Tips on Passing the Salesforce Administrator Certification

Salesforce administrators have a broad range of knowledge that covers native Salesforce functionality, applications, and features. If you partner with a consulting firm for a Salesforce project, they’ll connect you with an admin from their team to help you through the process and provide support. It’s great to have these external admins as a resource, but even better if you have someone on your team working as the point person who can take up the baton internally. In a perfect world, the person in this position would be fully dedicated to maintaining and managing your Salesforce instance, but for many companies and organizations, we know that you’re usually wearing many hats and Salesforce admin is only one of them.

While there are online resources like our Accidental Admin series and communities like the Power of Us HUB and Salesforce Success Community, going through the full Salesforce certification is the best ways to build a strong foundation for the responsibilities you’ll take on as admin. It’s also an important investment if you’re considering a career as an administrator. It’s a tough test with a rigorous curriculum, but once you pass it you’ll have a strong base of knowledge and the credentials to be recognized for your skills.

Two of our consultants just received this certification. Here are their tips on what really helped them study for the exam:

Sara Loree just completed our consultant internship program and combined with her extensive experience with nonprofits, passing the admin certification has helped Sarah quickly get up to speed. Here’s Sara’s list of top study aids:

1. Certified On Demand Study Guide: The CoD study guide is an online set of objectives, resources (articles, videos, etc.), and key facts that prepare you to pass the Salesforce Certification exam.

2. Practice in a Demo Developer Org. Getting this hands-on practice was really important for Sara.

3. Partner Premier Training *Only available for Salesforce partners

4. Videos from Recent Releases: Get all the feature updates here.

5. Girlforce Study Group: GirlForce was established in September 2013 as a group in the HUB, and provides space and support for women working in nonprofit technology.

Joan Hoch is a Project Manager on the Idealist Consulting Team, and to add to her PM expertise she decided to get the admin certification. Here are Joan’s top picks for exam help:

1. ADM 201 Course: Admin Essentials for new admins. Joan took this online, but recommends doing it in person so as not to lose out on the dynamic Q&A and topics that are saved for in-person tutorials.

2. Developer Trailheads: There are two specific trailheads that are designed for admins, plus Joan added a mix of additional modules for some extra support.

3. Following the Salesforce Study Guide

4. Use of a personalized study tool: Joan did this through building out a One Note book as she completed the items above, using screen shots like flashcards, plus tracking key details she needed to memorize. For Joan, “The key was pulling content from the ADM course, the Trailhead courses, online help, so that I wasn't creating flashcards on my own - it was a real time-saver!”

5. Focused, dedicated time on all items above. Joan blocked out her calendar and stuck to in to ensure she hit her training goals and covered all topics more than once. Good time management practice that will serve you as a fully-fledged admin!

Joan also shared one thing that didn’t end up working for her as she prepared for the test. “The thing I did not find useful were the practice tests I found online. I took 3-4 of them, but what I found is that the practice tests are often out-of-date to current functionality. It took way more time to double check the answers, only to find that the test was wrong around 30% of the time.”

The certification exam is tough and takes a lot of earnest practice and preparation to pass, but you’ll walk away with a strong foundation to serve your professional growth and your organization’s efficiency and efficacy. If you have questions about what an internal admin does, why they’re important, or are curious about the exam, don’t hesitate to reach out.

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