Martin: So now we're into the actual Test Taking Tips. So Roy, can you tell us a little bit about it for people who don't actually know what the exam is actually like.

Roy: Well, sure. Well first off you should know that it's a multiple-choice exam. Some of the answers are not multiple-choice, they’re multiple-answer. Meaning there's more than one correct answer and it'll actually say choose two, or choose three. You can mark the questions for review as you are going through the exam — if you're not sure you just want to think about it a little longer and come back to it there's a checkbox for that. Most of the exams are 60 or 65 questions. But even the 65-question exams are still only 60 questions. (Laughter) Salesforce likes to use social proofing for new questions. So they'll throw in five bonus questions and they'll say ‘Hey, five of these won't count against you or for you. We're not gonna tell you which ones.’ But they use that to help them figure out how to make the test better for the next guy. So you're helping them out and you're paying for the opportunity to do that. So 60 or 65 questions is what you should expect and then passing for most exams is between 62% and 68%. You really need to look at the exam prep materials in Trailhead to know how much your specific one is going to be. It's around ⅔. It's usually the score that they're looking for but again check the certification prep materials to get the exact number. And lastly, there's a time limit — it varies between 90 and 120 minutes usually. And that's a lot of time. That's more than enough time to take 60 questions and review them all if you're focused and ready for the exam. But that's basic information about all the certification exams. Again, go to the specific exams for the exact details of that exam — but that's the first thing I can let you know about the exam. (Laughter)

Martin: I guess a couple of things I'll add to that. So some questions are multi-answer so there are some instances where there are multiple that are correct and you have to choose the best answer. So it's very important to read the question carefully. And marking questions for review is a really important tool as well. So make sure that you know if you're not sure about something you can mark it for a review and you can come back to it. Make sure that you use the time in the best way and don't just get stuck on one thing. So once people actually get into starting the exam and they're going through the questions, Roy, what are your suggestions and advice for how people should approach going through each question?

Roy: Now, a slight variation on this question: what if it said, ‘Choose two answers’? 

Roy: Well, that brings apples back in the mix because there are green apples. Not all apples are green but there are green apples. Therefore, in this case, I would choose apples and watermelons because it says choose two. And this would be my best choice for what's left in that scenario. It's the exact same question but with that caveat of multi-answer versus single answer. That's how Salesforce questions often feel. And it's through those keywords, and that very careful word choice, and a process of elimination that if you need help working down to the right answer, you can do that.  

Roy: But if you didn't pass — first off, don't panic or beat yourself up. Of the 11 certifications I've gotten, I didn't pass on the first try on three of them. And these are hard exams — it doesn’t mean you don't know your stuff, it just means they're hard exams. 

Roy: So take a deep breath, check out with a proctor, get your stuff, go to a private/quiet place — maybe your car, or just somewhere where you can have a minute. Take out your smartphone, and open up an audio-recording device or something like that, and record that list of terms. So the things the keywords that you struggled with on the exam — record that list out with that silly mnemonic device or whatever you want to use — capture it into the recorder before you lose it. Go ahead and add any other thoughts that you have about the exam. Anything else that you can still recall at that moment — capture it all in the recording. Then go home, take that recording transcribe it for yourself, and onto a Word doc; Notepad, or whatever, and then you have that tool to help you as you prep for the next exam. And there's more to come, but that we'll stop there for that note. But that piece alone — just capturing the areas where you struggled with while still super fresh in your mind — will give you great fodder for your second attempt. And that alone might be all you need to get out on the next try.

Roy: So along with that keyword list that you generated, Salesforce does want to help you do better on your next try so they do give this helpful email.

Roy: It tells you if you passed or failed. Side note: I love how they type FAIL in all uppercase letters. That makes you feel really good as you read that you FAILED. (Laughter) They do also tell you how well you did on each section — well sort of. They tell you the percentage of how well you did in each section but they don't tell you your total score. They'll tell you how many you got right and how many you got wrong. They just tell you the percentage and again that has value but not by itself. There is something though that's we've developed that will help you make more use of this email.

Martin: So all credit goes to Roy for coming up with how this works. And this is basically to answer those previous questions where you've got your PASS or FAIL and then you've got your Section-level scores, but what does that actually mean in terms of the number of questions? So this tool that we have at Focus on Force — it's called the Salesforce Certification Score Checker — and what you do is you put in the exam and then we've recorded the passing scores. So in this example, the passing score for Admin is currently 65 — those passing scores actually can vary per certification. And then what you do is you put in your Section-level scores from your email, and then what it's going to do is it's going to use the current exam weighting for each one of those sections which we have in the back-end. And then it's going to actually show you how many questions there were for that actual Section, and then based on your score — how many did you get correct; how many did you get incorrect? And then it will also give you a total. So it gives you a lot more information around what your total was, how close you were, which Sections you need to spend more time on — considering the weighting of those sections.

Roy: So in this example, it happens to be that the 40% is where you have the most room for improvement. If you got 100% on the next attempt, you get six more correct. But it's very possible that they'll have a section that's worth 5%, and let's say you got zero of that. Well, that's only three questions. So that may not be where you should put most of your energy. So what Martin did with the Focus on Force team is they've added this section to tell you not just how you did in total, but where you have the most room for improvement. And that's a really handy tool if your time is limited — and it probably is, you know where to put most of your energy and prep the next time around.