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My first CAD test: Was I too tough?

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Message 1 of 256
Anonymous
3789 Views, 255 Replies

My first CAD test: Was I too tough?

all,

I've never given any prospective employee a "CAD Test," but I was asked to do so
today. I quickly came up with 20 questions which I figured any knowledgable
person who knows the program would be able to hit it out the park.

Instead, I got a serious case of deer-in-the-headlights-itis.

I didn't want to make it version specific, but I understand some questions would
not be answerable for someone running an older release, and gave the person a
pass in those cases.

I also didn't care if the questions were "useful" on a day to day basis; the
idea was to get an idea of how well the user knows AutoCAD.

So, I'll ask you guys: Was this a decent CAD questionnaire?

1. What are the names of the first 7 AutoCAD ACI colors?
1 =
2 =
3 =
4 =
5 =
6 =
7 =

2. What are System Variables? How are they used?

3. When dimensioning in Model space, what DIMSCALE value would you use for
dimensioning for a 3/16"=1'-0" plot?

4. When working with External References (Xrefs) what is the difference between
Overlay and Attach?

5. How would you specify a Viewport scale of 1/4"=1'-0" in a Paper Space
Viewport, using the Command Line?

6. What is a CUI file?

7. What is a fast method for selecting MText objects with a Style of "MEDIUM"?

8. What does the FROM osnap do?

9. What does Zoom Dynamic do?

10. What are the special rules concerning layers and colors in Blocks?

11. If you dimension two parallel walls and get a dimension of 14'-5 13/256",
what do you do?

12. What is one way of dimensioning something along an angle?

13. Explain the difference between the DIVIDE and MEASURE commands.

14. What does PSLTSCALE do?

15. What is an easy way to open an Xref from a parent file?

16. What is an easy way to close a Polyline?

17. What support file do you modify to create custom command aliases?

18. What is the command-line sequence you would use to change all Xref layer
colors to color #8 (gray)?

19. What does BATTMAN do?

20. What command do you use to change your default Plotter?

Extra Credit / Trick Questions:

1. During the MOVE command, what happens if you hit in response to the
"Specify second point or :" prompt?

2. What generally happens when you do a PERPendicular Osnap on a Spline curve?


I had some more trick questions, but since the first 20 didn't go so well, we
just called it a day at that point 😞


Matt
mstachoni@comcast.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com
255 REPLIES 255
Message 81 of 256
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

I prefer byblock also.

"Lance W." wrote in message
news:5569736@discussion.autodesk.com...
heh, yeah I know but it offers a flexibility I like to have if needed.

jackshield wrote:
> BOOOOOOOOOO!
Message 82 of 256
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

But yet you often hear "I tried inserting the WBlock".

"Matt Stachoni" wrote in message
news:5570241@discussion.autodesk.com...
On Mon, 30 Apr 2007 21:11:03 +0000, Lance W. wrote:

>How about, what's a block? Do you mean wblocks?

There is no such thing as a WBLOCK. It's a command.

-1 point.

Matt
mstachoni@comcast.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com
Message 83 of 256
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Strange. I've found that Autosave interferes with LDT and have it turned
off.

Allen

"Don Reichle" wrote in message
news:5569994@discussion.autodesk.com...
snip>Bonus: What is Autosave, what should its setting be, and what does it
create?
a)Autosave is "insurance" for the revisions you've made to a dwg file.
b)The least amount of time a Firm/User is willing to use in re-creating the
most-recent revisions made to a dwg file.
c)An SV$ file in an easily accessible Folder where a User can retrieve it.
Such as c:\Temp\SV$-Files

Due to Land Desktop's penchant for crashing at the slightest provocation,
I've become pretty friendly with the use of Autosave. ;0)

--
Don Reichle
"The only thing worse than training your staff, and having them leave is -
not training your staff, and having them stay." 😮
A reminder taken from Graphics Solution Providers' Calendar page
-------------------------- ------------------------------------------
!! Please discuss whatever we tell you with your SysMgr !!
!! They appreciate staying in the loop 🙂 !!

LDT-2K4
AMD Athlon64 2.2GHz 2GB RAM
XPPro 32bit SP2
WD Raptor 10K-rpm 37GB HD
Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 128MB

"The only Constant is Change".

wrote in message news:5569696@discussion.autodesk.com...
Matt, I like it. Cad test are funny. Many people in this group, don't have
any use for them. I use a two part test. one written, and a 10 min drawing
test (a small c-store). my applicants get as much time as needed on the
written.

