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LSIT/FS prep courses?
Posted by Paul on December 4, 2017 at 3:18 pmDoes anyone know of any good LSIT prep courses out there? One of my guys is looking into taking the test, but wants an actual prep course to go to first, if he can. Would prefer in person, not online. Didn’t see anything out there after a google search. Saw one place online, but that was it. Also, the Caltrans video series is pretty dated – is it any help at all these days? The local conferences (WA and OR) don’t appear to be doing anything this year for folks wanting to take the LSIT (and haven’t for the past couple years). Any ideas?
Thanks!
leegreen replied 5 years, 10 months ago 14 Members · 25 Replies- 25 Replies
Ted Madson (Land Surveyor, Professional Teacher, Attorney and Author) gives a 3 day seminar for the FS/PS exam review. This may be a long trip, but I assure you it will be well worth your time. I suggest you schedule your exam shortly after taking this seminar, as you will be well prepared. This is a classroom type seminar, with text books & programmed calculator provided, and hands on learning plus quizzes. Ted has scheduled two east coast seminars, one Orlando, FL (March 2018) and another in Utica, NY (April 2018). I will be attending the Utica class. For a detailed class outline see LSS-Seminars.com
Paul is in the PNW. Classes for his field crew in Orlando aren’t likely to get management approval.
The workshops given by Oregon State University were the go-to around here for a long time but they seem to be fading away.
There is this from Tony Nettleman:
I believe that this person is Walt Robillard’s son-in-law and a well respected author / teacher / seminar giver in his own right. But I may be mistaken.
- Posted by: Norman Oklahoma
There is this from Tony Nettleman:
I believe that this person is Walt Robillard’s son-in-law and a well respected author / teacher / seminar giver in his own right. But I may be mistaken.
I took Nettleman’s online PS online review course and honestly it was horrible. It had a bunch of wrong information and it was just recordings of his college lectures that he cut up and threw together. I emailed him and complained about the class and I did not get a response.
I passed all of my tests the first try so I am not bitter about it, I just did not find it helpful at all.
John Butcher has a bunch of useful information at http://www.hp33ssurveyor.com which helped me tremendously with the FS and PS. He is out of California too and might do classes.
Unfortunately I have to echo the other poster, Nettleman’s SIT prep course is terrible. Given it’s cost, I would go so far as to say it’s a disgrace and approaching a scam. The lectures are meandering and low quality. He’ll reference ‘what we did on Thursday’, indicating to me he wasn’t even bothered to edit or re-record his class lectures. His handouts are just Powerpoint slides. The practice questions are by far the most useless, don’t expect anything close to what you’ll see on the actual exam. He appears to be a well-respected professor, so I don’t quite understand why the quality of his test prep program is so poor.
If you relied solely on his course to study for your exam, there is absolutely no chance of passing.
- Posted by: NburgPosted by: Norman Oklahoma
There is this from Tony Nettleman:
I believe that this person is Walt Robillard’s son-in-law and a well respected author / teacher / seminar giver in his own right. But I may be mistaken.
I took Nettleman’s online PS online review course and honestly it was horrible. It had a bunch of wrong information and it was just recordings of his college lectures that he cut up and threw together. I emailed him and complained about the class and I did not get a response.
I passed all of my tests the first try so I am not bitter about it, I just did not find it helpful at all.
John Butcher has a bunch of useful information at http://www.hp33ssurveyor.com which helped me tremendously with the FS and PS. He is out of California too and might do classes.
The class is terrible, I complained and received a full refund.
Thanks Everyone:
Especially for the scoop on the Nettleman’s course. So what I think I’m hearing is that there really isn’t anything out there for prospective LSIT/FS takers (outside of what is randomly provided at state surveying organization conferences)?
Paul
Well none on the west coast, only in NY and FL as mentioned above at LSS-Seminars.com.
I could talk to Madison, may we can bring his course out west if there is enough interest. How far would you be willing to travel for a proven hands on course that has helped hundreds pass the FS/PS exam?
Me personally, not far at all. I took my LSIT right out of college. It is pretty easy to pass like that. For learning how to become a PLS as fast as possible (and taking and passing both tests) I would recommend a college degree (2 or 4 year) prior to the LSIT/FS to anyone. You’ll either pay it in student loans up front, or in time and lower wages on the back end.
