How to pass the Salesforce Certified Administrator exam

Are you thinking of starting to study for your Salesforce Certified Administrator exam but you have no idea where to start? I have been in that same position before! So let me share with you my top tips on how to prepare for this certification!

My certification path…

Certified Administrator was not my first Salesforce certification. I started off with the App Builder one. Yet, I did follow a similar process when preparing for both exams. In this article, I will focus on the Administrator credential.

So, when studying for the Administrator Certification, there were definitely concepts that came quite clearer for me. This happened mostly because I could leverage many of the concepts I kept from my first exam (the App Builder one), but also because I was familiar with many tools thanks to my work experience. So, if you haven’t yet taken your App Builder Certification, I truly advise you to start off with that one. As I said, it really gives a better overview of many basic concepts, such as processes automation or org permissions. On the other hand, the Administrator exam focuses more on Sales and Service Cloud features and basic org configurations (eg.: standard and custom objects and user configs).

Why do I need the Administrator Certification?

If you are reading this, you can only be interested in taking your Administrator exam. So, let’s focus on it! By now, something similar to this may have gone through your mind… “Is this really necessary? I know my way around in Salesforce!“. Well, you guessed it, my answer is “yes, it is”. By taking Salesforce certifications you will be leveraging your knowledge and expertise while making it official! This is the obvious return you got from taking certifications – but there’s more!

Personally, I find studying for Salesforce certifications refreshing! In our daily basis, we are so caught up with our work projects, their particularities, specific needs, and custom features… We end up forgetting the wonders of standard Salesforce and what it allows to do within just a few clicks! Studying for Salesforce exams really allows you to capture once again the essence of Salesforce. What it is all about!

Moreover, exams present you new points of view on the tools you use. In my case, since I work as a Business Analyst, I end up missing some technical concepts which I don’t use on my daily basis, as I am not responsible for the implementation itself. So, when I find myself studying for a Salesforce certification, I really end up learning all sort of things! I get a more holistic view on the many different approaches that I wouldn’t normally have direct access, during my working days.

OK, now that you are more than convinced to take the exam, I will give you my personal tips on what you should do to crush it!

Top tips to study for the Administrator certification!

General tips:

As you may have figured, putting knowledge into practice by playing and working with the Salesforce tools is always the best school. I learned a lot when trying to find simple solutions for my client’s requirements. Only by researching my way around.
Also, you’ll be amazed by all the information available on the web. Use and abuse of the content you find available online, and after a while, you’ll likely have a good overview of what Salesforce really is, what it does, and the way it works. As you get more familiar with the tool, it will become easier for you to know what to look for and the best method to find information on it.

Additionally, you’ll be surprised by how your colleagues may play a major role in the path for your certification. Try asking them about their own experiences, what materials did they use to study and which methods did they follow. Just remember to ask the right questions, which implies you know exactly what you’re looking for!

Step by Step Tips:

1. Know your exam outline.

Sounds like a pretty basic task, right? Well, it is. But, just by outlining the exam topics, you can start organizing your study. Look at the content groups and their description. Are you more or less familiar with them? Now look at their weights – maybe you could start with the big ones. In the case of the Administrator Certification, the big ones are Sales and Service Cloud. So, be sure you spend more time working on those and truly understanding all the concepts they imply.

2. Do a quick “test drive” with some exam questions.

Yes, test your knowledge before you start studying! I found that it allows you better understanding the type of questions you’ll answer in the future. It also gives you an idea on what you already know, which are your strengths and weaknesses, and what needs to be studied more in-depth, requiring more effort.

For this part (and also for the training one), I used Quizlet. It is a great free platform of knowledge sharing. So, if you search for “Salesforce Certified Admin”, you’ll find previous exams questions which people freely share and put in flashcards form. Some of these questions even include explanations! Can’t tell you how helpful the explanations were for those questions in which all options are correct, but there is one that is the most correct.