I've found that these combined with a good 11-15 min chat, is a great way to
quickly screen out applicants. I know many people don't test well. Or
others say you can't tell how well a person draws by a test....all true.
But IT"S A TOOL...Not the decid
ing factor...

My test which I've attached has 20 questions also. most have multipule
answers. I will never go back to untested hiring.

Paul Caruthers
Message 84 of 256
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Anybody can read a book and know some of that stuff. I hope you are giving
him a drawing test as well!! We hired a guy about 3 or 4 months ago.
He is a Cad instructor, part time. So, I gave him the benefit of the doubt
and really didn't drill him and we spent most of the time talking about cad
during the interview.
Well, we hired him and he is slow as hell and doesn't know half of what I
expected. After he started, he says to me. He knows everything
in Theory.
I learned yet another thing when hiring someone.


"Matt Stachoni" wrote in message
news:5570244@discussion.autodesk.com...
On Tue, 1 May 2007 03:13:08 +0000, Dean Saadallah
company> wrote:

>Very 'wordy' responses required, assuming they've even cracked open
>the CUI and other customizations/what ifs type of questions.
>I find timed task based/drawing test work better, it makes the test
>taker more comfortable, relaxed and less likely to give me the "right"
>answer but to show me.

That was my preference - in fact I wanted to just give the person a simple
sketch of a building floor plan, have the person work on it at home or
wherever,
then submit it for examination.

That would tell me a LOT more about the person's skill set than some dopey
word
test.

Matt
mstachoni@comcast.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com
Message 85 of 256
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

That's why I try to get everyone to undo an insert, move, copy, offset, etc.
when they don't see the new entity where they expect. It may not be where
expected. But it will most likely be somewhere where it isn't wanted.

Allen

"Lance W." wrote in message
news:5569792@discussion.autodesk.com...
1. It gets moved into never never land to hide until you zoom all. shrug
maybe sometimes it actually does disappear.

2. Seems to work for me in 06, of course I use splines once in a blue
moon so I had to actually try it.

Lance W.

Matt Stachoni wrote:
> For the record:
>
>> Extra Credit / Trick Questions:
>
>> 1. During the MOVE command, what happens if you hit in response
>> to the
>> "Specify second point or :" prompt?
>
> The object disappears. Poof. Gone. I can't believe that no one here did
> not pick
> up on that.
>
> This has been a bug in AutoCAD since, I don't know, Release 1 or
> something.
>
>> 2. What generally happens when you do a PERPendicular Osnap on a Spline
>> curve?
>
> AutoCAD crashes 🙂
>
> Matt
> mstachoni@comcast.net
> mstachoni@bhhtait.com
Message 86 of 256
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

because those are basic questions... they should do a hands on test then a
verbal, with pertinent questions to the hands on test.

--
Steven Ondrias, Technician
President =====> Hunters of Texas
VP =====> Amigo and Jetta Society of America
Member =====> Ted Nugent Fan Club
C3DPOS dual 19's Matrox 650-128 XPpro sp2 dual P 3 Ghz 2GB ram
eagle point guru...
overall a nice guy......
t5's official sausage sender.....

"Lance W." wrote in message
news:5569774@discussion.autodesk.com...
Why? Not everybody does things the same way, doesn't make them wrong.
Maybe like remembering the words to a song is much easier when the music
is playing remembering how to do something in Autocad is easier when at
the keyboard and mouse.

That's why if your going to test somebody it should be a hands on test.

Steven Ondrias wrote:
> i would never hire that person if he couldn't answer at least 1/2 (if not
> most) of those questions....
>
> one i like to ask is "what is the difference between xref overlay and xref
> attach?"....
>
>
>
Message 87 of 256
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

no consequence - but there is a difference.... and a simple one that any
rookie cad jockey should understand.

--
Steven Ondrias, Technician
President =====> Hunters of Texas
VP =====> Amigo and Jetta Society of America
Member =====> Ted Nugent Fan Club
C3DPOS dual 19's Matrox 650-128 XPpro sp2 dual P 3 Ghz 2GB ram
eagle point guru...
overall a nice guy......
t5's official sausage sender.....

