I was baking some self-made granola the other day. They completely got burned because I mixed up the temperature and my timer was set based on the correct temperature. 🙈 It started to smell strangely and it hit me, and I ran into the kitchen. All my granola turned black (literally). Well, I had to start over. Not a super big deal, I still had enough of the ingredients left.
Now, what does granola have to do with Salesforce? A LOT!
Baking is a lot like being a Salesforce Administrator – you have to take the right steps and find the perfect balance in order to end up with an edible result. Just like how I had to mix up the temperature and timer for my granola, incorrect setups in Salesforce can quickly turn sour.
When it comes to our work with Salesforce, one wrong move can have (more or less) disastrous consequences for those that are relying on us. We all want to avoid these errors and ensure our Salesforce Users don’t get “burned” by mistakes.
I’ll never forget my first time working with Salesforce when I didn’t attend any Salesforce training beforehand. I was missing out on plenty of features that could have made my job much easier, or more importantly, the job of my Salesforce Users! That’s why it’s so important that we equip ourselves with the right knowledge in order to be able to make the most of Salesforce and its capabilities.
Just as careful preparation goes into baking granola, joining a proper Salesforce training can have a huge impact on our professional lives. With all of the available resources out there, taking full advantage of the right Salesforce learning materials can increase your confidence and ensure success – both in the job itself or in any job interview leading to your Salesforce dream job.
Therefore, I’ve put together the perfect recipe and baking tools, a.k.a. Salesforce learning materials, in my Salesforce Certification Courses.
And it gets even better, we currently have an incredible Salesforce course offer! It’s your one-stop-shop to mastering Salesforce – our all-in-one Salesforce Certification Training Bundle includes our three fundamental Salesforce Certification Courses, complete with video tutorials, study workbooks and practice exams.
This is the perfect bundle to get you ready for both your job and Salesforce Certification Exam in no time. Whether you’re an experienced professional or a newbie, you don’t want to let this amazing offer slip through your fingers. Act quickly before it expires at the end of January!
You’ll get LIFETIME access to ALL of our Salesforce Certification Courses worth $1,491.
All for only $197!!
“Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.”
That depends! Not the answer you wanted? Bear with me. There are a number of factors contributed to your experience, study materials, career goal and more. You are going to make this work using the guidelines we’ll discuss in this article.
“Success isn’t overnight. It’s when every day you get a little better than the day before. It all adds up.”
Dwayne Johnson | actor and former pro-wrestler
One of the most popular questions around Salesforce Certifications is how long or how much time it takes to get ready for the Salesforce Certification Exam. And this is indeed a very important question to ask yourself. Understanding the timing will help you prepare accordingly and avoid the frustration.
While there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, we can certainly apply a rule of thumb to give you some direction. Therefore, in this article we will break down the most relevant factors that will contribute to the date you’ll register your Salesforce Certification Exam for. These factors include:
Your Salesforce experience
Your available study time per week
Study materials at your disposal
Your Salesforce career plans
Your desired Salesforce Certification exam date
Your Salesforce Experience
Have you had any experience with Salesforce yet? If yes, then we need to look at the type of experience.
This includes the type of Salesforce User, the type of Salesforce Org, type of involvement, and time spent in the system. Here are a few examples of what this may look like:
Type of Salesforce User:
Trailhead Learner completing Trailhead Modules and Projects
Salesforce Business User like a sales person using the User Interface, not the Setup
Salesforce Administrator working in the system setup
Type of Salesforce Org:
Trailhead Playground/Developer Org
Production Org such as Enterprise Edition, Essential Edition etc.
Robust org setup or disorganized org
Type of involvement:
Trailhead Learner completing step-by-step projects or completing complex SuperBadges
Business User working in the User Interface only, no Salesforce Setup
System Administrator configuring the Salesforce Setup, differentiating between simple setup items (e.g. setting up Users) or complex customizations (creating Custom Objects/Apps, Workflows, Flows etc.)
