Need advice. Preparing to test in Colorado

[BamaPanic1013]

I have been in trade for almost 10 years. I started prior to 2011 so I'm not required to have schooling so i never did it. Although, I do have almost 10 years of straight field experiance. I am waiting to be approved to take the test, I just don't know where to begin to start to preparing. Should I go straight to practice tests or is there a more comprehensive prep course? Thsnks for any advice.

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[jumper]

I have been in trade for almost 10 years. I started prior to 2011 so I'm not required to have schooling so i never did it. Although, I do have almost 10 years of straight field experiance. I am waiting to be approved to take the test, I just don't know where to begin to start to preparing. Should I go straight to practice tests or is there a more comprehensive prep course? Thsnks for any advice.

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Mike Holt, the sponsor of this site, overs comprehensive exam prep materials. I have bought them and used them to pass successfully.

Active participation here can really sharpen your skills also.

 

[BamaPanic1013]

Mike Holt, the sponsor of this site, overs comprehensive exam prep materials. I have bought them and used them to pass successfully.

Active participation here can really sharpen your skills also.

Should in just go with the test prep book, or do you think it would be more beneficial to get the whole library of dvds and all?

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[jumper]

Should in just go with the test prep book, or do you think it would be more beneficial to get the whole library of dvds and all?

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More is always better, but each person balances ones needs/wants against one's budget.

I have heard good thinks about the DVDs and members have posted that using them was very beneficial in preparing them for their test and credit the DVDs for them passing.

 

[kwired]

Should in just go with the test prep book, or do you think it would be more beneficial to get the whole library of dvds and all?

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Depends on what you have learned in your ten years of experience. If you have never or seldom opened a NEC, you probably will be lost when you take sample testing. If you have been actively involved in using NEC over those years you may not have much trouble with the sample test.

You may need to know other things besides NEC on your actual test - basic electricity concepts, and possibly Colorado electrical licensing laws are two main things that are likely.

 

[growler]

I have been in trade for almost 10 years. I started prior to 2011 so I'm not required to have schooling so i never did it. Although, I do have almost 10 years of straight field experiance. I am waiting to be approved to take the test, I just don't know where to begin to start to preparing. Should I go straight to practice tests or is there a more comprehensive prep course? Thsnks for any advice.

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Field work is great but you often end up doing one type of work and getting good at it and not knowing much about other types of electrical work.

The good thing about practice test ( if taken correctly) is that they will let you know areas where you are weak in knowledge. You need to find out what you don't know before you decide what to study.

One thing about all these test is that they are timed and they don't give a lot of time for each question. When you take a practice test be sure to try to do so in the allowed amount of time.

 

[ActionDave]

Should in just go with the test prep book, or do you think it would be more beneficial to get the whole library of dvds and all?

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The best thing you can do is hang out here and ask questions.

If you can afford the whole library then go for it, they are an excellent resource that will be relevant for at least ten years beyond the code cycle they are made under.

I can tell you what worked for me. For my Journeymans I bought the exam prep and did it and I grabbed every old EC&M magazine in our shop and read all the Stumped by the Code articles and looked up the references given in the answers. I passed first time.

I found this forum at the same time I was prepping for my Journeymans and participated regularly. Since that time I have not studied for any of my CE tests or my Master's test and I passed them all first time as well. That's not a coincidence believe me. I'm not selling myself short but I know how smart I am and I ain't in the super smart league.

 

[Fulthrotl]

I have been in trade for almost 10 years. I started prior to 2011 so I'm not required to have schooling so i never did it. Although, I do have almost 10 years of straight field experiance. I am waiting to be approved to take the test, I just don't know where to begin to start to preparing. Should I go straight to practice tests or is there a more comprehensive prep course? Thsnks for any advice.

so, as it sits, you have no formal training, and you
are about to take a test measuring your formal knowledge.

we don't know what you don't know.

and you don't know what you don't know until you sit down with a test.
there are services, including the curriculum mike holt offers, to fill in
the gaps.

