- How the 15 Content Areas Fit Together
- The 28-Question Format Behind the Domains
- Foundation Domains: Object Model and Troubleshooting
- Part, Sketch and Feature Domains
- Assembly, Selection and Component-State Domains
- The Drawing Cluster
- Custom Properties, Saving and Closing
- Sequencing the Domains in Your Prep
- VBA Scope vs. Add-In and PDM Work
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The issuer lists 15 unweighted exam objectives; no percentage weights are published, so prepare every area.
- The exam has 28 questions: 18 hands-on automation tasks and 10 multiple-choice, scored out of 100 with 70 to pass.
- The exam is built around Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and runs 120 minutes with no pausing.
- The official guide's sample holds only four multiple-choice questions, so you must build your own macro practice fixtures.
How the 15 Content Areas Fit Together
The Certified SOLIDWORKS Professional API (CSWP-API) credential, issued by SOLIDWORKS (Dassault Systemes), tests whether you can automate SOLIDWORKS with VBA macros. The issuer publishes a list of 15 exam objectives and explicitly describes that task list as non-exhaustive. There are no published percentage weights, so any site that tells you "Domain 4 is 20% of the exam" is inventing numbers. This guide does not.
What the list does give you is a clear map of the skills in play. Read as a whole, the 15 areas fall into five working clusters:
| Cluster | Domains (issuer wording) |
|---|---|
| Foundations | Understanding the API Object Model; Troubleshooting |
| Modeling | Part design automation; Adding sketch entities and dimensions; Feature creations such as extrudes and cuts |
| Assemblies and navigation | Assembly automation; Selection and traversal techniques; Hide/Suppress/Resolve components |
| Drawings | Drawing Automation; Creation of drawings; Insert drawing views; Insert a BOM; Save drawings in different file formats |
| Data and file handling | Add custom properties; Save and close documents |
Notice that the issuer retains overlapping drawing headings as written: "Drawing Automation" and "Creation of drawings" sound similar, and we treat them as distinct list entries without guessing where the boundary falls. If you want the broader preparation picture, our CSWP-API study guide pairs well with this domain-by-domain breakdown.
The 28-Question Format Behind the Domains
Domains only make sense once you know how they are tested. According to the issuer-linked exam guide, the CSWP-API has 28 questions: 18 hands-on automation tasks and 10 multiple-choice questions. The exam totals 100 points, requires 70 to pass, and gives you 120 minutes. The exam page confirms the two-hour duration, the 70% passing grade and the focus on VBA.
Two practical consequences follow:
- The hands-on tasks dominate your time. Eighteen automation tasks in two hours means you cannot afford to rediscover the object model mid-exam. Domains such as sketches, features and drawings must be close to muscle memory.
- The multiple-choice questions probe understanding. Expect them to test API concepts, method behavior and troubleshooting reasoning rather than raw typing speed.
Delivery is through Tangix/VirtualTester using the current VirtualTester Web Client instructions. The guide describes a non-proctored online exam taken with your own working commercial or student SOLIDWORKS software (2017 or later) and your own Internet connection. Exams cannot be paused. Where the guide's legacy TesterPRO installation or crash language conflicts with the current browser-client and recovery instructions, the current instructions win, so read them before exam day. For the scoring mechanics, see what you need to pass.
Foundation Domains: Object Model and Troubleshooting
Domain 1: Understanding the API Object Model
Every other domain depends on this one. The SOLIDWORKS API is a hierarchy of objects: you start from the application object, reach the active document, cast it to the right document type, and drill down to features, sketches, views and components.
- Know the chain from the application interface through the model document to part, assembly and drawing interfaces.
- Learn to read the API Help pages: method signatures, return types, parameters and the "Remarks" and "See Also" sections.
- Understand that the macro recorder produces code, but often with hard-coded selections and late-bound clutter you must clean up.
- Practice declaring typed variables rather than relying on generic objects so IntelliSense can guide you.
The best skill to build here is navigation: given a goal ("add a custom property," "insert a drawing view"), you should be able to locate the right interface in API Help within a minute or two. That is the real exam skill, not memorizing hundreds of member names.
Domain 2: Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting is listed as its own objective, which tells you the exam expects you to diagnose broken or incomplete code, not only write new code.
- Recognize common failure patterns: a method returning Nothing or False, a selection that never took, or a document reference of the wrong type.
