ASQ CCT

[WestCoastCal]

I went to the 2 day CCT Primer last week at the MSC.  The function of the primer is to prepare the tech for the CCT test.  The primer was taught by Dilip Shah, co author of the Metrology Handbook. Dilip is an outstanding teacher with a clear understanding of the subject material and ability to convey and teach so that even the least experienced could understand.  The primer is divided into 8 sections.  The first section is a bibliography. 2nd is General Metrology that covered Base and Derived SI units and multipliers, Fundamental Constants such as the speed of light, Planck's constant, temperature, pressure, torque, mass, flow, electrical, etc., measurements-nothing overly deep-a good overview, Traceability is defined and discussed and the types of measurement standards. The 3rd section covered measurement methods (direct, indirect, zero (null), ratio, transfer, differential and substitution; measurement quality is discussed which defined bias/offset, accuracy, drift/stability, precision/variabilty, repeatability, reproducability. lastly specifications and MAPS were explained.  The 4th section, Calibration Systems covered cal procedures, methods, calibration environment, roles and responsibilities, procedure validation, software in the lab, record management, training and reporting.  The 5th section, Math and Statistics, I thought could use a good re-write (Dilip informed us the new primer should be ready in the coming months), with the tools we have now, manually calculating °C to °F seems silly.  Additionally, being able to manually convert from Octal and Hexidecimal to base 10 or binary seems antiquated, when its a couple of button pushes on a TI30. Getting back on point, other conversions and calculations such as angle, surface, volume, area and perimeter were presented along with some basic trigonmetric reminders. By far the best part of this section is Statistics-after all, thats the most important aspect of measurements.  Really good examples and explanations of normal, rectangular, u-shaped distributions and standard deviation calculation.  The 6th section, Quality Systems and Standards presented a breakdown of a quality system from quality management systems to Quality standards and guides (the class did not go much into this section).  The 7th section was uncertainty, which obviously covered uncertainty.  Lastly the 8th section is the appendix
I thought this class brought together the information I learned over the years and gave a very good reminder of what I have learned and would serve as an excellent training tool for a journeyman technician.  Being well read in 17025 and NIST SP 811 were what I thought the dominent documents were (who the heck has time to read quality standards and documents during work hours?).  I think the revision that is being made to the primer will make the course more relevant and allow focus on those areas that need to be accentuated. 
BTW, I  did not apply to take the test soon enough, though I spoke to a couple of developers from Navy MetBench Corona that went through the class and took the test and they felt confident they were properly prepared for the test. 
Lastly, I don't think its mandatory to take the primer to be able to pass the CCT, but re-read the topics covered above-that's alot of ground to cover.  Our companies often expect miracles from us, for that to happen, they have no choice but to help us learn-we can't possibly self teach ourselves everything (my opinion).
Lastly, lastly it seemed as if the MSC foot traffic was down this year.  The big mystery was who was Danaher going to buy next.  Pasadena is a beautiful city, but without Mickey and friends-just wasn't the same.  Buzz Aldrin was the Thursday lunch speaker-that was pretty exciting, he told us he was on dancing with the stars and asked for our vote (over and over).  I also one a copy of his book-YEAH

[brettc]

I am one of the METBENCH developers mentioned in this post.  Both me and the other guy passed the exam.  I would agree that it is not necessary to take the CCT primer to pass provided you have experience working in an accredited calibration lab but it certainly helped. 

[NCAHCalTech]

I took the test 2 years ago and passed it .   I did not have the primer and did not review prior to taking the test.   I did have:
The Metrology Handbook, Jay Bucher, Editor
The Quality Calibration Handbook, Jay Bucher, Author
Managing the Metrology System, Robert Pennela, Author
Calibration: Philosophy in Practice, 2nd Edition, Fluke
I do work in an ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accredited laboratory.