Thaddeus seminar

[cdross]

I just attended the Thaddeus seminar and it was well worth it. Anyone considering it or on the fence about spending the money- take it. You'll be glad.

I took this test in April, failed, and I am now working on retaking it soon. The seminar really got me back in the mindset for the test (I was getting a bit worn down from them and needed some inspiration), he really presented everything clearly, provided so many helpful insights, and it was great to be in the company of others taking the exams. The handouts were great. They are similar to the ones you can print from the FTP site, but updated and more tailored to the 4.0 test. So it was well worth it!

Hope I pass this one second time around!

[takeARE]

I wish I had known about the seminar this weekend, more then once I've been told they are worth it. Unfortunately I just found out about it while looking at his schedule...
But I did find some nice study materials on his web site, not sure if this is already posted on the AREforum ftp site. 3 pdfs well worth a look:
http://www.nalsa.com/about-us/study-materials/

Good thing I do have several months before I take this one...

Good luck!

[zanilynn]

cdross,
Did Thaddeus give a suggestion on how long after his seminar you should take the exam? I scheduled my exam already and have decided to push it back so I can take his course in January when he comes to Charlotte. I'll need to push the exam back prior to attending his seminar so any advice on timeframe would be appreciated!

Thanks!
Suzanne

[lala22zz]

I am taking the Thaddeus seminar in November in Atlanta. On one of the documents I was sent it says he recommends 90 hours of study time post seminar.
I am excited about going (although my pocketbook is NOT)! This is my first time testing for SS and I plan to take the test right before Christmas so I can relax.....

[Grymatta]

Can you attend the seminar fresh without already studying for SS? Does anyone know his website address where his schedule and fees are?

thanks

[designyc]

Hey cdross,

I just attended the Rochester seminar as well. I am in the exact same boat as you having failed it in February. I can't stress enough how extremely important this seminar was in helping me understand the methods and concepts better.

I really believe you would better understand not going in blind. What I mean is, if you previously failed (like I did), you could tell the difference in how he teaches you how to calculate things versus how you learned in Ballast or Kaplan or in school even. I really believe you should study the calculations prior to going to the seminar to learn the hard way of doing it, and then taking the seminar and learning the easy way of doing it so you would have a better understanding of the calculations.

I've registered for the exam for November 18 which should be sufficient.

All I can do is agree with cdross and say that the seminar was well worth every penny!!!

[lala22zz]

Originally Posted by Grymatta

Can you attend the seminar fresh without already studying for SS? Does anyone know his website address where his schedule and fees are?

thanks

i believe the Thaddeus SS schedule is on the NALSA website. I paid $365 to attend, it's a little less if you are an AIA member of the local chapter that is hosting the event. I hope to review a little bit before I attend the seminar, but I have two other ARE exams scheduled prior to the seminar so I may be pretty burned out.
I have, however, organized my structures notes from school- and plan to look at all those before going to refresh myself.

Question: I have the Kaplan 4.0 study materials for SS- are they confusing? Should I not use them as a study source for SS?

[happy camper]

I attend his seminar at the AIA convention in Boston in 2007(?), having not studied at all prior to it. It was a 1 day crash course and a little overwhelming at the time.
I ended up taking other tests (my sequence of exams was already planned out so I didn't have to transition) and didn't get to taking the structures tests until about 6 months later, and it was a HUGE help!
He made structures finally click in my head with all of the visuals and how he simplifies it down. I ended up passing both structures exams the first time and I could have not done it without his seminar and handout, especially the sheet of equations that you must have down cold for the exam.
He also has a good sense of humor, which was seriously lacking in all of my structural professors.
The one main thing he did say about test sequence, is to take the Materials and methods (not sure which one the content is in now) because you may get a chunk of questions on those topics. I took MM afterwards, but did see how taking those in the reverse order would be more helpful.
Good luck all!
Cheers!

[lala22zz]

Yes, he recommended pairing SS with BDCS.

[joypog]

Originally Posted by lala22zz

Question: I have the Kaplan 4.0 study materials for SS- are they confusing? Should I not use them as a study source for SS?

dunno about thaddeus because I'm not taking the seminar (though I am going through his uploaded materials)

Kaplan can be extremely frustrating at times, but I do feel that it if you have it, you might as well use it. Personally I think Ballast (I have 5th ed, so I can't vouch for later eds) is clearer -- but then again, I went through Kaplan first so I could see that it may be the other way around for someone who jumped into SS with ballast.

Definitely go to their website and spend some time notating the errata before going forward with Kaplan