CLAD Test

[fotomaticon]

Newbie on the forum. I just spent due diligence scrubbing for all the information I could find here on the CLAD test questions. I am still a bit confused about what to expect.

I can pass the NI online test with ease, there are a few questions I don't totally understand yet but the rest I am fine with. My question is how much harder is the actual test and do they ask much more advanced questions? For example the test on the CD of "LabVIEW for everyone" is MUCH more difficult than the NI online test and they do not give you the correct answers to the test either. I wrote Jim Kring asking for the answers and he sent me here? (he wrote the book). Any way on an entry level test should I know Active X type questions?

Does NI ask "trick" shift regester questions or just enough to tell you know how they work? You see whre I am going, so any more information or suggestions about the CLAD would help!

Thanks!

Alan

[PaulG.]

... Any way on an entry level test should I know Active X type questions? ... Does NI ask "trick" shift regester questions or just enough to tell you know how they work? You see whre I am going, so any more information or suggestions about the CLAD would help!

No. I do not believe you will be asked Active X questions on the CLAD exam.

Yes. NI asks "trick" questions. But they are not really "trick" questions. They ask some tough questions, and if my memory serves me correctly they love asking "trick" questions regarding shift registers and While and For Loops. NI just wants to know that you really understand how LV works.

Your best bet is to take the practice exam as many times as you can.

If you get any wrong answers make sure you know EXACTLY why you missed those questions and study that material throughly before taking the test again.

It's not an easy test. I took the practice test at least 3x before I took the final. And in the final I still managed to miss a few.

Best of luck.

[crelf]

I can pass the NI online test with ease, there are a few questions I don't totally understand yet but the rest I am fine with.

If you can pass the online one then I think you are safe to assume that the real one will be very similar informat and level of questions.

[Yair]

One point to make is that at least the online exam has some questions which are not just tricky, but misleading or even wrong. I've never done the actual exam, but my understanding is that you should expect the same level of questions and that NI is aware of this issue.

[GSR]

Do the online practice exam. It will help

[PaulG.]

One point to make is that at least the online exam has some questions which are not just tricky, but misleading or even wrong. I've never done the actual exam, but my understanding is that you should expect the same level of questions and that NI is aware of this issue.

I would tend to disagree. Pay no attention to the paranoid naysayers over here.

None of the questions, IMO are not "wrong". Tricky? Yes. "Misleading"? Yes, a few of them. But not wrong. The CLAD exam is a true exam. It can't be crammed for or cheated. You need to really know and understand the material. Like I said before: take the practice exam. Review and practice the answers you get wrong. Then try again. Repeat until you feel comfortable with the material. You will do fine.

[Francois Normandin]

I would tend to disagree. Pay no attention to the paranoid naysayers over here.

None of the questions, IMO are not "wrong". Tricky? Yes. "Misleading"? Yes, a few of them. But not wrong. The CLAD exam is a true exam. It can't be crammed for or cheated.

I'm sorry to contradict you Paul, but in the exam I passed, I had four possible answers starting with "The timer counts up and..." while obviously the answer was "The timer counts down and...". So I answered solely based on the second part of the answer. There are definitely wrong answers, whether they are put there on purpose or not is another question though.

And now returning to my last week vacation...

[PaulG.]

... And now returning to my last week vacation...

Wow. That's hard core LAVA love right here folks. Checks in on LAVA even while on vacation.

Enjoy, Francois.

[hooovahh]

I would also like to humbly disagree with Paul. There are CLAs here who have teaching certificates, or who formerly worked in NI's R&D that I know would not get a 100% on the CLAD. There are many questions dealing with topics like express VIs that no one here would get right unless they guessed.

I have two examples I remember from taking it. I'm sure this one has been fixed by now (I would hope so) but it was what file type is best for saving large amounts of data? Binary, ASCII, TDMS, or TAB delimeted? I choose TDMS because I figure NI was trying to push their new abiliites (new at the time). But you can't say one is the "Best" what if the requirement is that it needs to be human readable? or readable within Excel, or the smallest file size? Or do they mean the best for streaming data quickly?