- Check return values and booleans instead of assuming a call succeeded.
- Use the VBA editor's breakpoints, Locals window and step-through execution to see object state.
- Know why a recorded macro may fail when replayed on a different model.
Practice this domain deliberately: take a working macro, break it in five different ways, and learn to identify each failure from its symptoms. Our guide on how hard the CSWP-API exam is explains why this diagnostic skill separates comfortable candidates from stressed ones.
Part, Sketch and Feature Domains
Domain 3: Part design automation
This is the umbrella skill of driving part creation and modification from code.
- Create or open a part document programmatically and confirm its type before acting on it.
- Work with the feature manager tree through the API, including reading existing features.
- Modify dimensions and rebuild so changes actually propagate.
Domain 6: Adding sketch entities and dimensions
Sketches are the foundation of nearly every feature, so expect hands-on tasks here.
- Insert a sketch on a chosen plane, add lines, circles and rectangles, and close the sketch correctly.
- Understand the sketch manager and the difference between creating geometry and applying dimensions.
- Be careful with units: the API works in meters, which is a classic source of "my sketch is a thousand times too small" errors.
- Add and edit dimensions so a sketch is fully defined rather than floating.
Domain 7: Feature creations such as extrudes and cuts
The issuer's wording says "such as," so extrudes and cuts are examples rather than a complete list.
- Create a boss extrude and a cut extrude from a prepared sketch, with correct end conditions and direction.
- Understand the long parameter lists on feature-creation methods and how to read them in API Help.
- Verify that the returned feature object is not Nothing before moving on.
- Be ready to adapt the same pattern to related features you have practiced, since the list is non-exhaustive.
Key Takeaway
Sketch-then-feature is the backbone of most modeling tasks. Build one reusable macro that creates a sketch, dimensions it, extrudes it and checks every return value. Then vary it: different plane, different shape, cut instead of boss.
Assembly, Selection and Component-State Domains
Domain 5: Assembly automation
Assembly work adds a layer: you are now dealing with component objects and the relationship between an assembly and the parts inside it.
- Cast the active document to an assembly interface and retrieve its components.
- Understand the difference between a component and the model document it references.
- Practice reading component names, paths and states in a small test assembly.
Domain 8: Selection and traversal techniques
Selection is where many candidates stumble. The API often needs something selected, or needs a reference to an entity you must first find.
- Select entities by name, by type or by coordinates, and know which approach suits which task.
- Traverse the feature tree and walk assembly component lists with loops.
- Clear selections between operations so stale selections do not corrupt the next call.
- Understand selection marks and why some methods require them.
Domain 9: Hide/Suppress/Resolve components
This objective is about controlling component state in an assembly from code.
- Distinguish hiding, suppressing and resolving: they are different states with different effects on memory and rebuilds.
- Loop through components and change state conditionally, for example by name match.
- Check the result and rebuild or refresh as needed.
These three domains combine naturally. A typical practice task is "find every component whose name contains a given string and suppress it," which exercises traversal, selection logic and component state at once. Build a three-part test assembly with a few repeated parts and practice exactly that kind of loop.
The Drawing Cluster
Five of the 15 objectives touch drawings, so this cluster deserves proportionate attention. Remember that the issuer retains overlapping headings, so treat the five as one connected workflow rather than isolated topics.
Domain 4 and Domain 10: Drawing Automation and Creation of drawings
Start by creating a drawing document from a template and attaching sheets.
- Create a new drawing from a template path and set sheet size and scale.
- Understand the drawing document interface and how it differs from part and assembly interfaces.
- Handle template paths robustly, since a wrong path is a common reason a macro appears to do nothing.
Domain 11: Insert drawing views
Once a drawing exists, you populate it with views of a referenced model.
- Insert standard views of a part or assembly at specified positions.
- Understand view placement coordinates and sheet units.
- Create projected or other derived views from an existing base view where practiced.
Domain 12: Insert a BOM
A bill of materials from code requires an assembly-based drawing view and a BOM template.
- Know which view the BOM attaches to and what it needs as input.
- Understand the anchor position and what the BOM template controls.
- Verify that the resulting table object exists and contains rows.
Domain 13: Save drawings in different file formats
Exporting is where file-extension logic and save options come together.
- Use the save-as capability with the extension that matches the desired output, such as a drawing format or a PDF.
- Handle the error and warning parameters rather than ignoring them.
