CLD Exam Suggestions

[TomOrr0W]

I took the CLD last Friday, and I have a few suggestions for NI on the exam and sample exams:

1. It would be helpful to add something similar to a rubric to the end of the sample exam pdf documents to show where the functionality points will come from.  There is an example here (in Excel, though): http://www.ni.com/tutorial/14554/en/#toc1

2. It would be helpful to include a searchable pdf of the paper exam on the exam flash drive.  This would not replace the paper copy of the exam (the paper copy allows you to not have to constantly switch between the code and the requirements).  Being able to search the requirements was quite useful in some of the sample exams.

3. The Car Wash Sample exam had a slider with a requirement to set it back to 0 when the user moves it to exit at the end.  This is quite annoying to do: you can write 0 to it on each value change event until you see a mouse down event (the mouse down signifying a new attempt to change the slider; there may not be a mouse up event during the original move to exit, as the user may release the mouse over another control), but it still flashes back and forth from wherever the user is clicking to 0 occasionally.  The example solution just attempts to write 0 to it once, so the slider stays at exit.  It may be better to remove this requirement from the sample exam (and any other exams that use sliders for simulation) unless this complexity is intentional.

[ML927]

Hi ortt,

I hope your CLD went well. Do you feel confident ?

To answer your question :

1. What would be the use of such a rubric ? I mean, if you get functionality to work properly, you get the points, simple as that. There is no need for in depth explanations IMO. The Excel document you see in the video just help the grader to test all the cases and make sure that all requirements are implemented, some things you should test by yourself (what happens if you enter incorrect data for example). If the objective of having such a document is focusing on the functionality which would give you the most points, then it is really a bad idea 🙂
2. NI will not do that as there is a high risk that someone shares the subject. When taking your CLD you had to put the paper back in the enveloppe for a reason. This may change with the new system of remote proctoring where you are given the subject as a PDF on a secured distant PC (if I remember well).
3. I don't understand your problem with the given solution. There is nothing overly complicated in the way it is implemented, you just reinitialize your VI when sliding to Exit at the end of the process. But if you find that another architecture is better, use it 😉 I would like to remind you that :
   1. Sample exam are old exam that were given at some point for the CLD
   2. Solution given are actual solution presented by exam takers who passed. That doesn't mean that those solutions would get a 100% grade. Just that they are good enough to give you an idea of what is expected and what you could do. If you consider doing something totally different that's fine and you might actually get a better grade than the solution 🙂

Anyway... That is just an opinion and I am more thant willing to discuss that with you.

[TomOrr0W]

Hi ML927,

I do feel confident.  I had working code that met all/most of the requirements, I added help documentation, comments, and non-default icons to all vis and ctls, I added descriptions and tooltips to all the front-panel controls, and I had few VI Analyzer failures at the end.

1 and 2 are to make the sample exam and the real exam more similar to each other.  For 2, I was under the impression that you aren't able to keep a copy of your code after the exam is over (and therefore wouldn't be able to keep the PDF either).

For 3, it was a complaint about a requirement that is extra difficult to meet (probably for unintended reasons).  There is no good way to set the value back to entry when the user changes the value to Exit, as there is no way (that I am aware of) to "unclick" the mouse.  This would not come up in normal usage of a slider bar, as you would not normally try to set a slider bar's value while a user is clicking on it.  I cannot think of any good solution to do that, as the best one I came up with still flickers back and forth between Entry and Exit until the user releases the mouse.  I only brought up the sample solution because it implemented the obvious (non-working) solution of setting a local variable when the state changes.

[ML927]

1) I don't remember having specific details about the grading system on the exam, only the generic thing with style, documentation and functionalities. That may have changed though since I took the CLD...

2) Whenever you have an e-file there is a risk to see it get out on the web, should it be someone sneakingly using his own USB drive to transfer the PDF. I guess that NI cannot take that risk to have to create a new exam and potentially have to localize it each time (plus change it if it was sent out to the exam centers).

3) I see what you mean. In the case of that specific solution changing the loop timing solves the problems. Yet that might be a reason why that exam is not given to people anymore, even if it is still an interesting training material.

[DG76]

I found the attached approach worked for resetting the car wash slider.