Fundamental Exam Confusing Questions - please post

[Minh Pham]

to start with:

1. Under which of the following settings would you not apply a gain to your signal?

A 10 V signal with 0-5 V ADC range

B 5 V signal with 0-10 V ADC range

C 10 V signal, with 0-10 V ADC range

D 1 V signal with 0-10 V ADC range

I think this question needs to be more specific. What does it mean by GAIN here? the gain can either be greater than 1 or less than 1.

for the A answer, I WOULD apply a gain > 0 and <= 0.5 in order to bring my signal into the ADC range.

for the B answer: there is no need to use gain here.

for the C answer: 10V is at the high limit of the range, I WOULD apply a gain a bit less than 1 so that the signal is easier to see.

for the D answer: 1V is within the range, i can either use gain or not here. I think NI wants the answer to be YES in here for the gain

in order to have a better view of the signal as 1V is abit small compare to the setting of the range.

The answer that NI afters would be B as there is no need to set the gain there, but alot of cases there is no need to have gain for D as well.

Should the question be: Under which of the following settings, it is unneccessary to apply a gain to your signal?

Do you have something to share?

[jgcode]

<edit> I suck </edit>

QUOTE (Minh Pham @ Nov 11 2008, 08:55 AM)

I have another one:

All of the following are components of an error cluster, EXCEPT:

A Status

B Code

C Source

D All of the above are Error Cluster components.

I have no idea which one NI wants to EXCEPT here???

To me they are the three components of an error cluster. Arent they?

Yes the answer is D, Status, Code & Source are all components of the Error Cluster.

[crelf]

QUOTE (Minh Pham @ Nov 10 2008, 06:55 PM)

Under which of the following settings would you not apply a gain to your signal?

A) 10 V signal with 0-5 V ADC range: Signal is from 0 to 10V, ADC is from 0 to 5V, so a gain of 0.5 is appropriate.

B) 5 V signal with 0-10 V ADC range: Signal is 0 to 5V, ADC is from 0 to 10V, so a gain of 2 is appropriate.

C) 10 V signal, with 0-10 V ADC range: Signal is from 0 to 10V, ADC is from 0 to 10V, they match so no gain required.

D) 1 V signal with 0-10 V ADC range: Signal is from 0 to 1V, ADC is from 0 to 10V, so a gain of 10 is appropriate.

QUOTE (Minh Pham @ Nov 10 2008, 06:55 PM)

All of the following are components of an error cluster, EXCEPT:

It's not a particularily well worded question, but the answer is D - all of the above are error cluster components.

[jgcode]

QUOTE (crelf @ Nov 11 2008, 09:25 AM)

A) 10 V signal with 0-5 V ADC range: Signal is from 0 to 10V, ADC is from 0 to 5V, so a gain of 0.5 is appropriate.

B) 5 V signal with 0-10 V ADC range: Signal is 0 to 5V, ADC is from 0 to 10V, so a gain of 2 is appropriate.

C) 10 V signal, with 0-10 V ADC range: Signal is from 0 to 10V, ADC is from 0 to 10V, they match so no gain required.

D) 1 V signal with 0-10 V ADC range: Signal is from 0 to 1V, ADC is from 0 to 10V, so a gain of 10 is appropriate.

Ahh.. now i understand the reason behind the question!. I will withdraw my previous lame attempt

[Minh Pham]

It's not a particularily well worded question, but the answer is D - all of the above are error cluster components.

mmm...Im confuse because it says EXCEPT in the question. Doesnt it mean we need to select the WRONG answer among the

given solutions? However there is no WRONG answer in the list, they are all sound correct to me.

Here is another one to discuss:

What is an advantage of using For Loops over While Loops when working with Arrays?

A A For Loop can tell LabVIEW ahead of time how many elements to allocate in an output Array

B While Loops force LabVIEW to change the size of an output Array after every iteration of the loop

C Both A and B

D None of the above

I would choose A as A is an advantage of the For Loops over While Loops as the question stated.

However B is showing a disadvantage of the WhileLoops over ForLoop, so would this counted as another For Loops advantage?

If that is the case then C is the correct answer.

But to answer the QUESTION, I still stick with A. :headbang: Should I need a :beer: to stay focus?

[David Boyd]

QUOTE (Minh Pham @ Nov 10 2008, 07:55 PM)

Here is another one to discuss:

What is an advantage of using For Loops over While Loops when working with Arrays?

