CDS Vignette - Level 3 Fail Question - Fatal Mistake?

Building Section Vignette and Multiple Choice

CDS Vignette - Level 3 Fail Question - Fatal Mistake?

Postby cmsladky » Fri Mar 10, 2017 7:30 am

I just recently took the CDS 4.0 exam and passed all of the multiple choice sections, however I failed the vignette section with a level 3. I have the practice software and had practice the vignette several times prior to the exam, along with looking at fell test takers posts of their practice vignettes here. With it being a level 3 fail, I am making an assumption that it means I made a fatal mistake with something. I made sure to look for the largest duct/joist combo on each floor to ensure I had accommodated the largest duct height per floor with the joist spacing while still allowing the 8" clearance for the light fixtures. The footings and foundations were placed correctly such as the top of the footing was at the designated frost line depth. The only thing that comes to mind that would have caused me to fail is potentially placing the grade line a couple inches away from the section cut line provided. I'm not sure if that matters, or if you are able to have the grade line placed a couple inches from section. Also, I placed said grade line so it had extended roughly 3 feet beyond the extents of the building, however I am unsure if that was too much or too little to be graded properly. Coach, or anyone else know what the fatal mistakes would possibly be for this vignette? I have spent several hours going through in my mind what mistake I could have made to cause this but nothing seems to pop into mind and I haven't been able to find many posts about what the fatal mistakes could possibly be on this vignette.

Thank you for your time and taking a look at my question in advance!
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Re: CDS Vignette - Level 3 Fail Question - Fatal Mistake?

Postby thd7t » Fri Mar 10, 2017 2:49 pm

The only fatal error on this. Exam is forgetting the grade line. The NCARB video lays out the other errors. Grade line doesn't have to align with the cut line. Did you practice with the 3.1 vignette? It's much more representative of the exam. Also, post your practice attempts, here.
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Re: CDS Vignette - Level 3 Fail Question - Fatal Mistake?

Postby Coach » Fri Mar 10, 2017 5:35 pm

There's no way to know.
Did you actually draw the grade or maybe a sketch line and forgot the real grade?
Were ducts drawn?
Joists in the correct direction and lined up?

Multiple non-fatal errors can cause a level 3. The thing with failing and not knowing why is you'll never know why because you would have known when taking the exam unless you relay something obvious that you did that we can see is incorrect. Not the case here... except maybe for the joist/duct combo, because you don't necessarily use the largest duct, which is why we say "combo".
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Re: CDS Vignette - Level 3 Fail Question - Fatal Mistake?

Postby cmsladky » Sun Mar 26, 2017 10:32 am

Thank you both for the feedback, I apologize for not getting back on here sooner to check the replies. I think coach makes a valid point with it possibly being that I may have used the wrong joist/duct combo. When going through the checklist of what the requirements are for the building section, I followed the instructions according to what the program had stated. I may however, had grabbed the wrong joist size/depth with the largest duct causing the interstitial space to not be adequate. Just a bummer to pass all of the multiple choice, and see a level 3 on the vignette, however I know I am not the only one that has happened to. Onto Site Planning & Design tomorrow, and then back to CDS! Thanks again for the help, and all of the feedback given to everybody's questions on here, I always make sure i review each ARE division on here prior to taking the particular exam.
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Re: CDS Vignette - Level 3 Fail Question - Fatal Mistake?

Postby Raja » Sun Mar 26, 2017 7:25 pm

cmsladky wrote:Thank you both for the feedback, I apologize for not getting back on here sooner to check the replies. I think coach makes a valid point with it possibly being that I may have used the wrong joist/duct combo. When going through the checklist of what the requirements are for the building section, I followed the instructions according to what the program had stated. I may however, had grabbed the wrong joist size/depth with the largest duct causing the interstitial space to not be adequate. Just a bummer to pass all of the multiple choice, and see a level 3 on the vignette, however I know I am not the only one that has happened to. Onto Site Planning & Design tomorrow, and then back to CDS! Thanks again for the help, and all of the feedback given to everybody's questions on here, I always make sure i review each ARE division on here prior to taking the particular exam.


I just had the same experience with my exam in February, passed all the multiple choice but level 3 fail of vignette. Maybe we had the same exam haha. But in my case, when I was checking the vignette over at the end of the exam I noticed a calculation error, with 5 minutes left, that affected the floor to slab height, which means everything had to be adjusted or re-drawn....the parapets, the joists, the ducts, the lighting space, ceiling. I ran out of time and there were a couple of ducts not lined up. Not sure if that caused the fail or maybe there were other errors that I didn't see when I was checking or made in haste at the end. So at any rate I do think it might be easy to have a mixed up combo and not realize it. Good luck on SPD!! I'm re-taking CDs in April and hopefully won't have to go a third round!
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Re: CDS Vignette - Level 3 Fail Question - Fatal Mistake?

Postby cmsladky » Fri May 12, 2017 1:59 pm

Well, just recently took the CDS exam and got the news this morning that I passed the exam! Something that had shocked me was that there were 5-10 questions that were identical to the first go around. The vignette was just as equally straight forward as the first go around, which I felt as if I had used the same strategy on this vignette as I used on the first one. The only thing that I know for a fact I did differently was when placing the joists with the 4"deck. On my first try, I had the joists and deck placed just up against the wall, whereas this time I had placed the joist and deck 1-2 clicks into the wall, as I had read that bit of info on this forum that Coach had responded to on another persons thread. Since the first post in this thread, I have taken SPD as well and passed that on the first shot, and with passing the CDS exam, all I have left is to take PPP. That exam is scheduled for May 23, and hopefully that results in a pass as well. If so, the daunting task of taking all of these exams will have taken me 11 months to complete. Although the exams are tough and intimidating, I do have to admit that I have learned quite a good amount from all of the studying resources, along with this forum.

Thanks to all, and good luck to those who read this and are currently in their exam journey!
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