How to: Access SOLIDWORKS Certification Exams

Did you know that there are SOLIDWORKS certification exams that you can take to gain a globally recognised credentials? In this blog post, we’ll explore how you access these assessments and which exams are available to you as part of the SOLIDWORKS Subscription.

What are SOLIDWORKS certification exams?

SOLIDWORKS certification exams are a series of online tests consisting of a mix of hands-on exercises using the software to create and modify parts and assemblies, and a test of your knowledge of the product in the form of multiple-choice questions. Once you’vw passed an exam, you’ll have a globally recognised qualification, which could benefit your business when bidding for work or getting you that next job.

There are three main categories of SOLIDWORKS certification: CORE exams, advanced topics and speciality topics.

The exam subjects range from SOLIDWORKS Mechanical and Electrical Associate to Surfacing, Weldments, and Sheet Metal, to Expert in Mechanical. Not forgetting the 3D experience roles, Management and collaboration subject such as PDM, and the SOLDWORKS partner programs such as DriveWorks. A full list can be found here (opens in new tab).

There are prerequisites for some exams i.e. you may need to complete certain exams before other harder exams become available. e.g. To be able to take your CSWE (Certified SOLIDWORKS Expert) exam you must have first passed CSWP (Certified SOLIDWORKS Professional) and four other advanced topics.

Some of what you’ll need:

• Access to a working fully licenced copy of SOLIDWORKS 2015 or newer
• A working knowledge of the product
• A willingness to prove your skills!

Exam vouchers explained.

To be able to take an exam you will need an exam voucher. One voucher entitles you to one exam.

First off, if you’re a subscription service customer, you’re entitled to three exam credits every half a calendar year. Credits for this are reset on January 1st and July 1st and the counters do not accumulate.

If you’re not a subscription customer, fear not, you can buy exam vouchers and we will be more than happy to help you with this purchase – Get in touch if you’d like to find out more.

The three exam vouchers can be used for any exam shown in the three categories below.

Please note the above table only shows a select few of the more common SOLIDWORKS exam available as above the full list can be found here: SOLIDWORKS Certification Catalog

Redeeming your exam voucher

To redeem an exam voucher, you’ll need:

• MYSOLIDWORKS / 3DEXPERIENCE (3DX) account (free to make) here: Welcome to 3DExperience
• The email address used to make the 3D EXPERIENCE account will need to be associated with your SOLIDWORKS account. This can be achieved by either asking your CAD security admin or contacting your VAR (Value Added Reseller).
• You’ll also need a Certification Centre Account. These accounts can use different email address. You can create one here: 3DExperience Certification Centre

Once the above is complete you can proceed to redeeming your vouchers, using your Certification account login here: 3DExperience Certification Centre

The ‘Certification Center’ (sic) dashboard homepage

You now need to click on the ‘$’ sign and select the ‘Subscription offer’ tab indicated below:

Subscription offer for SOLIDWORKS exams

Setting up the SOLIDWORKS certification exam software

Now that you have your voucher code you can use this in the SOLIDWORKS test/ EXAM program ‘Tangix TesterPRO Client’, which can be downloaded on the 3DExperience Certification Centre homepage as per the below image.

The default install location is here: C:\Tangix TesterPRO Client this can be change in the installer window. You’ll be able to find the executable file to launch the TesterPRO at the install location also.

Select the appropriate language for yourself as below and click on ‘Continue’:

Language selection for TesterPRO

You’ll now need to log in using your certification centre log in details. To do this select “I already Have a Virtual Tester UserID and password” (you can create a TesterPRO account at this point if you need to) as shown below:

You can now type in your log in details at the below screen:

Logging in to tangix tester for SOLIDWORKS exams

Log in and select the appropriate program (in our case, SOLIDWORKS) on the screen presented below.

Select the Brand from the available choices, select SOLIDWORKS, then enter your exam voucher code in the ‘Event ID / Voucher’ box on the screen presented below. Click on ‘Submit’ to redeem the code from the certification centre. Your exam will now be available for you to start when you’re ready. The same box works for purchased credit, too.

You may have noticed that some exams have a ‘$’ sign by them, if you click on these you’ll be redirected to the online store where you can purchase additional exam credits.

Add your event ID to claim SOLIDWORKS exam

Taking the SOLIDWORKS Certification exams

Click on the play button icon/’Start Exam’ to the right-hand side when you’re ready to take the exam. This immediately starts your test.

Make sure you’re ready to go with the SOLIDWORKS software loaded and enough time to complete the exam as there is no pause button!

TesterPRO will now start the exam. Once you start, you cannot leave or start again and the voucher will be expended.

Follow the instructions carefully and answer all the questions within the time limit.

Some parts of the exam will be questions, others will be providing data outputs from the models you create in SOLIDWORKS.

We wish you good luck and encourage you to give it a go!

Watch: SOLIDWORKS Certification Journey

Useful links:

SOLIDWORKS Certification Program

Certification Offer for Subscription Service Customers

SOLIDWORKS Certification Catalog

3DExperience Certification Centre

	About the author: This post was written by SOLIDWORKS Applications Engineer and Electrical Specialist, James Kingman. James has been with the Visiativ Technical Support Team since 2023.