you took CPESR can contact me by email so I can help more for survey exam.([email protected])

 

[Phatso86]

Thanks, @Phatso86! I had the CERM (must have for the morning), but not the SERM. I will definitely look into it, as I think it might serve well for the PE afternoon and perhaps also the SE.

The SE is ridiculous. I should have continued with it when i was unemployed years ago. It'd be nice to have for me, but completely unnecessary.

Also, the SERM is not enough. When i got the PE, i went back and started taking the SE practice tests and i noticed that the SERM is missing a great chunk of what you need. It IS a good intro though 

 

[bluehengineer]

School of PE and EET Depth WRE both on-demandAfter going through SOPE's videos I was well prepared for the breadth portion but, their depth course is pretty cursory.  I signed up for EET depth with Nazrul and it was well worth the investment.  Much more thorough and organized.  Plus Nazrul is the nicest guy ever, really cares about the students, and is great at explaining the material.Passed on my first try but, if I were to do it over again I would have just taken EET for breadth and depthEET > SOPE

 

[PowerStroke79_PE]

School of PE and EET Depth WRE both on-demandAfter going through SOPE's videos I was well prepared for the breadth portion but, their depth course is pretty cursory.  I signed up for EET depth with Nazrul and it was well worth the investment.  Much more thorough and organized.  Plus Nazrul is the nicest guy ever, really cares about the students, and is great at explaining the material.Passed on my first try but, if I were to do it over again I would have just taken EET for breadth and depthEET > SOPE

I am amazed to how many people were so comfortable with Nazrul. I took EET and would highly recommend it to anyone. I took Civil/Structural. But i thought Nazrul's impatience to questions was too over the top. Obviously he knows his stuff and explains well. But every time someone asked something in class i felt he got frustrated quickly. I taught at the high school level and learned patience must be your best friend when teaching classes with up to 40 students in them. Maybe that's what it is. Either way, I have yet to find a course as good as EET. 

 

[Beef Supreme]

School of PE on demand

Civil - Structural

Passed

 

[ZupaS]

School of PE online week nights online classes.

Also, set yourself a schedule a minimum of 3 months before the exam date.

Make a daily schedule and assign one week per subject. Then two weeks for your depth. Make sure you complete this before your school of pe classes start. Do a practice exam before school of pe breadth review. And do a practice after school of pe depth review.

if you have any questions you can PM me.

PE Civil Structural. First time. Passed. Was not feeling confident after the exam. NJ. 

 

[Gg-dc]

I am amazed to how many people were so comfortable with Nazrul. I took EET and would highly recommend it to anyone. I took Civil/Structural. But i thought Nazrul's impatience to questions was too over the top. Obviously he knows his stuff and explains well. But every time someone asked something in class i felt he got frustrated quickly. I taught at the high school level and learned patience must be your best friend when teaching classes with up to 40 students in them. Maybe that's what it is. Either way, I have yet to find a course as good as EET. 

Omg wow!!! I felt the same way... if i asked a question that he apparently already went over during an extremely long 8 hour review course, he'd get visably annoyed... but I took WRE second time & I passed because of him... & his extensive reviews... so it was a negative... but it worked out well...

 

[Rengineer]

Omg wow!!! I felt the same way... if i asked a question that he apparently already went over during an extremely long 8 hour review course, he'd get visably annoyed... but I took WRE second time & I passed because of him... & his extensive reviews... so it was a negative... but it worked out well...

How many hours a week did you study with EET in both class And hw?

 

[coolcool]

I passed the Civil Water Resources PE exam this past October in California, and it was all because of EET. I know it sounds like an awful lot of of people here singing their praises, but I can attest to its truth. In the summer I browsed ALL the forums and scoured google for any review of EET, including negative ones. But there were mostly positive reviews, so while I was a bit skeptical (thinking a few were perhaps fake), I just took the plunge and went ahead with purchasing both the on-demand breadth and depth courses. So glad I took that leap. 

First of all, I started studying in July and studied really hard for the Oct 2016 exam. I was also very organized and spent most evenings after work for 2-3 hours listening to the recordings, and working through practice problems.

The unlimited viewing of the lectures was crucial for me. I have to admit I study very slowly...so I normally pause and rewind videos over and over again. I asked the professors lots of questions via email and they always answered them thoroughly.  All the instructors were incredibly gracious when I asked "dumb" questions.