Time spent in the system:
Daily usage
A few hours per week
Irregular login
Where do you think you fit in? How confident do you feel about your experience with Salesforce?
Based on your previous experience, you may consider the following time frames:
0 Experience: 3-6 months
6 months+ Experience: 6-8 weeks
12 months+ Experience: 3-4 weeks
However, you need to consider how much time you can afford to study. Therefore, let’s look at the weekly study time and how this can affect your timeline.
Hours Per Week You Have Time to Study for your Salesforce Certification Exam
What does your daily life look like? Are you currently working a full-time job? Do you have kids or other people to care for? Do you have any leisure activities/hobbies to attend to?
This will help you determine how much time you can free up to focus on your Salesforce studies. You have various options, such as studying full-time or part-time or casually.
If we take the number of hours per day or week into consideration, the time frame may look like this:
And that’s not all, yet. We also need to look at the study materials you’re learning with as well as your learning pace to work through the materials.
Salesforce Study Materials at Your Disposal
You’ve got a lot of options to choose from in regards to how you are learning all the Salesforce Certification knowledge topics. These include Trailhead Modules/Project, video tutorials, study workbooks, practice exams, quizzes, and others.
If you are a Salesforce Newbie, you will certainly have more knowledge topics, or more material, to work through than someone with prior experience. And even if you are experienced, you may need to work through topics you thought you are confident in to make sure you’re not missing something you may not have been exposed to yet. At least, that’s what I’d suggest you should do. 🤓
What’s the best way to learn all that Salesforce knowledge to prepare for your certification exam?
With so much content out there, we’ve collated the essential details into a comprehensive Salesforce Certification Guide. It’s an 8-step guide telling you exactly what you should do in order to reach your exam day and pass at the first attempt. It also includes important information about what happens after you got certified. Because this is where your career really starts off. 👔
Your exam day will only be as successful as the Salesforce knowledge and skills you are bringing with you. The key to a successful exam day, therefore, is HOW you prepare yourself.
This means learning the right content in an effective way for your brain to absorb all that knowledge and retain it. It’s not just about “learning” it’s about “understanding”. There is science behind this, combined with real-life experience from other Salesforce learners.
Here are the recommended study materials that will help you prepare and give you the confidence for your exam day YOU want to have:
Salesforce’s Trailhead Modules and Projects – Each Salesforce Certification requires a different set of knowledge and tools. You will learn these through Trailhead Modules and Projects. The ones relevant for the Salesforce Certification you are preparing for are collated into so-called Trailmixes.
Salesforce Video Tutorials – Video tutorials are a great way to learn in a well-structured and coordinated way. Especially if you are a visual learner who prefers some guidance. Our video tutorials will not only help you “learn” but will offer plenty of opportunities for self-guided practice to help you “understand” what you’ve been learning about.
Salesforce Study Workbook – If you enjoy reading, taking notes, and even like to print out pages to pin at your desk, then our Study Workbooks are perfect for you. They give you a summary of all exam knowledge topics for review, and also include links to the Trailmixes mentioned earlier, so you can deepen your hands-on practice.
Salesforce Practice Exams – I believe these are a must-have for everyone. Because they do two things. One, get you familiar with the exam format and complexity of questions and answers. Two, they help you determine whether you are actually ready to take the exam. They are used to identify your strength and weaknesses, including detailed explanations and additional learning resources to strengthen your weaker knowledge areas.
NOTE: If you are a Salesforce Newbie, I would not recommend to start learning with Practice Exams, rather use them at a later point in time. They are meant to check in on your existing knowledge of the Salesforce features and functionalities.
And again, it depends on your prior experience. Salesforce Newbies may need all of the study materials, Salesforce Experienced may only need the Study Workbook and/or Practice Exams. Choose for yourself, it’s YOUR Salesforce Career!
And this brings us to the next factor.
Your Salesforce Career Plans
Now, we need to look at your Salesforce Career plans. This means, how important is the Salesforce Certification to you and how fast are you looking to use it to make a career move.
