Author: Peggy Schael | Salesforce Trainer | WeLearnSalesforce
Getting a Salesforce Certification will unlock career opportunities you didn’t know were out there. But first, you need to get it, before you can add it to your CV and LinkedIn Profile. Let me share my 8 hot tips with you on how you can pass the exam on 1st attempt so you don’t loose any time to find your Salesforce Dream Job.
Of course, I can’t promise you will pass the exam, but I can promise that your chances to pass will increase significantly.
🌶 HOT TIP #1 – Study the official Salesforce Certification Exam Guide.
It’s been created for a purpose. 😉 It contains all the information you need to know about the certification and the exam, such as timing, cost and most importantly the exam objectives and their weighting. The greater the weighting, the more complex the topic, the more you need to deepen your skills.
🌶 HOT TIP #2 – Study the right Salesforce exam relevant topics.
You’ve got the exam objectives right there. BUT… they can be hard to interpret. Each exam topic contains a number of sub-topics. To help you understand better what the exact topics actually involve and what they mean, I’ve created a Study Checklist for you. Each exam objective, which is represented as a section, is broken down into individual topics in chronological order. It includes the obvious topics plus topics beyond what the exam outline tells you. Because I don’t want to leave you guessing. 🤓
This comprehensive Study Checklist will help you focus on all Salesforce exam-relevant topics and learn in a structured way. You want to be able to connect the dots otherwise you will get lost in the maze of Salesforce features and functionalities. As amazing as they are, you can’t possibly learn them all at once.
The Study Checklist is also a great way to tick off each topic as you progress and add notes to help you learn and review.
Of course, just knowing the topics won’t help you understand how they work. So…keep reading….
🌶 HOT TIP #3 – Study and practice with Trailhead, that’s what it’s there for.
Hands-on practice is the best way to memorize all that knowledge you are learning about. Use our WeLearnSalesforce Trailmix. It is based on the official Trailmix that you will find in the exam guide. However, I’ve optimized it into a more logical structure and added some modules and projects to fill some gaps giving you a well-rounded learning experience.
🌶 HOT TIP #4 – Don’t freak out!
It can feel overwhelming and you may find yourself lost with all that content on Trailhead. Trailhead is mainly text-based which can be cumbersome to work through. Plus, not all topics are actually covered on Trailhead yet.
That’s why… I have created Study Workbooks for you to keep you calm and focused. The Study Workbook covers all topics you will find on your Study Checklist and explains each topic with diagrams, flowcharts, checklists and best practices along with detailed descriptions. Each learning unit also contains additional learning resources like links to the corresponding Trailmix modules or projects and links to other supporting Salesforce Documentation.
And for those of you that love watching videos and prefer learning in a more guided way, I have created a comprehensive Salesforce Video Tutorial for you that gives you the complete learning experience. It almost feels like you are sitting in a classroom with the instructor upfront teaching you all about each topic, showing you around in Salesforce to see how things come to life. And we’ll do plenty of hands-on exercises together.
🌶 HOT TIP #5 – Check out Salesforce customer stories.
Why? Wouldn’t it be nice to see how Salesforce works in the real world? Indeed it would! While I’m including real-life business cases in our study materials, reading about Salesforce customer stories is a great addition. Salesforce has an awesome collection of customer stories showcasing how and why they are using Salesforce. These stories give you an idea of which Salesforce Products and features they are using. This helps you build the bridge between business and system requirements.
You can even use these scenarios to design your own version of a solution in your own Trailhead Playground or Developer Org. You get more hands-on practice plus you are building your own system experience which you can showcase with recruiters and potential future employers.
🌶 HOT TIP #6 – Check your exam readiness.
Once you have learned everything and gotten familiar with business use cases, you have probably forgotten half of what you have been studying. That’s perfectly normal.
That’s where Practice Exams come in handy. Practice Exams are the perfect way to test your knowledge and identify your strength and weaknesses. And, they give you a chance to get familiar with the exam format and complexity of exam questions and answers.
I have created a bundle of realistic Practice Exams for you so you can check your exam readiness. The results include detailed explanations and plenty of resources to help you deepen your learnings.
🌶 HOT TIP #7 – Register for the exam when you feel confident and you are ready to take it.
You will need to register through a Webassessor account. If you don’t have one yet, you can easily create a new one.
Some say that you should register for the exam ahead of time, like three months into the future. This gives you a deadline you can work towards. However the exam is easy to reschedule and you may find yourself postponing it, or, taking it, just for the sake of it because it’s booked, but then you may fail. You may not. But if you do you’re not only losing time but also money. The certification exam is US$200 and the retake is US$100.
What I recommend instead, is, yes, absolutely plan for it. Put a date in the calendar by when you’d like to be ready. When you get closer to that date, check in on your learning progress, for example with Practice Exams. If you reach at least 80-90%, you have a pretty good chance to pass the real exam, meaning you can go register. Of course, I can’t promise you will pass but the more you practice the more likely you will.
Upon registration, you will have to choose your test taker style. You can take the exam onsite at a Kryterion test center or online from home or work or anywhere you choose, as long as you have a computer, internet and a webcam. Both options are of course proctored.
The online option will require you to install some software to access the exam. Exams taken at a Kryterion test center only require some form of ID and a happy smile. You are even given scratch paper too, which you won’t be allowed to use in an online exam.
Get familiar with the requirements for each test taker style and choose the one you prefer. Many locations offer plenty of time slots throughout the week, so you should be able to book something not too far in the future.
🌶 HOT TIP #8 – Keep practicing! Practice practice practice.
Get your hands on the system. Trust me. That’s the best way to memorize what you are learning. You still have time, go back to the Practice Exams, do them again, practice weaker areas even more. This will give you so much more confidence.
I’ve put all these steps into a comprehensive Salesforce Certification Guide. It contains even more useful tips and tricks. No go ahead, and download it right away. It’s free, with no strings attached.
I hope you’ve been finding these hot tips helpful. Is there anything else you’d like to know? Please leave me a comment. I’m here to help! 🙂
I am interessted , but I kan ‘ t to pay .