How much is the exam right now?
Hi Braden. It’s $159 USD.
Hi Joanne
Thank you for your answer.
I don’t understand what is wrong with expecting to get the product that I buy and pay for (attached below)…
Anyway - Thank you for the refund, and please let me know as soon as you overcome the automation problems, and I will than be glad to renew my membership and be part of.
Thank you very much
Best Regards
Rachel
I’ve been using SU since it was a Google product and this test is comprised mostly of questions I can’t confidently answer. I haven’t dug through a whole lot of it, but I want to bring to your attention that Question 16 doesn’t have a correct option to answer:
- How can you view things colored by tag?
A. Under ‘view’ and select color by tag
B. In the style manager under face settings
C. In the tag settings menu
D. All of the above
I believe you intend B. to be the correct answer, but it’s not: “Color by Tag” is not in the Face Setting menu of Style Edits, it is in the Modeling Settings of the Style Edits.
I’ll be honest: the test provided is not in any way indicative of my SU skill set.
Im one of the founders of Sloped. Just thought I would respond with a helpful instruction.
As with all tests, the key to the answers is reading comprehension.
The question doesn’t ask where to set “Color by Tag” in a Style, which is the image your have pasted in your comment. The question asks, “How can you view ‘things’ colored by tag”?
“Things” being what? The objects in a model.
“View” meaning what? Seeing these objects with their tag color state.
Where does one control how you view a model of “things” by the “color by tag” state is the question stated in another way. And “C” is the only answer to that question.
In this image, which button allows you to control “color by tag”.
When you press said button what happens to your model?
C is “tag setting menu”.
what you are showing is a button on a panel. on PC, it would be a button on a panel in the tray.
Menus are on top of the screen. eventually, the black and blue symbol in some panels. But since 2022 the “colour by tag” is not a menu choice anymore, it’s an independent button. I remember tripping on that one too, because none of the answers, as I understood them (as a non native, it didn’t help) vers correct.
there were a handful of such cases where I wasn’t sure if it was a language issue, or a formulation on your side, or a version or…?
I had 79%, while another aptitude test (by ICDL) got me 97%. This is why I don’t trust standardised tests, and I understand that the US basically runs on it.
I basically agree with you but it may actually be a “Dialog” on a Tray in SU (Windows). Customizing Your Workspace | SketchUp Help
‘Panel in a Tray’ sounds correct. That seems to be the terminology used for LayOut (although they are called “Panels” in the Layout docs, when managing Trays, the ‘panel’ option is to add a “Dialog” there as well). Creating Panel Trays | SketchUp Help
It looks to me like the intended answer is the “Color by Tag” button, in the Tag Dialog, on a Tray (Windows). The OPs answer looks something like: Styles Tray → Edit → Modeling Settings → Color by Tag (irrespective of “Tray” vs. “Panel” vs. “Dialog”, or “Menu”).
Right or wrong, “Panel on Tray”, sounds right.
Im showing the Tag Panel or Tag Tray. Mac and PC respectively. In both cases, Tag color is controlled in the Tag Panel/Tray. The option to “color by tag” is in this panel or tray and yes it is a “button”.
W e l l…to be fair, yes the Color by Tag button on the Tag palette does toggle that setting, but it is a shortcut that does the same thing as checking that box in the style menu. If you have both palettes open you can see it happen to one while you click the other, so it would seem B and C is technically correct.
I suppose if the intent is to just do it temporarily, one click is quick and efficient, but it does change your style.
you’re showing that answer C is incorrect
As you say, the key to the answers is reading comprehension. Some panels / displays have a menu. it’s the blue/white symbol on top of a black arrow.
Colour by tag is not inside this menu anymore, not since… 2022 ? it’s next to it.
therefore, the answer C “in the tag setting menu” is incorrect. it should be “next to”
B is a trick, because it’s in modelling, not in face settings. that’s a classic test trap
Ok…so I went back in and looked at a response we got from @MikeWayzovski. He took the quiz in May of 2022. He picked C. He also got 51 out 57 questions right. One of our highest scores.
Then he left a very long response to all the questions that he had issue with.
#16 was on that list. This was his comment.
“…It is a ‘modeling’ setting in the Style panel. There is no ‘setting’ menu, only the ‘details menu’ Controlling Visibility with Tags | SketchUp Help”
If you follow this link, the text confirms answer C, which is also in keeping with the comments from @ateliernab and @RTCool, but it also calls into question the text of our question. There isn’t a “Tag Settings Menu”. There is a Tag Details Sidecar but color by tag is not in the sidecar. The color by tag button is in the top menu bar of the Tag Panel/Tray Next to the button for the “Tag Details Sidecar”.
Having made that comment, @MikeWayzovski still chose C as his answer. And so did all the other Sketchup Staff members who took the test. So on the one hand, I personally don’t think the question is entirely the problem.
However, because im now seeing that the phrase “tag settings menu” is causing the confusion, I will be making sure that this question gets re-evaluated by us at Sloped.
Perhaps “C” might more properly read, “By clicking the “Color by Tag” button in the Tags Panel/Tray.” And, perhaps the question might better read, “How can one quickly view a model colored by tag.”
To the 16% of the 207 people that chose B, apologies. If you want to retake the quiz after we update it, you can email us and we will make that possible.
