Paul ?
> Given some additional information I would make other suggestions.
>
> I do not waiver on the "Good Luck" response.
>
> Without other data, one can learn best from failure.
>
> Paul in PA
Fortunately for SWAG, his success is not dependent upon him providing you with additional data by which you can judge his level of readiness. His State Board has decided he is ready to take the exam. It's now up to him to prove he is ready to practice as a professional.
Instead of deriding him for exploring reasonable avenues of preparation, why don't you congratulate him for getting to the point he is? We were all a few months away from taking our first licensing exam at one point, and we were all (at least those of us with sense and really wanting to pass the first time) wondering if we were prepared enough and if there was something else we could or should do to prepare.
How many times did it take you to pass each of your exams, Paul? Did you have to learn enough to pass by failing an exam a time or two? Is that what you meant by learning from failure? Or are you, for some odd reason wishing failure on SWAG before he realizes success at the exam?
One actually can learn best from success. Learning from failure is the backup method.
Yes, a review course would work well if it is review, I will grant you that.
speaking of weekend seminars...
I just got a postcard in the mail for a CFI refresher. CFI indicates Certified Flight Instructor.
Mine expires in September but FAA will issue me a new one if I spend a weekend in a class that costs $219. If I sign up now for their late June class it is $189. The good news is they have one in Sacramento so I don't have travel or meal expenses. By 3pm on Sunday you are about ready to explode with sickness of technical flying chatter 😉
P.S. Exam Prep Courses, Not Necessarily Required
Having a BS in Geomatics, LSIT and most likely 4 years of experience after the Fundamentals of Surveying you should be ready.
Were you one of the many without formal education you might never be ready.
Looking at your pluses, you have passed the FS so are familiar with the exam style and the test taking and time limits.
Assuming you took the FS at graduation your 4 years of experience came to you while the education was still fresh in your mind. That makes your experience more valuable than the exact same 4 years while the mind is uneducated. However most firms are reluctant to put college educated minds in the field, so your experience may be office heavy rather the survey worldly. That knowledge does nor come from Larry P or from any book, but only from walking alongside a wizened old surveyor. Luckily that part of surveying is not very well covered in any written exam. You have a very good probability of passing without it. Just remember as you survey in the future what you don't know.
Take a look at your 4 years experience. Is it truly 4 years or just 1 years experience repeated 4 times. That shortfall is hard to make up and may require quiting where you are and going elsewhere for less money. That is my harshest advice.
Given the cost of travel, a review course has a rather low benefit/cost ratio for you so do not worry about it. Best advice find a mentor especially one who is able to walk around with you on a few Saturdays. Find a Georgia Law course. Get a copy of the FS and PS study exams, set them aside for now. Gather up, buy or borrow all your reference materials and get familiar with the the calculator you will use. Use it now in your day to day work even if you could get solutions faster with the "whiz banger" at the office. Come August or September sit down in a quiet place and take both practice exams, not necessarily at the same time. If the LSIT practice exam has 30 questions and that same part of the FS has 80 questions to be done 4 hours, give yourself 1.5 hours. At 1 hr 29 min and 59.9 seconds you are done. Score the test exams, then correct any wrong answers in red and complete any undone problems in red. This should give you an idea how you should do. If it is not a passing score your time would be better spent asking for a tuition refund from your college than on any further study.
Stop studying, watch some football for a few weeks, you are ready.
Paul in PA
Questions For Larry P ?
Vickie is far more than a Secretary. No big deal making the mistake thinking she is because it is easy to get that impression.
She and I discussed your suggestion. This is something we've been thinking about for quite awhile now. There are some technical issues to be worked out. Also, it is difficult to sit in a classroom for 2 or even 3 days of instruction. Done in front of your computer would be 10 times worse. Online is much more difficult for a good instructor as well.
The bottom line is, we are working on it; but, probably not in time for the fall exam. We do hope you can join us in Raleigh.
Larry P
PS: Don't feel at all badly about asking for good advice from this crowd. There will always be one or two folks who dislike everything. But like anything else, discount the outliers and in the middle you should find some good information. We always try to do things in such a way as to help our clients and get good reviews.
I put up the travel money to take a course from Mr. Keen (John maybe?) in NJ in winter 1994 or 1995. I enjoyed the course and instructor. Passed all three parts of the exams fall of 1995. It was not an exam review course explicitly, but I think it helped.
In addition I met others studying for the exam. Have kept in touch and gained interesting experience and income working with those contacts.
Sometimes it worth meeting people outside your area in addition to hearing as many instructor viewpoints as you can. Hard to tell what the long term value of courses like this will turn out to be. But I bet you wouldn't regret it.
Larrys outfit has been around a long time and has a good reputation. I've read many of his posts on the internet over the years and he's very knowledgable, so I'm sure a review course he's associated with will have correct information.
The weekend review seminar can be helpful as it can let you know where you are weak relative to others who may be taking the exam. I took every review seminar available the year I passed (not telling how many tries it took), but I had money then. They were worth whatever amount I was charged because I passed and didn't have to go through it again the next year.
The best things you can do for yourself are
4.Find out if there are any old exam problems available and do them and do them again.
3.Find out if your local professional orginizations have exam review groups to join.
2.Get a study buddy who is also taking the exam to work with and do problems with.
1.Schedule your study time and do problems, problems, problems. If your exam is like the one I took you do not have the time to be evaluating material for the first time, if you have done many similar problems you will have a great opportunity.
And of course good luck. The difference between an easy exam FOR YOU and an impossible one can be slightly different wording on the questions.