Seismic Design Review

In order to be licensed as a Civil engineer in the State of California, applicants must take and pass all of the following: NCEES Principles & Practice of Engineering (PE) Examination – computer-based test (CBT) format, 80 questions, multiple-choice, 8 hours in length California P.E. State Laws & Board Rules Exam (Take Home Exam) Civil Engineering Surveying (CES) Principles Exam – computer-based test (CBT) format, 55 questions, multiple choice, 2.5 hours in length Civil Seismic Principles (CSP) Exam – computer-based test (CBT) format, 55 questions, multiple choice, 2.5 hours in length Exams do not have to be passed concurrently; they may be passed separately. Applicants licensed as a Civil PE in another State may apply for comity, and typically are only required to take and pass the CA Special Civil Engineer exams (i.e., CES and CSP exams), and the Take Home exam.

Besides the SDR Workbook and SDR Practice Exams, it is recommended that participants also have access to ASCE 7-16 - Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures; ASCE 7-16 - Supplements 1, 2 & 3; and either the 2021 International Building Code (IBC) or the 2022 California Building Code (CBC) - Volume 2.

Yes, BUT be aware that some questions on the CSP exam may refer to 2022 CBC sections, tables or figures. These are essentially identical to the very same sections, tables and figures found in the 2021 IBC, BUT they DO NOT necessarily share the same page numbers. The advantage to using the 2021 IBC is that it is simpler (i.e., one volume instead of two volumes) and it is nearly half the cost of the 2022 CBC.

That is strongly recommended, not only because the CSP exam uses the 2022 CBC/2021 IBC as references, but also because the SDR Workbook and SDR Practice Exams refer to the 2021 IBC in many of the solutions.

You can certainly attempt to pass the CSP exam using the previous SDR Workbook. But if you do not pass the exam, you should consider purchasing the new SDR Workbook. Also, do not use the previous SDR Workbook with the 2024 SDR Live Webinars or 2024 SDR On-Demand Webinars since the material will not match up.

Seismic Design Review began providing SDR Live (in-person) Seminars in 1990 – more than thirty-three years ago. The SDR Live Webinar and SDR On-Demand Webinar options were added prior to the April 2011 CSP examinations. SDR Live (in-person) Seminars were discontinued in 2020.

No, currently there are no CEU's or PDH's issued for participating in the SDR Live Webinars, or SDR On-Demand Webinars. These courses are not intended for continuing education or professional development, but rather are intended to prepare examinees for the CA Civil Seismic Principles (CSP) exam only. BUT a completion certificate may be requested, when the course is completed, which will note the dates of the course, the cost, and total hours which may be submitted and accepted by some states as satisfying CEU or PDH requirements.

All courses address the topics that fall under the seven primary content areas of the new Civil Seismic Principles (CSP) Test Plan: Seismic Data and Seismic Design Criteria Seismic Characteristics of Engineered System Seismic Vulnerability and Improvement of Structural Systems Seismic Forces: Building Structures Seismic Forces: Non-Building Structures, Components, and Equipment Seismic Analysis Procedures Seismic Detailing and Construction Quality Control

Credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover Card), Debit Cards, PayPal, or Venmo are available for all on-line purchases. Mail-in course registrations and mail-in book orders may use personal checks, cashier/bank checks, or money orders only. State or Federal Agencies may contact us directly for additional payment options that may be accepted.

We strongly recommend that you ONLY sign up for one of the courses AFTER you have received application approval and your application status is noted as “Exam Eligible” in BPELSG Connect. Typically, it can take 5 to 6 months from the time you submit your application to BPELSG, to when you receive application approval. There are too many unknowns at stake, and you may find that you are not approved to take the CSP exam for many exam cycles (sometimes years) if BPELSG has any issues with your qualifying experience.

We recommend that you DO NOT take the two exams in the same quarter. Or if you must, stagger them as far apart as possible (e.g., CES exam early in the quarter, CSP exam late in the quarter) so you are NOT studying for both exams at the same time. Too often applicants take on too much and find that they fail BOTH exams when they study and take them too close together.

Yes, a $25 discount is provided as long as the purchase is made at the same time and using the appropriate discounted SDR Book Bundle option.

There are no discounts for multiple SDR Book Bundle, SDR Workbook, and/or multiple SDR Practice Exam book orders other than a savings in the shipping charge. Please contact us to determine the applicable shipping charge for multiple book orders.

Yes, but please contact us and provide your complete shipping address to determine the applicable shipping charge. In most cases, an invoice will be emailed to you through PayPal when the shipping charge is finalized.

Due to the extensive revisions required on the SDR Workbook based on the 2021 IBC and ASCE 7-16, that is not an option.

