When you’re planning to get a certification, Salesforce has a lot of resources to help you prepare. A lot of resources. But even with all that help, you may not know what to expect when you sit down for the exam.
When I got my first certification, I did a lot of prep work. I felt confident. I felt ready. Then I started the exam, read the first question, and thought, “Wait, what are they asking?!” The wording was confusing, and the question was not what I was expecting. I eventually got through the whole exam (and passed!), but there are some things I wish I had known before I started.
I should note that I took an online proctored exam. Most of what I cover here will apply just as well to an in-person exam, but I’m sure the in-person version has a few quirks of its own.
What Salesforce Gives You
As I said, Salesforce does give you a whole slew of resources to help you successfully get certified. Use them. They are the definitive source for the large majority of what you need to know.
Certification Overviews
Salesforce has a certification overview page where you can learn about all the certifications they offer. This is where to start. It has exam guides, including breakdowns of all the topics covered in each exam, links to relevant Trailhead trails, and more.
Trailhead
Trailhead is the best place to learn all your Salesforce skills. Work on the trails recommended in the exam guide. Get relevant badges and superbadges. There’s a seemingly endless supply of material, so you’ll never get through every last module, but do as much as you can.
Trailhead Playgrounds
The way to really cement these skills is to get your hands dirty. A lot of Trailhead modules will have you spin up a playground to walk through the instructions and will even test that you’ve followed them correctly.
But don’t stop there. Keep playing around. Try to accomplish the same task a different way. Make up a different scenario and see if you can get it working without the step-by-step instructions. You’ll learn a lot more and you’ll remember it better.
Certification Days
Salesforce Certification Days are half-day webinars that give an overview of a certification exam. They don’t offer them for every certification, but when they’re available, they’re a big help. They review the material and help you figure out where to focus your studying.
Practice Exams
Salesforce’s official practice exams are only offered for a couple of the certifications, but this was one of the best things I did to help me prepare. I got insight into which topics I knew well and which ones I needed to study more. Totally worth the 20 bucks.
If Salesforce doesn’t offer an official practice exam for your certification, there are third parties who have their own practice tests. I expect these are also worth your time, though I haven’t tried any myself.
What Salesforce Doesn’t Tell You
That’s a lot of great stuff to help you study. But despite all these resources, Salesforce offers very little to prepare you for the actual process of taking the exam. Here are some tips to get you ready.
Really, Take a Practice Exam
In addition to assessing how much you know, a practice test will familiarize you with the format of the actual exam. You get to practice parsing the wording of the questions and working within the time limit. You’ll feel a lot more confident going into the real thing.
Prep Your Computer and Workspace
Read all the exam requirements and do all your preparation beforehand. Install the software. Clear your workspace and set up your webcam. Get it all out of the way well beforehand so you don’t have to think about it when the exam starts.
Confusing Questions
The biggest challenge for many of the questions is figuring out what they’re asking. A lot of them are awkwardly worded. They phrase things in confusing ways. They might use terminology you’re not familiar with, even if you’ve studied thoroughly. I even saw a few typos and grammatical errors.
Read the question and the answers at least twice. Sometimes I didn’t understand what the question was asking until I read the answers. Look for words that will give you a clue about what is being asked. Figure out what words and sentences are irrelevant so you can get to the crux of the question.
Eliminate Wrong Answers, Then Guess
You probably won’t know the answer to every single question, but you may be able to identify answers that you know are wrong. The questions are multiple choice (a few are multi-select multiple choice), so if you can eliminate all the wrong answers, the remaining one must be correct.
Even if you can’t narrow it down to one answer, it’s still worth taking a guess. In fact, you have to guess in order to move onto the next question.
Mark Questions for Review
If you’re not completely sure of an answer, mark the question for review. Don’t spend too much time on one question at the expense of all the others. If you have a few minutes left at the end, you can take another look at the ones you marked.
You Don’t Need a Perfect Score
The exam is pass/fail. There’s no difference between getting 100% and 70%. When it’s over, no one will know your score. In fact, you don’t even get to see your own score, only whether or not you passed.
You should still learn all the material. You’ll be able to pass the exam more easily, and more importantly, you’ll have a thorough understanding of the skills needed for your job. But if you miss a few questions, don’t sweat it.
You Can Do This!
Hopefully this has helped you fill in some of the gaps in Salesforce’s study materials. But everything you need to pass the exam is available to you. Not everyone passes on the first try, but that’s OK. Learn from your test results and study some more so you’ll do better on your second try. It is achievable and it is worth it.