For folks that didn’t do survey college, that is a different story. Unfortunately, most of them don’t have a lot of money to throw around for paying for classes to pass their LSIT/FS. Traveling outside of the state they live in (or outside the next one over) would be cost prohibitive to most pre-LSITs I’ve known. Some companies will pay for training and testing fees before the PLS test, but usually only AFTER the applicant passes their test (at least that’s how its been at most of the places I’ve ever worked). Most places won’t pay for training for the LSIT/FS, though some will pay for the testing fee after the applicant passes (again at the places I’ve worked).
Surveyors keep complaining about not having enough up and coming folks in the profession. Maybe not teaching to the non-degreed folks is part of the problem. Besides, they can make as much money doing other things, without the hassle and expense of obtaining survey licenses. It doesn’t take long for someone smart enough to teach themselves to pass the LSIT to figure that out (before they take the LSIT and lock themselves in a survey career).
Honestly, I’m pretty surprised that there is so little out there for preparing for the LSIT (for non-degreed folks). I expected to see all sorts of things pop up in a google search. Does that mean that there aren’t many of those folks around, that they can’t pay much for classes, or just don’t have the time? It would be nice to know.
Don’t know why I didn’t think of the program at Clark College sooner.
- Posted by: leegreen
Well none on the west coast, only in NY and FL as mentioned above at LSS-Seminars.com.
I could talk to Madison, may we can bring his course out west if there is enough interest. How far would you be willing to travel for a proven hands on course that has helped hundreds pass the FS/PS exam?
I second Teds course for the LSIT exam not so much for the PS exam. The Illinois courses are pretty good. I attached the link.
Looks like the course is dated 2014. Maybe they don’t put it on anymore? Thanks for the link! I’ll have my guy check it out and see if they just forgot to update the website.
http://iplsa.org/EventDetail?EventKey=FSREVIEW&WebsiteKey=19ffa606-a69c-47ce-8b82-7cfa9c4ae608
Idaho State University has a LSIT prep class but it’s a full blown class that runs an entire semester. The book for the class was just one of those ‘1001 survey test questions’ manuals that you can get off Amazon. We worked various problems between classes and the instructor would clarify things as needed but it was mostly a teach yourself deal.
TTT
Two east coasts FS/PS/LSIT review seminars
Orlando, FL (March 2018) and another in Utica, NY (April 2018).
Paul, I believe the last one we had at PLSO was by Tony Cuomo and it was years ago, prob when you were still on the committee or shortly there after. He Stopped doing them for a while 4-5 years ago and the last time we talked to him 2-3 years ago about it; his costs were more than we were willing to pay at that time since we were only getting a handful of associates at the conference. Would bringing him back draw more associates? I would hope so and maybe we can talk to him again about it for next year…. .. Just looked him up again and his website https://www.pacificlandseminars.com/ is back up and running and it looks like they are doing the test prep courses again.
- Posted by: leegreen
Ted Madson (Land Surveyor, Professional Teacher, Attorney and Author) gives a 3 day seminar for the FS/PS exam review. This may be a long trip, but I assure you it will be well worth your time. I suggest you schedule your exam shortly after taking this seminar, as you will be well prepared. This is a classroom type seminar, with text books & programmed calculator provided, and hands on learning plus quizzes. Ted has scheduled two east coast seminars, one Orlando, FL (March 2018) and another in Utica, NY (April 2018). I will be attending the Utica class. For a detailed class outline see LSS-Seminars.com
Appears not much interest in this review class. The price is more than most, but if anyone interested you should contact Ted soon.
I was hoping this could help a couple of my friends here in the NorthEast. If no more students sign up, the class is in jeopardy of canceling. ?
- Posted by: leegreen
Well none on the west coast, only in NY and FL as mentioned above at LSS-Seminars.com.
I could talk to Madison, may we can bring his course out west if there is enough interest. How far would you be willing to travel for a proven hands on course that has helped hundreds pass the FS/PS exam?
Although I do not like Madson because of some past self-promotional correspondence sent to all Surveyors in FL that really pissed off everyone in the Surveying community his live course is excellent. I??m certain that course helped me pass the FL exam first try.
Somebody recommend this seminar? How much time you have to study, after this seminar? He only do it one time a year in Florida?
The course will identify your strengths and weakness. Then focus on those. Each person is different.
Most take the exam asap following the course.
Dr. Elgin and Dr. Paiva put on a great review course here in Missouri every fall. It is usually held in August. It’s not listed yet, but once it is, check here:
http://www.missourisurveyor.org/calendar.php
This is a good course delivered in person and lots of study material given out. It is typically a 3-4 day course, with the first two days fundamentals last day or two PS and State Specific.
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