Everyone I've talked to that has taken the CLAD has had this question asked. When bundling a cluster for a Waveform Graph what is the order of the following inputs (usually showing pictures of the options) Y Array, X0, Delta X? You could be using LabVIEW from the day it came out, and not know the answer to that, any normal person would say use the bundle by name and just wire it up properly. But here they want you to remember that the order is X0, Delta X, and Y Array.

I remember hearing that NI employees can now take the exams, and I was hoping the questions would be improved by people internal to NI seeing some of the flaws in the questions. So please report back once you've taken it, and tell us if the questions are still tricky and missleading, or even wrong.

[Yair]

...the paranoid naysayers over here.

• paranoid - it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you.
• naysayers - it was actually constructive criticism.
• over here - it was actually delivered directly to the relevant people at NI. Its appearance here is only because the topic was brought up.

Well, at least your "the" was correct.

It can't be crammed for or cheated. You need to really know and understand the material.

The problem is not with knowing the material. I know it quite well, but as Hooovahh said, knowing it doesn't help if you're asked whether a build array primitive concatenates the array or not based solely on its appearance (which is a question on the example online exam. I didn't know the answer and I don't think anyone needs to know the answer - I can tell if it concats the array or not by looking at the inputs and the output. I don't care about the actual glyphs on the primitive).

Just to clear the issue of whether some of the questions have wrong answers, here's one from the online exam:

<B><B>

A coercion dot indicates that:

</B></B>

A) A polymorphic operation will be performed on the data

B) The data types are consistent

C) Data values are being coerced because they are out of range

D) A data buffer is created to handle data conversion

Think about it and give your answer. I will then explain why NI's answer (which may or may not be the same as yours) is wrong.

Here's another example of a question where the answer isn't wrong, but the question is incomplete:

What is the result of the following Array addition?

1-D Array of {120, 30}

1-D Array of {120, 30, -60}

How should I know? For all I know the arrays have more elements (in this case, the first array might have a third element which is 0, thus making reply 2 correct, instead of reply 1). This is a good example of how the people who wrote the question didn't pay enough attention. The "correct" answer is obvious, but if you know enough about LabVIEW, you're left with an inconvenient feeling. This is actually more likely to hurt experienced developers.

Out of the 20 questions in the online example, I found 8 which were either incorrect, incomplete or misleading and a couple which were simply unfair and pretty much irrelevant trivia. A considerable number of them had to do with the term "best", which was already mentioned here. It's a real issue because "best" is a very relative term and in each of those questions there were answers other than the "correct" ones which were equally valid and in some cases even more valid, IMO. I'm not the only one who thinks so, either. Others have passed the same criticism and NI has heard it.

All that said, what I said refers only to the online exam. As I've already mentioned, I never took any of the real exams and I have no idea what they're like.

[crelf]

There are CLAs here who have teaching certificates... that I know would not get a 100% on the CLAD.

I sure hope you're not talking about me...

[Gary Rubin]

A coercion dot indicates that:

A) A polymorphic operation will be performed on the data

B) The data types are consistent

C) Data values are being coerced because they are out of range

D) A data buffer is created to handle data conversion

The answer they're looking for is D, right? And you're going to tell me that a data buffer is not always created?

[Yair]

The answer they're looking for is D, right? And you're going to tell me that a data buffer is not always created?

That is correct. The answer was D and here's a VI demonstrating a case where there's no buffer allocation - you can single step through it to see that only 16 MBs are allocated. Make sure to do a "save all" on the VIs before running and to have the subVI closed, though, because if you don't you will get allocation for the front panel terminals.

The most correct answer of the four given, IMO, is that the types are consistent. It's not a technical term, but its meaning is clear. That means that if D was correct, then B should not have appeared as an option, because it's too close to the truth.

