PE Power prep compared: the courses, the practice exams, and where CastorPrep fits

Prices and products change, so verify with each provider before you buy. CastorPrep is an independent study aid, and isn't affiliated with or endorsed by NCEES or any provider named here.

Most of your PE Power study hours go into working problems, so the practice you choose matters as much as the course. This page puts the well-known options side by side, then covers what to check before you pay and how each course and book pairs with CastorPrep.

Whatever else you use, take the NCEES practice exam. It's $59.95 and it's the benchmark.

Side by side

* Checked on each provider's site, November 2026. Prices change, so verify before you buy.

What to check before you buy

1. Whether it's on the October 2025 specification. The current PE Power specification took effect in October 2025. Some providers say so in those words; others say "latest" or "2025". Ask if it isn't stated. CastorPrep's Power problems are written to the October 2025 specification.
2. Which code editions it's written to. The exam scores the editions NCEES lists, including the 2020 National Electrical Code and the 2017 NESC. Material written to another edition still trains the method, but table values and article numbers can differ. The full list of supplied codes. CastorPrep's National Electrical Code problems use the 2020 edition.
3. How many problems you'll get before you've seen them all. Power candidates commonly buy a second source when the first runs out. Re-working the same set measures memory. See the familiarity trap. CastorPrep is a separate pool of problems across every exam area, so it works as that second source beside any course or book here.
4. What happens when you're stuck. A worked solution shows the right path. It cannot see which step of yours left it. A course answers this with an instructor, on the class schedule. CastorPrep answers it with Castor, the AI tutor, on every problem: it works from that problem's own worked solution, coaches before you answer without handing you the result, and afterward shows the step where yours diverged. Solutions cite the NCEES reference handbook section wherever the method has one.
5. Whether it has qualitative questions. Passers keep reporting more of them than they expected. What they are. Electrical PE Review includes a 100-question qualitative set. In CastorPrep you can ask Castor why an option is wrong, or what changes if one given changes.
6. Whether you can rehearse the whole exam on screen. The exam is taken on a computer, with alternative item types beside multiple choice. The NCEES practice exam and several of the practice exams here are PDFs; PPI and School of PE offer online practice. CastorPrep's practice is on screen, with the alternative item types and the diagrams the problems depend on, and its full-length Power mocks are 80 questions timed at exam pace, with a report on where the points went.
7. What the guarantee asks of you. Most have conditions: a minimum enrollment, attendance or homework scores, and a deadline to sit the exam. They are summarized below, and the provider's own page is the authority.

The benchmark: NCEES

NCEES PE Electrical and Computer: Power practice exam. $59.95, written by the organization that writes the real exam.

• It's a PDF e-book with lifetime access, not an online simulator.
• Take it once, timed and cold, as a reading of where you are. Each repeat of the same questions measures memory more than readiness. More on using it well.

The courses, and how CastorPrep pairs with each

A course teaches the material. CastorPrep is where you practice it on fresh problems and get unstuck between classes. Pick the course that suits how you learn, and use CastorPrep alongside it.

Electrical PE Review (Zach Stone, P.E.). The course Power passers name most often. Power only.

• What you get: live weekly webinar classes (winter and summer; recordings the rest of the year), 200+ explainer videos, 400+ practice problems, two 80-question practice exams as PDFs (one all alternative item types), a 100-question qualitative set, and a practice exam generator.
• Price: $299 a month, or $1,196 for six months.
• If you don't pass: re-enrollment at no charge, with no completion or score requirement. It applies to the six-month package or at least two consecutive paid months, and you must sit within a month of your enrollment ending.
• Worth knowing: candidates describe its practice exams as harder than the real exam, so a low score there is not a forecast.
• With CastorPrep: a second pool of problems for when you've been through the course's set, and the tutor for the evenings when class is days away.

Study for FE (Wasim Asghar, P.E.). On-demand lectures, live cohorts and a study guide, by an instructor many candidates already know from the FE.

• What you get: 160+ lectures, 80+ quizzes, 13 timed mini-exams and a full-length practice exam on the monthly plan. The six-month bundle adds live cohorts, a 29-hour master class, a second full-length exam and 400+ homework questions with video explanations.
• Price: $333 a month, $1,333 for the six-month bundle, or $2,444 for twelve months. A 10% promotion was showing when we checked.
• If you don't pass: a repeat of the same length on the six- and twelve-month bundles, with no study requirement. Sit within 30 days of the bundle ending and claim within 30 days of the exam.
• Specification: the site states the content is updated for the October 1, 2025 changes.
• With CastorPrep: the course teaches the theory in depth. CastorPrep adds exam-style practice on problems you haven't seen, with help on each one.

