I took the test in March, I found myself quite happy i studied and i wasn't one of the people who just paid money and felt they were entitled to the CWI, I studied for a little over 4 months, i read anything i could get ahold of, i asked questions, i over studied, i learned things that were no where near as close to what is on the test, i am quite happy i understand the physics of the electron, it allows me to explain and understand things in more detail, I was quite happy i took a intro to NDT class and read the Handbook of Non Destructive Evaluation, there are questions about NDT, Im not a NDT tech, Im a welder, i made over 300 flash cards on various welding symbols, i made flash cards about any definition i couldn't remember or really have a freaking clue about, i learned the difference between groove and tensile orientation, i read and re read every book at least twice, The week of the test i drove an hour and a half each way, no mind you we stayed until 7-8 some nights and back at it in the morning, i rarely picked up a book during the week prep course when i got home, there was no time, i showered and slept, I found the WIT book to be invaluable and the sections on Metallurgy and Physical properties of metals i supplemented them with more materials, some of it was over what was on the test, but all in all i found it to be useful information today, What im saying is you can always learn more, calm down spend as much time as you can each night without burning yourself out, i don't recommend waiting and betting on the course to teach u everything, as always you will have someone who can't stay off the cell phone or has to go to the bathroom rite when the instructor is talking about something you have never heard about before. I stayed the night before the test eat myself fat, slept and woke up early eat breakfast and did a few prayers (personal preference for myself), So after the first test i had set a mood and was done in a little over an hour on the 150 question part, So i found out i knew enough to pass it with flying colors, when i was done with it, I knew i had passed that part, The next test was the code book, the problem occured when they said if you have anything wrote in your book we will kick you out of the test, ( different than what the aws paper work and the instructor said) so here we are erasing anything and everything in our books, threw me for a curve wasn't ready for this, 15 minutes into the test my hearts still pounding but im calming down and getting back into my groove, i missed 3. Part b was the portion that was the problem there was no way to study for it, i didn't know what to expect, ( heres the part the about the ndt and the various directions of tensile stress come into play ) So i had the question about the orientation of the crack, good deal had to do what the instructor said, only answer what the question asks, just cause its 1.375 wide and it says something about thickness but not width and it passes thickness does it break out, no, cause it only asked about thickness not is it 1.5 wide minimum, I had the most part with part b, my vwac was bent and was not correct by any means, the math was okay but i had one question i couldn't figure out for the life of me, i challenged it and went on, it was about a preheat, the thing about it nothing in part b had any of the same numbers in either C or F, so i just guessed and moved on until the end, after i finished i felt confident with everything but part b, little to my knowledge i passed and here we are today, Do your studying don't take it to be a joke and pursue your dream, the next thing, forget all the damn hype, i spent over 4000$ in books and seminar and gas and taking off work and every other thing to go do this, today i have a number and i plan to go do an endorsement possibly this March. BTW my typing skills suck, this is just my experience, good luck.
The test/exam is broken up into three 2hr segments, 2hrs for each of the 3 topics with all of those questions as Brent stated in his post.
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