I understand why whoever wrote the question got it wrong, but that just shows you that knowing a lot can sometimes hurt you when doing these exams.

No Allocation.llb

[Gary Rubin]

The most correct answer of the four given, IMO, is that the types are consistent.

Don't you mean inconsistent?

[Yair]

No. I do mean "consistent" - they're similar enough to match without breaking the code.

I think the problem in this case is that "consistent" is not a technical term and it can cause confusion. As such, it should not have been there, just like "best" should not be in there.

[Gary Rubin]

No. I do mean "consistent" - they're similar enough to match without breaking the code.

I think the problem in this case is that "consistent" is not a technical term and it can cause confusion. As such, it should not have been there, just like "best" should not be in there.

I see what you mean. I read that one as being the most wrong answer. In my mind, coercion dots show that data types are not consistent. I would probably used the word "compatible" where you used "consistent".

[Yair]

It wasn't my word.

I agree that "compatible" suits the sentiment better, but it does appear as a synonym for "consistent" in the quick search I just did. It would be more obvious if it had a "with each other" at the end.

[PaulG.]

• paranoid - it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you.
• naysayers - it was actually constructive criticism.
• over here - it was actually delivered directly to the relevant people at NI. Its appearance here is only because the topic was brought up.

Well, at least your "the" was correct.

The problem is not with knowing the material. I know it quite well, but as Hooovahh said, knowing it doesn't help if you're asked whether a build array primitive concatenates the array or not based solely on its appearance (which is a question on the example online exam. I didn't know the answer and I don't think anyone needs to know the answer - I can tell if it concats the array or not by looking at the inputs and the output. I don't care about the actual glyphs on the primitive).

Just to clear the issue of whether some of the questions have wrong answers, here's one from the online exam:

<B><B>

A coercion dot indicates that:

</B></B>

A) A polymorphic operation will be performed on the data

B) The data types are consistent

C) Data values are being coerced because they are out of range

D) A data buffer is created to handle data conversion

Think about it and give your answer. I will then explain why NI's answer (which may or may not be the same as yours) is wrong.

Here's another example of a question where the answer isn't wrong, but the question is incomplete:

What is the result of the following Array addition?

1-D Array of {120, 30}

1-D Array of {120, 30, -60}

How should I know? For all I know the arrays have more elements (in this case, the first array might have a third element which is 0, thus making reply 2 correct, instead of reply 1). This is a good example of how the people who wrote the question didn't pay enough attention. The "correct" answer is obvious, but if you know enough about LabVIEW, you're left with an inconvenient feeling. This is actually more likely to hurt experienced developers.

Out of the 20 questions in the online example, I found 8 which were either incorrect, incomplete or misleading and a couple which were simply unfair and pretty much irrelevant trivia. A considerable number of them had to do with the term "best", which was already mentioned here. It's a real issue because "best" is a very relative term and in each of those questions there were answers other than the "correct" ones which were equally valid and in some cases even more valid, IMO. I'm not the only one who thinks so, either. Others have passed the same criticism and NI has heard it.

All that said, what I said refers only to the online exam. As I've already mentioned, I never took any of the real exams and I have no idea what they're like.

I understand your frustration. I felt it, too when I was preparing for my CLAD exam. But I kept studying the material before I took the test. And because of that I see no ambiguity at all in either question. To me the answers to both questions are no-brainers. (D and 120,30). But I KNOW THE MATERIAL. I know how arrays and coercion works. I knew the material and I passed my CLAD years ago. That was my point. It's not so much the "right" answer as it is knowing the answer NI wants to here. And that answer is not necessarily "wrong".

[Gary Rubin]

I understand your frustration. I felt it, too when I was preparing for my CLAD exam. But I kept studying the material before I took the test. And because of that I see no ambiguity at all in either question. To me the answers to both questions are no-brainers. (D and 120,30). But I KNOW THE MATERIAL. I know how arrays and coercion works. I knew the material and I passed my CLAD years ago. That was my point. It's not so much the "right" answer as it is knowing the answer NI wants to here. And that answer is not necessarily "wrong".

