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6 Days to Salesforce Admin Certification - Day 5

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A reward for hard work.

Crunch time!
It is day 5 out of 6, and the exam is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.  Days 1-4 were all about preparation by studying specific topics one by one, but tonight is reserved for an overall review with two goals:
  • Develop a test taking strategy
  • Complete 2 practice tests
Test Taking Strategy
I turned to Salesforce guru David Liu for test taking tips. His blog post "Certification Test Taking Strategies" provides 8 excellent guidelines for the exam.  I used several of his ideas plus some
original Trailhead Baby thought to develop my own top 5 strategies to ace the Salesforce Administrator Exam- 
  1. Read every question twice to make sure that no detail is overlooked.
  2. Read every potential answer slowly - noting key words.
  3. Use the check box to "Mark this item for later review" if not 100% certain of the answer.
  4. Set up little encouragements during the test in order to stay motivated.  Write down numbers 1 through 60 as soon as I sit down at the testing center.  As I progress through the questions, write a "😊" next to a question to indicate that "Yes, I've got this one!"  A "?" indicates that I am fairly confident that the question is correct, but not 100%.  A "???" shows that I have no idea and to make sure that I circle back to this question at the end.  This is also a good visual reminder of how much time I need to reserve at the end of the exam to circle back to the "???" questions.  
  5. Pick out a reward for completing the exam.  Regardless of pass of fail, I am going to celebrate the hard work that went into the attempt by trying my first cupcake! 

Practice Tests
I took two practice tests utilizing the same strategy that I intend to adopt during the official exam.  Practice tests were taken from two websites:
  1. Certified on Demand - A half length (30 question) practice test is included with the $40 license.  I found the format of the questions to be very similar to that of the actual exam.
  2. Salesforce Ben - A full length practice test that is FREE!  This test provided a comprehensive self-evaluation of knowledge with to-the-point questions.  The questions on the Salesforce exam contained more "fluff," but the overall content was very similar. 
I passed both exams - barely!  My scores were in the mid-70's, so I took the missed questions and spent the remainder of the night on Trailhead and help.Salesforce.com, researching the correct answers and brushing up on confusing topics.  Notes went on my review sheet for tomorrow's final study session.  Want to see my review sheet?  It's below! 




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