"Don Reichle" wrote in message
news:5570009@discussion.autodesk.com...
snip>one i like to ask is "what is the difference between xref overlay and
xref
attach?"....
Whether you want the XREF to continue to accompany the dwg file it's
Attached to?

Overlay won't do that part.

Most of the CE firms I've been employed by prefer Overlay, if it's of any
consequence?

--
Don Reichle
"The only thing worse than training your staff, and having them leave is -
not training your staff, and having them stay." 😮
A reminder taken from Graphics Solution Providers' Calendar page
-------------------------- ------------------------------------------
!! Please discuss whatever we tell you with your SysMgr !!
!! They appreciate staying in the loop 🙂 !!

LDT-2K4
AMD Athlon64 2.2GHz 2GB RAM
XPPro 32bit SP2
WD Raptor 10K-rpm 37GB HD
Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 128MB

"The only Constant is Change".

"Steven Ondrias" wrote in message
news:5569718@discussion.autodesk.com...
i would never hire that person if he couldn't answer at least 1/2 (if not
most) of those questions....

one i like to ask is "what is the difference between xref overlay and xref
attach?"....



--
Steven Ondrias, Technician
President =====> Hunters of Texas
VP =====> Amigo and Jetta Society of America
Member =====> Ted Nugent Fan Club
C3DPOS dual 19's Matrox 650-128 XPpro sp2 dual P 3 Ghz 2GB ram
eagle point guru...
overall a nice guy......
t5's official sausage sender.....


"Matt Stachoni" wrote in message
news:5569527@discussion.autodesk.com...
all,

I've never given any prospective employee a "CAD Test," but I was asked to
do so
today. I quickly came up with 20 questions which I figured any knowledgable
person who knows the program would be able to hit it out the park.

Instead, I got a serious case of deer-in-the-headlights-itis.

I didn't want to make it version specific, but I understand some questions
would
not be answerable for someone running an older release, and gave the person
a
pass in those cases.

I also didn't care if the questions were "useful" on a day to day basis; the
idea was to get an idea of how well the user knows AutoCAD.

So, I'll ask you guys: Was this a decent CAD questionnaire?

1. What are the names of the first 7 AutoCAD ACI colors?
1 =
2 =
3 =
4 =
5 =
6 =
7 =

2. What are System Variables? How are they used?

3. When dimensioning in Model space, what DIMSCALE value would you use for
dimensioning for a 3/16"=1'-0" plot?

4. When working with External References (Xrefs) what is the difference
between
Overlay and Attach?

5. How would you specify a Viewport scale of 1/4"=1'-0" in a Paper Space
Viewport, using the Command Line?

6. What is a CUI file?

7. What is a fast method for selecting MText objects with a Style of
"MEDIUM"?

8. What does the FROM osnap do?

9. What does Zoom Dynamic do?

10. What are the special rules concerning layers and colors in Blocks?

11. If you dimension two parallel walls and get a dimension of 14'-5
13/256",
what do you do?

12. What is one way of dimensioning something along an angle?

13. Explain the difference between the DIVIDE and MEASURE commands.

14. What does PSLTSCALE do?

15. What is an easy way to open an Xref from a parent file?

16. What is an easy way to close a Polyline?

17. What support file do you modify to create custom command aliases?

18. What is the command-line sequence you would use to change all Xref layer
colors to color #8 (gray)?

19. What does BATTMAN do?

20. What command do you use to change your default Plotter?

Extra Credit / Trick Questions:

1. During the MOVE command, what happens if you hit in response to
the
"Specify second point or :" prompt?

2. What generally happens when you do a PERPendicular Osnap on a Spline
curve?


I had some more trick questions, but since the first 20 didn't go so well,
we
just called it a day at that point 😞


Matt
mstachoni@comcast.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com
Message 88 of 256
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

On Tue, 1 May 2007 12:09:04 +0000, Allen Jessup
wrote:

>But yet you often hear "I tried inserting the WBlock".

Yep. I heard it from the job candidate as well.

Matt
mstachoni@comcast.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com
Message 89 of 256
dxarhoulakos
in reply to: Anonymous

In my 10 years of experience, i found that if you're giving a CAD test, its best to give an actual practical test. Written tests are normally 90% not fair. Every CAD user has his/her own way of doing things.

For example, several of your questions, refer to the "easiest method". What may be the easiest for you may not be the easiest for someone else. So that makes the question unfair.

Some of your questions are good. Asking the difference between Overlay and Attach is a good one.

