Appearing for CLA : Your Tips?

[FraggerFox]

Hello All,

I successfully cleared the CLD last week with a passing score of 90%

I was looking forward to appear for the CLA on 26th this month.

Can anyone post some tips and their experiences during the exam.

Regards,

Fragger Fox! 🙂

[muks]

First congrats great job done..

[FraggerFox]

^ ^

Thanks! 🙂

[Ben]

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Fragger Fox wrote:

Hello All,

I successfully cleared the CLD last week with a passing score of 90%

I was looking forward to appear for the CLA on 26th this month.

Can anyone post some tips and their experiences during the exam.

Regards,

Fragger Fox! 🙂

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You will not be tested on code development rather code design.

Every module (sub-VI) must be docuemtned such that you could send it to mee and I could develop your design and it will work.

Write down everything that runs through your head so they know what you are thinking.

Get very familiar with all of the shipping architecture desgns and be confident when selecting one over another.

For my last re-cert I used LVOOP to make my life easier.

Review all of the published req's for the test and get used to thier terminology. Youe will be asked question that assume your were a computer science major so prepare for the volcabulary.

Get a good night sleep.

Ben

[Mark_Yedinak]

Congrats! As with the CLD exam time management is critical. The four hours allotted for the test is not very much time. The test consists of a essay portion and a "coding" part. I believe the split is 40/60 in terms of the grading. Try to allot your time accordingly. Also avoid diving in too deep on the coding side. As Ben mentioned they are loking for the architecture. As a architect you should be putting together the framework and template for developers to fill in. It is OK if none of your code is functional. Just make sure that it is documented extremely well so someone else can pick it up and complete it.

Good luck.

[FraggerFox]

Ben,

LVOOP really makes life easier. I agree with you on this! 🙂 I used this in my CLD also.

In the sample exam of CLA, I saw queues and some other stuff, which I found was not necessary, maybe due to the way I think. I can design the same application using LVOOP, where queues won't be required, but at the same time all the requirements would be covered. This won't become as big a design as given in sample CLA exam, but the size of complete design would be reduced to half with increased modularity, I don't know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.

[FraggerFox]

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Mark Yedinak wrote:

The test consists of a essay portion and a "coding" part.

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With Essay Portion, you mean the documentation part on the block diagram?

[Mark_Yedinak]

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Fragger Fox wrote:

Ben,

LVOOP really makes life easier. I agree with you on this! 🙂 I used this in my CLD also.

In the sample exam of CLA, I saw queues and some other stuff, which I found was not necessary, maybe due to the way I think. I can design the same application using LVOOP, where queues won't be required, but at the same time all the requirements would be covered. This won't become as big a design as given in sample CLA exam, but the size of complete design would be reduced to half with increased modularity, I don't know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.

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This would be a very good approach. You are being tested on your ability to architect a robust, maintainable system.If this can be accomplished without using queues yet still cover the requirements then that is fine. As with anysystem there are multiple ways it can be implemented. Some are better than others but you can easily have two different designs which are equal with respect to their modularity and maintainability yet take two very different approaches.

[Mark_Yedinak]

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Fragger Fox wrote:

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Mark Yedinak wrote:

The test consists of a essay portion and a "coding" part.

---

With Essay Portion, you mean the documentation part on the block diagram?

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No, an actual portion of the exam. You will be asked specific questions which you must write the answers. Calling it an essay may be overkill since the answers aren't that long but that portion of teh exam is purely written, no code.

[Ben]

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Fragger Fox wrote:

Ben,

LVOOP really makes life easier. I agree with you on this! 🙂 I used this in my CLD also.

In the sample exam of CLA, I saw queues and some other stuff, which I found was not necessary, maybe due to the way I think. I can design the same application using LVOOP, where queues won't be required, but at the same time all the requirements would be covered. This won't become as big a design as given in sample CLA exam, but the size of complete design would be reduced to half with increased modularity, I don't know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.

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confesion time:

Due to nerves I started the design using traditional methods then half way through it hit me that I could implement the required modes as Override VI of a common parent. So I through away the traditional version and re-did it as LVOOP. So without doing it on purpose I ended up testing myself to see if I could actually design the same app in half the time using LVOOP.

Have fun and let us know what you can without violating rules.

Ben