Yes. During the checkout/purchase process you can choose the actual start date of your 4 months of access to the on-demand webinars. Once your start date arrives and your access begins, if you are NOT ready to start studying and access the on-demand content, you may contact us to "suspend" (i.e., pause) your on-demand access. When you are ready to start again, contact us on the day you would like us to “reactivate” your account. You may “suspend” and “reactivate” your account as often as you want and your original end date will be extended by the total number of days the account was “suspended”.

You will have 24/7 access to the on-demand webinar content for a period of 4 months from your chosen start date, or until you pass the CSP (seismic) exam, whichever comes first. Choose a realistic start date so you do not waste any of your access time before you are ready to start studying. Also, immediately after you take the CSP exam, please contact us to "suspend" (i.e., pause) your on-demand access, while you are waiting for the exam results. If you do not pass, we can "reactivate" your account access and your original end date will be extended by the total number of days the account was “suspended”.

Yes. You may contact us at any time on the day you would like to "suspend" (i.e., pause) your on-demand access. When you are ready to start again, contact us on the day you would like us to “reactivate” your account. You may “suspend” and “reactivate” your account as often as you want and your original end date will be extended by the total number of days the account was “suspended”.

Yes, one additional month of access may be purchased for $150. Both at 14 days and 3 days prior to the current subscription end date, an automated email is sent notifying the customer that the subscription will be ending soon. Please email us at info@seismicreview.com and we can send a PayPal invoice to your email address which can be paid by credit or debit card, PayPal, Venmo, etc. Once payment is received, your original access will be changed to expire on the same date of the following month (e.g., extended from July 7th to August 7th). Additional one month extensions may be purchased later as needed.

Access the 2024 SDR On-Demand Webinars content by clicking on the "Log in" button from the Webinars section of the homepage (i.e., just below the "Purchase" button and where noted "For returning users").

There is no restriction on how many times any video may be viewed. You will have access to all of the on-demand videos for a period of 4 months, or until you pass the CSP (seismic) exam, whichever comes first.

The SDR Workbook and SDR Practice Exams must be purchased separately from the SDR Live Webinars and SDR On-Demand Webinars. A $25 discount is included when the SDR Workbook and SDR Practice Exams are ordered together as the SDR Book Bundle.

Steven T. Hiner, MS, SE is the presenter for all Live and On-Demand Webinars.

Many online seminars (webinars) provide printable pdf's of their presentation slides, sometimes 2 slides per page, or up to 6 to 10 slides per page. SDR does not provide pdf's of the slides for several reasons. First, most professional development webinars are only 1 to 2 hours long and typically may include up to one hundred slides while the SDR On-Demand Webinars includes more than 50 hours of content and several thousands of slides. Second, most of the slides come directly out of the material in the lecture notes from the SDR workbook and many of those slides are animated in some fashion that a pdf hard-copy would be of little use to try and convey the material on that slide. Lastly, anyone expecting to refer to thousands of slides during the CSP (seismic) exam could easily be setting themselves up to fail the exam as the CSP exam is extremely fast paced where there is very little time to refer to notes or references, at least on most of the problems. That being said, you can certainly take a screen capture of any slide you would like to have in hard-copy form (i.e., paste into a Word document, etc.) and create your own binder of those slides. BUT again, you should be very selective as to what slides you do that with as you are not going to have much time during the CSP exam to try and find them.

Yes, at the request of the course attendee, completion certificates can be provided (via email attachment) in pdf format at the end of the course. The completion certificates note the total video hours, and cost of the course.

Please contact us in advance and we can provide you access to the GoToWebinar recording. If you feel you are likely to miss more than five webinar sessions, please consider the SDR On-Demand Webinars instead.

Since 2020, based on responses received from course attendees in the form of emails and exam surveys, the passing rate for the SDR Live Webinars is nearly 90% and the passing rate for the SDR On-Demand Webinars is approximately 80%.

The 2024 SDR On-Demand Webinar content consists of the recorded and edited Winter 2024 SDR Live Webinars offered in January/February 2024. The main advantage to the SDR Live Webinars is that they allow attendees to interact live with the presenter and ask questions about the lecture material and homework assignments. The main advantage to the SDR On-Demand Webinars is that the participant can watch (stream) the content on their own schedule (24/7) and cover the content at their own pace rather than having to keep up with the pace of the SDR Live Webinars.

Please refer to this GoToWebinar System Requirements for attendees for Windows operating systems, Mac operating systems, iOS devices, and Android devices. Participants wishing to connect to audio using VoIP will need a fast Internet connection and speakers (a USB headset is recommended). A microphone is not a necessity.