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Combination commercial certification

M

msmith

Registered User
Joined
Nov 17, 2015
Messages
10
Location
Fresno Ca
Hello all, I recently got hired for an estimator/inspector position for a county in California. I need to obtain my C5, that I'm pretty sure is a B2,E2,M2, and P2. If anyone has advice or study material suggestions I would really appreciate the help!:smile:
 
Thanks! I'm very green when it comes to this whole getting certified thing. The guy that's supervising me is saying that the certifications for California are different than the regular ICC ones, I'm not really clear on that from the research I've done. Also I'm looking for tips on what code books I will need, and what you guys recommend for maybe a tabbed book or even a good online course. I'm supposed to obtain my C5 within a year so I want to get started asap.
 
What ever books are required for the test

Tab the chapters, table of contents, and index

Do not try to memorize, know what chapter to look in for a specific item
 
Also do a search with different words

There are past questions on certs and testing
 
Greetings

I do a lot of marking in my books. I have a method that works well for me and involves several colors of hi lighters. ex. In the NEC, I will use one color to hi light each code section dealing with a specific topic like 230.66, 230.70, 230.71 and so on. Currently in my book I used a light green for those sections throughout the entire book. That way when I'm looking for a specific section, I know I'm looking for green. Green will not be used for anything else in the entire book. I break down a book in that fashion so that the colors will jump out. Another thing I do is put a circle in red pen around each number in the entire book. Ex. red ink around all measurements, amperage ratings, numbers indicating amounts like the "two to six" disconnects. I have found that usually about 35% of the questions are dealing with a number. So if I'm scanning a page looking for say a wire size, then I don't have to read the whole friggin page. Just scan the page for the red circles and it really helps. There might be a page or 2 that have a bunch of numerical values so sometime I might just put a red circle at the top of the page or next to a paragraph that has a lot of numbers like 240.6 of the NEC.

In other words I figure up a plan to mark the book so that I have to do a minimal amount of reading. And do the whole book in a consistent manner. Also, spending all of that time marking up the book helps in memorizing a lot of the stuff anyway. Just plan ahead and don't overmark the book. You can shoot yourself in the foot that way.

Tab the books too. I buy the tabs for the book and then I usually throw in a few homemade tabs to stand out for certain sections that I know will come up.

Hope this might help.

BSSTG
 
BSSTG said:
GreetingsI do a lot of marking in my books. I have a method that works well for me and involves several colors of hi lighters. ex. In the NEC, I will use one color to hi light each code section dealing with a specific topic like 230.66, 230.70, 230.71 and so on. Currently in my book I used a light green for those sections throughout the entire book. That way when I'm looking for a specific section, I know I'm looking for green. Green will not be used for anything else in the entire book. I break down a book in that fashion so that the colors will jump out. Another thing I do is put a circle in red pen around each number in the entire book. Ex. red ink around all measurements, amperage ratings, numbers indicating amounts like the "two to six" disconnects. I have found that usually about 35% of the questions are dealing with a number. So if I'm scanning a page looking for say a wire size, then I don't have to read the whole friggin page. Just scan the page for the red circles and it really helps. There might be a page or 2 that have a bunch of numerical values so sometime I might just put a red circle at the top of the page or next to a paragraph that has a lot of numbers like 240.6 of the NEC.

In other words I figure up a plan to mark the book so that I have to do a minimal amount of reading. And do the whole book in a consistent manner. Also, spending all of that time marking up the book helps in memorizing a lot of the stuff anyway. Just plan ahead and don't overmark the book. You can shoot yourself in the foot that way.

Tab the books too. I buy the tabs for the book and then I usually throw in a few homemade tabs to stand out for certain sections that I know will come up.

Hope this might help.

BSSTG
Click to expand...
I do / have done much the same with all my books. For me, it works very well.
 
Thanks everyone for the tips! Fortunately/unfortunately my boss and everyone else is clueless on what certs they actually want me to have. 99% of this job is estimating jobs and dealing with outside contractors. At least if I get the certs that they stated on the position rules I'll be golden.
 
Another question for you guys, should I get the paperback versions of these code books or go with the loose leaf?
 
I prefer the loose leaf. They lay flat when taking a test or studying, you can remove pages to copy if needed. I also like to move the index to the front of the book when taking a test. You will be using the index a lot throughout the test.
 
I'd vote for loose leaf. Like MT, I remove my index when taking code tests. It saves a lot of time flipping between the index and the code during the test.
 
Funny,

I like paper back. Just me I guess. Loose leaf books are big and clunky. By the time I finish with paper back they lay flat too. If they don't, I beat the crud out of them to lay flat!

BS
 
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