Qualifying Blueprint Flagstaff AZ

There is a lot of talk these days about the CEDIA Designer Exam. Many of us are now certified installers and are ready to take on the next big challenge, while others are faced with the challenged of having CEDIA-certified staff to maintain membership. What follows is a brief description of the exam, and the various methods to passing.

WHAT IS A DESIGNER?
CEDIA defines the Certified Designer as a person who communicates with clients and installation professionals. Also, a Certified Designer selects the appropriate products and materials to design individual (integrated) residential systems (including alarm, telephone, cable television, satellite television, data, audio, video, home theater, HVAC, and lighting control). This person has at least five years of related field experience prior to taking the examination.

What this means is that youre not going to show up to a four-hour review and expect to just pass the exam. Think of the certification as a milestone in your career, not the starting point. The designer has two main tools to work with, his or her brain and a computer. Therefore knowledge of common software tools such as office programs, and at least one CAD software program is imperative.

WHATS ON THE EXAM?
The exam is comprised of 200 multiple choice questions that are pulled from a larger number of questions developed by a group of subject matter experts (SMEs). The SMEs meet regularly to determine what questions are relevant and to develop appropriate answers to the questions. In fact a committee of experts assembled this winter to review the exam and create an up-to-date set of questions. But lets be realistic, SMEs are people too. How they view the role of the designer directly affects the exam. While it is the goal of the team to represent the day-to-day workload of a designer, your organization and your own design methods may vary slightly. Again, being in the industry for a substantial period of time aids the designer in seeing the big picture.

Exam questions are posed in a multiple choice fashion and follow an Angoff process (see sidebar) to ensure that the questions are fair and that a person with the minimal acceptable knowledge can pass the exam. To pass the exam, 140 out of 200 questions need to be answered correctly. Youll have four hours to answer all 200 questions, so thats one answer every 72 seconds, which is a challenge for sure.

The exam is broken into four major components, each representing a different portion of the overall questions.

Needs Analysis (21.5%) - This involves understanding the needs of the customer and how to properly gather the information and apply it in the form of a properly designed system.

Design Documentation (20%) - This includes the various forms of communication and documentation that is commonly used in the residential integration design process.
Project Design (38%) - This includes converting the information gathered during the needs analysis phase into a functional descr...

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