california has had licensing for a pretty long while now. there are licensing
mills, both for journeymans license, and contractors license, where you just
sit at the computer, and take practice tests endlessly, until your scores were
comfortably in the passing range, then go in, and sit for the test. that way
works. i've used it, to a greater or lesser extent, for the state journeymans
license, state contractors license, LEED AP certificate, and other things as well.

as was mentioned, you might want to hang out here, as part of that continuing
education. you'll get more real world experience here of what works, and what
doesn't, than any single human being could get in day to day work. and reading
it, and throwing in your nickels worth of experience, as we all tend to do, helps
everyone here.

i've got iphone apps for code, wire fill, and all the day to day stuff one runs across.
when i've got a real question about something, here is where i go.

there is a wide, varied, and occasionally annoying collection of really smart people
on here, regarding electricianeering. there is no way to have access at any price
to the collective information available here for free.

 

[jumper]

......there is a wide, varied, and occasionally annoying collection of really smart people
on here.....

Not totally accurate, I am not really smart and pretty much annoying all the time, but some how they let me in.

 

[AKElectrician]

$$ gotta spend some to earn more….

$$ gotta spend some to earn more….

I would start taking online practice tests, JADE, Mike Holt, PSI, Union Halls all have practice tests you can purchase. Better to buy these tests and practice on them, than to pay for a real life test to practice on. I would cheat through all of the practice tests use every book, internet page and spread sheet to find the correct answers, you'll remember the answer better and learn where it is in your codebook. If you can write in your codebook for your test, make every note and highlight important parts of your code book Mike Holt said it best "Personalize your code book". Write down the ohms law chart or get a sticker and put it in your book somewhere. I would write every calc you can't remember while taking practice tests they will show you what ones you'll need. Use the index for keywords in sentences. Use the table of contents to find materials for use, like supporting questions etc for; RMC, EMT, LFMC etc. Write down other codes pertaining to other parts of the book 310.15 is one that has other aspects throughout the code involved in it write them down for reminders. Take all the allotted time even if its to go back through your test and recheck some harder questions. Other good ways to prep is to take and read the code on the stuff you worked with that day or are going to work on the next day, short little paragraphs mostly couple pages at most a day is easier than front to back reading. Its not a book your supposed to remember word for word its a book your supposed to know how to read. Also READ every question TWICE there are a lot of trip up questions in the tests I have taken.
I would say that voltage drop, single and multi family dwelling calcs, H.P., Motor loads, and raceway calcs, for single and three phase are good ones to solidify in your head if they are not already.

 

[jumper]

I would start taking online practice tests, JADE, Mike Holt, PSI, Union Halls all have practice tests you can purchase. Better to buy these tests and practice on them, than to pay for a real life test to practice on. I would cheat through all of the practice tests use every book, internet page and spread sheet to find the correct answers, you'll remember the answer better and learn where it is in your codebook. If you can write in your codebook for your test, make every note and highlight important parts of your code book Mike Holt said it best "Personalize your code book". Write down the ohms law chart or get a sticker and put it in your book somewhere. I would write every calc you can't remember while taking practice tests they will show you what ones you'll need. Use the index for keywords in sentences. Use the table of contents to find materials for use, like supporting questions etc for; RMC, EMT, LFMC etc. Write down other codes pertaining to other parts of the book 310.15 is one that has other aspects throughout the code involved in it write them down for reminders. Take all the allotted time even if its to go back through your test and recheck some harder questions. Other good ways to prep is to take and read the code on the stuff you worked with that day or are going to work on the next day, short little paragraphs mostly couple pages at most a day is easier than front to back reading. Its not a book your supposed to remember word for word its a book your supposed to know how to read. Also READ every question TWICE there are a lot of trip up questions in the tests I have taken.
I would say that voltage drop, single and multi family dwelling calcs, H.P., Motor loads, and raceway calcs, for single and three phase are good ones to solidify in your head if they are not already.

AK, I do not mean this unkindly, but please hit the return key a bit more often - large blocks of text are a tad hard for us old folks to read.