Would love some CLD feedback

[kashiruvana]

I took the CLD mid-last year and failed. I was on the low-end of the recommended experience, so I knew I was just taking an honest stab at it and I wasn't sure going in how I would do. I had practiced a fair bit and was doing CLD-level work on a daily basis, so I thought I had a good chance, at least.

Well, I got 15 for documentation, 10 for style, and 1 for functionality. I was stunned. I was, honestly, too ashamed to bring myself to talk to C&T to get feedback on my exam--I still intend to, if they can even do that this far out. However, I'm still pretty baffled by why I did so badly. In addition, at the time, we were a four-person team, and all four of us tested up, 2 for CLA, 2 for CLD. One CLA passed, the other was close, but the two of us testing for CLD did about the same--high otherwise, 1 for functionality. I guess my first question is, has anyone else had or seen this experience? How can two people writing and modding LabVIEW applications every day, which are basically real-life CLDs, perform so dismally?

I suppose, though, my real question is, do we just have to take Core 3? Because here's the thing. We prepped, alone and together, with the other two doing code reviews and feedback sessions and giving us their best advice from their CLDs. We used the CLD Success package, and we have high standards for the code coming out of our lab. But then I was looking at a presentation Darren gave and I saw an off-handed aside about the CLD being scored on whether VI functionality was wrapped in an error-handler case structure, which was news to me. The requirements said to handle errors, which we did, but not in that way. Our applications weren't broken, and not every piece of functionality was implemented, but I know at least for mine that anything that wasn't implemented was described in a comment on the block diagram where it should have gone. Like I said, I didn't expect to ace it, and I realized I might not pass, but a 1 for functionality just tells me that I was so completely off-base I had no hope, and so now, I'm still doing CLD-level work every day but I'm not sure if I should try the test again. I'd like to, but my management isn't going to pay for me to take classes, so I don't want to just fritter away the money for the test.

I realize the best people to answer my questions are C&T, but I'm just working up to asking on here, so getting on the phone is probably a little ways off still. I would really love to hear other people's advice, even though I realize I haven't included enough information for anybody to address specific issues. For what it's worth, the other two team members were also completely blown away by how low our scores were, as they were more confident than we were that we'd do just fine. Unfortunately, they'd taken their CLDs a number of years before, so they couldn't say whether the scoring criteria had changed or not, and maybe their advice was outdated.

All right, thanks in advance for reading all this way and for any encouraging suggestions! I'd really appreciate it.

[Fisel · Accepted solution]

Hi

We'll be happy to take a look at that for you.  Please send an email to certification@ni.com -- we can't discuss details in an open forum, and with the number of candidates a phone call's not a service that we can provide fairly to all.  But we'll give it a close look and report back to you (might take a week, it's NIWeek here!).  Don't put a lot into it -- you can just copy the message below and include the date you took the exam and the exact name you used to register, to make it easy for us to find the exam.  Let's get those doubts cleared up!

Looking forward to hearing from you via those channels soon.

Elwood

[Gregory]

Hi Kashiruvana,

That definitely sounds like a frustrating experience. As you probably found when studying, the CLD prompts are often handled well with a state machine like architecture, so I wouldn't say Core 3 is required (but I would say going through Core 3 gave me my greatest leap in LabVIEW skill to date). I have taken both the CLD and CLA, and was surprised at some of point deductions and reasoning (or lack of reasoning) for those deductions. Obviously we only see your side of the story here, but if you have another CLD and CLA surprised that you didn't pass, I'm inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt. 

The only thing I can think of, is if the application ran differently for the grader than it did for you. Did you accidentally use any functions installed through VIPM that the grader wouldn't have, like OpenG or JKI state machine, or anything else? I know I was asked to bring my laptop in for both exams, and made sure to use a fresh install of LabVIEW so this didn't happen. Could it be a config file didn't get on the USB drive correctly, or used an absolute path, so that the application did not initialize correctly on your grader's system?

On a side note, does your employer have a software subscription (SSP)? That would allow you to go through the online training, with their permission of course.

[kashiruvana]

It was frustrating, you're right. We haven't had success asking for training (and no, we don't have an active SSP, although I'm barking up that tree as well). The whole thing is a bit of an uphill battle, and I actually paid for the test out-of-pocket. I guess one thing that I worried about is whether the score represents, for instance, an overall percentage of functionality, or whether each missed item is one point deducted until you hit zero, or what.

As far as how it ran, we were provided the computers with fresh LV installs (virtual machines, I believe), so definitely no unusual addons. We don't actually use third-party addons anyway because we don't work on Internet-connected machines so maintaining all the same versions of all the same addons among everyone on the team is just too much of a pain. I suppose there could've been a path issue. I know I double-checked all of that but that's still no guarantee that I would've caught it, not by a long shot. :.)

I am going to review my results with NI. I know I need to buckle-down and do it, and obviously the materials and advice I'm currently working with aren't quite enough to ensure that I pass next time. Also, it's looking promising about getting our SSP renewed, and I'll definitely work through Core 3 on my own if that works out.

Thanks for the suggestions and the encouragement. I'm going to keep at it!

[kashiruvana]

And I nearly forgot to say, thank you, Elwood, for your answer. I will send an email right away! I hate to admit it, but part of why I hadn't made myself get around to it yet was that I was told to call, and I just really hate the phone for complicated or involved discussions, to the point where I kept telling myself I'd do it in a week or two. For, uh, [mumble] months. An email makes it so much easier for me, and of course for you all, especially since it is NIWeek! I'm actually eager to test again, but only once I'm confident that I understand the test requirements, which is already a weak point of mine.

[Hooovahh]

I'm not a grader for NI but to me a 0 for functionality means it has a broken arrow, and 1 means it isn't broken but has about the same functionality as a broken one.  Hope you get some good feedback on the types of things that costed you points.  

I know from experience that getting a seemingly unjustified score can be frustrating, and a bit embarrassing.  People fail exams, it happens, but it can feel like a waste of time studying and working hard and focusing to have nothing to show for it.  If nothing else try to take away a life experience from it, and be confident in your programming skills, while being willing to learn from others.