Testmasters

[Road Guy]

I was saving this review until after I found out about the results.

Overall I was dissipointed with the class, mainly due to my weakest section from my first failure being environmental and geotech, and the instructors for those sections were horrible.

The GEO guy was an old fossil whom I am sure knows his stuff, but just didnt need to be teaching, it also didnt help that he was sick and being 70+ its hard to talk for 8 hours a day when you have a cold.

The environmental instructor was one of these government PHd know it all types who spent more time grandstanding over the fact that the water in his district is monitored by the EPA and Dasani isnt (right. who do you trust?)

The structural guy was very good, he provided lots of updated useful handouts! Key word updated.

The transportation guy was average, he did provide some great info on mass-haul diagrams, and how to use the easy charts from the HCM. I think he got me at least 4 questions that I might not have known on my own. But he spent half a day on pavement design. I am sure those questions have been on the exam in the past if they spent half a day on it, but I think that subject is almost too complicated to try and "cram" He didnt cover anything on CPM which I thought was bad.

The Water Resources instructor was so good I almost thought about taking the PM WR exam(Civil) yes he was that good. Cant say enough about him.

But I think the best part of the class was that it was almost 100 hours of study time. You have to pretty much take a week or more off of work to take the class. I probabaly wouldnt have done that on my own.

Also I should add that all in all I am glad I signed up for the class, but its not something you can rely on by itself, I know several people in just my class alone who didnt pass.

 

[singlespeed]

Congrats RG!

 

[n2h20]

I took the testmaster class in FL and passed on my first attempt. I firmly believe that this class is the reason that I passed. Overall the instructors were very good (except for structures). I learned how to actually solve problems and "key words" that help to figure out what type of problem you are working on. My degree was in Ocean Engineering so I had not had many college courses relavent to the civil PE. I had had one undergraduate soil mechanics course, one undergraduate structural analysis course, and one undergraduate fluid mechanics course. I had never had a course on transpo or enviro.

If you can figure out a way to afford the class and your boss will let you take off a few days (the class is typically Thurs-Sun) then go for it.

Also, don't just rely on Testmasters. You will still need to study on your own to reinforce the material.

P.S. I took WR as my depth.

 

[NCcarguy]

I took the testmaster class in FL and passed on my first attempt. I firmly believe that this class is the reason that I passed. Overall the instructors were very good (except for structures). I learned how to actually solve problems and "key words" that help to figure out what type of problem you are working on. My degree was in Ocean Engineering so I had not had many college courses relavent to the civil PE. I had had one undergraduate soil mechanics course, one undergraduate structural analysis course, and one undergraduate fluid mechanics course. I had never had a course on transpo or enviro.
If you can figure out a way to afford the class and your boss will let you take off a few days (the class is typically Thurs-Sun) then go for it.

Also, don't just rely on Testmasters. You will still need to study on your own to reinforce the material.

P.S. I took WR as my depth.

there's a good point here.....Roadguy.....or should I say Roadguy, PE. where did you take testmasters? sounds like the guy that took it in Fla liked it. :beerchug

 

[Road Guy]

mine was in Atlanta, GA.

I think some of the newer cities being offered classes are like what happens when any company grows (or grows to fast) some consumers get stepped on along the way.

most people i talk to really thought it was terrific, but I think I just drew the short straw of instructors..

of course I also just sent them my resume to teach transportation :true:

 

[timmyutah]

I took mine in AZ

my thoughts..

If i could just have bought the book and skipped the boring lectures, i would have. They (instructors) didnt do anything for me, but the book and material in the book was the main reason i think i passed, as i studied after the course.

I hated to sell my book, but didnt need it anymore, and enjoy the $ i got from it.

TIMMY P.E.

 

[gatormech_e]

hmmm, does testmasters offer any ME PE prep courses? i didn't find any for FL.

anyone here have books/notes they are willing to sell?

 

[Biagiomarra]

hmmm, does testmasters offer any ME PE prep courses? i didn't find any for FL.
anyone here have books/notes they are willing to sell?

any luck with locating the class notes for Testmasters?

 

[fingerscrossed]

I have read several reviews about the Testmasters course regarding how much it helped them (especially the notes). I live in CA and don't have access to the courses. Is there any way to get/purchase copies of the notes?

