Non-patent folks: how did you study?

[ip770]

I'm an engineer with no patent experience yet and plan on taking the patent bar in a few months. 
For those of you that didn't have any exposure to patents, how did you go about studying?

I'm contemplating doing the October PLI course, but not sure if I should review materials on my own for a little bit before I go take the course, or if it's ok to just go straight to the course cold and start there.  I have tons of time to devote to studying, so I'm happy to do it either way; just trying to figure out the most effective method.

Would love to hear how you made it happen!

Thanks.

[MarkDighton]

We do NOT recommend just showing up at the live course. We assign about 20 hours of study in advance of the live course, and you may need a little more if you don't have much of a patent background. So, if you want to attend the live course in NY (now two weeks and two days away), you should order ASAP. The confirmation will include a link so that you can start studying right away, while you wait for your books to arrive.
Sincerely,
Mark Dighton
Admin. Director, Patent Office Exam Course
PLI

P.S.: I hope you don't mind me answering.... I usually just lurk here, but this sounded like the kind of thing where you might need an answer from "the horse's mouth."

[Tobmapsatonmi]

generally good advice from Mark.  If you were not going to an in-person class it would matter less, because you can always back up (disc/online, whatever) and go over sections repetitively. But if you're in person, spend 60 or so hours with the materials before attending else you reduce what you will absorb at the in-corpus class.

[ip770]

We assign about 20 hours of study in advance of the live course

Hi Mark,
I absolutely appreciate you chiming in.  I signed up for the PLI course last week and will be attending the NY session.  I've completed the online pre-course sections (~2.5 hours).  But seems like I'm missing something; what are the other things I should be studying in advance of the live course?
Thanks!