SE Exam - "School Of PE" worth it? 2

[mwboger]

I am taking the lateral SE exam this April (again...). I passed gravity on the first attempt, but I don't care to mention how many times this is for lateral.

Since the exam is now on IBC 2012, all of my previous study materials are outdated and no one to my knowledge has published anything yet with updates (for SE prep) - other than the NCEES example problems, which are great but they are the same exact questions as the previous edition only with modifications for changes in wind load, etc...

I took the Kaplan on-demand review course last time and while I think helpful, didn't really provide a lot of example problems; however, I did not purchase their texts either. I'm thinking of maybe doing the School of PE review this time. Wanted to get any opinions on the quality of it and I'm also concerned about having enough time to get through the material before the exam (under 7 weeks now). I've read that the handbook(?) they provide you with is priceless... A former co-worker (who passed) took the course and said it was hit or miss depending on the professor.

Any insight is appreciated.

 

[Archie264]

I can't speak to the course but several resources contain a lot of practice problems. These include AISC's Examples Based on the AISC Manual (downloadable free); ACI's Notes on ACI 318 (not free but reasonable); NDS's Solved Wood Design Examples, included with the 2005 code (an excellent resource, in my opinion); NCEES' Structural Engineering Problems and Solutions (worthwhile and reasonably priced). Get those and start cranking through the design examples and supplement it with a masonry book and one or two other resources and I think you'd be most of the way there.

TheMightyEngineer just successful sat for the exams; maybe he could comment?

 

[Ingenuity]

ACI's Notes on ACI 318 (not free but reasonable)

I think you may be referring to PCA Notes on ACI-318 which is actually a free PDF download of the ACI 318-11 edition here: Link

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

For what it's worth, I passed without taking a review course and just studying printed examples (such as the ones mentioned above).

Maine Professional and Structural Engineer.

http://www.fepc.us

(Just passed the 16-hour SE exam, woohoo!)

 

[SLTA]

I used the School of PE when I was taking my PE exam, and thought it was an excellent review. The binder was indeed super-helpful during the test. Haven't taken the lateral version, but my experience was good.

Please remember: we're not all guys!