I teach an AutoCAD class. Beginner and Advanced. Even in the formal classroom, I dont give any written tests. I try to encourage my students to find their own way of doings things by exploring the program. It wouldnt be fair for me to ask questions based on how I like to work. Which is inevitably what written tests become. I biased example of the way the author uses the software.
Message 90 of 256
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

On Mon, 30 Apr 2007 21:25:39 +0000, John Mayo
wrote:

>Matt,
>
>I was able to do both the Extra Credits in 07 & 08 without crashing.

Yes, the Perp to Spline bug was a problem (for me) in 2006, where I was
designing new corporate logos in Adobe Ilustrator, then importing them into
AutoCAD and everything comes over as Splines. Any snap to Perp operation would
hang the system and shoot system resources to 100% without any hope of system
recovery short of a power outage.

I just assumed they did not fix it in 2007, but I just tried it in 2007 and it
worked fine.

Dammit.

Matt
mstachoni@comcast.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com
Message 91 of 256
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Don Reichle said the following On 4/30/2007 8:26 PM:
> What is Autosave,

A process that fires whenever the current drawing has not been saved for
a predetermined amount of time. This process writes the contents of the
editor to disk as a separate file (SV$ extension). When AutoCAD is
closed, these files are deleted.


> what should its setting be,

As far as I'm concerned, it should be OFF. Learn to QSAVE every few
minutes and you'll never need autosave.


> and what does it create?

See above.


--
R.K. McSwain
http://rkmcswain.blogspot.com
Message 92 of 256
dxarhoulakos
in reply to: Anonymous

"When AutoCAD is
closed, these files are deleted."

Hate to be a stickler, but check your facts on this one. If this were the case, it would defeat the prupose.
Message 93 of 256
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Matt Stachoni said the following On 4/30/2007 2:47 PM:
>
>>> 20. What command do you use to change your default Plotter?
>> OPTIONS...
>
> Yip

Of course, "Default Plotter" is sort of archaic, since the "default
plotter" is stored in the DWG file, and has been since R2000.

Still somewhat useful if you deal with R14 or earlier drawings or like
to start new drawings without a template.


--
R.K. McSwain
http://rkmcswain.blogspot.com
Message 94 of 256
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

cadbydx wrote:
> "When AutoCAD is
> closed, these files are deleted."
>
> Hate to be a stickler, but check your facts on this one. If this were the case, it would defeat the prupose.

You need to read up on it. When you shutdown AutoCAD normally, those
files are deleted. Why do you think some just turn it off?
Message 95 of 256
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

cadbydx said the following On 5/1/2007 9:10 AM:
> "When AutoCAD is
> closed, these files are deleted."
>
> Hate to be a stickler, but check your facts on this one. If this were the case, it would defeat the prupose.

No problem, but you should check your thoughts.

.SV$ files ARE deleted when AutoCAD closes, period.

It doesn't "defeat the purpose", because when you close AutoCAD, you
will either

a) Save the drawing (which means it will be newer than any autosave drawing)
-or-
b) not save the drawing (which means you don't care about the changes
you have made - in which case any autosave file is worthless anyway)

So, because there is NO reason to retain .SV$ files when AutoCAD closes,
that is how it was designed.

.SV$ files are retained when AutoCAD crashes (power failure, O/S crash,
etc) since the code that deletes the .SV$ files at closing never gets a
chance to execute.


Read more at http://rkmcswain.blogspot.com/2005/07/autosave-mystery.html


--
R.K. McSwain
http://rkmcswain.blogspot.com
Message 96 of 256
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Nope, he's right. However, it should probably be "when AutoCAD is closed
*normally, these SV$* files are deleted." BAKs of those SV$ files remain
regardless.

Josh

wrote in message news:5570490@discussion.autodesk.com...
"When AutoCAD is
closed, these files are deleted."

