- The Short Answer: What CSWE-S Actually Is
- Where It Sits in the SOLIDWORKS Ladder
- Exam Format: 40 Questions, 3 Hours, One Timer
- The 18 Skill Areas the Issuer Publishes
- Why the Hands-On Questions Change Everything
- Software, Fee and Registration Mechanics
- Who Pursues This Credential
- Sequencing Your Preparation Around the Skill Areas
- What the Issuer Does Not Publish
- Frequently Asked Questions
- CSWE-S is the SOLIDWORKS Simulation Expert credential, issued by SOLIDWORKS (Dassault Systèmes).
- The exam has 40 questions in 3 hours: 10 hands-on and 30 multiple-choice, with a 70% minimum.
- You must already hold CSWP, CSWA-S and CSWP-S before you can sit it.
- You need SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium 2017 or later; a CAD-only Premium license will not work.
The Short Answer: What CSWE-S Actually Is
CSWE-S stands for Certified SOLIDWORKS Expert - Simulation. The issuer currently titles the credential "SOLIDWORKS Simulation Expert (CSWE-S)," and it sits at the top of the SOLIDWORKS simulation certification path. It is a practical, software-driven exam: you are not just recalling theory about finite element analysis, you are building, meshing, solving and interpreting studies inside SOLIDWORKS Simulation under a running clock.
If you have seen the same letters attached to unrelated credentials elsewhere, set those aside. Everything on this page refers only to the SOLIDWORKS credential. For other angles on the name and acronym, see our explainers on what CSWE-S stands for and the CSWE-S meaning.
Where It Sits in the SOLIDWORKS Ladder
CSWE-S is not an entry-level exam. SOLIDWORKS makes three other certifications mandatory prerequisites, and all three must be passed before you can attempt the Expert exam:
| Prerequisite | What It Represents |
|---|---|
| CSWP (Mechanical Design) | Professional-level modeling and design competence in SOLIDWORKS |
| CSWA-S (Simulation Associate) | Foundational simulation skills |
| CSWP-S (Simulation Professional) | Intermediate-to-advanced simulation skills |
This stacking is deliberate. The Expert exam assumes you can already model competently and run basic through intermediate studies without hesitation, so that exam time goes toward the harder material: contact, connectors, thermal stress, dynamics and nonlinear behavior. For the full eligibility picture, read our guide to CSWE-S requirements and prerequisites.
Exam Format: 40 Questions, 3 Hours, One Timer
The exam is a single three-hour sitting with 40 questions in two formats:
- 10 hands-on questions, each worth between 10 and 20 points
- 30 multiple-choice questions, each worth 2 points
The minimum passing grade is 70%. Because the questions carry different point values, 70% is not a simple "28 correct answers" rule. A hands-on question can be worth up to ten times a multiple-choice question, so the structure rewards candidates who can actually complete modeling-and-solving tasks, not just answer conceptual items. We break the scoring logic down further in our article on the CSWE-S passing score.
The exam is delivered online through SOLIDWORKS' testing platform. Current program instructions link the VirtualTester Web Client, while older material still uses Tangix or TesterPRO terminology, so do not be alarmed if you encounter both names in forum posts. The timer cannot be paused, which matters for anyone planning around interruptions.
The 18 Skill Areas the Issuer Publishes
The issuer's page lists 18 areas that may appear as hands-on challenges. These are unweighted exam-skill objectives. They are not course chapters, not an exhaustive outline of the whole exam, and not a percentage-weighted blueprint, so no topic can honestly be called "the most heavily tested." Here they are, grouped by theme:
Structural Foundations
- Linear stress
- Contact
- Connectors (bolts, pins, springs)
- Shells, including composite shells
- 2D simplification
Mesh Quality and Reliability
- Resolving meshing problems
- Mesh convergence
Thermal
- Steady state and transient thermal
- Thermal stress
Dynamics and Stability
- Resonance frequencies and mode shapes
- Drop test
- Linear buckling
- Linear dynamic (modal time history, harmonic, random vibration, response spectrum analysis)
Nonlinear and Workflow
- Nonlinear static
- Nonlinear dynamic
- Nonlinear buckling
- Assembly configurations
- Results (stress, displacement, reaction force, connector force)
For a deeper walk through each area, see our complete guide to all 18 CSWE-S content areas.
Why the Hands-On Questions Change Everything
You are being tested as an analyst, not a button-pusher
The hands-on component typically means opening supplied files (the requirement to unzip files is part of the stated setup), building a study correctly, and extracting a specific numeric answer. The ability to unzip files is a stated software requirement, so confirm your machine can do this before exam day.
Where candidates lose time
Several of the published areas are classic time sinks in real simulation work, and they are worth rehearsing until the workflow is automatic:
- Mesh convergence: Knowing when a result has stabilized requires running the study more than once and comparing results. Practice doing this efficiently, since solve time counts against your three hours.
