I am talking about the AWS sponsored seminar. There are other organizations that offer training course similar to the AWS seminar. I know from past experience some of the AWS courses get over populated, thus individuals may not get the personalized help they would like. That being said, most people don't realize they are in trouble until the last day or two and by then it is too late to recover.
I like the AWS seminar, but success hinges on the attendee coming prepared. They should read as much as possible ahead of the class. You mentioned you are reading older materials. There is nothing wrong with that, just recognize that the technology and terminology changes over time. It your books are too old their use is of limited value, but I’m not saying they are of no value.
The presumption of the AWS seminar is that the attendee has been working in the industry for several years. AWS is very generous with what they consider to be qualifying experience. If the attendee does not have the appropriate back ground it does not mean they have little opportunity to pass the examinations. Hat it does mean is they are going to have to study harder than someone that has a well-rounded back ground in welding and testing.
Few people have a back ground in welding that includes experience in design, welding, inspection, and nondestructive testing. However, the study materials provided at the AWS seminar includes all the materials necessary to reinforce your weaknesses. Study is the key to can passing the examination. The key to success is to study as much as possible before the seminar so you are not overwhelmed by new information. Once you are in attendance, study all the materials, do all the home work as it is assigned and don’t fall behind.
Here’s a practices that typical spell disaster for many people attending the AWS seminar:
Spend time at the local watering hole,
Bring your wife or best pal to the seminar,
Watch TV while studying,
Study in groups or with coworkers for the first few evenings,
Put off studying until “later,” after all, you have four or five days to catch up (no you don’t!).
Drive to class every day to save a few dollars on hotel room and meals. (You need all the study time you can muster. An extra hour a day driving is six hours of study time lost.),
Down a couple of brews after class just to loosen up a little. (Would you believe I have never had a welder pass a qualification test after drinking one or two beers! I used to take welders out to lunch when they tested at my laboratory until I recognized the correlation between the one or two beers for lunch and the failure rate. The same holds true when preparing for an examination, you need a clear head to study.),
Attend class with the attitude that you already know the subject matter,
Don’t participate in class discussions (you wouldn’t want to look silly would you?), or
Work on homework assignments during the class (Really? Do you really think you have the subject matter mastered to the point where you can't learn something by listening to the discussions?),
I hate to make generalizations, but here goes anyway. The two groups of people that seem to have the poorest pass rate on the CWI examinations seem to be engineers and welding instructors. I have my suppositions as to why, but I’ll keep my opinion on that subject to myself.
Best regards - Al
