Now that you know about the exam formats and where to sign up for them, I’d like to give you a hint that could enhance your comfort during the test. You can extend your exam time! Yes, you read that correctly! Extended Time (ET) exams are tailored for individuals who are not native English speakers or those with learning disabilities. These exams provide an additional 30 minutes for the test duration compared to standard certification exams. To avail of this option, you’ll need to create a Case with Trailblazer Help.
Hope you managed to choose a convenient exam format for yourself, thanks to our tips! Now let’s take a closer look at what this exam entails in detail. What is the scope and scoring like? However, remember that these things may change, so I want to encourage you to always verify such details directly on the official Salesforce websites before your exam, and even before you start preparing for it. The scope of the exam may be supplemented with new content continuously after the release of new functionalities. At the moment, a website worth visiting to learn the details of the Salesforce Certified Administrator exam is https://trailhead.salesforce.com/en/credentials/administrator.
When we were writing this book, the exam scope, known as the Salesforce Exam Outline, looked as follows:
- Configuration and Setup: 20%
- Object Manager and Lightning App Builder: 20%
- Sales and Marketing Applications: 12%
- Service and Support Applications: 11%
- Productivity and Collaboration: 7%
- Data and Analytics Management: 14%
- Workflow/Process Automation: 16%
As you can see from this list, Salesforce has assigned percentage weights to each topic, indicating their significance in the exam. These percentages translate into the number of questions in each section and, consequently, your score. For example, topics related to productivity and collaboration have the lowest weight, which means that there will theoretically be fewer questions about Activities, Chatter, or the mobile app in this exam, although this doesn’t imply they won’t be present at all. However, these weights show you where to focus most of your attention in your studies, especially when you have limited time.
Lastly, in this part of the chapter, I want to mention one very controversial issue that can get you a red card from Salesforce. I’m talking about the use of so-called dumps. Dumps are real questions from Salesforce exams that someone has obtained in a clever but unethical way. As you know, everything can be found on the internet, so you may encounter original Salesforce questions, and some even sell them. I strongly advise you never to use such assistance, firstly, because it’s cheating, and secondly, because you won’t learn anything, and your lack of knowledge will quickly become apparent in a job interview or on a project. If these arguments haven’t convinced you not to use dumps, I must add that if Salesforce somehow finds out that you’ve used such questions, you may receive a lifelong ban and lose all your certificates (even those you didn’t obtain through dumps), and you won’t be able to certify with Salesforce. So, say no to dumps, say yes to knowledge. Let the Trailheads be your way! Let’s see in the next section what study strategies you can take to increase your knowledge and learn fast and optimally.