July 30, 2013
So you’ve been preparing for a Salesforce certification for the last couple weeks: you’ve made use of online resources, identified the test composition, and taken a training course. It’s time to use all of that knowledge and prove that you’re a Salesforce pro. As a follow up to my last blog, How to Pass a Salesforce Certification Exam: Preparation, let’s discuss a few keys to success on exam day.
Exam time
Schedule the exam so that it is the only thing on your schedule for that day. I would schedule the test so that you can arrive at a comfortable pace, avoiding stressors like commute traffic. A one hour buffer is recommended, you can likely take the exam earlier if the test location has empty seats.
Items to bring
Since you can’t bring in anything (no water, food, or cell phones) make sure you are well hydrated and won’t be hungry. It is important that you are relaxed and thinking positively when you start the test. Also make sure you have two forms of ID and the registration form which includes a code that will be entered into the computer at your test site.
Exam format
For the Admin and Developer exams you will have 90 minutes to answer 60 questions. Use these resources to read sample questions and and their weighting:
For The Sales Cloud and Service Cloud exams you will have 105 minutes to answer 60 questions. These questions are wordier, requiring more time. Below, you’ll find exam materials, including more detailed exam descriptions:
The questions will be formatted in two ways. The first and easier type of questions have only one correct answer. In the second, you will need to pick two or three correct answers. Note, you will have to identify all of the correct answers within the multiple answered questions.
A small percentage of questions are straightforward, where they will test your knowledge of a fact, e.g., the number of quarters in a football game. Either you know the fact or you don’t.
There are also scenario based questions, e.g., You are an administrator for your company and you need to limit everyone from seeing leads that do not belong to them, which method will you use?
What score do I need to pass?
For the Admin exams you need a 65% to pass the exam, which is 39 out of 60 questions correct. For the Developer, Service Cloud, and Sales Cloud exam you need a 68% to pass the exam, which is 41 out of 60 questions correct. See the passing rates of each exam here.
Question skipping
You will receive one question at a time, but you can mark a question, ‘mark for review,’ and revisit all marked questions in your second pass. A few suggestions:
- If you are positive you have the question correct, do not mark it to review later.
- If you are fairly sure you have it correct, then mark the answer and review it later.
- If you don’t know the answer, mark it for review later but don’t guess on the first pass.
After your first pass through the questions hopefully you will have about 45 minutes remaining. Do a quick count to see how many you still need to get correct in order to pass. Go through the questions you marked for review one at a time, carefully studying them, looking for clues from other questions. If you know the answer on the second pass, select your answer and remove the ‘mark for review.’
Continue using this strategy while keeping an eye on the clock and the remaining time. You are working one question at a time with the knowledge of how many you still need to get correct to pass. After you have removed all of the ‘mark for review’ notations and answered the questions to the best of your ability (before running out of time), hit the button that says ‘submit.’ You will then be asked a feedback question. The second time you hit ‘submit’ you will see either PASS or FAIL.
Pass/Fail
Unfortunately, you will not know how many you got right or wrong. It is simply a pass or fail that shows on the screen. If you did not pass, take notes quickly on what you will need to study better prior to taking the test again. Each time you take an exam you will become more familiar with the testing style and it will become easier.
So good luck and remember: prepare the best you can and try to relax when taking the test, so that you can utilize all of the knowledge you gained through your preparation. Passing the test will give you a great feeling. Knowing that you prepared well and were completely focused during the exam will go a long way towards helping you reach that goal. Game On!
Questions or comments? Share your ideas below or find me on Twitter at @MarkForman62.
