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CBO Technology Exam

R

righter101

Gold Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2009
Messages
604
11-11-11

Passed it.

Thanks to all of those who provided discussion and input to the exam. JP Ranch was especially helpful. He passed on some info on sections to focus on out of the NEC (which I was not that familiar with).

I am going to take the Legal/Mgmnt. in December sometime.
 
Congrats on the Tech!

Lots of references to haul in for the Legal, spend your time getting familiar with the non-code references, their content and layout. You already now the codes layouts.

Good luck!
 
Congratulations!!! Feels good dosen't it! The Legal Management side will be changing after the first of the year. Two referenced texts will be relpaced. Give me a call. W: (307) 686-5260
 
Just to let you all know I talked with the director for exams in Phoenix 2 weeks ago. She told me that after the first of the year the "Basic Budget and Financial Administration for Building Officials 2005" and " Effective Supervisory Practices" will be replaced. I do not know what will replace them but I'm very glad that they are getting rid of the 2nd one.
 
Thanks to all for the encouragement.

I didn't know that the books were changing after Jan 1., but that will motivate me to get Legal/Mgmt. module done next month.

Thanks again.
 
New guy here. Just looking around trying to get some input about the Technology module side of the CBO exam. I noticed there was a comment about certain sections of the NEC I should be looking at? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks, Eric. Building Inspector for Gunnison, Colorado
 
:inspctr Thanks, This site seems like a great find... Ask/answer questions that no one else knows/cares about.
 
Hey Eric! Welcome! My lil' sis lives in Gunny, pretty country, but darn cold in the winter, you're a better man than I.
 
Mr.Inspector said:
New guy here. Just looking around trying to get some input about the Technology module side of the CBO exam. I noticed there was a comment about certain sections of the NEC I should be looking at? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks, Eric. Building Inspector for Gunnison, Colorado
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Call me next week. (307) 686-5260. Jim Brown. I can help you.
 
Thanks for the update JPranch on the book update, that will motivate me to finish the legal portion this next month, how bad was this exam compared to the technology portion?. congrats righter101.
 
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For me, the legal & management including budgeting, was much easier than the tech part (which for me wasn't that hard either). Lots of repetitive budgeting questions (after the same question appeared twice - in exactly the same wording - I said to myself.. ok, that's important.. and it appeared 3 more times.

Curious what they are replacing the reference material with.
 
Make sure you have all of the allowed reference material with you for the exams. I somehow misplaced "Legal Aspects" when I took the legal/management portion and a ton of questions were out of that book. Of course when I re-took that portion they didn't ask hardly anything out of that book. Go figure.

I thought the technical portion was easier than the legal/management, jmho.
 
Yea Codegeek, i forgot to bring a couple of books to the tech portion, bad mistake, retook with all applicable material and seemed to be much easier, just not a big test taker, for me the whole room sounds like a concert when i am in there. Thanks Jp, peach and codegeek for your response.
 
Well I am here again getting motivated.. Studying for the CBO Technology exam. :D Has anyone taken the online course offered on the ICC Campus? I have found that these help to get you ready for what the test will be like. Also, still need to give Jim Brown a call in regards to what to expect. Is ther alot from the NEC? Worried about knowing just enough about electrical to be dangerous.
 
Mr.Inspector said:
Well I am here again getting motivated.. Studying for the CBO Technology exam. :D Has anyone taken the online course offered on the ICC Campus? I have found that these help to get you ready for what the test will be like. Also, still need to give Jim Brown a call in regards to what to expect. Is ther alot from the NEC? Worried about knowing just enough about electrical to be dangerous.
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I live in Washington and our State does all of the electrical inspections, not the local jurisdictions so I too am not that familiar with the NEC.

I called JP Ranch (Jim) before I took mine and he gave me some pointers on what sections of the NEC they hammered home in the class he took. What I did when I talked to Jim on the phone was have the NEC open and took a highlighter to the sections he referenced.

For studying I reviewed the books I was most familiar with 1st, (IBC, IRC, IMC) and saved the NEC for the 2 days before the exam.

I had a new NEC but didn't have tabs put in yet. Tabbing the book is helpful to get familiar with it. Also, the NEC that I had highlighted after talking to JP was my office copy and I had a new one at home for testing. I transfered all of the highlights to my new book, reading all of the sections. I also used one of the first pages in the NEC and wrote down the page or section number that was highlighted and a brief description of what it was. This really helped me remember where those sections were.

I bought "code check" for residential and read that before my exam.

I passed my CBO Tech on my first try and spent 6-7 hours reviewing the NEC in the last 2 days before the exam. rationale being that it would be freshest in my mind. There was 5, 6 or 7 questions on the exam from the NEC and I think I got them all correct.

I would read the section headings, not the actual code text, but become familiar with the location of the info.

I was glad I did spend 2 evenings reading the NEC and code check.

I wouldn't worry about it. If you put some effort in to familiarizing yourself with it, you should be fine.

One suggestion that someone else mentioned that I didn't read until after my exam, is to take the index out of the book you are using for quicker reference. Good tip.

Good luck and let us know how you did.

I don't remember a ton of specifics from the test, but feel free to contact me and pick my brain a bit more. JP Ranch had his notes from a weeklong test prep course he took, so that was very useful.
 
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