The binders were terrific too! I felt like both breadth and depth binders covered about 80% of the material on the exam, and if I had more time, I would have pored through additional breadth material as I felt like some topics were lacking in practice problems. However, the binders proved to be enough to pass the 8 hour. Another great part of the course was taking their mock simulated breadth and depth exams. It helped me target my weak areas.

For those of you wondering whether there are people who took EET and didn't pass, well I know my coworker didn't. His circumstance was a bit different though; he only had a month to study for the PE, and he simply didn't devote enough time required to pass. Nazrul emailed us a list of the names of people who passed (those who agreed to reveal their names) and it was a LONG list. I believe he had around 60 people take his WRE depth course (judging from those who were present for the online lectures) and I think there were at least 50 people on the passing list. 

I feel like if you take EET and you study very hard, do every practice problem provided (some of which appeared on the exam!) and review your material at least 3 times, you will be in good shape. 

I'll be taking their CA seismic and surveying course (new) for April.

 

[ChoppedBroccoli]

I am amazed to how many people were so comfortable with Nazrul. I took EET and would highly recommend it to anyone. I took Civil/Structural. But i thought Nazrul's impatience to questions was too over the top. Obviously he knows his stuff and explains well. But every time someone asked something in class i felt he got frustrated quickly. I taught at the high school level and learned patience must be your best friend when teaching classes with up to 40 students in them. Maybe that's what it is. Either way, I have yet to find a course as good as EET. 

I couldn't disagree with you more. This isn't 15 year olds in high school. I found the interruptions to his lectures totally unacceptable, inconsiderate and selfish... and 9/10 times, it was a unbelievably stupid question that he had either already addressed, he was going to address in the next couple of slides, or that you could easily figure out if you thought about it for a second. If he hadn't been firm about his "save your questions for the end" policy, an eight hour lecture would have been 12 hours long. Also, the lectures are recorded, so if someone misses something or doesn't get it, go back and watch it later... People would actually stop the class to say they didn't understand! Are you kidding me?! We need to wait to move on to the next slide until all 80 people understand?! I only wish he had been more stern about it.  

 

[ISpitHotFire PE]

School of PE on Demand

Civil Construction

Passed 1st attempt

I Would not have passed without it. Best $1200 I have ever spent.

 

[cdc0001]

I couldn't disagree with you more. This isn't 15 year olds in high school. I found the interruptions to his lectures totally unacceptable, inconsiderate and selfish... and 9/10 times, it was a unbelievably stupid question that he had either already addressed, he was going to address in the next couple of slides, or that you could easily figure out if you thought about it for a second. If he hadn't been firm about his "save your questions for the end" policy, an eight hour lecture would have been 12 hours long. Also, the lectures are recorded, so if someone misses something or doesn't get it, go back and watch it later... People would actually stop the class to say they didn't understand! Are you kidding me?! We need to wait to move on to the next slide until all 80 people understand?! I only wish he had been more stern about it.  

@ChoppedBroccoli Totally agree. Most of the interruptions were unnecessary, even rude, to fellow classmates. I think he was as tactful as he could be given the circumstances (8 hrs to cover a semester long course, 80+ students). Some questions even made me wonder if people had a degree in Civil....

 

[leggo PE]

The SE is ridiculous. I should have continued with it when i was unemployed years ago. It'd be nice to have for me, but completely unnecessary.

Also, the SERM is not enough. When i got the PE, i went back and started taking the SE practice tests and i noticed that the SERM is missing a great chunk of what you need. It IS a good intro though 

Oh yes, I'm sure it's not the only resource to have for it. But, first things first, I need to get this pesky PE at the end of my name...

 

[Phatso86]

I couldn't disagree with you more. This isn't 15 year olds in high school. I found the interruptions to his lectures totally unacceptable, inconsiderate and selfish... and 9/10 times, it was a unbelievably stupid question that he had either already addressed, he was going to address in the next couple of slides, or that you could easily figure out if you thought about it for a second. If he hadn't been firm about his "save your questions for the end" policy, an eight hour lecture would have been 12 hours long. Also, the lectures are recorded, so if someone misses something or doesn't get it, go back and watch it later... People would actually stop the class to say they didn't understand! Are you kidding me?! We need to wait to move on to the next slide until all 80 people understand?! I only wish he had been more stern about it.  

Makes sense. When I tried the PPI course for Power, I found it annoying when people asked the same crap over and over.

BUT it was more annoying when the teacher made a mistake and he wouldn't answer a question regarding that mistake until 5 minutes later. I suppose the helper that the teacher had should step in and say something. Scan for important questions like that