Also, C was correct (as written) until last year, so many long time users probably choose C.
that’s the issue about standardised tests, you have 3 type of questions
simple ones, usually with really bad and one good answer.
ones subject to interpretation, between mac and pc, between native and translated, talking about a menu or a panel will have different results. Do you consider the top row of buttons in the tag panel as the tag menu , or just the blue black symbol ? or do you consider that menus are only on the top of the screen ? these ones are harder and solved through elimination, pretty sure I answered C because it was clearly not A nor B.
The hardest ones are subjective.
I’m thinking about two questions in particular, one about the best way to work with a dwg file, and one about tags in a multi-storey building.
Honestly, over the last 16 years, of the 6 answers, I think I used 5, maybe 6. Sometimes I redraw on top of the dwg, sometimes I’ll just explode it and use the lines or copy them on the side. depends on the dwg, on the time I have, on what the file will be used for. Sometimes I’ll create a tag folder per floor with subtags for different classes, but right now I have a file with 6 quasi identical buildings, each a group, and a tag system for the whole file (all the floors, all the walls… disregarding levels). And I’ve had files with a tag containing a single group, because the tag panel was far cleaner than my busy outliner.
So what to pick ? that depends really. Can’t say one answer is the best.
These questions are problematic, because in the absence of an example, I can’t exactly point THE true answer. But you expect one.
These questions should have a “it depends” answer. And actually answering that by choice - not at random - would show a higher level of mastery than picking just one.
Agree with this completely. But I doubt we are going to put that as an answer.
What we have considered is having some of the harder questions contain an image or a motion gif that shows the context. This would probably create a more sensible question. But coming up with those images/gifs is also difficult…how to not give too much to the point where it’s obvious is a difficult balance.
This is exactly how these questions work. Sometimes the answer is obvious not for what is right but knowing for sure what isn’t.
I think that would be good, since as a theoretical question, it’s quite open, but add an example, even a simple image, and you can direct to a specific answer.
the other option is to leave the complex questions as text answers. ask the question, maybe an image too, but leave people answering by themself. in addition of showing if they are able to devise a method of action from a simple image / situation, it would tell you if they are able to simply communicate about what and how they do stuff.
also, it reduces the risk of someone picking at random (25% luck) or processing by elimination. you know or you don’t. And that would just be a handful of questions
That would be decidedly more difficult. We are three people running our own companies as well as Sloped so automation is the name of the game. A quiz that requires manual grading would be a step in the wrong direction.
I think imagery would be easier and leave less confusion and also maintain automation.
I joined Trimble 13 months ago, but worked for the distributor for the Benelux priory. (Distributors are not part of Trimble and usually independent resellers of different software) We took care of ‘train the trainer’ programs and handed out certificates for local SketchUp trainers and ATC’s (Authorized Training Centers)
Multiple choice forms was an important part of that program, but the fun part was the evaluation, where the nitpicking about the questions and answers started.
Learned a lot during those evaluations…
One has to have some kind of measuring tool for starters, and then move forward😀
I agree with this. Whether it’s in a tray/panel/dialog/sidecar, the Tag Tool is recognizable as a UI button by its icon.
I’m not talking about the 50+ questions, just a couple hard ones, at the end.
Sure, automatisation is the name of the game, but if taking 5 min per test allows you to get a better pool of people, it’s worth considering.
yeah, especially here with a non-timed test. taking the time to google stuff and check in SU, anyone could get a high score. but talking your way out of a tough question or two is another level you could even limit the length of the answer, force them to be concise
take the dwg question, you could show a picture of a freshly imported file, and ask “what steps are you going to take to build your 3d ?”. some people will answer a textbook solution, but you’ll find other who might say “well I’ll start by opening the dwg in XXXXcad and turn off this and that layer and then I import in SU and I just saved 2h”.
and that second one is worth talking to
As one of the Sloped founders, I wanted to clarify that our quiz exists purely to give people a gauge on their SU & LO level before they spend money on our practical exam. There are no certificates, badges or prizes of any kind awarded for passing our quiz. We do not believe that a standardized quiz is good enough to evaluate someone’s true SU & LO skill level. Performance is the only real indicator for software of this nature.
We started Sloped because for every 10 people that say they are a SU & LO expert, and have been using it for 10+ years, only about 1 of those actually is. However, it’s very hard for an individual to determine their skill level in a vacuum. It takes something like a difficult quiz for them to stop and think ‘hm, I didn’t understand half of those questions, and some of those functions I didn’t even know existed, maybe I still have a lot to learn and shouldn’t spend $159 USD on an exam I will likely not pass.’
Our quiz may have some debatable answers, and possibly some incorrect ones, but as of now, it has served as an excellent litmus test for who should take the exam. The majority of those who pass the quiz pass the exam as well. It’s also worth noting that when Sloped was in its infancy, we were doing some of the exams for free, and letting people who hadn’t passed the quiz do the exam. This turned out to be a big mistake. 100% of people who didn’t pass the quiz also didn’t pass the exam. So, in the spirit of not wasting anyone’s time or money, we’ve made it a rule about passing the quiz. Since there are over 50 questions and the passing score is 70%, there is quite a bit of room for error (either on our part in the question making, or the answering of the questions).
If I wanted to take the quiz again. How would I go about doing so?