- Resolving meshing problems: Failed meshes on awkward geometry force you to diagnose and fix the cause, whether that is simplification, idealization or mesh controls.
- Contact and connectors: Choosing the wrong interaction type quietly produces plausible-looking but wrong answers.
- Nonlinear studies: These demand sensible step control and an understanding of why a solution fails to converge.
- Thermal stress: This couples a thermal study to a structural one, so the setup order matters.
Key Takeaway
Because the issuer provides no official sample exam, your best rehearsal is repeating realistic studies end to end under a timer, in the software, across the areas above. Reading about the workflows is not a substitute for running them.
Software, Fee and Registration Mechanics
Software requirements
You need SOLIDWORKS 2017 or later and SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium 2017 or later. Be careful here: a CAD-only "Premium" license is not the same thing as Simulation Premium. Several of the areas you will be tested on, including nonlinear and linear dynamic studies, require the Simulation Premium capability. The 2017 figure is a software compatibility baseline, not an exam revision date.
Fee and retakes
The published fee is USD 149 for North America, covering one attempt. If you do not pass, a retake requires waiting at least 90 days and purchasing a fresh exam credit. That combination of a waiting period and a new fee is a strong argument for arriving fully prepared rather than treating the first sitting as a trial run. Our CSWE-S certification cost breakdown covers the budgeting side, and our exam dates and scheduling guide covers timing.
Validity
According to the SOLIDWORKS certification Q&A, customer and student certificates carry no official expiration date.
Who Pursues This Credential
The natural audience is engineers who already run SOLIDWORKS Simulation in their daily work: design engineers, analysts supporting product development, and consultants or reseller application engineers who need to demonstrate depth beyond the Professional level. Because the prerequisites include CSWP, CSWA-S and CSWP-S, typical candidates have already invested significantly in the SOLIDWORKS credential path.
On the career-value question, it is worth being candid: no official pass-rate figure and no certification-specific salary uplift has been verified, so treat claims you see about either with skepticism. We discuss what can and cannot be said in our pieces on whether the certification is worth it, pass rate data and CSWE-S jobs.
Sequencing Your Preparation Around the Skill Areas
Rather than a generic schedule, order your preparation by dependency: later topics reuse earlier ones. One reasonable arrangement, which you should adapt to your own strengths:
Linear Foundations and Mesh Reliability
- Linear stress, contact, connectors, shells and 2D simplification
- Mesh convergence and resolving meshing problems, since every later study depends on trustworthy meshes
Thermal and Dynamics
- Steady state and transient thermal, then thermal stress
- Resonance frequencies and mode shapes, drop test, linear buckling and linear dynamic study types
Nonlinear and Full Timed Runs
- Nonlinear static, nonlinear dynamic and nonlinear buckling
- Assembly configurations and results extraction, then complete timed mock sittings
Why this order: the nonlinear topics are the least forgiving and benefit most from fluent contact and meshing habits, so they come last. Public preparation material exists in the form of the SOLIDWORKS Simulation and Simulation Professional course-contents pages, but these are curricula excerpts, not official exam domain lists or blueprints. For a fuller plan, see our CSWE-S study guide, the one-page cheat sheet, and our overview of CSWE-S training options.
When you want timed, exam-style repetition for the multiple-choice side, the CSWE-S practice test site is built for that. Remember that multiple-choice drills only cover part of the picture, since the hands-on questions carry the heavier point values and need genuine software time.
What the Issuer Does Not Publish
Honest preparation means knowing the limits of public information:
- There is no official sample exam for this Expert credential.
- There are no published domain percentages, so the 18 areas cannot be ranked by weight.
- There is no verified pass-rate or salary figure.
- The exam page is undated, so do not assume a specific revision year from course edition years or article titles.
Third-party training providers and community forums can supplement your preparation, but treat them as leads rather than authoritative sources of exam facts. A paid mock exam from any vendor is not an official sample question set. Judge such resources on whether they make you practice realistic studies under time pressure.
Frequently Asked Questions
It stands for Certified SOLIDWORKS Expert - Simulation. The issuer's current page titles it "SOLIDWORKS Simulation Expert (CSWE-S)," and it is issued by SOLIDWORKS (Dassault Systèmes).
You must have successfully passed all three of CSWP (Mechanical Design), CSWA-S (Simulation Associate) and CSWP-S (Simulation Professional). These are mandatory prerequisites.
There are 40 questions in a 3-hour sitting: 10 hands-on questions worth 10-20 points each and 30 multiple-choice questions worth 2 points each. The minimum passing grade is 70%, which is a points-based threshold, not a fixed number of correct answers.
The listed fee is USD 149 for North America, covering one attempt. A retake requires at least 90 days between attempts and a fresh exam credit.
No. The issuer provides no official sample exam for this credential, and the 18 published skill areas are unweighted, so no topic can be officially identified as carrying the most points.