Thanks -

 

[fingerscrossed]

I have read several reviews about the Testmasters course regarding how much it helped them (especially the notes). I live in CA and don't have access to the courses. Is there any way to get/purchase copies of the notes?

Thanks -

 

[fingerscrossed]

I have seen several reviews of the Testmasters courses saying how much they helped. However, I live in CA and don't have access to the courses. Is there any way to get/purchase the class notes?

Thx

 

[Road Guy]

I have seen them afor sale, I have them, and I have thought about scanning them and then putting them on a CD and charging a nominal fee(cause thats going to be a LOT of scanning & copying, if you know what I mean)

The notes would be good to study from, they had some really good example problems.

 

[Junaid29]

CERM Structure and transportation chapters for Civil/Water depth

For those taking the PE Civil/Water depth, the Structure and transportation are not required for the PM (depth) exam.

Hence, what chapters of CERM would be sufficient to cover the Structure and transportation questions of AM (breadth) exam?

(Note that the NCEES syllabus does not pin point the required CERM chapters)

 

[Road Guy]

statics, shear / moment diagrams, max allowable moment, truss, method of sections, method of joints, stuff like that. good idea to know all the basic beam design formulas.

 

[gatormech_e]

no luck getting the MEPE testmasters notes, i've been hitting the textbooks and using MERM. i have the 6 min solns but haven't looked yet...will have to get on it soon as i'm running short on time for the April exam...sigh...

 

[Guest]

no luck getting the MEPE testmasters notes, i've been hitting the textbooks and using MERM. i have the 6 min solns but haven't looked yet...will have to get on it soon as i'm running short on time for the April exam...sigh...

Heya Gator !!

Missed seeing your posts - thought you might have been scared off. Glad that you are still around AND preparing for your exam. :joke: :reading:

Good luck !!

JR

 

[gatormech_e]

thanks for the welcome, i've been working hard, studying and stressing. only about 3.5 weeks of prep time left and i need to take some time off from work...

 

[cement]

^^ full time home study rules. Good luck!

 

[IlPadrino]

I took the Civil PE Testmasters course in Tempe, AZ in March/April 2007. Beyond the time at the class, I probably only studied (prepared?) less than 20 hours. I credit Testmasters (especially Dr. Israni) for my success in passing my first-time exam in Water Resources. I'm going to put together a more thorough review of Testmasters once I get my course binder unpacked (I just moved), but in short, here're my thoughts:

The Water Resource review (given by Dr. Israni) was absolutely OUTSTANDING. He also covered the general exam strategies that were spot on. The only thing not mentioned that I think was helpful was to write the required units (based on the problem AND the answers given) in big letters before starting to work on the problem. It's amazing how many chances there are to get headed down the path of wrong units.

The other areas were hit and miss as far as the review presentations go. I'm certain all presenters knew their topics well, but they'd often go down paths that weren't very useful for the exam (an example that come to mind: ten minutes spent talking about why municipalities don't want to issue boil water notices). I was also surprised how much time was spent on "plugging and chugging" equations or converting units. This is probably by biggest complaint about the course. I mean, if you can't use your calculator to evaluate an equation or if you can't convert units, you've got no business calling yourself an Engineer in Training, much less a Professional Engineer.

Bottom Line: The Course Notes were essential to organizing a review. The only area I found inadequate was the Hydrology section - but maybe it was just my lack of comprehension; I struggled with the Unit Hyrdograph questions on the exam. There was a lot on structures that was not needed for the WR depth, but remember that this course doesn't focus on just one depth.

The course is expensive ($1,500) but perhaps a small price to pay for success. I would unequivocally recommend the course to anyone.

 

[slates]

I signed up for Testmasters in Hawaii after hearing the positive reviews on here, only to find out today that they cancelled the course due to low enrollment. I have been studying, but still just don't seem to feel comfortable with all of the material. I have always been a visual learner and find it easy enough to blow over stuff I'm reading that doesn't seem important or takes too long to grasp the concept. I did ask if they could send a copy of the course notes to me since they kinda ruined my preparation plan, but haven't heard back from them yet.