Hate to be a stickler, but check your facts on this one. If this were the
case, it would defeat the prupose.
Message 97 of 256
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Matt Stachoni wrote in
news:5570057@discussion.autodesk.com:

> On Tue, 1 May 2007 00:18:52 +0000, Dave Drahn
> wrote:
>
>>It actually uses the first pont as a displacement value (which,
>>strangely,
>
>>is what it says it will do) - ie, if you type move, select the
>>thing(s) an
> d
>>pick a base point at 6257025.6455,2116004.4333,20.0000, then hit
>>enter, it'll move you object(s) by that displacement value (an
>>additional X,Y,Z)
>

>>which to the guy who doesn't realize what he's doing, probably looks a
>>lot
>
>>like disappearing.
>
> Yep, you are definitely right on that. But I don't know how many times
> it's vexed me.
>
>>Pretty hard to get the extra credit when the teacher doesn't know the
>>answer...
>
> Yep. Thanks for the clarification.
>
> Matt
> mstachoni@comcast.net
> mstachoni@bhhtait.com
>

So assuming your applicant got this one correct would they get your job
Matt? lol!

To be sure, I had no clue what the answer was so I would not be gunning
for your job 😛
Message 98 of 256
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Hover over an object until the snap appears, then move off the line until
the parallel tracking vector appears. It's a little touchy, and you have to
be pretty good at guessing what the parallel vector might be, but it does
work. I think it's the only snap that doesn't actually let you click on the
object you're snapping to, but forces you to click somewhere else.

"Dave Drahn" wrote in message
news:5569908@discussion.autodesk.com...
I'd guess most of us would "pass" - you woulda got me on #8 though if it
read
"What does the PAR osnap do?"

I stilll have not figured out how to use that; read Help, asked around,
dinked with it a few times in my spare time - it's just never switched on
for me.

(Anybody?)


"Matt Stachoni" wrote in message
news:5569527@discussion.autodesk.com...
all,

I've never given any prospective employee a "CAD Test," but I was asked to
do so
today. I quickly came up with 20 questions which I figured any knowledgable
person who knows the program would be able to hit it out the park.

Instead, I got a serious case of deer-in-the-headlights-itis.

I didn't want to make it version specific, but I understand some questions
would
not be answerable for someone running an older release, and gave the person
a
pass in those cases.

I also didn't care if the questions were "useful" on a day to day basis; the
idea was to get an idea of how well the user knows AutoCAD.

So, I'll ask you guys: Was this a decent CAD questionnaire?

1. What are the names of the first 7 AutoCAD ACI colors?
1 =
2 =
3 =
4 =
5 =
6 =
7 =

2. What are System Variables? How are they used?

3. When dimensioning in Model space, what DIMSCALE value would you use for
dimensioning for a 3/16"=1'-0" plot?

4. When working with External References (Xrefs) what is the difference
between
Overlay and Attach?

5. How would you specify a Viewport scale of 1/4"=1'-0" in a Paper Space
Viewport, using the Command Line?

6. What is a CUI file?

7. What is a fast method for selecting MText objects with a Style of
"MEDIUM"?

8. What does the FROM osnap do?

9. What does Zoom Dynamic do?

10. What are the special rules concerning layers and colors in Blocks?

11. If you dimension two parallel walls and get a dimension of 14'-5
13/256",
what do you do?

12. What is one way of dimensioning something along an angle?

13. Explain the difference between the DIVIDE and MEASURE commands.

14. What does PSLTSCALE do?

15. What is an easy way to open an Xref from a parent file?

16. What is an easy way to close a Polyline?

17. What support file do you modify to create custom command aliases?

18. What is the command-line sequence you would use to change all Xref layer
colors to color #8 (gray)?

19. What does BATTMAN do?

20. What command do you use to change your default Plotter?

Extra Credit / Trick Questions:

1. During the MOVE command, what happens if you hit in response to
the
"Specify second point or :" prompt?

2. What generally happens when you do a PERPendicular Osnap on a Spline
curve?


I had some more trick questions, but since the first 20 didn't go so well,
we
just called it a day at that point 😞


Matt
mstachoni@comcast.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com
Message 99 of 256
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

On Tue, 1 May 2007 14:52:59 +0000, kemp wrote:

>So assuming your applicant got this one correct would they get your job
>Matt? lol!

Yep, and they would deserve it. In all of its glory... 🙂

>To be sure, I had no clue what the answer was so I would not be gunning
>for your job 😛

Neither should anyone else, if they know what's good for 'em.

Matt
mstachoni@comcast.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com
Message 100 of 256
dxarhoulakos
in reply to: Anonymous

Was just about to say the same thing. Thanks Josh.

Turn on your Autosave then revisit the folder in a week. You may make a startling discovery.

I clean out my Autosave once a month or so, but by the end of that month, it will have hundreds of files... sv$ as well as .bak

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