A A For Loop can tell LabVIEW ahead of time how many elements to allocate in an output Array

B While Loops force LabVIEW to change the size of an output Array after every iteration of the loop

C Both A and B

D None of the above

I would choose A as A is an advantage of the For Loops over While Loops as the question stated.

However B is showing a disadvantage of the WhileLoops over ForLoop, so would this counted as another For Loops advantage?

I recall that the statement in B is NOT specifically true. While loops DO NOT resize output arrays after every iteration. IIRC there is some intelligence to the algorithm which allocates array elements - I think it allocates as needed by powers of 2 over some range - and when the loop exits, the LV memory manager does a final resize as needed to return unused elements to the heap. My recollection could be:

A Rather dated

B Outright faulty

C Both A and B

D Spot-on correct

Dave

[crelf]

QUOTE (Minh Pham @ Nov 10 2008, 07:55 PM)

mmm...Im confuse because it says EXCEPT in the question. Doesnt it mean we need to select the WRONG answer among the given solutions? However there is no WRONG answer in the list, they are all sound correct to me.

That's why it's a poorly worded question

[Dan DeFriese]

I don't recall any questions that I would've considered confusing or misdirected (I guess I lucked out !). However, I'm always fearful answering questions that start: "What is the best way to ...".

IMHO the "Best way" is typically debatable and is based on context of the problem. There may be a "Most memory efficient way" or a "Uses the least amount of nodes way" a or "Easiest to explain to your new-to-LabVIEW cube mate way". Of course, there are always plenty of "What the heck were you thinking ways" (I generally start my designs with these :headbang: )

I guess I just prefer short answer exams. Assuming I've adequately prepared and spelling isnt cownted against me.

~Dan

[crelf]

QUOTE (Minh Pham @ Nov 10 2008, 07:55 PM)

Here is another one to discuss:

That's another poorly worded one (although I assume that you're okay with the ones that aren't poorly worded )

The trick is to not answer the question literally, but give the answer that you know that examiner wants. In this case, I think that they're trying to highlight the auto indexing terminal, so I suggest that they're after C.

:!: Note: when you find questions that you think are unclear, please please please let NI know about them :!:

[Omar Mussa]

Does anybody know how the answer to this questions is affected by a For Loop with a Conditional Terminal? My guess is that at least LabVIEW has an upper bounds to the array size prior to execution so C is probably still "correct" (assuming it is C) but I think this question becomes even more confusing when you think of the Conditional Terminal case...

[jcarmody]

I'd like to add one word of caution. Although these are all good questions to prepare you for the CLAD exam, they only scratch the surface of what you may face on the actual exam. I took the CLAD last year after practicing the online test many times; I even took screen shots of each question so I could go back and wire up every block diagram and study every conceptual question. In the end, when I sat down in front of the testing computer the first question didn't look like anything I saw during practice. That's fine, I thought, there are 39 more questions to go. Then, the second one was unfamiliar too. And the third... That how it went; I think that only a one or two questions were similar to ones I had seen during practice.

So, I say to take the practice exams as many times as you can. Study the questions off-line (asking for discussion here is a good idea) but go through the Basics I & II material until you're very familiar with it. Also, when you're taking the actual test, take advantage of the testing software's ability to "mark" a question to review later. The actual CLAD isn't like the practice tests; you can keep going back to a question until you're satisfied with the answer (or, until your time runs out). I kept going through the questions until I had un-marked all of them. Keep in mind the way folks here are answering the questions; you can often dissect the grammar for clues to what the questioner has in mind as the correct answer.

Good luck and happy wiring!

Jim

Here's a list of things that I wasn't prepared for:

. Order of events - vi mouse down, boolean mouse down, boolean value change?

. disadvantage of saving data in ASCII file

. coercion dot means?

. expression nodes (I didn't even know what this was!)

. sub-vi remains in memory, even when not displayed, if there are...?

. things auto-indexing does

. default auto-indexing behavior of for & while loops

. date/time formatting (that pesky %d%M stuff)

. weakly-typed vi reference definition (this one threw me for a loop)

. ring controls accept vs. enumerated list

. 1000/0 into for-loop 'N' results in how many iterations? (wire it for yourself)

. stacked sequence advice

. multiple X & Y axes on graphs & charts

. when 'wait until next ms multiple' begins counting

[TobyD]

QUOTE (crelf @ Nov 10 2008, 06:11 PM)

:!: Note: when you find questions that you think are unclear, please please please let NI know about them :!:

I found NI to be quite responsive while I was preparing for the CLAD. I found one question (I think in the Basics I & II course material) that had the wrong answer and another online that could be successfully argued to have 2 correct answers. Unfortunately I don't remember what the questions were, but I remember NI was happy to discuss them (and agreed with my assessments ).