A Salesforce Certification is not a must-have to move into a Salesforce job, however, it will likely open more doors if you have at least one. You may even be in a current Salesforce job, maybe as an accidental Administrator, and you’re considering adding that Salesforce Certification to your CV but you’re not in a rush.
The urgency to gain the Salesforce Certification will also determine your exam deadline. And this takes us to the last but certainly not least factor.
Your Desired Salesforce Certification Exam Date
If you already have a date in mind, you can take the table from above and count backward to determine how many hours per week you would potentially have to study.
For example:
You’re desired exam date is 4 weeks from today. Two scenarios:
As a Salesforce Newbie, you’d have to study almost 240 hours per week. 🤯 I guess this is not very realistic. You may need to consider moving out that exam date.
As a Salesforce Experienced, you’d have to study 40-120 hours per week based on the type of experience. You may or may not be able to make it in 4 weeks.
🌶 Keep it realistic, and use the table above to determine your potential exam date. Yes, you can book your exam date already. This may help to push you forwards. However, if it’s an unrealistic date, you may get super stressed out and even fail while you could have prevented that by setting a realistic date.
If you are not sure whether you should book your exam date already or not, I’d suggest you get started with your learning curriculum. As you progress over the next few days or weeks, you get a feel on how well you are managing the complexity of the knowledge topics and your learning pace. Remember to make use of the Practice Exams to determine your exam readiness. Once you have a better idea, you can certainly go ahead and book that exam date.
Hands-on practice is included in any of the above-mentioned study materials. However, if you are a Salesforce Newbie or even if it’s just a few new topics you are studying, you should double-up your hands-on practice. The more you get your hands on the system, the better you’re learning success will be. And learning success means “understanding” your knowledge topic, which in turn will help you pass the exam. PLUS, retain the knowledge for your upcoming job interview.
This means you can either retake the Trailhead Modules/Projects in a new Trailhead Playground, or try on your own in a Developer Org. Alternatively, go and complete Trailhead Superbadges. They are based on real-life business scenarios and requirements which you need to set up in a Trailhead Playground all by yourself without any guidance. They are pretty tough and therefore the perfect way to really deepen your Salesforce skills. Yes, they do require a bit more time and patience. You can skip them, however, I’d really recommend you complete the ones listed in your Trailmixes. Superbadges can even be linked to your LinkedIn profile page, just like you can with your Salesforce Certification. That should tell you something. 💡
Here’s one which is part of the Salesforce Administrator Credential Trailmix:
Provides an extensive library of product features, knowledge articles, how-to documentation and so much more. While you are studying through your knowledge topics, you may want to read through some of the provided references on help.salesforce.com. They often contain additional or contributing information you should at least have a browse through. This also helps you get familiar with Salesforce Help and how to use it, because you’re going to need it, not only to prepare for your exam but also as an on-the-job reference. 🤓
Contain important updates to the Salesforce platform. Each Salesforce Certification Exam is based on a release cycle. Which release cycle it is, is provided to you on the exam guide. Therefore, before you sit the exam, it helps to have a look at the exam relevant topics.
For example, if you are studying for the Salesforce Administrator, you should have a look at Analytics, Configuration, Einstein Automate, Sales, Marketing and Service.
This should give you plenty to contemplate. I hope you’ve been finding this helpful to determine your realistic exam date. Let me know in the comments when you are planning to take your Salesforce Certification Exam. We’re here to support you and help you keep going!
Using a systematic approach to plan your study time in order to prepare for you Salesforce Certification Exam will make all the difference. It will allow you to stay on track by organizing your Salesforce learning schedule and allotting specific times for different types of knowledge topics. In this blog article you will learn about the traffic light system and how to use it to avoid distractions and improve productivity.
“To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.”
