CAD antenna designer certification - how long did you study and what resources actually helped?
Taking the CAD exam in about 8 weeks and I'm trying to figure out how much time I need to put in daily. I've got about 6 years of RF engineering experience but I've never sat for a formal antenna design certification before. My employer is covering the exam fee so I really don't want to blow it on the first attempt.
I've been going through the ARRL Antenna Book and some IEEE papers on array design, but I'm not sure if that's the right angle for the exam specifically. About 2 hours a day right now, maybe 3 on weekends. Does anyone know how heavily the exam weights computational versus conceptual questions?
Also curious whether practical simulation experience with tools like HFSS or NEC counts for much, or if it's mostly theory-based. I scored around 71% on a practice set I found online and I'm hoping to push that above 80% before exam day.
71% is a decent starting point with 8 weeks left. I was at 68% six weeks out and ended up passing with 83%. The jump came mostly from drilling impedance matching and ground plane effect problems until they were automatic.
Don't underestimate the standards and measurement section. A lot of people with strong design backgrounds assume they can skip it and then get surprised. That section cost me about 5 points on my first attempt.
The ARRL book is solid but broader than what the exam tests. I'd focus specifically on phased arrays, feed network design, and polarization topics since those showed up heavily for me. NEC familiarity helped more than HFSS for the theory questions.
Six years of RF background should carry you pretty far. I passed on my first attempt after about 5 weeks of focused study, roughly 90 minutes a day. The computational side is real - expect antenna gain, beamwidth, and impedance matching problems that require actual math, not just conceptual recognition.
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