- What This Cheat Sheet Covers and the Exam Format at a Glance
- Prerequisites, Licensing, and Logistics
- Point-Aware Time Planning
- Static Domains: Linear Stress, Contact, Connectors, Shells, 2D
- Meshing Domains: Problems and Convergence
- Thermal and Thermal Stress
- Frequency, Drop Test, Buckling, and Linear Dynamic
- Nonlinear Static, Dynamic, and Buckling
- Assembly Configurations and Results Interpretation
- Sequencing Your Review by Domain
- What Is Not Published
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The exam is 40 questions in one uninterruptible 3-hour sitting: 10 hands-on (10-20 points each) and 30 multiple-choice (2 points each).
- Passing requires 70%, but because questions carry different points, it is not a flat 28-correct-answers rule.
- You must hold CSWP, CSWA-S, and CSWP-S before attempting this Simulation Expert exam.
- You need SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium 2017 or later; a CAD-only Premium license does not qualify.
What This Cheat Sheet Covers and the Exam Format at a Glance
This page is a compressed review of the Certified SOLIDWORKS Expert - Simulation (CSWE-S), which SOLIDWORKS (Dassault Systèmes) currently lists as the "SOLIDWORKS Simulation Expert (CSWE-S)." It is the top rung of the SOLIDWORKS simulation certification path. If you are still orienting yourself, start with our explainer on what CSWE-S is and then return here for the facts you want within arm's reach on exam day.
A note on scope: the issuer publishes 18 areas for possible hands-on challenges. These are skill objectives, not a weighted blueprint. The issuer does not state which topic carries the most weight, and neither do we. For a longer treatment of each area, see our complete guide to all 18 content areas.
| Item | Fact |
|---|---|
| Issuer | SOLIDWORKS (Dassault Systèmes) |
| Questions | 40 total in one 3-hour sitting |
| Hands-on questions | 10, worth 10-20 points each |
| Multiple-choice questions | 30, worth 2 points each |
| Minimum passing grade | 70% |
| Fee | USD 149 (North America), one attempt |
| Retake policy | At least 90 days between attempts, plus a fresh exam credit |
| Delivery | Online via SOLIDWORKS/VirtualTester; timer cannot be paused |
| Expiration | Customer/student certificates carry no official expiration date |
Prerequisites, Licensing, and Logistics
The three mandatory prerequisites
Before you can sit this exam you must have passed all three of the following:
- CSWP (Mechanical Design)
- CSWA-S (Simulation Associate)
- CSWP-S (Simulation Professional)
This is a chain, not a menu. Our CSWE-S requirements guide walks through eligibility and how to qualify, and the certification cost breakdown helps you budget across the whole path rather than just the Expert fee.
Software you must have installed
- SOLIDWORKS 2017 or later
- SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium 2017 or later
- The ability to unzip files (the exam supplies model files you will need to extract)
Testing mechanics
The exam is delivered online through SOLIDWORKS/VirtualTester. Current program instructions link the VirtualTester Web Client, while older material still uses the Tangix/TesterPRO terminology, so do not be alarmed if a forum thread uses a different name for what is functionally the same delivery environment. The timer cannot be paused. Close background applications, confirm your solver runs on a small test model, and plan an uninterrupted three-hour block. For scheduling specifics, see exam dates, testing windows, and deadlines.
Point-Aware Time Planning
The published split creates a clear planning problem. Ten hands-on questions are worth 10 to 20 points each, while 30 multiple-choice questions are worth 2 points apiece. The issuer does not publish the per-question point assignment for each hands-on item, so we will not invent a grading rubric. What the numbers do tell you is structural:
- The multiple-choice section totals 60 points (30 x 2).
- The hands-on section ranges from 100 to 200 points depending on how the 10 questions are weighted (10 x 10 to 10 x 20).
- Because the hands-on questions dominate the point pool, a candidate who rushes through the solver-based tasks to bank easy multiple-choice points is optimizing the wrong thing.
That arithmetic is derived directly from the published counts and point ranges; it is not an official statement about how the exam is scored. It is also why 70% is not simply 28 of 40 correct: a missed 20-point hands-on question costs far more than a missed 2-point multiple-choice item. Our passing score explainer goes deeper on this, and the difficulty guide discusses where candidates tend to feel the pressure.
Static Domains: Linear Stress, Contact, Connectors, Shells, 2D
Linear Stress
The foundation everything else builds on. Expect to defend your boundary conditions, not just apply them.