Nicolaus Copernicus
Prepare Your Salesforce Certification Exam Studies For Success
Using a systematic approach to plan your study time in order to prepare for your Salesforce Certification Exam will make all the difference. It will allow you to stay on track by organizing your Salesforce learning schedule and allotting specific times for different types of knowledge topics. In this blog article, you will learn about the traffic light system and how to use it to avoid distractions and improve productivity.
Track Your Salesforce Learning Progress
The first question everyone, who is preparing for a Salesforce Certification Exam, is asking themselves is “What do I actually need to learn?”.
Therefore, BEFORE you get started with your learning efforts, the first thing you need to do is understand which Salesforce knowledge topics you need to be proficient about.
This is where the Salesforce Certification Exam Guide comes in. It contains an overview of the exam topics you need to know about. Now, the thing with the exam guide is that it’s more of a high-level overview. It doesn’t quite provide you with a list of sub-topics. Because it’s often the sup-topics which will be asked about in the exam.
Plus, the exam guide does not allow you to tick anything off let alone highlight any topics with our traffic light system we’ll get to shortly.
Here comes our Salesforce Study Checklist to the rescue. The Study Checklist will help you stay on track with your studies. And in combination with the traffic light system, it will organize your study schedule so that you spend more time doing things and less time wasting time.
There are two approaches to incorporate the Traffic Light System.
Approach #1 is for Salesforce Newbies:
If you are totally new to Salesforce and you are starting from scratch, you’ll work your way through the topics in the given order. The order follows a logical structure allowing you to learn each topic step-by-step and build up your knowledge as you progress. Why? Because a lot of the subsequent topics often require the knowledge of the preceding topics. As you progress you’ll tick off each topic and see how you are moving towards the end.
Once, you’ve gone through each topic, you’re not done. I don’t want to punish you, not at all. BUT, as a new Salesforce learner, the next step is to deepen what you have learned. Because…by the time you’ve reached the end you will have forgotten at least 50% of what you thought you had learned. This is perfectly normal.
It’s all about repetition and practice. Therefore, you’ll now go back to the top and go through each topic again. For each topic, however, you will now use the traffic light system to classify them. Here is what this may look like:
🟢 Green = **too easy** Topics you know well and you would be able to set up in Salesforce in your dreams.
🟡 Yellow = **uuuhm** Topics you feel like you know but you’re not 100% confident with.
🔴 Red = **never heard of** Well, you probably have but you don’t recall. That’s what I mentioned earlier in regards to the 50% you’ve already forgotten.
Here’s what this may look like:
Approach #2 is for the somewhat-experienced Salesforce learner:
If you’ve already been exposed to Salesforce either through your current job or through the Trailhead platform or else, you probably don’t need to work through all the knowledge topics in chronological order. You can take the approach backward and start with the part where you go through each topic and classify them using the traffic light system.
You’ll then go over to work through each unit in the order of the colors. You’ll begin with the red ones, followed by the yellow ones, followed by the green ones. Then, tick off as you go through each.
Like in this example:
By using the Study Checklist in combination with the Traffic Light System, you can create a schedule that prioritizes the red learning topics while also leaving room for deepening your skills in the yellow topics as well as reviewing your expertise in the green topics.
Setting Realistic Salesforce Certification Exam Study Time Slots
Prioritizing and tracking your study progress is one side of the medal, the other side is your timing. Here are a few tips on how to manage your study time:
Set up your learning environment. This includes setting up your Trailhead Account and creating Trailhead Playgrounds.
Keep it quite. Turn off your mobile phone. If you live with family members or room mates, tell them not to disturb you.
Learn in bite-size chunks. Break down your study goals into smaller buckets, maybe 2-3 learning topics a day. Each knowledge topic is different in length and complexity. Some require 5 minutes, other may need 2 hours. Don’t worry if you don’t tick off more than one, the next day you might tick off 3 at once.
Take regular breaks. You can study 0.5-2 hours each day or schedule 3-4 hours on your weekend days. Don’t try to study for hours on end if you know you won’t be able to focus.