I would agree with Yair, et al, here. I think that you took enough practice tests to get a feel for their language, and you therefore had a good feel for each question's intent. The intent of the question, and what the question actually says are not always the same thing, as shown by Yair's examples.

I share the opinion that D and (120,30) are the most likely answers, but not necessarily the right answers.

[Mark Yedinak]

I understand your frustration. I felt it, too when I was preparing for my CLAD exam. But I kept studying the material before I took the test. And because of that I see no ambiguity at all in either question. To me the answers to both questions are no-brainers. (D and 120,30). But I KNOW THE MATERIAL. I know how arrays and coercion works. I knew the material and I passed my CLAD years ago. That was my point. It's not so much the "right" answer as it is knowing the answer NI wants to here. And that answer is not necessarily "wrong".

I think this is a very good answer. This is especially true when taking the CLD test. There are many ways to skin a cat when it comes to coding and style and there isn't a single correct answer. However, it is very important to know the NI answer. That is, you need to understand what NI is looking for when you are taking the certification tests.

What I did find was that the process of preparing for and taking the tests was extremely beneficial and it did make me think about my coding. The whole process has also helped me to improve my skills. (I recently passed the CLA exam so I have been through the complete process.)

[Yair]

I'm not frustrated, since I never took the exams and have no intention of taking any of them in the forseeable future. If you're taking the exam, I can understand how you would mainly care about getting the "correct" answer. Since I'm not taking it, I only care about the exam being fair and correct.

Again, this has nothing to do with knowing the material. People who know LabVIEW well are just as vulnerable and sometimes even more. Personally, I also understand how their mind works most of the time. When I took the online exam recently I got about 17 out of 20 (I had a couple of question where I misread the question because I was doing it quickly or simply picked the wrong answer - see the build array icon example I gave earlier). My personal situation doesn't negate the point, however, and that point is that the exam doesn't have to be like that. You can ask challenging questions without being confusing. It's just that writing such questions requires more expertise and effort, because there are many things you have to be aware of and consider.

Also, how is that answer (I assume you're refering to D) "not necessarily wrong"? It's correct for some (usually most) of the time, but not always. That makes it wrong for that phrasing of the question. Period. If you want I have several other problematic examples from the online exam.

[Cat]

There are many ways to skin a cat when it comes to coding and style and there isn't a single correct answer. However, it is very important to know the NI answer. That is, you need to understand what NI is looking for when you are taking the certification tests.

Y'all have been out of school too long.

Mark's right -- the key to passing any test is knowing what the test creator thinks the correct answer is. Is this the way it should be? No, but it's the way it is. That's why it's a Good Thing to take as many practice tests as possible. Not only does it point out what knowledge you're lacking (I completely forgot there was such a beast as a stacked shift register until I took the LV Fundamentals test), it gets you familiar with the way the test is worded, and underlying assumptions the test creator is making (Yair, your example of the array addition is one that really annoyed me, too). It would be nice if there was some sort of peer-review process with these test questions.

But Mark, that comment about "skinning a cat"...

Cat

[PaulG.]

... But Mark, that comment about "skinning a cat"...

Indeed. I find that term as offensive as some are by the "F" word.

And he didn't look at my avatar ... I have a cat with frickin' laser beams coming out of her eyeballs ...

[Mark Yedinak]

Indeed. I find that term as offensive as some are by the "F" word.

And he didn't look at my avatar ... I have a cat with frickin' laser beams coming out of her eyeballs ...

I apologize to anyone I offended. I certainly wasn't trying to.

[hooovahh]

I sure hope you're not talking about me...

Oh no I was talking about the other CLAs with teaching certificates of course...I know we have at least one other person that fits into that category, assume I was talking about them.