cld understanding

[Alan_w_global]

I have followed good advise in preparing and taking my CLD, Tom Bress's book and CLD prep pack and all available practice exam's, I can code fairly quickly and can complete the practice exams.

Following the style and documentation route I achieved high marks, the first time I took the exam, but I was falsely prepared the practice exams are a challenge the first time I look at them then become the "known". I have used up all my "unknowns"

I know it is not possible to give actual exam question examples, but what I do need is similar new sources of examples. Maybe we can invent examples for each other that get us to practice that facualty to understand a question first off

eg. (stlightly away from controlling a machine but a test) the tennis tournament draw maker - 64 seeded players placed into a draw.

or an automatic mail order system etc.

If anyone is good at writing these requirements as practice why not put some out there to give us practice. 

We all comprehend things in various ways, differing depending on our backgrounds etc, if we do it day in day out for our work our mind is well practiced, if we don't there needs to be a specific way of excercising our minds in that area.

,When I did my degree many years ago, I never had this problem understanding complex questions because we practiced in the right area enough.

Any help would be appreciated.

Alan

[M.Kuznetsov]

Hi Alan_w_global,

Thank you for your post! It is a great idea.

As a starting point I found another sample exam (which does not come in the CLD success pack):

Security System

http://www.ni.com/example/26662/en/

I think it might be useful for someone.

Kind Regards,

[Daniel_H1]

Hi Max and Alan,

I just wanted to give you a heads up that the example at that link is actually very outdated, and we're working to remove it from the website. Sorry for any confusion.

Alan, when you say you finished the "CLD prep pack," I assume you meant this:
http://www.ni.com/gate/gb/GB_EKITCLDEXMPRP/US

Just posting that in case you meant something else.

Cheers,

Daniel

[Mike_Le]

It sounds to me like you've done plenty of practice already. If you're burning through the exam samples and finishing them under-time, then you're about as ready as you'll ever be for the real thing.

If you're worried about being overly familiar with the problem, just shave time off on subsequent trials. For example, give yourself 3 hours and 15 minutes for the Car Wash instead of the full 4 hours.

When we were practicing for the CLA, there was only one sample exam available, so this was our practice strategy. My coworker and I both practiced finishing the CLA example in less than 3.5 hours. We both passed.

The CLD is much more straightforward than the CLA because it's usually obvious to the test-taker if they'll pass or not. It's just a matter of having enough functionality actually running. Because it's less ambiguous, I think the preparation you're doing should be all you need.

[Alan_w_global]

Thanks for your reply.

I find I have two modes of working, when I do practice exams I remember the codes and can steam through, but as soon as I am faced with an unfamiliar problem, it doesn't matter how fast I can code, I need time to understand the question, when I took the cld exam I could only understand the question the next day because I was so used to practicing exams. I need to practice with different questions and requirements, so please feel free to create questions and examples and post them, 

I want to develop the ability to take the abstract problem and create rapid solutions, its about getting my mind used to the discipline.

Many thanks 

Alan