QUOTE (jcarmody @ Nov 11 2008, 03:05 AM)

I even took screen shots of each question so I could go back and wire up every block diagram and study every conceptual question.

That's what I did too. I went through the online exam multiple times taking screenshots (failing on purpose so I could take it again) and came up with a pretty good list of questions that I could go through in detail and recreate the VIs in question. I think I had about 150 unique questions. I actually found the real exam to be quite similar to the practice exam questions.

[Minh Pham]

QUOTE (TobyD @ Nov 12 2008, 04:58 AM)

That's what I did too. I went through the online exam multiple times taking screenshots (failing on purpose so I could take it again) and came up with a pretty good list of questions that I could go through in detail and recreate the VIs in question. I think I had about 150 unique questions. I actually found the real exam to be quite similar to the practice exam questions.

That's what i am doing too, i have provided NI with couple of fake emails already

Got so far around 90 unique questions. I will go through a bit more this week as TobyD has 150, that sounds like a target.

I dont have much problem with knowledge of LV Basics or Intermediate as I had been teaching them for a year around Australia.

However I just cant stand "poorly worded" questions as Crelf said.

Thanks for everyone inputs, this thread is so far so good for someone who are preparing for CLAD. :beer:

[TobyD]

QUOTE (Minh Pham @ Nov 11 2008, 02:01 PM)

Got so far around 90 unique questions. I will go through a bit more this week as TobyD has 150, that sounds like a target.

Don't kill yourself looking - I said about 150 . I'm just guessing. I looked for the .doc file to confirm, but I couldn't find it after a short search - it may be on my PC at home. I just remember that it was about 25 pages and I had cropped and shrunk the screenshots quite a bit.

[DAQv]

QUOTE (crelf @ Nov 11 2008, 08:25 AM)

A) 10 V signal with 0-5 V ADC range: Signal is from 0 to 10V, ADC is from 0 to 5V, so a gain of 0.5 is appropriate.

B) 5 V signal with 0-10 V ADC range: Signal is 0 to 5V, ADC is from 0 to 10V, so a gain of 2 is appropriate.

C) 10 V signal, with 0-10 V ADC range: Signal is from 0 to 10V, ADC is from 0 to 10V, they match so no gain required.

D) 1 V signal with 0-10 V ADC range: Signal is from 0 to 1V, ADC is from 0 to 10V, so a gain of 10 is appropriate.

I see! thx!

It's not a particularily well worded question, but the answer is D - all of the above are error cluster components.

QUOTE (crelf @ Nov 11 2008, 09:57 AM)

That's why it's a poorly worded question

It's right ,may be these questions are really poorly ,

[LAVA 1.0 Content]

QUOTE (Minh Pham @ Nov 10 2008, 05:55 PM)

I have another one:

All of the following are components of an error cluster, EXCEPT:

A Status

B Code

C Source

D All of the above are Error Cluster components.

I have no idea which one NI wants to EXCEPT here???

To me they are the three components of an error cluster. Arent they?

This question is intended to see if you can read a poorly worded question (or poorly written requirements document from a customer) and still come up with the right answer, even though the problem was not presented clearly and possibly has some missing data.

[Chr1sG]

I've attached a couple of q.s that I thought were impossible to answer correctly if taken absolutely literally.

I mean, surely q16 is a no win situation. If any of A, B, C or D is false, then E is also false. If A, B, C and D are all true, then E is true, so there can't be only one correct answer...? I think they want you to say B, but if you over think...

For q30, isn't the real answer that you might have to click 'Highlight Execution' to toggle highlighting on (if it is currently off) but you will then certainly have to click 'Run' or 'Run Continuously' if you want to see any animation? Actually, that assumes it's not already running, if you want to be really pedantic!

I think the more you know, the easier it is to get tripped up!

[Mark Smith]

QUOTE (Chr1sG @ Apr 20 2009, 05:45 PM)

I've attached a couple of q.s that I thought were impossible to answer correctly if taken absolutely literally.

