- The 70% Rule and What It Really Means
- How the 40 Questions Are Built
- Point Math: Why 28 Correct Answers Is Not the Target
- Three Credentials You Must Hold Before You Sit
- Where Points Hide Across the 18 Skill Areas
- Three Hours, No Pause: Point-Aware Time Planning
- Setup Mistakes That Cost Points Before You Start
- If You Miss the Mark: Retakes and Costs
- A Domain-Ordered Preparation Plan
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The minimum passing grade for the SOLIDWORKS Simulation Expert (CSWE-S) exam is 70%.
- The exam has 40 questions in one 3-hour sitting: 10 hands-on and 30 multiple-choice.
- Hands-on questions are worth 10-20 points each; multiple-choice questions are worth 2 points each.
- Because point values differ, 70% is not a fixed 28-correct-answers rule.
The 70% Rule and What It Really Means
The headline number is simple: the minimum passing grade for the Certified SOLIDWORKS Expert - Simulation exam is 70%. SOLIDWORKS publishes that threshold on the official SOLIDWORKS Simulation Expert (CSWE-S) page, and it is the only passing figure you need to plan around. What the number does not tell you is how many questions you must get right, because this exam does not weight every question equally.
That distinction trips up many candidates who assume a 40-question exam works like a classroom quiz. It does not. Two very different question formats share one scoring pool, and the hands-on questions carry far more weight than the multiple-choice ones. Understanding how those pieces fit together is the most useful thing you can do before you open the software on exam day.
How the 40 Questions Are Built
The Expert exam is a single 3-hour sitting containing 40 questions. They split into two formats, and the formats are scored very differently.
| Format | Count | Points per question | What it tests |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hands-on (model-based) | 10 | 10-20 points each | Building, meshing, solving and interpreting real Simulation studies in SOLIDWORKS |
| Multiple-choice | 30 | 2 points each | Concept and setup knowledge across the Simulation skill areas |
Notice what the structure implies. The 30 multiple-choice questions at 2 points each add up to 60 points. The 10 hands-on questions, at 10 to 20 points each, add up to somewhere between 100 and 200 points depending on how the individual questions are valued. The issuer does not publish the exact value of each hands-on question, so you cannot compute a precise total in advance. What you can conclude is that the hands-on portion represents the large majority of available points.
If you want to understand how demanding that hands-on component feels in practice, our complete difficulty guide for the CSWE-S exam walks through what candidates tend to find hardest.
Point Math: Why 28 Correct Answers Is Not the Target
It is tempting to say "70% of 40 questions is 28, so I need 28 right." That reasoning is wrong for this exam. Percentage is calculated on points, not on question count, and the questions are worth different amounts.
Consider the consequence. A candidate who answers all 30 multiple-choice questions correctly earns 60 points, but if the hands-on questions make up the bulk of the total, those 60 points alone fall well short of 70%. Conversely, a candidate who solves most of the hands-on questions correctly can absorb several multiple-choice misses and still pass. The mix of question formats, not a raw count, determines your result.
Because the issuer does not publish how partial credit works on hands-on questions, the safest approach is to assume that a correct final answer is what earns the points, and to prioritize getting complete, verified results rather than leaving many studies half-finished. For a broader look at how the numbers fit together, see our breakdown of what the data shows about CSWE-S pass rates, which also explains why no official pass-rate figure should be trusted.
Three Credentials You Must Hold Before You Sit
You cannot simply buy the exam and attempt it. The Expert credential has mandatory prerequisites: you must have successfully passed all three of the following.
- CSWP (Mechanical Design) - the professional-level modeling certification.
- CSWA-S (Simulation Associate) - the entry-level simulation credential.
- CSWP-S (Simulation Professional) - the professional-level simulation credential.
This ladder shapes your whole strategy. By the time you reach the Expert exam you have already demonstrated modeling fluency and basic-to-intermediate simulation skills, so the Expert exam assumes you are comfortable with fundamentals and pushes into advanced territory: nonlinear behavior, linear dynamics, composite shells, and multi-physics combinations like thermal stress. For the full eligibility picture, read our guide to CSWE-S requirements, prerequisites and how to qualify.