CONCLUSION
All of the above will help you stay motivated and avoid feeling overwhelmed. Studying for your Salesforce Certification Exam takes time and patience. Having a plan and tracking your progress will keep you sane. 🤓
Let me know in the comments if you’ve been finding these tips helpful. Do you use any other learning methods that you have found useful? I’d love to hear about it!
Trailhead by Salesforce have not only switched their certification exams over to the Winter ’22 Release, they have also updated the exam outline of the Salesforce Certified Advanced Administrator Exam Guide. We have summarized all important updated for you. Plus, you will find links to topics you may not yet be familiar with so you can study up in no time.
Trailhead by Salesforce have not only switched their certification exams over to the Winter ’22 Release, they have also updated the exam outline of the Salesforce Certified Advanced Administrator Exam Guide.
First up: NO NEED TO FREAK OUT! If you have booked your cert exam or you are planning to register, please know that the majority of topics have not changed. We have summarized all important updates for you. Plus, you will find links to topics you may not yet be familiar with so you can study up in no time.
As for the most part of the new exam outline, you will find changes around wording, structure and then a few additional topics. HOWEVER, as with every release cycle, you need to be familiar with the relevant Release Notes anyways. Some of the new topics are now considered baseline knowledge and as an Advanced Administrator, you will likely have heard of most of them already.
Many exam objectives from the original 10 exam topics are the same. Some topics have simply been moved to another section, reworded or extended to cover more complex scenarios.
A few new topics have been added, however nothing dramatic you wouldn’t already have come across as an Advanced Administrator. These topics are:
The following exam objectives are being removed entirely:
Salesforce Experience Cloud Security Settings
Salesforce Content
Mapping Table of New to Current Salesforce Advanced Administrator Certification Exam Outline
Our Salesforce Advanced Administrator Certification Course follows the current exam outline of 10 exam topics. This means the course contents you need to prepare for the certification exam still cover the majority of relevant exam topics, including the main part of the above-listed topics. We’ll be adding the few remaining topics very shortly.
Here’s an overview of how our course curriculum (a.k.a. exam outline) matches with the New Salesforce Certified Advanced Administrator Exam Outline.
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 how you can pass the exam at 1st attempt so you don’t loose any time to find your Salesforce Dream Job.
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.
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.
Source: salesforce.com/customers-success-stories
🌶 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! 🙂
Official Salesforce News: After June 23, 2021 Trailhead has updated the content of the Salesforce Certified Administrator Exam Guide. We provide you with a mapping table of NEW vs. OLD Topics and their Weightings.
Salesforce Administrator Certification Exam Guide has been Updated
After June 23, 2021 Trailhead has updated the content of the Salesforce Certified Administrator Exam Guide. We provide you with a mapping table of NEW vs. OLD Topics and their Weightings.
First up: NO NEED TO WORRY!
If you have bookedyour cert exam or you are planning to register, there is no reason to freak out! Because the exam objectives as such are not changing much. The knowledge topics and concepts you need to be proficient in are still the same.
What is changing is mostly the grouping and order of the exam outline. Meaning, Trailhead is taking the current exam objectives and groups them into more logical buckets.
There are just very few somewhat newer topics. HOWEVER, as with every release cycle, you need to be familiar with the relevant Release Notes anyways. Some of these topics are now considered baseline knowledge, that’s why they will be mentioned more officially in the exam outline. That’s about it!
What is changing?Salesforce Administrator Certification Exam Guide Topics & Weighting
The previously 12 Exam Topics have been re-grouped into 7 Exam Topics.
The weighting has increased significantly on the following topics, which means you will get more Certification Exam Questions on these:
Workflow/Process Automation (16%) -> will be twice as much, increased by 8%
These New Certified Administrator Exam Objectives have been added:
Most exam objectives from the original 12 exam topics are the same. There will be a few new topics to be added which you should already be familiar with from the Release Notes:
This is just the beginning! You have passed the Salesforce Certification Exam and you can proudly call yourself a Certified Salesforce Professional. Now it’s all about gaining more experience and advancing your Salesforce knowledge.
