CLD Actual Exam vs Examples

[JadeRabbit]

Hi Stuart,

Your post has been helpful. One additional question I want to ask: when you take the CLD exam, how is the performance of the test computer? I just took the test and in my case I feel like the quickdrop menu is a bit slower on the test computer than on my computer. The test computer seems to take more time to match the VI with the VI name one entered. Thanks! 

[Jacobson-ni]

JadeRabbit,

I would recommend contacting customer certification about this.  Computer performance is dependent on where you took your exam.  If you think that this made is harder to complete your exam, certification should probably know about that.

[Stuart.Parkinson]

My exam computer was just fine. Granted, it wasn't the 32GB RAM SSD i7 monster I am used to at home and so yes, there were certainly the odd few milliseconds of extra delay thrown in here and there. But honestly, I think any PC delays would come under the heading of 'minor annoyance' rather than 'impediment'. In my working life I have to work on a variety of machines, old and new, and while some are faster than others you've just got to work with the tools you have. And you know what they say about workmen and tools 😉

While I obviously can't speak for all the offices, in my experience the NI machines are not the newest, not the most powerful, but are certainly up to the job and are pretty representetive of what you will find in general industry.

By the way, I got my grading through - 91% whoo hoo!! Lost marks on documentation (missed one vi icon) and style. It was obvious from the grading comments (and no big secret) that the main judge of my style was VI Analyser, and its a picky little bugger (wires objects overlapping? grrr...) Its available in the exam so you can check your own work (if you have time) but it is definitely a good idea to run all your practice exam answers through it.

[JÞB]

Quick Drop performance:

Might not actually be due to the machine differences but rather the install of NI Products.  NI has access to a lot more software products than the average LabVIEW developer has on their development machine (DUH!)  Additional Modules all have their own vis and some of those test machines are also used for product demonstrations.  Darren would be able to speak about how QD speed might be impacted by quantity of products installed but, I suspect that each addon adds some QD overhead.

That being said, While QD IS a time saver, I can state from experience that the exams CAN be passed without even using it.  QD and Auto tool are two features I never really adopted.  I have nothing against them, I just know the palettes and my "muscle memory" for tabbing and palatte selection was so ingrained by the time those features arrived it was like trying to teach an old dog a new trick.

[Hooovahh]

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@JÞB wrote:

Quick Drop performance:

QD and Auto tool are two features I never really adopted.  I have nothing against them, I just know the palettes and my "muscle memory" for tabbing and palatte selection was so ingrained by the time those features arrived it was like trying to teach an old dog a new trick.

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Yeah I'm still an avid tabber, but QD I use constantly, especially with insert for bundle by name, merge error, clear error, build array, and a few others.  I still claim I'm faster tabbing because I tab with my left hand while I move with my right, so when my cursor is where it needs to be the tool is already selected.

Performance wise the PC a pretty fresh PC.  I believe they get new images regularly and it was very snappy.  I was given a few minutes before the exam to set it up the way I want, and in that time I launched quick drop a few times just to make sure it was fully loaded and ready.

[crossrulz]

A lot of the proctored exams around here you are to use your own computer.  We do not have a fancy NI office nearby.  The closest is in Detroit and that is a good 4 hour drive for us.

[rsmrostov]

I believe, the actual exam is moderately harder and time consuming, than the examples. 

[hunkel]

I agree, just did the certification and I think the exam was about the same as the available examples.

[Ahmed99]

Hi sir is during the evaluation of CLD exam will i take grade for not using local variables for example