Just wanted to let everyone know that I passed SS. Just came back from a trip to NYC and doing some catching up.
Honestly I am shocked about the pass. I didn't feel too confident over this one.
I was all over with the studying for this one... and I have no clue how I would recommend studying for this one. I studied 2 months prior to the blackout date... I wasn't feeling it and didn't pull the trigger on taking this exam till after the blackout so that was about 4 months of studying for me. I guess one word of advice is just take a deep breath and start somewhere. Also don't be afraid to jump around different materials at different points. I was scattered and not organized in my studying. I started going half way through Kaplan... and jumped into Marc Mitalkski lectures... stopped half way through that, bought a book called Structure in Architecture - The Building of Buildings by Mario Salvadori, 3rd Edition which was the greatest thing I did during my studying. Someone suggested it in a old post some time ago and was raving about if you are struggling with concepts, this is the book. I never though reading about structures would be fun and so easy. The explanations are so simple, and I just got it. Kaplan was just making this worse for me, and once I got this book, it really has reinforced the concepts... there is no formulas in this book, just pure concepts and easy to understand diagrams. The book is a bit dated, as in the looks / graphically layout, but as they say... don't judge a book by its cover. I highly recommend this book if you struggling with just the concepts... I had a hard time putting the book down... go figure that!
Best thing was it was only 15 bucks! Buy this book guys! It's worth it in my honest opinion.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/013854 ... alarcce-20Also I highly recommend buying Marc Mitalkski lectures. I went through them TWICE... yes I said TWICE... and watching videos 3 times with the ones I was struggling with. Also after watching his lectures do his EquALs program which is about 300 practice problems to see what you are weak on.
Also I highly recommend doing Kaplan 500 and any Q+A you can get your hands on.
Archiflash cards were good as well if you have them.
I listened to FEMA and B@R audios, those were great while working.
Best of luck to everyone that is trying to slay this beast... it is possible. There were moments where I felt like throwing in the towel just for this one exam, and if structures was not your strength, you will get to that point I promise... but stick through it and you will pass. If I can do this, you can too!
Good luck everyone!
Special thanks to those that helped me, you know who you are! Thanks again!