CWI Part C Fundamentals

English and Language-Assisted Examination

Information
 Table of Contents

Examination Requirements..................................................................................................... 3
Examination Delivery .............................................................................................................. 3
Test Specifications ................................................................................................................. 3
Informative References for Self-education .............................................................................. 3
Part C Codebook Applications or Endorsement Examination References .............................. 3
Exam Type ............................................................................................................................. 5
Pretesting ............................................................................................................................... 5
Total Number of Questions on the Examinations .................................................................... 5
Allotted time to complete the CWI Part C examination. ........................................................... 5
The Passing Score ................................................................................................................. 5
Examination Question Types .................................................................................................. 5
CWI Part C Codebook Applications Examination Sample Questions ...................................... 6
Sample Question One ....................................................................................................................... 6
Sample Question Two ....................................................................................................................... 7

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Examination Requirements

According to B5.1:2013- AMD 1, Clause 7, Candidates seeking the CWI certification must take
three examination parts to earn the certification.
CWI Part C Codebook Applications examination is to test the candidate’s ability to understand
and apply requirements of a code, standard, or specification. They can also be taken as an
endorsement after earning the CWI Certification.

Examination Delivery

The examination will be a computer-based test (CBT) delivered at a Prometric test center.

Test Specifications

Test Specifications are a breakdown of examination content areas along with proportion of the
examination devoted to each content area. As specified in the B5.1 7.1, the CWI Part C
Codebook Applications examination main content categories are composed the following
domains and weights (minimum percent of questions on the examination).

Minimum Percent of
Content Areas
Questions on Exam
Qualification 25
Fabrication 25
Inspection 25
Reports and Records 5
Materials and Design 5

Informative References for Self-education

Refer to the B5.1:2013 Annex A Informative Reference Documents.

Part C Codebook Applications or Endorsement Examination References

There are various types of codebook examinations available. The reference book(s) for each
examination are specific to the exam candidates will be taking.

• AWS D1.1- Structural Steel Code: 2020 Edition

• API 1104- Pipelines 21st Edition

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 Code clinic available only for 21st edition with Errata /Addendum July 2007, Errata 2
December 2008/ Errata 1 April 2014

• AWS D1.2- Structural Aluminum Code: 2014 Edition

• AWS D1.5- Bridge Welding Code: 2015 Edition (including Clause 12)

• AWS D15.1 - Railroad: 2012 Edition

• AWS D17.1- Aerospace: 2017 w/ Amendment 1

Code clinic available only for 2010 edition

• ASME BPVC Section IX (2019), Power (B31.1) (2018) and Process (B31.3) Piping
(2018)

• ASME BPVC Section VIII, Div. 1 (2015) and Section IX (2015)

• ISO/EN Standards Exam/Endorsement

• Welder Performance Qualifier Endorsement (WPQ1)

This is an endorsement only. See the Program Description here for complete details of
the exam.

• Magnetic Particle Testing (MT Dry Powder Yoke Method)

See the complete info about this endorsement here.

• Penetrant Testing (PT Type II- Method C)

See the complete info about this endorsement here.

• Structural Bolting Inspection

See the complete info about this endorsement here.

• Structural Drawing Reading

See the complete info about this endorsement here.

A candidate who chooses to use a codebook edition that is not listed does so at his/her own
risk. AWS bears no responsibility for a candidate’s failure to obtain certification as a result of this
choice.

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Exam Type

CWI Part C is an open-book examination. Candidates can bring the specified exam reference
books to the CBT testing centers. The electronic copies of the English references will also be
provided at testing for most of the exams.

Pretesting

The unscorable questions are referred to as “pretest” questions that will not be scored and will
not have an impact on the examination result. This is common practice within high stakes
testing industry. It allows AWS to evaluate new items for content validity and statistical
performance for potential use in future examinations and examination versions to have
equivalent level of difficultly and quality. These items are randomly placed within the
examination and are not identifiable as pretest items.

Total Number of Questions on the Examinations

The total number of exam questions in the scorable section of the examination varies by exam
from 50 to 60.
For selected English exams, there are a small amount (5 or approximately10%) of unscorable
questions. Therefore, the total number of questions appearing on an examination is 55 to 65 for
the English examination form.

Allotted time to complete the CWI Part C examination.

Candidates have a maximum of 135 minutes to complete the examination form for exams that
have pretest items.

Candidates have a maximum of 120 minutes to complete the examination form for exams that
do not have pretest items.

The Passing Score

Successful candidates must correctly answer 72% of the questions to pass the examination.

Examination Question Types

The examination consists primarily of multiple-choice items; some single correct answer items
and non-multiple choice item types may appear as well.

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CWI Part C Codebook Applications Examination Sample Questions

The following two questions are typical multiple-choice items that appear on CWI Part C
Codebook Applications examination. These are sample questions for demonstration only.
Answers and explanations can be found below.

Sample Question One

Which of the following welding procedure changes requires requalification testing for
semiautomatic welding with E71T-1 electrode?
A. A change from a single bevel to a V groove
B. A change in the minimum time between passes
C. A change in shielding gas flow rate over 15%
D. An increase in the specified preheat temperature

Commentary on the Question

This question is asking about rules for requalifying a welding procedure and such rules are
primarily found in codes and standards. This particular question is asking about the rules in the
API Standard 1104 and the question appeared on the CWI Part C: API 1104 codebook exam.
The reference to “welding procedure” in the question is a good clue that the answer will be
found in Section 5 of the API Standard 1104. More specifically, the section 5.4.2 indicates the
“Changes Requiring Requalification,” which is precisely what this question asks about. Because
there are many changes listed in the text, it’s probably more efficient to consider the answer
choices in the question one-by-one and compare them with the text. Under 5.4.2.3 the
Standard indicates that major changes in the design of a joint would be an essential variable
and thus require requalification, indicating that the best answer to this question is A. According
to B5.1, CWIs are expected to understand the rules about the qualification of welding
procedures and the performance qualification of welders, so test-takers can expect at least 25%
of questions on codebook exams to deal with qualification.

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Sample Question Two

For the following weld test conditions, what information shall be recorded on space 7 on the
PQR Form (GMAW & FCAW) M1?

Process: FCAW-G
Shielding Gas: CO2
Material Type: ASTM A36
Plate Thickness: 1 inch [25 mm]
Electrode Classification: E71T-1C
Position: 2G
Backing: Yes
A. I
B. II
C. III
D. IV

Commentary on the question

The PQR Form (GMAT & FCAW) M1 is a component of the AWS D1.1:2015 Structural Steel
codebook, and this question appeared on the CWI Part C: D1.1 Codebook exam. This open-
book exam requires test-takers to answer questions by navigating to the correct part of the code
to look up the needed information. In this case, to find the correct value of “space 7” in the PQR
excerpt, the test-taker needs to recognize first that space 7 asks for the AWS Group No. of the
Base Material. More information is provided in the question than is needed to answer to
question; the Base Material indicated is ASTM A36, and to find the AWS Group No for that Base
Material, the test-taker would need to look at Table 5.3 in D1.1:2020 (Table 3.1 in D1.1:2015) to
see that ASTM A36 is classified as Group No. II, which is answer choice B. Test-takers do not
need to memorize Table 5.3; rather, a searchable PDF copy of the D1.1 is available
electronically on the computer at Prometric. Test-takers can also bring their own printed copy of
the D1.1 into the testing center with them. As long as the test-taker knows where to find the
information and can look it up, the question can be answered correctly. This is another
challenging question: more than half of test-takers answered it incorrectly.

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