Lastly, I have three good pieces of advice I really have to give you:

• Remember to order your search results by “Most Recent”. This way, you will be presented with the most recent questions first.
• Be careful and critical on the answers pointed as correct. Sometimes, you’ll face questions in which the answer was not correctly identified. But let’s see the glass half full: you’ll know when you are ready for your exam when you recognize these ones!
• When you finally feel prepared for the exam and you have covered all the exam topics, look at the questions and try to answer them again. This time, you’re supposed to get the vast majority correct!

3. Read, read and read.

There is no better way to say this: you’ll have to read in-depth and know the topics’ details. Get ready, because some of the exam questions are a bit tricky. You might be asked specific details on Salesforce limits. And believe me, many times, these specifications are not something you usually encounter in your daily work. And you won’t know about them just by having an overview of the functionality. But, don’t panic! I’ll assure you that if you follow these tips, you won’t have anything to worry about. So here we go!

I have three different suggestions for this part:

• You can do Trailheads. For this purpose, there is an official ADMIN certification Trailmix. Even before seriously studying for this certification, I had previously done this trailmix. But, personally, I felt that I needed a more complete source of information on each topic. Anyway, Trailheads are always a fun and interactive way to learn about features and how to configure them.
• You can also dive into Salesforce Help. I strongly recommend you to go over the Documentation part. Search for each of your exam topics and you will have all the information you need. This source of knowledge may be a bit exhaustive, but we assure you is the most complete one!
• Search online and find other studying tools. For both certifications, I used the materials on Focus on Force website. These are paid materials (approximately 19 USD dollars for each Certification set), and they are based on Salesforce documentation. What really made the big difference in these materials was the format. Most topics are presented as slides and these slides contain graphics, schemes, and situations where you should apply the different functionalities (based on exam questions). It was visually easier to process the information – at least for me, taking into account that I have a strong visual memory. Moreover, on the website Focus on Force, you can also find exam questions. Yet, for this purpose, I find Quizlet a better tool – more updated and of course, free.

4. Make Diagrams or Tables to help you study

In the beginning, you may get lost in all the different Salesforce functionalities. Salesforce really is a whole new world! You may not know where to start and how to distinguish the different functionalities, all the tools may end up looking similar, etc. To say the least, it may get a bit tricky and confusing.

To solve this issue, drawing diagrams and creating summaries helped me a lot managing the huge amount of new information. Also, try gathering some bullets on each topic. For each topic you get to know a lot of different functionalities, so try to write down their names – some questions will show you options to confuse you regarding the functionality name – be prepared! Which are the main differences among each other? What limitations does each tool present? What are they usually used for? Diagrams, summaries, bullet points, schemes, etc. will help you answer these questions. Truly understanding Salesforce tools and its different purposes will be a great help for the questions in which you have to identify the most correct answer.

5. Test your knowledge with some exam questions!

After all the readings, it’s time to start training for the actual exam. So, practice answering questions on the platforms mentioned above! Even if you have already answered some of the questions, don’t be afraid of repeating them. I can assure this even make you more used to and comfortable with the way the questions are asked. Also, when you get one answer wrong, make sure you truly understand why you failed it and what is the reasoning behind the correct answer. Go back to Help or review your study materials, to go over that specific part again! When you start feeling confident and ready do take the real exam, schedule it!

Helpful?

This was my personal experience on how to pass the Salesforce Administrator Exam. This post was made based on the methods that worked best for me. However, keep in mind that at the end of the day, each one of us has its own learning process. So, it’s always a matter of trying different tools and learning methods, to finally find what suits you best! Hands-on and good luck!

Also, as part of the Salesforce Community, you can always reach out for help! Directly, ask me any question, by dropping your comment here. Or, if you are interested in knowing more about a specific topic, go ahead, and give us your suggestion! We’re glad to help!

For all the Salesforce Certified Professionals out there, feel free to give us your input and share your personal experience with us! 🙂