Sitting in for April 2022 Vertical Exam

[Manimani]

I got my notification late from my state about my approval regarding my SE Application (this Monday) - which kind of put me in a limbo.

My plan was to write the SE Vertical this April and then tackle the SE Lateral in October. I wrote the PE in April 2019 and passed on my first attempt.

I was planning on using AEI for both vertical / lateral (I used EET before during my PE studies).

My question is, I have roughly 11 weeks till the April Exam, is that sufficient time for me to get ready for the Vertical Exam through AEI?
My study plan was to study 2 hours on weekdays, and 6-8 hours on weekends ~ averaging at least 15 hours/week.

I do have a wife and a toddler, and work a full time job, so study time would be first thing AM before work and at nights before bed.

Any tips would be appreciated. Not the end of the world for me to delay till October, though we may be planning for a second child later this year which may make things complicated for April 2023.

 

[thedaywa1ker]

My question is, I have roughly 11 weeks till the April Exam, is that sufficient time for me to get ready for the Vertical Exam through AEI?

Some people pass with a cursory review the week leading up.

Some people study for months and fail multiple times.

Everybody is different...it all depends on your experience. If you do all the work in the AEI class, you will have a great shot. 15 hours a week will probably be tight if you plan on watching all of the lectures plus the homeworks and quizzes. The class is a lot of work, but worth it.

 

[Shannonsider_2016]

I got my notification late from my state about my approval regarding my SE Application (this Monday) - which kind of put me in a limbo.

My plan was to write the SE Vertical this April and then tackle the SE Lateral in October. I wrote the PE in April 2019 and passed on my first attempt.

I was planning on using AEI for both vertical / lateral (I used EET before during my PE studies).

My question is, I have roughly 11 weeks till the April Exam, is that sufficient time for me to get ready for the Vertical Exam through AEI?
My study plan was to study 2 hours on weekdays, and 6-8 hours on weekends ~ averaging at least 15 hours/week.

I do have a wife and a toddler, and work a full time job, so study time would be first thing AM before work and at nights before bed.

Any tips would be appreciated. Not the end of the world for me to delay till October, though we may be planning for a second child later this year which may make things complicated for April 2023.

With only taking one component it is very possible - it's going to take time to get your binder from AEI once you sign up, so you'd be down to 10 weeks. I took AEI and would strongly recommend them, their binder/example problems are fantastic. They also give you summary notes that you could bind together in a small quick reference binder/comb, that would be able to solve quite a few of the morning AM questions.

There's ~100 hours of lectures to review, and to catch up to the lectures before their simulation exam (which is very important) you'd need nearly 12hours/week just on watching lectures. You add in solving their homework problems/mini-exams - you'd need closer to 20hours/week to properly prepare. That's just my personal preference - not to say you couldn't study less and still pass.

My advice would be if you are going to do it is to sign up to AEI as soon as possible, consider taking off a few days from work to quickly catch up on the missed lectures, but once you get back on schedule with the lectures, your 15hours/week should be plenty of time to follow their schedule and solve all of their sample problems/timed mini-exams.

If you are finding it's too much to do, you could also consider skipping some lectures on topics you are already very comfortable on, and just read through the binder and tab it up. I would strongly suggest doing all of the homework problems + mini-exams, as I found this the most useful.

They do have a free repeat, so even if you don't pass the Vertical this time around, you would be in a great position for October.

 

[Manimani]

With only taking one component it is very possible - it's going to take time to get your binder from AEI once you sign up, so you'd be down to 10 weeks. I took AEI and would strongly recommend them, their binder/example problems are fantastic. They also give you summary notes that you could bind together in a small quick reference binder/comb, that would be able to solve quite a few of the morning AM questions.

There's ~100 hours of lectures to review, and to catch up to the lectures before their simulation exam (which is very important) you'd need nearly 12hours/week just on watching lectures. You add in solving their homework problems/mini-exams - you'd need closer to 20hours/week to properly prepare. That's just my personal preference - not to say you couldn't study less and still pass.

My advice would be if you are going to do it is to sign up to AEI as soon as possible, consider taking off a few days from work to quickly catch up on the missed lectures, but once you get back on schedule with the lectures, your 15hours/week should be plenty of time to follow their schedule and solve all of their sample problems/timed mini-exams.

If you are finding it's too much to do, you could also consider skipping some lectures on topics you are already very comfortable on, and just read through the binder and tab it up. I would strongly suggest doing all of the homework problems + mini-exams, as I found this the most useful.

They do have a free repeat, so even if you don't pass the Vertical this time around, you would be in a great position for October.

Thank you very much for the detailed reply! Yes the free repeat entices me, as I will only be down the exam money (and time of course). I did notice they have a week off between this Thursday lecture (Feb 3) and the next lecture is Feb 13, so that does give me a week and a bit to catch-up on the first 3-4 lectures.

I am a bridge Engineer, so Im hoping that doesnt limit me to the AM problems, which are mostly building related.

 

[Shannonsider_2016]

Thank you very much for the detailed reply! Yes the free repeat entices me, as I will only be down the exam money (and time of course). I did notice they have a week off between this Thursday lecture (Feb 3) and the next lecture is Feb 13, so that does give me a week and a bit to catch-up on the first 3-4 lectures.

I am a bridge Engineer, so Im hoping that doesnt limit me to the AM problems, which are mostly building related.

No problem, happy to help. I also took the Bridge Depth, and I found the AEI course set me up very well for the building AM questions (I didn't need any other resource than the AEI binders + codes). In terms of time left - I took both components in April 21 after signing up for the AEI course at the start of January - so starting a few weeks late with 1 component seems OK timewise.

I think you'll find the gaps in between their lectures to be filled up with a lot of homework problems and mini-exams, so I wouldn't bank on that. A lot of effort at the start to catch up to their lectures would be the best approach in my opinion.

I also had a hard time balancing the condensed study calendar with young kids myself. What helped me was to open up each on-demand lecture (i.e. Steel-01) and enter the lecture name + time duration into excel, and figure out how many hours of lectures you need to get through for each subject (analysis/concrete/wood/masonry/bridge AM/bridge PM/etc..). I then planned out by what date I needed to have each full subject videos watched by (i.e. 8 hours of wood complete by 3/5/22). I also printed off each subject - and used a highlighter to cross out each watched lecture, which helped me stay on target + stay sane.

Also don't skip the mini-exams/problems in the interest on catching up more on the videos - as those practice problems really do help retain all of the information provided in the lectures. They give you goals for completing mini-exams - and I would try and hold through to those dates.