Well I passed the DCD exam this week and have to say that it is a really challenging exam. Time management is critical and even though the first hour seems to drag the last hour just flew past and I still had 30 odd questions to complete. I came out of the exam room mentally drained.
One thing I would like to see was more opportunity given to go back and comment on questions. The ability was there during the exam to do thsi but I jusst didnt get time so would have like the opportunity post exam. I found some of the questions very ambiguous and the answers didnt seem to tie in with customer requirements.
I also think that the Design course shouldn't just be a recomnmendation it should be a requirement. Sure the exam took care of the "putting the design together" part but it can't recreate the importance of good meaningful discussion & planning that is critical to any design. The course met that objective by envouraging discussions and finding alternative ways to meet the cusstomer requirements.
Overall though a good exam and very real life questions that relate very well to the design methodology.
Tip - dont just focus on the technical aspect of the design, take into account the whole design process and know about such things as design risks, requirements, assumptions etc.
Neil
