cwi practical retest study info?

Date 06-16-2010 22:36

I have a question are you a boots on the ground inspector or are you in a design or support role? This information would be helpful to determine what you need to focus on and in recommending study material; I noticed you said you do not have the samples for the practice test. It is my understanding that it is common for people that have had little actual inspection experience to a welding code to have some problem with part B, I do not know if this is the case.

Rey

By mrrpm6900 Date 06-20-2010 17:09

I am a welder, i use the weld gages once and a while but just in general didnt do very good on the test. I will say the i felt very good leaving the part b test, felt like i had passed it with no problem. It was a big surprise to me when i found out i bombed it.

By welderbrent (*****)

Date 06-21-2010 00:23

Ah, I see one of my comments was another of my famous misconceptions/interpretations/and all around OOPS.

Your retaking of the part B is because you failed it the first time around, not due to a 9 yr recert.

Still, make sure you don't try to go off memory AT ALL. Read the proper area of the Part B book with each question and then answer accordingly. Go through study materials to keep familiar with all testing procedures as to measuring. Measure carefully. And make sure you don't just pick the first answer to a question that sounds like the right answer. Some of them have two very similar answers that must be carefully examined because one is MORE correct than the other.

Good luck.

Have a Great Day, Brent

By R McLead (**)

Date 06-21-2010 15:08 Edited 06-21-2010 16:17

If you only have to take Part B I would study The Guide for Nondestructive Examination of Welds AWS B1.10. I would also study the Part B book using the Visual Inspection Workshop book and as it has been said the Part B book is the only code you can use so be sure you know it inside out. Study Annex N on sample welding forms in D1.1 covering WPQR and PQR, go thru and see if everything is correct in the sample given in Part B listed as Appendix II-B. This test is checking your reading comprehension so read the questions carefully, is it asking you to measure the discontinuity or is it giving the size you should use for the calculation.
If you felt that good about the test do you think you may have gotten out of order on the question number to the answer sheet number?
Also be sure to check any gages you use, are they correct are they reading 0 when they should be.

Rey

By welderbrent (*****)

Date 06-16-2010 23:15

mrrpm,

First off, WELCOME TO THE AWS WELDING FORUM!!

Now then, nine years an inspector and just now getting onto the forum, MAN, there is lots of info here to help out in every area of our jobs. And this question comes up fairly often. You can do a search here by using the 'Search' function listed in blue above. This is not a criticism, just an observation and opinion. I find this forum very educational and beneficial.

I would start by asking how long until you retest? Are you already scheduled?

I ask because there are many other ways to qualify for recertification without taking the dreaded 'PART B'. Are you an AWS member and receive the 'Inspections Trends' magazine? There was a great article in the last issue on the various ways to track your experiences, classes, seminars, other certifications and associated items that qualify you to just pay up and your good to go. But if you are very close to your requal date it may be difficult to document the required items.

Other than that, just study the 'Part B' study book you have. Look over D1.1 Code Book, even though things are different than the 'Part B'. It still helps to be familiar with the general format. Go through any of the other AWS books you may have that were recommended for study the first time around. Especially the small red book 'Welding Inspection Handbook'. Doesn't hurt to review the WIT book, some of the info will apply to the Part B even though most of it was for the general knowledge exam.

Have a Great Day, Brent

By Superflux (****)

Date 06-17-2010 01:06

mrrpm6900,
Welcome. First there really is no easy way to study for the infamous Part B. Most (maybe all?) of the people I know who have failed the CWI exam was on the Part B.
The only advice I can give is to first "inspect" your samples as soon as you recieve them. I remember mine (2007) seemed to have pencil lead broken off in them and just were kinda overall abused and scratched up. My first encounter with Part B was back in '97 and those of us that took the CWI exam refered to them as the "Fisher Price inspectors KIT". The calipers and other tools were cheap grey plastic just like the weld samples. I thought for sure I was doomed due the the inherent inaccuracy of tools not of Starret or other such quality. If you wear eyeglasses, I usually use "over the counter" types from the pharmacy, make sure they are up to date. BRING YOUR OWN FLASHLIGHT! I am NOT a fan of LED for QC work. Something about the higher end spectrum (of LED) does not seem to work for me. I prefer a 60 lumen or better halogen.
Last I recommend to every one DO NOT use your judgement on this test. Read the question carefully, and decide what they are asking for. I think they intentionally structure the questions to confuse and make experienced Inspectors reach from their memory rather than interpret this bogus code for what it is... a BOGUS CODE!

Hope this helps...it's worked for me twice in 10 years.

FWIW, I think Part B is a nice break from the way it was when all you had was 3 sessions of multiple guess.

By waccobird (****)

Date 06-17-2010 09:24

mrrpm6900
Welcome to the Forum.
As has been said already there is no real way to study for the Part B. I found it to be the easier of the three. But I really had been doing visual weld inspections for @ 25 years as a welder and supervisor. I believe that hands on inspection was my best aid.
And as John was mentioning sight is the real key to it all.
Just my ¢¢'s
But again Welcome to the American Welding Society Online Forum
Good Luck
Marshall

By eekpod

Date 06-17-2010 10:31

Make sure you are comfortable with a 6" steel ruler, and how to read the increments, down to a 64th. Also make sure you are comfortable adding together the fractions. Practise measuring small areas of porosity, and adding them all of, and comparing them over the length of the weld. Fillet weld gauges, make sure you can use them easily as well.
Chris

By HgTX

Date 06-23-2010 19:29

Did you take the Visual Inspection Workshop offered the Friday before the exam last time you took it?

