Inventor 2013 or 2014 Professional Exam

[FeuerBjorn]

Hey everyone.

Has anyone taken a recent Professional exam for Inventor, like 2013 or 2014?  How is it?

I have the basic rundown from autodesk.com concerning what topics are covered, but it's vague in some areas.  What features do you think are most useful to know?

[LT.Rusty]

The 2013 test was ridiculously easy, took me less than an hour.  To be perfectly honest, if someone came in to apply for a job and the only thing they had on their resume was Inventor Certified Professional, and had no sample work or references, I'd probably skip to the next resume on the stack.

The stuff that's listed on the brochure is the stuff you need to be prepared for.  Read each question carefully - there were a couple I got wrong simply because the wording was a little tricky and I didn't read the question thoroughly.

[JDMather]

The test might be easy for an experience user - but most of my students do not pass on first attempt even though they have gone through my classes (I don't teach to the test, but I do tell them you will see something similar to this....).

Apparently they do not keep good record of every time I say, "You will see something similar to this..."

You should be supremely confident in all areas of Inventor.

Do not spend too much time on one particular question - answer the ones that you can do quickly - even if that means skipping over one you know you can answer, but it will take a long tome to get that answer.  You can then go back if you have time.

Obviously you should know sketching and parametric dimensions/constraints.

You should know the Feature tools.

In particular you should know

drawing tables

sheet metal

weldments

assembly constraints including constraint limits, position reps...

these are the areas that trip up my students.

Practice with Ctrl Tab between Inventor and Internet Explorer.

Practice with Ctrl C and Ctrl V

Know how to check iProperties and other measuring functions.

If the test allows a break time - take it. (be sure to stop the clock)

Amazing how a 5-minute trip out of the room will clear up your thinking.

(I never take advantage of this and every time when I walk out the door I suddenly realize the easy solution to the one question I miss.) (you can have a scratch sheet - keep a record of the ones you are not absolutely sure of and once you know you have answered correctly enough to pass - you can relax a bit to finish up)

You can take it for free at AU in Dec http://au.autodesk.com