10 tips before taking the CMS 12 Certification Exam

Are you thinking about taking the CMS 12 Content Cloud Certification? Maybe you have taken a previous certification or maybe this is your first time. People tend to take in information and prepare differently, but these are 10 of my tips which helped me when preparing for my exam.

1. Take time to study. There is a lot of ground to cover to be able to feel confident going in to the exam. As for me, I made sure to go through the exam guide and the reference guide thoroughly to ensure I had it all covered. Especially the features and products I was not currently working with.

2. I had taken the previous Optimizely CMS exam, so to make sure I was studying the right things I compared the previous exam guide with the new to see which areas that had been removed, and which that were added.

3. I find micro habits helpful when preparing for an exam, where consistency is key. By breaking down tasks in to small consistent actions you can gain a lot of knowledge over time. As I said, there’s a lot of ground to cover. But by taking one topic a day in the reference guide and reading the documentation about it helped me keep me focused and not being overwhelmed with all the information I had to go through. Also some days, when I had flow, I ended up reading 2 or 3 topics.

4. Focus on the details. To pass the exam you need to have an overall good knowledge about the product but be prepared for more specific questions, like methods and apis.

5. I learn best writing things down and going through it over and over again. So for me preparing possible exam questions and writing lists helps a lot.

6. There might be some questions regarding best practices and Optimizelys preferred way of implementation. Here of course, experience takes you a long way. But there is also information to find in the documentation.

7. At exam day, snacks and comfy clothes is key. At least for me!

8. Read through the exam instructions thoroughly. Having the exam invalidated because of lack of following the instructions feels like a waste of time.

9. The first time I took an Optimizely (then Episerver) certification exam I misjudged the time, and I ended up rushing through the last third of the exam. So now I try to take the questions systematically and skip questions where I am not certain. Then  I go back and forth until all questions are answered. A difference in the new exam compared to the old is that you can now unlock and edit a previously answered question. So for me it meant I  could lock in a question I was pretty sure about, and then still go back and change it if I felt the need to.

10. When all questions are answered I go through them all once again (If there is still time) until I feel confident. After submitting you get the preliminary result almost instantly which I appreciate!

This is my approach at least, hopefully it can help any of you preparing for yours!

Links:

Exam guide 

Reference guide