In June I earned the Platform Developer I Certification. The exam was tough and had some tricky questions but I didn’t think any of them were trick questions, if that makes sense. None of the questions seemed written to be intentionally confusing or misleading.
I used three resources to prepare for the exam:
- Trailhead
- Pluralsight
- Focusonforce.com
Trailhead
I worked through most of the Prepare for your Salesforce Platform Developer I Credential trail mix. I also used Trailhead in a more ad-hoc way. If there was a topic I was learning about but didn’t have hands on experience with it I would search Trailhead and work through the modules on that topic. Both approaches were helpful.
Pluralsight
I have subscribed to Pluralsight for about four years and can’t imagine being a developer without it. Pluralsight does not have any classes that target the Platform Developer I Certification. But, they do have classes that cover many topics on the exam. Of the three resources I used, this was the least focused on the exam but it was still very helpful.
Focusonforce.com
I purchased the practice exams from Focusonforce.com. The questions are not the same questions you will see on the certification exam but they cover the same topics. When you review the results of a practice exam it shows: The questions you missed, your answer, the correct answer and a brief explanation. It also includes one or two links to the official Salesforce documentation on the topic. This was extremely helpful in identifying gaps in my knowledge and focusing my study efforts.
This approach worked well for me. I studied for about six weeks and passed the test on my first attempt by a pretty wide margin. In hindsight, I relied on the practice tests too much. After taking each practice exam 3-4 times I started to memorize a lot of the questions and answers. Once you memorize the questions and answers the tests become much less valuable. Your scores will approach 100% even if you have gaps in your knowledge.
Study Guide
Next time, I plan to purchase the Focusonforce.com study guide and use it to identify and fill the gaps in my knowledge before I start taking the practice tests. Then I can use the practice tests more at the end of my preparation and rely on them less while I’m studying. At the time I’m writing this the practice tests and study guide are $19 each. For certification test prep, that seems like a steal.
One last thing. Don’t forget to think about your overall test taking strategy. David Liu has a great blog post about test taking strategies for Salesforce certification exams. It’s definitely worth a read if you plan to sit for the exam soon.
I hope this helps.