I mean, surely q16 is a no win situation. If any of A, B, C or D is false, then E is also false. If A, B, C and D are all true, then E is true, so there can't be only one correct answer...? I think they want you to say B, but if you over think...

For q30, isn't the real answer that you might have to click 'Highlight Execution' to toggle highlighting on (if it is currently off) but you will then certainly have to click 'Run' or 'Run Continuously' if you want to see any animation? Actually, that assumes it's not already running, if you want to be really pedantic!

I think the more you know, the easier it is to get tripped up!

I don't think there's anything tricky or misleading about 30 - The answer to 30 is Highlight Execution, since the problem clearly states the program is already running.

I would agree that 16 could be a little confusing, since I don't think it's 100% clear what "ordered" means in this context. I think that B means "you cannot always count on an array element introduced as element n to be in the n position when you go the retrieve it from the array", in which case this is the false statement. There's some small chance that they're talking about sorted, in whch case this would be true and E would be the correct answer. Also, the answers are mutually exclusive as that is typically the rule in this type of multiple choice exam so saying that you couldn't choose E because all of the above are correct is a little disingenuous.

Mark

T

Mark

[Chr1sG]

Re; q30 - I realise I made a mistake in interpretation. I misread asking how "to view animation... while the program is running" as how do you start an animation of a running program. :headbang:

As for q16, I'm actually not bothered about the actual discussion of arrays, more the logic of the question.

I mean, in logic terms the question asks which one of the following is false:

statement A

statement B

statement C

statement D

statement E

and statement E is a logical statement that A, B, C and D are all TRUE.

so, E = A AND B AND C AND D

therefore either all are true or more than one (including E) are false.

Have I missed something?

I can't see how there is any situation where only one statement is false

[jdunham]

QUOTE (Chr1sG @ Apr 20 2009, 09:44 PM)

I mean, in logic terms the question asks which one of the following is false:

...

Have I missed something?

Your paraphrase of the question is a lossy data transfer mechanism. The real question was "Which of the following statements about arrays is false..." Answer E is not a statement about arrays, so it can be the answer without having to be false. But you were right about it being confusing.

[crossrulz]

QUOTE (Chr1sG @ Apr 21 2009, 12:44 AM)

Have I missed something?

I can't see how there is any situation where only one statement is false

I'm not confused at this question at all other than what exactly do they mean in statement B. This is a very common question format in the US for "standardized testing". Maybe those of you who are not from the US just are not used to it.

Which of the following is false?

A. true

B. true

C. true

D. Statements A, B, and C are all true

In this case, D is not being checked for a false. It is a cheap way out of having three true statements and then still having a correct answer. Misleading? Heck yeah! But once you get used to them, it's not really that bad. You can thank the great US education system for this mess.

[Chr1sG]

QUOTE (crossrulz @ Apr 22 2009, 12:20 AM)

I'm not confused at this question at all other than what exactly do they mean in statement B. This is a very common question format in the US for "standardized testing". Maybe those of you who are not from the US just are not used to it.

Thanks crossrulz. :worship: Despite having an NZ flag on my profile, I'm actually English (and was educated there) and that might explains why the style is unfamiliar to me.

As for my 'lossy paraphrasing', if the question is "Which of the following statements about arrays is false..." then I disagree with jdunham, and strictly-speaking E can't ever be the answer, since as pointed out, it isn't a statement about arrays (irrespective of it's truth/falsehood!)

In other words, any of A, B, C or D could be true or false statements about arrays, whereas E can only be a true or false statement about those prior statements!

Perhaps this again is a reflection of my education making me too literal!

By the way, have we settled on an answer?! (Are array elements ordered?)

[crossrulz]

QUOTE (Chr1sG @ Apr 21 2009, 07:56 PM)

Perhaps this again is a reflection of my education making me too literal!

By the way, have we settled on an answer?! (Are array elements ordered?)

Yes, you are being too literal. I get in trouble for that too.

And my honest opinion is that they are asking if the array elements are sorted. If I am correct about this, then array elements are not always ordered

[santi122]

Hi folks,

nice discussion here ! I´m also going to do the CLAD, and I read that a few people here allready collect some questions in a .doc !

Could you please post this file or email ??

greetz Chris

[crossrulz]

I took the CLAD at the Cincinnati Developer Education Day yesterday. The exam was a scan tron. Anyways, the practice exam on the NI site was very helpful. Eleven of the forty questions on my exam were straight from the practice exam. There's two questions I probably would have missed if I hadn't done the practice exam.