SOPE vs EET April 2020

[CUniverse]

I'm sorry for not getting back to you sooner. I do have what I think is good advice for you though. The depth course did a good job preparing us for the afternoon session. There were a couple of things on which the test hit us harder than EET did in the afternoon, but it's generally through.The binder material is probably 90% sufficient for the morning and afternoon tests. The others that I found helpful were the Green Book, the Roadside Design Guide, the Highway Capacity Manual, the MUTCD and the CERM. Take the CERM with you. I ran into several questions whose answers were found in the CERM and in none of my other references. They're easy pickings if you have it, but not if you don't. Spend a lot of time getting to know your references. I can't stress that enough. If you don't know them through and through, you will waste a lot of valuable time searching for the information you need. Take your time and thoroughly tab your binders and the rest of your references. Work as many problems as you can. You can't work too many of them. Do the problems in the text. Take the quizzes. Take the practice tests. I worked all of them at least twice. I did hundreds of problems. I worked my way through the morning and afternoon material, then took the last month to go back and review both the morning and afternoon problems to make sure I didn't get rusty on the morning material while working on the afternoon stuff. The practice tests will show you where you need to concentrate. I'll come back and check within the next few days. If you or anyone else reading this have any questions, I'm happy to help. 

Thank you for your response! The questions you found in the CERM, did you just look them up through the index or did you have the CERM tabbed? I haven’t spent any time looking at it at all that’s why I ask. I also have been going through and marking every single table on a cheat sheet with the figure/table number with the page number in each of the references just in case they ask something on them in the exam so hope that helps with those random code questions. 

 

[Jesse25302]

Thank you for your response! The questions you found in the CERM, did you just look them up through the index or did you have the CERM tabbed? I haven’t spent any time looking at it at all that’s why I ask. I also have been going through and marking every single table on a cheat sheet with the figure/table number with the page number in each of the references just in case they ask something on them in the exam so hope that helps with those random code questions. 

I found what I needed with the index. I didn't use the CERM much. I relied on the EET material for probably 90% of the test. However, there were two questions that I remember distinctly whose answers were in the CERM and not in any of my other resources. One was a Materials question and the other was a weir question. It surprised me because I thought I had everything covered with the EET material and for the most part, I did. They can't possibly cover every eventuality though. 

Which tables are you marking? I might be able to tell you if it's worth the trouble. Have you taken the exam before?

 

[Jesse25302]

Did anyone who took the transportation EET depth course make a cheat sheet for the binder or did you just tab it well? or both?

I took both the AM and PM courses from EET. I didn't make cheat sheets for either of my binders. I tabbed them thoroughly. A cheat sheet might work better for some, but the tabs worked well for me. I also spent many hours working problems and getting intimately acquainted with those binders and my other references. That did more good for me than anything. When I worked problems on the test, I knew where I needed to look in my references. The tabs just helped me find the specific page quickly. Getting to know those references is one of the best things that you can do for yourself. 

 

[CUniverse]

I found what I needed with the index. I didn't use the CERM much. I relied on the EET material for probably 90% of the test. However, there were two questions that I remember distinctly whose answers were in the CERM and not in any of my other resources. One was a Materials question and the other was a weir question. It surprised me because I thought I had everything covered with the EET material and for the most part, I did. They can't possibly cover every eventuality though. 

Which tables are you marking? I might be able to tell you if it's worth the trouble. Have you taken the exam before?

Okay that should be helpful I will definitely bring the CERM, and I am marking all of the tables in the important chapters of the greenbook, MUTCD, Roadside design guide, and highway safety manual. Samir always will say to read the important chapters, they are very long and I don’t really have time to read them so I figured marking the tables in those sections would help. I also don’t have the newest HCM but Samir said the tables he provided should be fine for the exam. This is the first time I have taken the exam. 

 

[Jesse25302]

Okay that should be helpful I will definitely bring the CERM, and I am marking all of the tables in the important chapters of the greenbook, MUTCD, Roadside design guide, and highway safety manual. Samir always will say to read the important chapters, they are very long and I don’t really have time to read them so I figured marking the tables in those sections would help. I also don’t have the newest HCM but Samir said the tables he provided should be fine for the exam. This is the first time I have taken the exam. 

Samir is right. The HCM was not one of my big go-to resources. His tables are adequate. 

You're right about reading those chapters. You're better off just tabbing the sections that you used to solve the problems. If you can solve those problems and navigate your references, you'll be ok.

One more helpful bit of advice came to mind. Read the problems carefully and pay particular attention to what they are actually asking for. Sometimes they'll ask for an answer in units that are different than what you're used to. They will also sometimes ask for quantities that you may not be expecting. They know what answer you'll get if you fall for it and that answer will be there. Even if you get an answer in the list, be careful that you read the problem correctly and are giving them what they ask for and not what you expect them to ask for. 

 

[CUniverse]

Samir is right. The HCM was not one of my big go-to resources. His tables are adequate. 

You're right about reading those chapters. You're better off just tabbing the sections that you used to solve the problems. If you can solve those problems and navigate your references, you'll be ok.

One more helpful bit of advice came to mind. Read the problems carefully and pay particular attention to what they are actually asking for. Sometimes they'll ask for an answer in units that are different than what you're used to. They will also sometimes ask for quantities that you may not be expecting. They know what answer you'll get if you fall for it and that answer will be there. Even if you get an answer in the list, be careful that you read the problem correctly and are giving them what they ask for and not what you expect them to ask for. 

That is good advice, thank you for the guidance!

 

[CUniverse]

Samir is right. The HCM was not one of my big go-to resources. His tables are adequate. 

You're right about reading those chapters. You're better off just tabbing the sections that you used to solve the problems. If you can solve those problems and navigate your references, you'll be ok.

One more helpful bit of advice came to mind. Read the problems carefully and pay particular attention to what they are actually asking for. Sometimes they'll ask for an answer in units that are different than what you're used to. They will also sometimes ask for quantities that you may not be expecting. They know what answer you'll get if you fall for it and that answer will be there. Even if you get an answer in the list, be careful that you read the problem correctly and are giving them what they ask for and not what you expect them to ask for. 

One more question, did you print out all of the errata’s for the references and did they seem to be used much during the exam? I noticed I got a different answer due to an errata In one of the review questions in the EET course 

 

[Jesse25302]

One more question, did you print out all of the errata’s for the references and did they seem to be used much during the exam? I noticed I got a different answer due to an errata In one of the review questions in the EET course 

I never noticed getting any wrong answers due to errata when I did EET questions. That's not to say that it didn't happen to you, of course. I didn't take a list of errata with me to the test. Whether that hurt me, I can't say. 

 

[Drew Thomas]

I'm going to go with EET because of the positive reviews of lecturers. Everyone I know who took SoPE was okay with the breadth and pretty negative about the depth lecturers which I'm sure made it hard to pay attention and retain information. I know two people that failed the October 2020 Transpo exam after SoPE and I know one of them watched every lecture and did all the problems for breadth and depth. They felt great about breadth and horrible about depth right after the exam. I haven't taken any courses yet and prepped unsuccessfully for October 2020 with reading relevant sections of the CERM, 3 practice exams, and tabbing/reviewing every reference. It worked well for the depth portion but turns out I really need a class to reexplain some of the breadth concepts. Also it should be mentioned that the only helpful problems were the 6 min solutions! They were the only ones with comparable difficulty and pressed you for time like the real exam!