Software you need on exam day
The issuer specifies SOLIDWORKS 2017 or later together with SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium 2017 or later, plus the ability to unzip files, since exam materials are delivered as archives. One licensing trap deserves emphasis: a CAD-only SOLIDWORKS Premium license is not the same as Simulation Premium. If your seat does not include Simulation Premium, you will lack the nonlinear and dynamic study types the exam relies on. Confirm your license before you pay for an attempt.
Where Points Hide Across the 18 Skill Areas
SOLIDWORKS lists 18 areas that may appear as hands-on challenges. These are unweighted skill objectives, not a percentage-weighted blueprint, so no topic can be honestly labeled "worth the most." What you can do is group them by the kind of work they demand and decide where your preparation is thinnest. Our complete guide to all 18 CSWE-S content areas covers each in depth; here is a point-oriented grouping.
Foundation setup skills: Linear stress, Contact, Connectors, Shells, 2D simplification
These test whether you can build a correct, efficient model before solving anything.
- Choosing the right contact condition (bonded, no-penetration, and so on) for how parts actually interact.
- Applying bolts, pins and springs as connectors rather than modeling every fastener as solid geometry.
- Using shells, including composite shells, where thin-walled geometry makes solids wasteful.
- Recognizing when a 2D simplification is valid and saves solve time.
Mesh quality skills: Resolving meshing problems, Mesh convergence
A wrong mesh quietly produces wrong answers, so these skills protect points in every other area.
- Diagnosing and fixing meshes that fail, using local controls and geometry cleanup.
- Demonstrating mesh convergence by refining until the result of interest stabilizes.
- Knowing that stress at a singularity will not converge, and reading around it.
Multi-physics skills: Steady state and transient thermal, Thermal stress
These require passing results from one study into another.
- Distinguishing steady-state from transient thermal behavior and setting initial conditions correctly.
- Using temperature results as a load in a thermal stress study.
Dynamics and stability skills: Resonance frequencies and mode shapes, Drop test, Linear buckling, Linear dynamic
These move beyond static loading into time and frequency behavior.
- Extracting resonance frequencies and mode shapes and reading what they imply for a design.
- Setting up a drop test with correct impact conditions.
- Interpreting a linear buckling load factor correctly.
- Linear dynamic studies: modal time history, harmonic, random vibration, and response spectrum analysis, each with its own inputs and outputs.
Nonlinear skills: Nonlinear static, Nonlinear dynamic, Nonlinear buckling
Often the most demanding area, because convergence and solver settings matter as much as geometry.
- Choosing appropriate material models and load stepping for nonlinear static work.
- Understanding when a linear result is no longer trustworthy and nonlinear behavior takes over.
- Approaching nonlinear buckling as a distinct problem from the linear case.
Workflow skills: Assembly Configurations, Results
Efficiency and interpretation tie everything together.
- Using configurations to compare design variants without rebuilding studies.
- Extracting and reading stress, displacement, reaction force and connector force correctly.
Three Hours, No Pause: Point-Aware Time Planning
You get 3 hours total, and the timer cannot be paused. With 40 questions, the average works out to under five minutes per question, but that average is misleading because the two formats consume time very differently. A 2-point multiple-choice question might take a minute or two; a 15- or 20-point hands-on study can easily demand far longer, especially once meshing and solving time is included.
A point-aware plan follows this logic, without relying on any invented rubric:
- Scan the exam first. Spend a few minutes identifying which hands-on questions map to skills where you are strongest.
- Bank confident hands-on questions early. Higher-value questions you can finish reliably are the best use of your freshest attention.
- Fit multiple-choice into gaps. Short 2-point questions are ideal to complete while a heavy study is solving.
- Protect your solve time. Start long solves early so they run while you answer other items.
- Reserve a verification window. Re-check units, load directions and results on the highest-value studies before submitting.
