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Pass! (what I used to study)

PostPosted: Fri Jul 28, 2017 3:20 pm
by Anthony4
I got the result yesterday that I passed the SS exam. So far I’ve taken all of the 4.0 exams and the SS by far took the most study time. Here is my quick list of study materials:

Thaddeus online seminar - This was the bulk of my study material (85%). I watched all the videos, took detailed notes, and then studied the notes. I think Thaddeus covers most of what's on the test except maybe more detailed wind and earthquake concepts.

Buildings at risk: seismic design basics - read it to understand concepts

Buildings at risk: wind design basics - read it to understand concepts

FEMA 454: chapters 4, 5, 8, 9 - read it for concepts (FEMA and B@R overlap somewhat but it's still helpful to read both)

Jenny's notes - Skimmed though the notes a few days before the exam

Kaplan - I only used the Questions & Answer portion and went through about 200 of the 470 questions.

IBC ch 16 - Read some of the tables.

Vignette - The SS vignette is probably one of the easiest vignettes but I took it very seriously after failing the BS vignette. I got the Coach playbook and practiced. Thaddeus also has a vignette section which was helpful.

I highly recommend the Thaddeus seminar. It was much easier for me to learn though a video seminar rather than reading from a book. Thaddeus will also steer you away from trying to learn heavy math and sticking to concepts.
For anyone interested, Marty's Notes are from the Thaddeus seminar. I didn't use those to study but my own notes from the Thaddeus seminar ended up being very similar to his.

Re: Pass! (what I used to study)

PostPosted: Fri Jul 28, 2017 8:11 pm
by techtonix
Congrats!

Were there a lot of equations on your test or just a handful.
I totally get the concepts intuitively, math though. I can only calc shear and moment. My test is on Tuesday.

Mind taking a look at my vignette, it's call Mike's alternate?

Re: Pass! (what I used to study)

PostPosted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 3:12 pm
by Anthony4
Not a lot of questions where I had to recall equations but I think it helps knowing them. The majority of the test was more on concepts but there were still questions where I had to do calculations.
They also provide simple beam diagrams and formulas during the test. Be familiar with those sheets in case you have to look something up.

Re: Pass! (what I used to study)

PostPosted: Mon Sep 11, 2017 2:14 pm
by lule99
congratulations! where can I get Marty's notes?