- 20 questions, 100 points, 70 to pass, two hours, delivered through the TesterPRO Client.
- Three hands-on problems are mixed in with single-answer, multiple-choice, yes/no, and multiple-selection items.
- North America pricing is $49 per attempt, and unused exam credits never expire.
- Failed attempts require a new credit and a mandatory 14-day wait before retesting.
Format Snapshot
This is the one-page version of everything covered in the full CSWA-Simulation Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt. Keep this page open the night before your exam and use it as a last check on numbers, domains, and logistics rather than as your primary study material.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Delivery platform | TesterPRO Client (online), managed through the 3DEXPERIENCE Certification Center |
| Time limit | 2 hours |
| Question count | 20 questions |
| Total points | 100 points |
| Passing score | 70 points |
| Question types | 3 hands-on problems, plus single-answer, multiple-choice, yes/no, and multiple-selection items |
| Price (North America) | $49 per attempt |
| Credit expiration | Unused exam credits do not expire |
| Retake wait | 14 days, plus a new credit |
| Eligibility | Open to anyone; 6-9 months of SOLIDWORKS and SOLIDWORKS Simulation experience recommended |
Registration & Fees
The exam is a SOLIDWORKS credential from Dassault Systemes, and everything - scheduling, results, and your certificate - lives inside the 3DEXPERIENCE Certification Center. Registration and payment mechanics are simple, but a few details trip people up:
- North America pricing is $49 for one attempt.
- Exam credits do not expire, so you can buy a credit now and schedule your session whenever you feel ready.
- Qualifying subscription customers and students at participating academic providers may receive vouchers instead of paying out of pocket.
- If you don't pass, a retake requires purchasing a new credit and waiting 14 days before you can sit again.
- Once earned, the certificate has no official expiration date - you don't need to renew it on a recurring schedule.
For a deeper breakdown of pricing scenarios, vouchers, and what a retake actually costs in total, see CSWA-Simulation Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown. If you're unsure whether you meet the recommended background before registering, cross-check against CSWA-Simulation Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify - technically anyone can test, but the recommendation exists for a reason.
Key Takeaway
Buy your credit early since it never expires, but don't schedule your session until your hands-on setup skills in SOLIDWORKS Simulation are solid - the 14-day retake wait makes a rushed first attempt expensive in time, not just money.
The Five Domains, Fast
Every question on the exam maps to one of five domains. Here they are in the order they typically build on each other conceptually, not necessarily the order they appear on screen.
Domain 1: Basic View Creation
Covers reading and interpreting model geometry and views well enough to understand what you're about to simulate - orientation, standard views, and how geometry translates into a simulation-ready part.
- Confirm you can identify feature and view relationships quickly, since this domain sets up everything else
Domain 2: Engineering Mechanics - Statics
Free body diagrams, equilibrium, reactions, and force/moment balance - the classical mechanics foundation underneath every simulation result.
- Be comfortable summing forces and moments to zero before trusting any plot
Domain 3: Strength of Materials
Stress, strain, deformation, and material behavior concepts that let you judge whether a result "makes sense" before you even open a plot legend.
- Know the difference between stress types and how factor of safety is derived
Domain 4: Finite Element Method / Finite Element Analysis Theory
The theory behind discretization, elements, nodes, degrees of freedom, and how a solver approximates a continuous structure.
- Understand why mesh density and element order change accuracy and solve time
Domain 5: Applied Concepts in SOLIDWORKS Simulation
The hands-on domain: actually setting up and running a study inside the software. This is where the three hands-on problems live.
- Practice the full workflow end to end, not just individual dialog boxes
For the complete weighting discussion and topic-by-topic breakdown of each domain, read CSWA-Simulation Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 5 Content Areas. If you're trying to gauge overall difficulty relative to your current experience, How Hard Is the CSWA-Simulation Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 walks through what makes Domain 4 and Domain 5 harder for self-taught users specifically.
Applied Concepts Quick List
Domain 5 is where points are won or lost because it's tested through actual hands-on problems, not just recall. According to the certification's own scope, the applied-concepts section spans the following areas - treat this as your final checklist:
- Static-study setup from scratch
- Assigning and understanding material properties
- Applying fixtures correctly for the intended boundary condition
- Applying loads that match the physical scenario
- Defining and troubleshooting contacts between components
- Choosing between solid, shell, and beam elements
- Building an appropriate mesh
- Selecting and running the correct solver
- Generating plots that show the right result type
- Validating results for reasonableness before accepting them
Software & System Checklist
Confirm these before exam day, not the morning of:
- Software minimum: SOLIDWORKS Premium 2012, SOLIDWORKS Simulation 2012, or SOLIDWORKS Student Edition 2012 (or newer) for your practice environment.
- Operating system: TesterPRO Client runs on Windows PCs.
- Connection: stable internet access is required throughout the two-hour session.
- Display: a dual-monitor setup is preferred so you can view model geometry and question text simultaneously.
None of this is optional troubleshooting on the day - losing minutes to a display or connection issue eats directly into your two-hour window.
Final-Week Refresh Plan
If you've already worked through the full study guide and just need a condensed refresh in the days before your session, sequence it by domain difficulty rather than by domain order:
Statics & Strength of Materials
- Redo free body diagrams and stress/strain problems from memory, no notes
FEA Theory
- Explain, out loud, why mesh refinement changes results - if you can't teach it, you don't know it yet
Applied Concepts hands-on run-through
- Complete two full studies end to end in SOLIDWORKS Simulation, timed
Basic View Creation + light review
- Quick view/orientation check, then rest before the exam
Spacing your review this way - theory early, hands-on late, light review last - matches how the exam is actually weighted toward applied skill in Domain 5.
Scoring Math
Out of 100 total points, you need 70 to pass. With 20 questions on the exam, that means missing several questions still leaves you comfortably passing, but the three hands-on problems likely carry meaningful point weight given their complexity relative to single-answer items. Don't gamble your pass on hands-on accuracy alone - treat every multiple-choice, yes/no, and multiple-selection item as equally important banked points. For a full explanation of how the 70-point threshold plays out with partial credit and question mix, see CSWA-Simulation Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.
Key Takeaway
You don't need a perfect score - 70 of 100 points passes - so budget your two hours to lock in every non-hands-on question first, then spend remaining time on the three applied problems.
Where This Fits Beyond the Exam
A SOLIDWORKS Simulation credential signals to employers that you can move beyond just modeling geometry into validating whether a design will actually hold up - a skill design engineers, mechanical analysts, and product development teams look for. Because the certificate carries no official expiration date, it stays on your resume as a permanent marker of that skill once earned. If you're weighing whether the time and $49 fee are worth it relative to your career goals, Is the CSWA-Simulation Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 and CSWA-Simulation Jobs go into that in more detail. You can also run timed practice under exam-like conditions using the tools on the main practice test site before you commit to a real credit.
FAQ
There are 20 questions worth a combined 100 points, and you have two hours to complete them, including the three hands-on problems.
You need 70 of the 100 available points to pass.
You must purchase a new exam credit and wait 14 days before your next attempt.
You should have access to at least SOLIDWORKS Premium 2012, SOLIDWORKS Simulation 2012, or SOLIDWORKS Student Edition 2012, since the applied-concepts domain is tested hands-on.
No, SOLIDWORKS certificates carry no official expiration date once you pass.
Bookmark this page alongside CSWA-Simulation Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling and use the practice test platform for a final timed run before you lock in your session.