Hg

By ssbn727 (*****)

Date 06-24-2010 06:43 Edited 06-24-2010 06:59

All y6ou need to do is to: K.I.S.S... Meaning KEEP IT SIMPLE BLANK (one can use whatever they want to represent the last letter)!!! :) :) :)

Focus on one book only!!! It's a phony/imaginary code in a phony/imaginary code book!!! So focus on what you find in the phony/imaginary code book regarding how to inspect the samples because if you are still going by the same requirements/acceptance criteria found in the code book you picked for your open book test, then you are setting yourself up for almost guaranteed failure in that part "B" of the exam!!! :( :( :(

So Keep it simple, and focus only on the phony/imaginary part b code book and ALL OF IT'S INSTRUCTIONS regarding the requirements, procedures and acceptance criteria found only in the part B phony/imaginary code book and you'll do fine - CAPECHE??? Good luck and happy hunting next time!!! :) :) :)

Remember!!! Concentrate, and focus on studying, and using the Part B book only in order to successfully complete that part of the exam, and in order to avoid confusion on inspecting to the part b code book as opposed to AWS D1.1 or any other of the allowable codes that one can use for the open book test part of the CWI exam because;

THIS IS NOT THE OPEN BOOK TEST USING AN ACTUAL CODE THAT IS USED IN THE FIELD OR SHOPS!!!;) It is intentionally designed to trick you if you are not focusing on the code you are working to in order to test you on whether or not you can perform your inspection duties regardless of which code you are working from - PERIOD!!! ;)

Finally, practice if you have time in going from the open book test part of the exam and then switch to the part B phony/imaginary code book part of the exam and see how well you can change your focus from one code to another before you take the actual retest on part b because it will give you an idea if you can shift gears on the fly so to speak!!! ;)

I apologize if I'm a bit blunt, but I don't like to sugar coat important stuff unless it's absolutely necessary and it's not in this case here. ;)

Respectfully,
Henry

By HgTX

Date 06-24-2010 14:47

My problem wasn't matching the defect to the phony code.

My problem was "is that undercut really outside the phony code limits, or is it the result of several years' worth of test-takers before me poking a sharp steel gauge into a plastic hole?"

My problem was "if the question is phrased in terms of 'what is the size most nearly' and there is one tiny spot that looks more like 1/4" than 5/16", do I report 1/4" or 5/16"?" I know in real life I'd not worry about a stretch of undersize 1/32" long, but this isn't real life--but on the other hand, they said "most nearly". (Plus, the whole idea of diagnosing a single size for an entire length of weld is a little weird; typically in weld inspection you're judging whether a given segment meets the requirement rather than diagnosing a size, and even if it's a question of measuring for analysis, you still don't let one tiny section govern.)

My problem was "I can't tell if that's a stress mark or a scratch or a crack, and I can't exactly break out the ol' PT cans on my plastic specimens here in the test."

Etc.

I took the test on Sunday. We'll see...

Hg

By ssbn727 (*****)

Date 06-25-2010 07:04

Best of luck to you with your results... However, my response was not even directed towards you at all... It was directed to the OP - PERIOD!!! :) :) :)

Once again, K.I.S.S otherwise, we'll all tend to over-analyze! ;)

Respectfully,
Henry

By welderbrent (*****)

Date 06-25-2010 14:15

You are absolutely correct Henry. And my suggestions as to reviewing some of the other materials was to keep familiar with the various examples, though pics are not always very good practice, of bad and good welds. But I agree that most of those I know who had a problem with the Part B was because they used too much of their memory of the actual D1.1 and other info instead of looking to the Part B book only.

The second thing that got them was the way the answers are written, especially when two or three of the answers seem to fit. Be careful. Only one is correct, and usually it is a more complete answer than the first one. Read all answers before marking one.

But follow Henry's advice. STUDY that Part B book completely.

Have a Great Day, Brent

By HgTX

Date 06-25-2010 14:50

Just suggesting more ways in which one might screw up the test...

Another good one, even if you know to look stuff up in the Part B code rather than trying to use your memory of the wrong code, is just not paying attention to the details in the questions. It's really easy to look at the welder qual tables instead of the procedure qual or vice versa, or miss a footnote, etc.

I'm ashamed to say that in real life I've been caught looking at a welder position qualification table when we were talking about procedure qualification...it's even easier to do something like that on a test under pressure.

Hg

By flamin

Date 06-26-2010 00:30

There was one good piece of advice someone told me before I took my test, and that was to, "Read the question all the way to the end of the sentence". When you're in a hurry, and trying to beat the clock, it's too easy to get caught up reading only part of the question, and assume you know what the question is going to ask. Many times it's the last couple of words within the question that have the most relevance to what the question is asking.

Jason