- Fixtures that over-constrain a model create artificial stress concentrations.
- Know when a singularity makes a peak stress value meaningless.
- Be able to explain which assumptions (small displacement, linear material) must hold.
Contact
Assemblies live and die on contact definitions.
- Distinguish bonded, no-penetration, and other contact behaviors and when each is appropriate.
- Understand how contact choices change load paths through an assembly.
- Recognize when a contact setup forces a nonlinear solve and when it can stay linear.
Connectors (Bolts, Pins, Springs)
Connectors replace geometry-heavy fastener modeling with idealized elements.
- Know the inputs each connector type requires (stiffness, preload, geometry references).
- Be ready to read out connector force as a result, not just stress in parts.
- Understand what a connector idealization can and cannot capture.
Shells, Including Composite Shells
Thin-walled geometry is usually better served by shell elements than solids.
- Understand mid-surface versus offset surface choices and thickness definition.
- For composite shells, know that layer definition (ply thickness, material, orientation) drives the result.
- Know how to read shell results at top versus bottom faces.
2D Simplification
Reducing a 3D problem to 2D saves solve time when the physics allows it.
- Recognize the conditions where plane stress, plane strain, or axisymmetry are justified.
- Be able to explain what you lose when you simplify.
Meshing Domains: Problems and Convergence
Two of the 18 areas are explicitly about mesh quality, and mesh decisions also affect nearly every other area on the list.
Resolving Meshing Problems
Mesh failures are a skill test in diagnosis.
- Learn to read the failure message and locate the offending geometry.
- Know common remedies: local mesh controls, geometry cleanup, defeaturing, or switching element strategy.
- Understand why sliver faces, tiny gaps, and poor aspect ratios cause trouble.
Mesh Convergence
The core idea: your answer should stop changing meaningfully as the mesh gets finer.
- Refine the mesh in the region of interest and compare the quantity you care about across runs.
- Distinguish a converging result from a singularity that never converges.
- Be able to justify when you stopped refining.
Thermal and Thermal Stress
Steady State and Transient Thermal
Two related studies with different questions.
- Steady state asks for the equilibrium temperature distribution.
- Transient asks how temperature evolves over time and requires initial conditions and time stepping.
- Know the thermal loads and boundary conditions available: convection, radiation, heat power, and fixed temperature.
Thermal Stress
This is a coupled workflow: a thermal result feeds a structural study.
- Understand how the temperature field is imported as a load into the stress study.
- Recognize that constrained thermal expansion produces stress even with no mechanical load.
- Be able to explain the role of reference temperature and thermal expansion coefficient.
Frequency, Drop Test, Buckling, and Linear Dynamic
Resonance Frequencies and Mode Shapes
Frequency studies tell you what a structure wants to do on its own.
- Mode shapes show deformation patterns, not absolute amplitudes.
- Constraints change the frequencies dramatically, so setup matters.
- Frequency results are the stepping stone to harmonic and random vibration work.
Drop Test
An impact scenario with its own setup logic.
- Know the inputs: drop height or impact velocity, orientation, target surface.
- Understand that results are time-dependent and you must inspect the relevant time steps.
Linear Buckling
An eigenvalue-style study predicting instability.
- The result is a load factor (buckling load factor) multiplying your applied load.
- A factor below 1 means the applied load exceeds the predicted critical load.
- It is idealized; know why real structures can buckle earlier, which sets up the nonlinear buckling topic.
Linear Dynamic
The issuer groups four analysis types under this one heading:
- Modal time history: response over time to a time-varying load, using modal superposition.
- Harmonic: steady-state response to sinusoidal excitation across a frequency range.
- Random vibration: statistical response to a power spectral density input.
- Response spectrum analysis: peak response estimated from a spectrum, commonly for shock or seismic-type inputs.
Each requires a prior frequency study. Know what input each expects and what the output means.
Nonlinear Static, Dynamic, and Buckling
The three nonlinear areas are where licensing and workflow mastery matter most. Nonlinear studies require Simulation Premium, and they punish careless setup with long solve times or non-convergent runs.
Nonlinear Static
Used when linear assumptions break down.
- Sources of nonlinearity: large displacement, nonlinear materials, and contact.
- Loads are applied incrementally, so step control and convergence settings matter.
- Know how to diagnose a run that fails to converge.
Nonlinear Dynamic
Time-dependent response with nonlinear behavior included.