PPI (Kaplan). The longest-established name in PE prep.

• Courses: live online at $2,595 for a four-month session; on demand at $1,595 for three months, $2,295 for six or $2,795 for twelve.
• Learning Hub (question bank, review manual, two practice exams and diagnostics): $695 for three months, $895 for six, $1,075 for twelve, or $275 a month.
• Books: Reference Manual ($259), Study Guide ($105), Practice Exams ($115, two 80-question exams) and Practice Problems ($115).
• If you don't pass: the live course's guarantee requires 75% or higher on all assigned homework and gives an on-demand course.
• Specification and codes: the bundles are marked as updated for the October 2025 specification. The Practice Exams book's page lists the 2017 NEC, so check the edition before relying on its code questions.
• With CastorPrep: PPI's manuals are the reference shelf. CastorPrep is the daily practice, with help on every problem.

School of PE. A lecture course with its own question bank (an exam simulator, a quiz generator and a diagnostic).

• Course price: on demand at $499 a month, $1,599 for four months, $1,999 for six, $2,399 for twelve. Live online plus on demand is $1,699 with early registration ($2,199 list).
• Question bank price: on its own, $139 for one month or $399 for four.
• Workbook: 80 practice problems, $59 in paperback, marked as updated to the 2025 specification.
• If you don't pass: a repeat of the course, on courses of four months or longer. You must have attended the live classes (up to three absences) or watched at least 80% of the videos.
• With CastorPrep: a second, different pool of problems means you're not re-working one set, and every problem comes with the tutor.

Engineering Pro Guides. Low-cost courses and the practice exams many Power candidates add as a second source.

• Practice exams: 80-question PDFs at $42 each, including one that is all code questions. Six exams (480 problems) are $150 as a bundle.
• Textbook: $45, 726 pages, PDF.
• Courses: on demand at $495 for two months, $600 for three, or $750 until you pass. Live plus on demand at $595, $750 or $950, with the exam bundle and a printed textbook included.
• With CastorPrep: their exams are full sittings on paper. CastorPrep is the practice between them, on screen, with a tutor on every problem.

Georgia Tech Professional Education. A university-run online review course for the Power exam.

• Price: $985. The current run is November 2026 to May 2027.
• What you get: lecture notes and an NCEES sample exam shipped to you.
• With CastorPrep: the course supplies the teaching, and a practice bank supplies the volume.

Testmasters. A classroom-style review, also offered online.

• Price: $1,499 for the online course, with four months of access.
• If you don't pass: the next online course at no charge, if you attended every class and completed the assignments.
• With CastorPrep: the same pairing: lectures from the course, fresh problems and the tutor from CastorPrep.

Books and practice exams for self-study

A common self-study stack among Power passers is the NCEES practice exam, one study guide and one or two sets of practice exams:

• Study guides: the Engineering Pro Guides textbook ($45), PPI's Reference Manual ($259), or the Study Guide for PE Electrical and Computer: Power Exam by Wasim Asghar (sold through booksellers).
• Practice exams: the Engineering Pro Guides exams ($42 each or $150 for six), PPI's Practice Exams ($115), and Electrical PE Review's practice exam books (sold through booksellers).
• With CastorPrep: books give you full sittings. CastorPrep gives you the day-to-day reps by area and the tutor between them.

Putting it together

• Everyone: the NCEES practice exam, once, timed.
• Taking a course: follow it, and add CastorPrep for fresh reps and help between sessions. Every course above pairs the same way.
• Self-studying: a study guide and one set of practice exams for full sittings, and CastorPrep for the daily practice and the tutor.
• Not sure yet: try ten free Power problems, no account needed. Or start practicing and judge CastorPrep on real Power problems.

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CastorPrep is not affiliated with or endorsed by NCEES, Electrical PE Review, Study for FE, PPI/Kaplan, School of PE, Engineering Pro Guides, Georgia Tech, Testmasters, or any other provider named here. Product details and prices were checked on each provider's site in November 2026 and may change.