CSWP Test Results

Well I got my email today from my test at SW World. Here are the
results:

Multiple Choice: 66 out of 100 This area was the most disappointing
for me. In my view, this is the hardest part of the entire test.

Basic Skills: 260 ouf of 300 Anyone thats taken the test can guess
where I had the problem, the frame. It was created correctly, I just
couldnt get the cross beam to stay tangent when the boss diameters were
changed. I have since figured it out, and by leaving out one feature,
this cost me 30 points!

Top Down Assembly: 65 out of 100 This is the area of the test I
felt the best with.

Total: 391 out of 500 9 points shy of passing.

Now here is the kicker. When they posted the results on monday
morning, I was extremely suprised I didnt pass. Especially considering
how good I felt with the modeling portion of the test. I knew I didnt
do to well on the multiple choice cause you get your score right away.
I also knew about the tangency problem on the frame.

The one area that I was sure might be a problem to the computerized
grading program, was with my top down assembly. Its a series of pipes
and caps that are assembled. One of the scoring criteria is to change
the largest pipes diameter, and to see if the caps change size also,
and if the model rebuilds successfully. When I did this to my model
the entire tree had errors. Upon doing a control-Q, the assembly
rebuilt fine. The only other obvious scoring error I found had to do
with a dimension.

Based on those corrections, I lost out on 25 points that I feel should
have gone my way, thus giving me a passing score. So I submitted my
request to have the test manually graded, along with what I found, and
I will see what the outcome is. I explained that if they feel that I
didnt pass, I will gladly take the test over, even if I have to pay for
it this time (as a usergroup leader I get 1 free test per year).

I understand the reason for the computer grading system, and I wouldnt
want to grade everyone of these thing manually either. I guess im just
putting this back in the hands of the Certification folks at
Solidworks, and hoping for a good outcome. Its great that they even
provide an avenue as to be able to question the results, and I thank
them for that.

When I hear anything, I will let everyone know.

 

Be careful about giving specifics. Not everyone here has taken the test
and it sounds different from the one I took 5 years ago. It is amazing
that a computer can grade the model at all. But I would agree that
there is more than one way to correctly model something.

Multiple choice would be hard for me because I have had to learn so
many versions of SWX.

 

Mike,
I failed the same test also. my problem was the same as yours in the cross
beam at the frame part. In the multiple choice part I did 68 out of 100. the
worst problem for me was time management! I've got stuck in the middle of
the last part of the test, advanced modelling skills (I took the freeform
designing part), without any time left.
I encourage everyone who fails the test to not give up - I'm certain that in
my next attempt I will do better!

Cheers,
Gil

 

Top,

I made sure to not give any specifics in my post for the reason that
you mentioned. The only people that would understand what im talking
about would be the ones that have taken this version of the test.

 

Gil,

Im curious as to why you chose the freeform part for the final part of
the test? The proctor in our room even said that was the hardest one
to do. I design plastic injection molds, so the top down assembly was
a obvious choice for me. What was your final total score?

 

Mike,
I choose the freeform part, for two reasons:
A. I come from the field of industrial design, and most of my works has to
do with freeform designing in Solidworks and Rhino.
B. I only know partially the topics Top-down assembly design and Sheetmetal
design although I already used them in limited scale on my work.

 

I dont think I would have done too well in the sheetmetal part, guess
thats why they give you a choice. Imagine if you had to do all three!!
Anyways, I did hear back, and its settled that I missed passing by 9
lousy points. So for me its a mission to pass it asap. Even though I
can wait and take it at next years event for free, it means more to
pass it before next year.

 

I was so frustrated the first time I took the exam (this past October).
I thought I'd done really well on it. I knew I'd choked on the multiple
choice part, but I was so confident that I'd aced the hands-on that I
was concerned. No such luck. I questioned some of the stuff I got wrong
but to no avail. I took the test again in December (to meet my goal of
passing in '05) and passed, but barely. Again, I question some of what
I was told was "wrong", but I didn't make too big of a stink as I'd
passed. They really should take a look at the program doing the
grading, IMO. I chose the sheet metal part. I don't do too much sheet
metal where I work, but I just seem to do well at it.

 

Sorry to hear you didn't pass the CSWP Mike. While I'm going to say that
you're not alone and many people don't pass the first time around I realize
this may not be very comforting. Keep your head up and give it another try.

 

I have to ask did you guys test the changes they suggested at the end
of each hands on section. Change some of the dimensions to make sure
that everything rebuilt correctly. I did and it worked out quite well
for me I think I had to make a few modifications after testing though
because something failed. I have no idea how they properly evaluate
the models with all the variables though.

Regards
Corey

 

Corey,
I did change the dims per the instructions, and everything did work. I
didn't get a single error message. This is what led to my frustration
on both tests. If I knew who to complain to, I'd still be willing to
say that there's issues with the correcting program.

 

I did the SheetMetal also In September(05) I just verified the test
hadn't changed by december and received 100 out of 100 on it. I did do
alot of sheetmetal and I know that if I weren't proficient in those
tools I wouldn't have done as well because it really streached my
thinking to create the part correctly. It is hard to trust a machine
on something so complex and with so many variables, but if you question
them on it and they manually go back over it and agree with the
machine, what can you say?

 

Yeah, just like the GMAT, GRE or LSAT, just being comfortable with the
test style/format is a big part of the battle, the other is having the
knowledge that it is asking for.