In this last of my eight-part certification guide, let’s look at ways to share your proudly earned Salesforce Credential with potential employers and how to maintain your trophy.
ADD YOUR CERTIFICATION TO YOUR TRAILBLAZER PROFILE
First up, make sure your certification is listed on your Trailblazer Profile. In case you haven’t linked your Webassessor Account with your Trailblazer Profile yet, follow these instructions.
In order to keep your well-earned Salesforce Certification, you need to complete Maintenance Modules. Don’t worry, that sounds worse than it is. Quite the opposite, they are not that hard. Plus, they are free of charge.
Salesforce used to require three Maintenance Modules per year according to each release cycle. However, this had changed to only once per year. Phew!
Salesforce will send you email reminders about your certification maintenance and dates. You will also find this information on Trailhead.
Most Maintenance Modules have been fully integrated into Trailhead. So you can not only study new features and complete the maintenance challenges in your Trailhead Playground but also earn additional points and badges. Win-win!
In this second last of my eight-part certification guide, I want to share my 5 hot tips on how you can enter into your exam session without loosing control. Remember that you can’t possibly know everything but using good judgment and trusting what you have already learned, is the key to survival.
STAY IN CONTROL AND OVERCOME YOUR FEAR WITH THESE 5 TIPS:
#1 Take your Time before your start
Take a deep breath. Maybe jot down a few keywords on the scratch-paper (Onsite Exam only) to ease your mind.
Know that you are in control of the start button. The time only starts counting when you decide to hit that start button. So don’t rush it and only start when you are ready.
#2 Read all questions and answers very carefully
You do have enough time to familiarize yourself with the question. They often contain a tiny word or phrase that leads you to the correct answer.
Also, be aware that some questions are not necessarily about what’s correct but what is the best solution. There are often multiple ways to set something up in Salesforce, however, Salesforce wants you to use declarative low code tools as much as possible.
Example:
The Sales Team is required to create Quote records as soon as an Opportunity has reached the stage Proposal. However, some Sales Reps forget this step and the Sales Manager can’t see the correct number of Quotes in the Pipeline Dashboard. How can an Administrator ensure that the Quote is created?
A – Create a process with Process Builder which sends a Task to the Opportunity owner to create the Quote once the Opportunity Stage is updated to Proposal
B – Create a process with Process Builder which creates the Quote record when the Stage on the Opportunity is changed to Proposal
C – Create an APEX trigger which creates the Quote record at Opportunity Stage Proposal
The correct answer would be B because it’s a declarative automation tool. A is a good idea but it’s just a reminder rather than an enforcement. C is possible but requires coding and can become hard to maintain.
#3 Manage your time
If you have a question you know the answer to right away, mark your answer and move on to the next question immediately.
If you come across a question that you are not sure about, don’t let that question throw you off and spend too much time thinking about it – mark it for review and move on to the next question so you are not loosing time for those questions you know well and that will very likely get you to pass.
#4 Got a brain freeze?
That’s what your scratch-paper is for (Onsite Exams only). Draw a diagram or write down acronyms. This will help you unlock your memory. Also, think of your hands-on practice or on-the-job experience where you may have had a similar request. How did you solve that?
#5 Revisit marked questions
Towards the end, revisit the questions you had marked for review. Be aware that the order of the answers in those questions may likely have changed because they are randomized. In case you used your scratch paper to write down the letters of the answers, maybe “A”, this could now be answer “B”. So instead of writing down the letter, write down keywords from these answers. If you are still unsure, leave it and move on to the next question for review. Remember that you don’t have to achieve 100%, your passing score is 65%.
EXAMPLE:
Order of answers at the beginning:
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Order of answers when reviewing:
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GETTING THE EXAM RESULTS
Review the result and scores
Your exam results are immediate and will tell you whether you passed or failed. They will also be emailed to you. The results include the section-level scoring for each exam section. This allows you to identify where your strengths and weaknesses were. In case you failed, you can use this to review and practice your weaker areas.
