by kcljr2008 » Mon Mar 27, 2017 11:19 am
Thanks! Yea I was looking at Amberbook, Ive heard good things.
I may have briefly read Ballast, but didn't find it interesting of helpful. If anything I would go back and read ballast BDCS. I would say I went through all of Thaddeus 1.5-2 times. I also gave up on understanding trusses - method of sections / joints. Also, I found Thaddeus' practice test commentary incredibly helpful. If I had to choose where to put my time, I would make sure to read B@R and FEMA and Thaddeus lectures. Everybody's different, but that's what worked for me. Also, It may be helpful to go back and watch the pertinent lectures after you read B@R and FEMA.
Yea from what I recall, there are like 400 kaplan questions. I would try to get through as many of these as possible. Keep in mind that there are a lot of math questions, and the answers have a lot of errors (atleast my copy did). Also, I think the highest percentage I scored on this was around 70%, so don't feel too bad if you're doing poorly. Also, I thought the ballast practice questions were much easier than kaplan, which is odd because its usually the other way around.
For the flash cards I have the archiflash app on my phone, and this is helpful to kill time. In addition, when I was listening to Thaddeus or doing practice questions and there was something important I would make a flash card. For me the act of writing it down was enough to remember the concept, answer, equation etc.
FOCUS ON CONCEPTS, NOT MATH! You'll probably leave the test braindead and feeling like you failed, but more often than not it will be just fine. Also take the test on a Monday. Good Luck!