CAD Study Guide 2026
Everything you need to pass the CAD exam in one place: the exam format, every topic to study, real practice questions with explanations, flashcards, and full-length practice tests. Free, no sign-up needed.
CAD exam key facts
📋 CAD Exam Format at a Glance
📚 CAD Topics to Study (19)
✍️ Sample CAD Questions & Answers
1. Which drawing view type in mechanical CAD shows the interior features of a part by cutting through it with a defined cutting plane?
A section view reveals internal features of a part by showing the cross-section along a defined cutting plane.
2. Which GD&T symbol represents 'flatness' on a mechanical drawing?
Flatness is represented by two parallel horizontal lines in GD&T and controls how flat a surface must be.
3. What is a bill of materials (BOM) in the context of a mechanical CAD assembly drawing?
A BOM is a structured table in an assembly drawing listing every part, its part number, description, and quantity required.
4. What is a 'design table' (configuration table) in SolidWorks or similar CAD tools?
A design table is an embedded Excel spreadsheet that drives multiple configurations of a part or assembly by changing dimensions and feature states.
5. Which file format is commonly used for saving 2D CAD drawings?
DWG is the standard file format used in CAD software like AutoCAD for storing 2D and 3D drawing data.
6. Which Civil 3D label style component displays the station and offset of a point relative to an alignment?
Station/Offset labels in Civil 3D annotate a point's position along an alignment (station) and its perpendicular distance from it (offset).
🎯 Free CAD Practice Tests
📖 CAD Guides & Articles
What Practice Test Geeks adds beyond an AI chat for CAD
An AI chatbot can quiz you, but it can't reproduce the exam conditions or keep your record. Here you get:
- A timed, full-length CAD mock exam — 160 questions in 180 minutes with a 70% pass mark, modeled on the official exam's question count and time limit, followed by a score report broken down by exam domain.
- A fixed CAD question bank: the same test every attempt, so your score is comparable from one try to the next instead of changing with every regenerated quiz.
- Progress saved on your device: completed tests, scores and missed questions stay in My Progress, so you can retake only what you got wrong.
- A printable CAD cheat sheet you can print or save as a PDF.
- CAD flashcards built from the same question bank.
- Free CAD practice tests with the correct answer shown after each question.
How this page was made: written with AI tools and published by Nathan Beja, founder of Practice Test Geeks, who is responsible for its content. Exam facts are checked against the official sources listed below. Not reviewed by a subject-matter expert. Editorial policy
Sources & references
Exam facts on this page (fees, format, dates, passing scores) are checked against these official sources; the date is our last check. Editorial policy
- nocti.org — Fees, test delivery, eligibility, exam format, time limit, exam information · verified Oct 2026
- noctiskillbadge.org — Passing score · verified Oct 2026