Thursday, November 6, 2008

CSWP Training materials

CSWP Training materials…are they worth their cost?

I was able to successfully pass the CSWA exam earlier this year by doing the sample test available from SolidWorks and a lot of reading from Matt Lombard’s book.  My intention was to go for the Professional exam soon afterwards but that didn’t happen.  I guess I’m feeling the same trepidation as I did before I took the CSWA.  In my day to day work I use such a small subset of the SolidWorks program (sheet metal) I fear that I just don’t have the experience to even think of taking the CSWP exam.

So here is my question to the SolidWorks masses out there:  Are any of the training materials worth the $300 - $500 that they cost.  I’m thinking of the myigetit.com course and the one from Solid Professor.  I’m thinking of asking the boss to ante up for this since he’s not sending us to SolidWorks World this year.  But he will expect results, successful passing of the test. 

Come on guys, give me some feedback.  Surely someone out there has purchased one of these and has some advice to offer.

Thanks in advance,

11 comments:

  1. Jeff,

    Honestly the new CSWP test is more about the ability of a user to follow instructions, and design intent. Knowing shortcuts will aid in completing the test quicker, but if you did good on the CSWA test, you should do ok on on the CSWP. The main objective of it is to test your ability of following design intent, and how your model reacts to changes the test asks you to make. It also has you run through a Simulation Xpress problem, so make sure you complete the tutorials on that first.

    You do know there is a special offering a free CSWP exam for each seat of SW right?

    As far as books go, I would go through the sample tests on the SW site, go through the Simulation tutorial, and then give the test a shot. Then if you need help, maybe look at buying a book. Perhaps if you pass, you can save your boss some money, and he can apply that towards a trip to Orlando!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the advice Mike. There is a new offering for a free CSWP exam? Great! I'll check that out.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Personally, I think becoming very familiar with ALL the tutorials would go a long way. The biggest thing is paying attention to the test's instructions. It's here that many fail.

    Just my $.02

    Jeff

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jeff,

    If you can snatch the SW training manuals on eBay, those are really worth the cost, not just for the test, but as reference too. However, if you can pass the CSWA and know your way around with assemblies, you should be fine with the CSWP. The really tricky thing about that test is that most of the problems are related, so if you make a mistake in one of them, you are likely to carry it all the way and have the rest wrong, as well. You need to be careful with that.

    Good luck!

    Gabi

    ReplyDelete
  5. Any training you can get is worth it.
    I've used both Igetit and Solid Professor and like them both. I also attended the VAR training wich is very good but more expensive.
    SWW is a great place to get training as well as UG's meetings.

    ReplyDelete
  6. i got the test, i made pdf's of it as i was taking it. where can i post it?

    ReplyDelete
  7. you have to model a motor with pistons and a crankshaft. they change the dimensions several times. they want to know the overall mass in grams.
    their are 2 or 4 question using cosmos.
    the first four questions are modeling a simple angle and adding a tab to it. 20 questions and they give you 3 hours. such a long test!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Post it on rapidshare or megaupload please.
    Give us the link here.
    Look, I made the CSWA and was very very easy, maybe if someone can pass me a sample of cswp I give it in return a lot of material.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Has anyone been able to post the pdfs mentioned above?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hey all is the offer of free CSWP test with a new seat of solidworks still open. also looking forward to the pdfs mentioned above.

    can any one guide me book helped them in passing the cswp.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anyone has a link for the CSWP test guide?

    ReplyDelete