Taking SEISMIC in Fall 2015? Read my experience with EET first!

[rain4cali]

Thank you to Dr. Ahmed Ibrahim of EET for your excellent seismic online review course! If you will be taking the seismic exam and want to pass on the first shot and be done with it, I highly recommend this class. The course content is very thorough and designed to instill confidence and command of the subject, yet constrained in scope to only those topics listed in the test plan. His simulation exams and exam strategies hit the nail on the head and were completely utilized every moment of those 2.5 hours!

Dr. Ibrahim knows seismic like the back of his hand. His knowledge of seismic engineering, coupled with his awesome ability to convey the info to you in a concise, clear, and understandable manner, coupled with his kind and caring teaching style, coupled with the fact that he genuinely cares that EACH of his students completely understands the material to the point of MASTERY, coupled with the fact that he will set aside hourS if you need help one-on-one, all make his class THE one-stop shop for this exam.

Due to family circumstances, I had to take off 3 vital weeks from studying for seismic. Once that was over, I called Dr. Ibrahim on his cell with only 2.5 weeks to go till my exam. I am so grateful that Dr. Ibrahim put together a study plan tailored to my unique circumstances to get me back on track. I worked tirelessly and reported my progress daily in a short email to Dr. Ibrahim, who always responded encouragingly. The final week, I took the 4 timed practice exams he designed, studied his exam strategies and tips, consulted with him via online office hours or simply called him with my questions, and bam, come Monday, took the exam with confidence and relative ease.

Thank you Dr. Ibrahim for providing the means and motivation for me to pass seismic! Your passion for teaching far surpassed any of my undergraduate and graduate level civil engineering professors, and I am most grateful for every hour you spent with me thru your online class and office hours. Thank you for always striving to make your course better, though not much more you can do in that arena!

 

[John QPE]

I'm seriously thinking about taking the seismic exam (I live in PA) just to go through another EET class.

 

[matt267 PE]

I'm seriously thinking about taking the seismic exam (I live in PA) just to go through another EET class.

You need to find a better hobby.

 

[John QPE]

I'm seriously thinking about taking the seismic exam (I live in PA) just to go through another EET class.

You need to find a better hobby.

HAHAH I know .... but San Diego is in my future. I'm just not sure when.

 

[ptatohed]

I'm seriously thinking about taking the seismic exam (I live in PA) just to go through another EET class.

You need to find a better hobby.

HAHAH I know .... but San Diego is in my future. I'm just not sure when.

I grew up in S.D. but the house pricing is so insane, I had to move 45 minutes north to afford a decent house.

 

[John QPE]

I'll be out there from 6/28 - 7/3 for work. I may never come back.

 

[Ranjeet]

X-post from the "EET helped my pass the NCEES PE Exam" page:

I’m going to echo what has been said above. I took in-person EET Civil review classes for the 8-hr and the seismic portions of the exam, and passed - primarily thanks to them.


My background is in Chemical engr, and I only took one civil class while in undergrad so I already felt waaaaay behind the eight ball from the jump. Everything was new to me, and I was stressing hard. I didn’t even know where to start. I signed up for the EET 8-hour review course, with the Transportation depth area. EET breaks up the teaching to reflect the exam - the first half you cover everything, then the depth portion in the 2nd half. The first half is taught by all of the instructors, who teach whatever the field of expertise is. The instructors give you some tips/tricks/advice along the way and really useful homework problems. Then the 2nd half is more one-on-one with a single instructor. Maybe not true one-on-one, but the classes are small so you’re not lost in a sea of people, and you can get true interactions so it feels one-on-one. Samir taught the transportation portion and boy was he helpful, in almost every way. He is extremely knowledgable, experienced, friendly, positive, supportive, and makes himself available after class, or via email, or in-person, or during the office hour/study sessions that are held during the week. I expressed my nervousness/anxiety about taking the test, and he reassured me that as long as I did the work, I’d be ok. It’s a lot of work, make no mistake about that, with the tabbing, the homework, quizzes, random difficult questions that interweaves some of the topics that were covered that day, and practice tests, but in the end Samir was correct. I passed the 8-hr exam on the first try.

I took Hiner’s seismic on-demand class, and didn’t pass the first time. That said, I probably didn’t put forth the necessary effort to study/learn, since I was also studying for the 8-hr and surveying portions at the same time. During the 8-hr EET class, other classmates raved about the EET seismic class, taught by Dr. Ibrahim. Since my 8-hr class was such a valuable and rewarding experience, I figured I’d try their seismic class too. Everything I said about Samir above can extend to Dr. Ibrahim as well. Knowledgable, experienced, friendly, positive, supportive, available, etc. Again, like the 8-hr class, the seismic class will be a lot of work, with the tabbing, homework, quizzes, etc…, but if you do it, and are able to keep up, you’ll be confident going into the exam and you’ll have a pretty good chance of passing. I passed the seismic portion on my 2nd attempt.

One last thing I’ll say about EET is that the instructors don’t treat you like just another person who’s paying to take their class, or a number, or a faceless body. They actually care about you, and about whether or not you pass, not because it’s good for their business (let’s be honest, it is), but because you can move forward in your career/life.

PE earned May 2015.

tl;dr - if you’re thinking about taking an EET class, go for it. Highly recommended. Do the work, and you’ll be in a good position to pass.

 

[svmariko]

hear hear, i just got my letter that I passed the seismic exam on my first shot and want to echo what everyone is saying.  EET and Dr. Ibrahim is the best!  He is so thorough and strategic and i felt very well prepared and took this difficult test with a comfortable understanding of the material. I created an account on this website just to put in my $0.02 for EET and to encourage all future CA PE applicants to take his class and buy his book and practice exams. Thank You Dr. Ibrahim!

 

[CivEnv]

I'll echo that! Ahmed is so thoughtful about his students and really wants to see us all succeed. I would absolutely recommend his class, as well as the 8-hour EET course (I took WRE depth) to others. In fact, my friend took both EET courses on my recommendation and passed all three (8-hour, seismic and surveying) on her first shot!

 

[Superlaker24]

Has anyone completed the On-Demand Webinar for Seismic that EET has?

 

[CivEnv]

Has anyone completed the On-Demand Webinar for Seismic that EET has?

I took the live Seismic Webinar from EET, although on occasion I wasn't able to join the live class and caught up on the on-demand webinar. If at all possible with your schedule, I would highly recommend doing the live class.

In my opinion, the live class keeps you more engaged. Ahmed is very good about asking for class participation during the webinar and asking for feedback and answers from the students. It's hard to stay focused for an 8-hour webinar, and knowing that you may have a question headed your way keeps you more alert to what's going on. I find it much easier to zone out during a recorded webinar, and if you're not paying attention then it's mostly wasted time.

Good luck!

 

[Superlaker24]

I took the live Seismic Webinar from EET, although on occasion I wasn't able to join the live class and caught up on the on-demand webinar. If at all possible with your schedule, I would highly recommend doing the live class.

In my opinion, the live class keeps you more engaged. Ahmed is very good about asking for class participation during the webinar and asking for feedback and answers from the students. It's hard to stay focused for an 8-hour webinar, and knowing that you may have a question headed your way keeps you more alert to what's going on. I find it much easier to zone out during a recorded webinar, and if you're not paying attention then it's mostly wasted time.

Good luck!

Thanks. I am planning to do the breadth and depth live webinar with EET and the seismic On-Demand webinar. There is alot of material to study. Do you have any recommendations on surveying too? For the EET courses do you recommend anything to get the most out of the course?

Thanks for the help.