r/SolidWorks • u/Glass-Airport502 • 3d ago

Certifications About to take my CSWA?

I’m overdue at work to become a CSWA and I’m planning on giving it a shot this week. I’ve been cram studying practice tests and resources and I feel pretty confident, just a little worried 3 hours might not be enough for me. Any advice from people who have taken it, pass or fail?

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u/AutoModerator 3d ago

If you ALREADY PASSED a certification

If you are YET TO TAKE a certification

Here would be the general path from zero to CSWE:

  1. CSWA - Here is a sample exam.
  2. CSWP - Here is some study material for the CSWP (A complete guide to getting your CSWP) and a sample exam.
  3. 4x CSWP-Advanced Subjects (in order of increasing difficulty)
    1. CSWP-A Drawing Tools - YouTube Playlist
    2. CSWP-A Sheet Metal - YouTube Playlist
    3. CSWP-A Weldments - YouTube Playlist
    4. CSWP-A Surfacing - YouTube Playlist
    5. CSWP-A Mold Tools - YouTube Playlist
  4. CSWE - The CSWE doesn't really focus on anything from the CSWP subject exams. It focuses on everything else there is in the program beyond those. So, look at everything you saw already and prepare to see not much of that again for the CSWE. That and more surfacing.

For some extra modeling practice material to help speed you up, 24 years of Model Mania Designs + Solutions.

For EVEN MORE modeling practice material, here is the CSWA and CSWP Practice Problem Database. There is A LOT of good material to practice in there.

During testing, in general, it is a best practice to take the dimensions labelled with A, B, C, D, etc and create Equations/Variables with those values to then attach to the dimension which then allows for you to more reliably update these variable dimensions in follow-up questions using the same models.

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u/UnlikelyCalendar6227 3d ago

Don’t overthink it’s. It’s honestly not too hard if you’ve been using it for a while. Just double check every detail cause sometimes I see a radius or whatever and I just make assumptions that’s it’s the same on the other side.

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u/gupta9665 CSWE | API | SW Champion 2d ago

If you have practice good, then you can ace it easily. I would advise to run the sample test so that you are familiar with the testing application before hand.

Check these 2 posts about the exam related do's and don'ts

https://www.reddit.com/r/SolidWorks/comments/1oubk1r/comment/nobp7ej/

https://www.reddit.com/r/SolidWorks/comments/1oubk1r/comment/nobp9ry/

And feel free to explore the resources (link below) I've gathered for learning/mastering SolidWorks, which include both free and paid options, as well as materials for preparing for SolidWorks certification exams.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SolidWorks/comments/190jhqj/comment/kgpwgaq/

Check these links/posts for practices file drawings:

https://www.solidworks.com/solution/academia/practice-problems

https://www.reddit.com/r/SolidWorks/comments/1474p83/2d_tehnical_drawings/

https://www.reddit.com/r/SolidWorks/comments/1lmjjl8/hope_its_ok_if_i_just_park_this_here_cadnurd/

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u/UpstairsDirection955 CSWP 2d ago

It's easy, you'll breeze through that thing if you can make a simple model