- Confirm the file actually exists on disk afterward.
Custom Properties, Saving and Closing
Domain 14: Add custom properties
Custom properties are one of the most common real-world automation targets, which is why they earn their own objective.
- Reach the custom property manager for a document and add a property with a name, type and value.
- Understand the difference between file-level properties and configuration-specific properties.
- Read properties back to confirm the write worked.
Domain 15: Save and close documents
It sounds trivial, yet it is a frequent source of lost points because candidates forget housekeeping.
- Save the active document and handle the returned error and warning values.
- Close a document by its title or path, and understand why closing the wrong document is easy in a multi-document session.
- Leave SOLIDWORKS in a clean state so one task does not contaminate the next.
Custom properties and save/close are the cheapest domains to master because the code is short. They are also easy to forget when you spend all your study time on drawings and features. Schedule them deliberately.
Sequencing the Domains in Your Prep
Because the issuer publishes no weights, a sensible order follows dependency rather than guesswork. Here is one way to schedule the domains over six weeks. Adjust it to your VBA background; CAD users with no programming history should spend longer on the first two weeks.
VBA basics and the object model
- Variables, loops, conditionals and error handling in the VBA editor
- Domain 1: navigate application, model document and type-specific interfaces
- Practice finding methods in API Help
Troubleshooting and the recorder
- Domain 2: break and fix macros, check return values
- Record macros, then clean them up and remove hard-coded selections
Modeling
- Domains 3, 6 and 7: sketches, dimensions, extrudes and cuts
- Rebuild and verify features through code
Assemblies
- Domains 5, 8 and 9: traversal, selection and component states
- Loop-and-filter practice on a small test assembly
Drawings
- Domains 4, 10, 11, 12 and 13: create, view, BOM, export
- Run the full drawing chain repeatedly
Data handling and timed runs
- Domains 14 and 15: properties, save and close
- Mixed timed sets simulating 18 tasks plus 10 questions in two hours
The logic: foundations first because everything depends on them, modeling before assemblies because assemblies contain parts, and drawings late because they reference finished models. For a compact recap to use in the final days, see our CSWP-API cheat sheet.
VBA Scope vs. Add-In and PDM Work
A common confusion is assuming the exam covers professional add-in development. It does not. The exam page focuses on VBA, meaning macros written inside the SOLIDWORKS environment. C# add-ins and PDM API work are separate disciplines with different tooling, deployment and object models.
| Area | CSWP-API exam scope | Outside exam scope |
|---|---|---|
| Language | VBA | C# or VB.NET add-ins |
| Deployment | Run macros from the editor or macro list | Installers, registration and add-in loading |
| Data management | Documents and custom properties in SOLIDWORKS | PDM API and vault automation |
That distinction affects how you spend training time. The recommended preparation is SOLIDWORKS Design Essentials and API Fundamentals; the public API Fundamentals curriculum is a preparation outline, not a weighted exam blueprint, and the three-day course length is not a mandatory training-hours requirement. No prior certification is required, which you can confirm in our CSWP-API requirements guide.
On the business side, the fee is US$49 for one North American attempt, excluding software and training. Retakes need a new CSWP-API credit and at least a 14-day wait, and the issuer's 2020 Q&A states that customer and student certifications do not expire. Details are in our pricing breakdown. Whether the credential pays off depends on the automation value you can demonstrate rather than any guaranteed uplift; see the ROI analysis for a grounded view.
To rehearse under realistic conditions, use our CSWP-API practice tests alongside your own macro fixtures, and keep notes on which domain each missed question belongs to.
Frequently Asked Questions
The issuer lists 15 exam objectives, from understanding the API object model through saving and closing documents. The issuer describes the list as non-exhaustive and publishes no percentage weights.
No weights are published. Any percentage breakdown you see for these 15 areas is not from the issuer, so prepare all of them rather than gambling on a few.
The exam has 28 questions, 18 hands-on automation tasks and 10 multiple-choice, worth 100 points total. You need 70 to pass within 120 minutes, and the exam cannot be paused.
No. The exam page focuses on Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). C# add-ins and PDM API work are separate skills outside the exam scope.
Begin with VBA fundamentals, the object model and troubleshooting, since every other domain builds on them. Then move to sketches and features before tackling assemblies and drawings. The What Is CSWP-API? overview is a good orientation if you are new to the credential.