- Combines time stepping with the nonlinear considerations above.
- Time step size and total duration are decisions you must justify.
Nonlinear Buckling
The more realistic cousin of linear buckling.
- Follows the load-deflection path rather than solving an eigenvalue problem.
- Can capture post-buckling behavior and imperfection sensitivity that linear buckling cannot.
- Be able to explain when linear buckling overestimates capacity.
Key Takeaway
For each nonlinear topic, practice the diagnostic question, not just the setup: why did this run stall, and what single change would most plausibly fix it? Built-in Simulation tutorials and the Dynamics and Nonlinear training the issuer recommends are the natural place to rehearse this.
Assembly Configurations and Results Interpretation
Assembly Configurations
Using configurations to organize study variants without rebuilding models.
- Understand how configuration-specific settings (suppressed components, dimensions) interact with studies.
- Know how to keep study results tied to the correct configuration.
Results (Stress, Displacement, Reaction Force, Connector Force)
The issuer names four result types explicitly. Treat them as the language your answers must be written in.
- Stress: know which stress measure you are reading and where the peak is.
- Displacement: check units, scale, and whether the plot is exaggerated.
- Reaction force: a quick sanity check that equilibrium holds against your applied load.
- Connector force: read directly from connector results for bolts, pins, and springs.
Most hands-on questions end with a number you must report. Reading the right result at the right location, in the right units, is often the difference between full credit and none.
Sequencing Your Review by Domain
Generic study habits matter less here than ordering the content so later topics build on earlier ones. Here is one defensible sequence, tied to how the domains depend on each other. It is a suggestion, not an issuer requirement; pair it with the full plan in our CSWE-S study guide and the training overview.
Linear foundations
- Linear stress, contact, and connectors, since later studies inherit these setups.
- Shells and 2D simplification.
Mesh and thermal
- Resolving meshing problems and mesh convergence while static models are fresh.
- Steady state, transient, then thermal stress.
Frequency and linear dynamics
- Resonance and mode shapes first, because linear dynamic builds on them.
- Drop test, linear buckling, then modal time history, harmonic, random vibration, response spectrum.
Nonlinear and results
- Nonlinear static, then nonlinear dynamic and nonlinear buckling.
- Assembly configurations and results interpretation, then timed full-length rehearsals.
Because the issuer provides no official sample exam, build your own timed rehearsals: assemble ten practical problems across the 18 areas, and use our practice test site for multiple-choice-style reinforcement. Third-party timed mock products exist, but their contents are not official sample questions, so treat them as supplementary practice only.
What Is Not Published
A cheat sheet is only trustworthy if it flags the gaps. As of our October 5, 2026 source check, the following are not verified:
- Pass rate: no official figure is published. See our pass rate article for what can and cannot be said.
- Salary uplift: no certification-specific salary figure has been verified. Our salary guide and ROI analysis discuss the question qualitatively; for the roles where simulation skills show up, see CSWE-S jobs.
- Domain weights: the 18 areas are unweighted objectives. The 10/30 hands-on versus multiple-choice split does not tell you topic weighting.
- Exam revision date: the exam page is undated, and 2017 is only a software compatibility baseline. Course edition years in training materials are not exam-outline dates.
- Training prerequisite hours: recommended training (SOLIDWORKS Simulation, Simulation Professional, the Simulation Learning Path, Dynamics, and Nonlinear) adds no mandatory course-hour requirement.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are 40 questions in a single 3-hour sitting: 10 hands-on questions worth 10-20 points each and 30 multiple-choice questions worth 2 points each. The timer cannot be paused.
The minimum passing grade is 70%. Since questions carry different point values, this is not a fixed number of correct answers. See the passing score guide for the reasoning.
You must have passed CSWP (Mechanical Design), CSWA-S (Simulation Associate), and CSWP-S (Simulation Professional) before attempting the Simulation Expert exam.
No. The issuer explicitly provides no official sample exam for this Expert credential. Prepare using the recommended Simulation training, the Simulation Learning Path, built-in Simulation tutorials, and your own timed practice problems.
Retakes require at least 90 days between attempts and a fresh exam credit. The listed fee is USD 149 for North America, covering one attempt, so plan your preparation to make the first attempt count.
Use this sheet as your last-pass review, and keep the CSWE-S cheat sheet bookmarked alongside the domain guide for deeper dives into any area that still feels uncertain.