Any class you take is only as good as the effort you put into it.

I've had courses where the instructors could barely speak English. Don't depend on the course instructor to do more than review the material in the books they use. You need to do the leg work and study the materials recommended by AWS.

When you were in high school you could listen to the teacher and if you didn't fall asleep, pass the class. That's no longer the case as an adult. I don't hold any one's hand or spoon feed them when I teach an adult course. I cover the course material at a rapid pace and its your responsibility to come to class prepared. If you haven't studied the material beforehand, you'll be hopelessly lost after the first half hour.

I've taught courses for military welders and aerospace welders for many years as well as NDT courses. I tell the students in the first 15 minutes that they will not pass the course if they don't study the material. The first class usually has a 60% failure rate. I can point out the desks of those people that will fail because their books are left on the desk tops in the evening. The second class gets the word very early and usually the failure rate is down around 20% with a few hold over hard headed individuals that refuse to study the material. They get the message by the second time they sit through the class. The third group has a passing rate that is on the order of 95% and it holds there because by then, they have figured out that they do have to study the materials on their own time. The CWI is the same, you have to do the work if you expect to pass.

This isn't meant to be a lecture, but only you will determine if you will pass the examination or not. If you are not proficient with basic algebra, study it. If you are not familiar with the proper use of dial calipers and micrometers, find someone that can show you. If you have a difficult time reading a paragraph and finding the keyword or key phrase, start reading and do as many exercises as you possibly can.

One of the major complaints that I hear is the test is a reading comprehension test and that the questions are "tricky". In a couple of words, "yes they are" and they are intended to be. This "ain't kindergarten" and the questions are intended to separate those people that give a question a cursory glance and those that read the question and figure out quickly what the "real question is". One problem that seems to crop up time after time is people don't read foot notes. If you skip the foot notes in the table contained in the open book code examination, you will fail.

The bottom line is that the course you take isn't the determining factor in whether you pass or fail the CWI examination. Only you can determine whether you will pass or join the multitudes that don't score high enough to become a CWI.

Best regards - Al