Setup Mistakes That Cost Points Before You Start
Many failed attempts are lost to avoidable setup issues rather than lack of knowledge. Check these before exam day.
- Wrong license type. Confirm Simulation Premium, not just a CAD Premium seat.
- Software version. Use SOLIDWORKS 2017 or later with a matching Simulation Premium release.
- Unzipping files. Make sure your system can extract the exam archives without trouble.
- Delivery platform. Testing is online through SOLIDWORKS and VirtualTester. Current program instructions point to the VirtualTester Web Client, while older material refers to Tangix or TesterPRO, so expect terminology to differ between documents.
- No pausing. Arrange an uninterrupted three-hour block with stable power and connectivity.
Our guide to CSWE-S exam dates and scheduling explains how to plan the sitting itself.
If You Miss the Mark: Retakes and Costs
The exam fee is USD 149 in North America for one attempt. If you do not reach 70%, a retake requires waiting at least 90 days and purchasing a fresh exam credit. That waiting period and repeat cost make a first-attempt pass worth planning for carefully. Prices outside North America may differ, so confirm yours on the official program page. For a fuller financial picture, including whether the investment pays off, see our CSWE-S certification cost breakdown and our analysis of whether the CSWE-S certification is worth it.
One reassuring detail: customer and student certificates carry no official expiration date, so once you pass you are not forced into a renewal cycle.
A Domain-Ordered Preparation Plan
The issuer provides no official sample exam for this Expert credential, so preparation depends on the recommended training: the SOLIDWORKS Simulation and Simulation Professional courses, the Simulation Learning Path, and the Dynamics and Nonlinear materials, plus the built-in Simulation tutorials. Below is one sensible ordering that builds each skill on the one before it. Adjust the pacing to your own starting point, and see our first-attempt CSWE-S study guide for a fuller walkthrough.
Foundations and mesh integrity
- Linear stress, Contact, Connectors, Shells and 2D simplification.
- Resolving meshing problems and demonstrating mesh convergence, since every later study depends on trustworthy meshes.
Thermal and coupled behavior
- Steady-state and transient thermal studies.
- Thermal stress, passing temperature results into a structural study.
Frequency, impact and linear dynamics
- Resonance frequencies and mode shapes, Drop test and Linear buckling.
- Each linear dynamic type: modal time history, harmonic, random vibration, response spectrum.
Nonlinear and timed practice
- Nonlinear static, Nonlinear dynamic and Nonlinear buckling.
- Assembly Configurations and Results interpretation, then full three-hour timed runs mixing hands-on and multiple-choice work.
The reasoning behind this order is that mesh quality and contact choices silently affect every later study, so they come first, while nonlinear work, the most solver-sensitive material, benefits from being practiced last and closest to your timed rehearsals. Pair the hands-on work with concept review using our CSWE-S practice test resources, and keep our one-page CSWE-S cheat sheet handy for last-minute review.
Frequently Asked Questions
The minimum passing grade is 70%. It is calculated on points, not on the number of questions answered correctly, so it does not translate into a fixed count of correct answers.
No. The exam has 10 hands-on questions worth 10-20 points each and 30 multiple-choice questions worth 2 points each. Because values differ, 70% of the total points is not the same as 28 correct answers.
The exam is a single 3-hour sitting with 40 questions, and the timer cannot be paused. Plan an uninterrupted block with reliable power and internet before you begin.
You must have passed CSWP (Mechanical Design), CSWA-S (Simulation Associate) and CSWP-S (Simulation Professional). You also need SOLIDWORKS 2017 or later with SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium 2017 or later, and the ability to unzip files.
A retake requires waiting at least 90 days and buying a fresh exam credit. The listed fee for one attempt in North America is USD 149, so confirm current pricing for your region on the official SOLIDWORKS program page.
For a wider look at the credential itself, start with our overview of what the CSWE-S certification is, and when you are ready to rehearse under pressure, work through the exercises on our main practice test site.