Celebrate your Salesforce Certification
Share your success with your peers in your community groups. This will encourage your peers and they will give you a pat on the back.
And if you didn’t pass, don’t worry. You have already learned so much and you can only get better. Don’t bust your head in the sand, keep going! Your community is here for you to support you.
Your journey doesn’t end here. 🙂 In the next and last article of this series, I want to explain a few things to keep in mind about sharing your achievements and maintaining your credential.
Have you booked your exam appointment? And now you’re wondering whether you are actually ready to take it? Keep calm! You still have time to review and practice.
In this sixth of my eight-part certification guide, let’s walk through a few steps you can still undertake to calm your mind and increase your confidence.
Keep Calm & Prepare!
Know How to Succeed in The Exam
First up, no one can guarantee that you will pass the exam. That is entirely up to you. However, with thorough preparation, your chances of passing are very high.
I can tell from my own experience. Before my life as a Salesforce Professional, I registered for a different type of exam I wasn’t much prepared for. I didn’t even realize I wasn’t until I sat the exam and failed miserably. That taught me a serious lesson. I was lucky that I had a great mentor who provided me with all the steps I needed to complete in order to succeed in the exam. I followed the advice, and the next time, I passed with flying colors.
And that’s exactly what this Certification Guide is for. So, if you followed the steps above, learned the right topics and practiced as much as possible, you are highly likely to succeed at the first attempt!
REVIEW YOUR LEARNINGS
Go through the exam objectives one more time, using your Study Checklist. This will help confirm that you have learned and practiced all knowledge areas.
Review any mnemonic devices such as the Study Workbook from our WeLearnSalesforce Video Course which contains lots of diagrams, flowcharts and checklists.
Test your knowledge with the WeLearnSalesforce Practice Exams if you haven’t already. It’s a great way to get familiar with the format and types of questions. And it’s the last chance to review your weaker knowledge areas.
KNOW WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW
Keep in mind, that the passing score is 65%, not 100%. It’s ok if there are a few areas where you may not be 100% confident. That’s totally normal. Some topics simply take longer to understand but shouldn’t hold you back from getting your certification that you have worked for so hard.
In the next article, we will look at techniques you can use throughout the exam session to ease your mind and trust the expertise you have already acquired during your learning process.
In this fifth of my eight-part certification guide, I will give you the run-down of what to consider before you choose between an Online or Onsite Exam. And I will share the link where you need to go to finally register for the exam. Trailhead is hiding this link a bit too well (probably not on purpose).
Know Your Test-Taker Style
The certification exam can be taken either Online from a location you choose or Onsite from a Kryterion-sponsored Testing Center.
It’s important to understand the main differences so you can decide which test-taking style you feel more comfortable with. Here are the key differences:
Take the Salesforce Exam – ONLINE:
Take the exam remotely from your own personal or work computer
Proctored through a webcam
Requires external webcam
Requires installation of Sentinel Secure software
No scratch paper allowed during exam
Read the official instructions carefully so your computer and exam location are prepared correctly:
Take exam from a Kryterion-sponsored Testing Center. There are many to choose from worldwide, so you can schedule your exam with a testing center that is closest to you
Proctored through cameras set up in testing room
Everything is ready for you, no need to worry about technical setup and installations
You are provided with scratch paper
There are a few items to bring to the testing center for check-in purposes, so read the instructions carefully to be prepared:
The Salesforce Administrator Certification Exam does come at a cost of US$200 plus applicable taxes per local law. The Retake fee is US$100 plus applicable taxes.
The date is set and now it’s countdown time. BUT don’t stress out. If you have prepared yourself well with the steps I have described earlier, you are good to go.
In the next article, we will take a look at the steps you can take to calm your mind and increase your confidence towards your exam day.
