by jackstatic » Mon Feb 12, 2018 11:52 am
So I am just sort of putting this here as my own personal post test follow up, or for info for anyone who may want it.
I took the test yesterday 1/11/18, an hour early per their usual request at this particular testing center (8am vs 9am, due to high occupancy of testers - there was no one there when I showed up and half the seats taken when i left at 1230)
Nervous, stomach in knots, I've been here before, 8 times before to be exact, my record was 6-2, I am going in to, what is hopefully my final test, a test that I failed miserably the first time around,
Lateral - 3, Seismic - 3, General - 2, Wind - 1, Vignette - 1
Was I just under prepared the first time? I read B@R wind and seismic, listened to fema chapter 4,5,8,9, read jennys, and watched marc mitalskis videos.
YES, I was grossly unprepared the first time, this time?
Super Prepared....
Let me preface this by saying Pay for Thaddeus.
I took Marc Mitalskis course the first time, and it was heavier and had more information. Thaddeus was broken down easier for me to digest. But Thaddeus was also way more expensive 100 vs 300 something? Mitalski also includes a great practice exam. Depends on your learning ability imho.
I watched David Thaddeus 2x, and reviewed all the notes, reviewed all my notes from the first fail, read Jennys, Ballast, B@R wind and seismic, read fema 4,5,8,9 as well as re listened to them, did 250 of the kaplan q&a, designer hacks, and 4.0/3.1 q&a, as well as read IBC chapter 16 (not at all useful the 2nd time around, but woah the first time....) and read these forums alot more than usual as well having taken and passed BDCS in September (I wish the gap wasnt so long between the 2 tests now)
Study Schedule as mentioned earlier in this thread was somewhat hard core, towards the end I was averaging 4hrs/day and 12 on weekends for the last 3 weeks or so and took off half of last week.
I take the test, and I am nowhere near as lost as I was last time...
I knew half of the questions without even thinking about them
I could narrow a 2/3rds of the remaining questions down to 2 choices, and the remaining questions were shots in the dark, that's basically how it's been for me on every test.
This test was MUCH easier than the first time, and I even saw some repeat questions....
There was a bunch of graphical stuff, I wish I read more construction details..
my current fear is I passed the MC and failed the Vignette due to a stupid mistake but even that was straight forward I believe.
PPP was still, hands down the hardest of these tests I have taken so far
Do I think I passed? No, but more importantly I also don't think I failed...
which is a weird feeling, because usually I am freaking out this whole week in a panic that I failed, except the last SS Exam, where I knew I failed, I knew I failed before even finishing the test.... that one was 90% guessing.
Maybe it's because there is not much riding on this single test. If I failed, I just reschedule for 2 months from Friday and keep studying... I know what questions I am unsure of and will study that material. Brush up on and memorize other stuff. I just spent so much time cramming for this test that I still know the information.
If I failed I will re-read
IBC Ch 16
B@R/FEMA - Probably 2x
Kaplan
Re-Read Kaplans BDCS for Soil, Concrete, Steel, and Soil,
Review all Thaddeus and Mitalski Notes
Re-Read Jenny
Pick up and study Hurricane and Seismic Construction details.
Of course if I pass I am going to leave work at like 11am to celebrate and not return to work until Monday.
Will keep you all posted, but the bottom line is, I was as prepared as I could have ever been for this test, shy of working for a structural engineering firm for 5 years.