Preface: this post is part of the Study Guide: How to Earn 15 Salesforce Certifications series.
Let’s talk about what you need to study for each certification, specifically!
Take these study materials and apply them using the general certification study method. Then, combine them with the the tips in the Ultimate Certification Guide, and well, you’re going to pass!
A note about flashcards: Flashcards are meant to expose you to the variety of topics that are covered in an exam. Flashcards poke holes in your understanding, and, they tell you where you need to focus more time in your studies. If you simply memorize flashcards, you will fail! Remember, in order to pass, you need to study for understanding, not memorization!
These certifications are listed based on my recommended order.
No matter where you are in your career, this is the cert to begin with since it’s a pre-requisite to almost every other certification. It covers a lot of material but doesn’t get too in depth on any. Unfortunately one of the harder certs, however, it is the most “memorizable” of all certs!
A well written certification because it especially tests for understanding, instead of memorization. There is very little luck involved in this one. If you study properly, you will pass! Many employers look for this certification specifically, so it’s a good one to earn earlier.
Formerly known as the Developer aka DEV 401 certification. Despite the name change, the content is mostly the same. This exam and Advanced Administrator are arguably the two most similar tests. Take this one shortly after passing Advanced Admin. Again, focus on understanding!
Similar to the previous two exams, plus some additional questions around project management.
Despite the “consultant” in its name, this cert embodies the responsibilities of every admin well. Passing will be simple if you’ve already passed the previous two, especially if you don’t wait too long.
This one comes next since Service Cloud is overall the second most popular cloud after Sales. Passing this cert will open up your job prospects significantly. If you don’t have experience in the Service Cloud, don’t worry, just like all of the rest of the certs, you can still pass it through studying!
Many people have passed this certification without a formal developer job. I generally recommend six months of experience coding in Salesforce, officially or unofficially, before attempting the developer certs. That said, you can still pass this otherwise.
Without question the most difficult and rarest certification on this page, and nothing else comes close. If you can pass the three required sections: the multiple choice exam, programming assignment, and essay, your inbox is going to explode with job offers! Worth it!
Note: Big changes are coming to this certification in the end of 2017! See my analysis here.
The easiest of the architect exams! I consider this on an extension of Advanced Administrator, focusing on the sharing aspects. The core principles are the same, plus some additional questions on scalability since architects work within larger Salesforce deployments.
This one is also on the easier side when it comes to architect exams, however it is no slouch! By now you already understand the principles of data modeling, ie lookups vs master-detail relationships, however, this exam introduces questions focused around managing large data volumes (LDV).
Congratulations, you automatically achieve this certification if you’ve been following the order in this guide! This is a major milestone along your path and you are now officially halfway through the architect journey.
We now begin exams on the System Architect track of the Architect Journey. These are generally more difficult because it’s harder to get experience in these topics. Always remember though that none of these are impossible, especially when using the SFDC99 method! You likely already have some experience in this topic if you’ve deployed between sandboxes and production.
This one sounds a lot more intimidating than it actually is. If you have experience developing integrations, you have a big head start already. Focus on understanding the various integration methods, the scenarios in which they should be used, and what their pros and cons are.
This will likely be the most difficult certification you take, aside from Platform Developer II. It’s also likely the most satisfying certification to pass, because you’ll officially earn the System Architect certification as a result. You’re going to need 100% focus and determination on this one.
Congratulations, you also automatically achieve this certification if you’ve been following the order in this guide! This is the most important milestone, because now you’re officially ready for the Technical Architect review board! Woohoo!
The most “important” of the optional exams, since communities are covered in the Technical Architect review board! Also, while communities aren’t a super popular feature, they’re a lot popular than the rest of the certs (Marketing Cloud, Pardot, social, etc) .
By now you have at least 15 certifications, wow! If you want to keep going, you sure can! I won’t cover the rest of the exams, though by now I think you know the general formula!
I still have A LOT more tips for helping you pass each certification… we haven’t even covered test-taking strategies yet! Make sure to read through my entire Ultimate Salesforce Certifications Guide!
What else can I do to increase my chances of passing?
Studying via the methodlogies in this post will dramatically increase your chances of passing, however, there’s a lot more you can do too!
The entire Ultimate Certifications Guide talks about other ways to improve your chances, such as specific in-test strategies and how to study for certifications after failing them.
Combine all of these tools together and you will become a certification beast!
Do you recommend taking class X? Or paying for online course Y?
Classes can be very helpful in your overall Salesforce journey, however, know that you don’t need to take any classes to pass any certification. Generally, courses are a less efficient way to pass certifications, but at the same time, they require less thought on your part.
If you can convince your company (or someone else) to pay for your course for you, take it!
Should I take the test online or at a testing center?
I strongly recommend taking the test online, for reasons in addition to convenience!
See this post for more information.
How many hours should I study per day to pass certification X?
This all depends on your current experience levels, your studying efficiency, and more!
Generally, if you follow my entire guide and study at least 1 hour a day (and I mean real studying, not studying while watching TV!), you should pass 1 certification per month.
I have no experience in Salesforce. Can I pass certifications too?
You sure can! And here’s the proof!
How many certifications should I have before I start applying for jobs?
Don’t wait, apply immediately! You never know what might happen!
Generally, when you reach 5 certifications, that’s when your resume really starts to stand out. When you reach 10 certifications, your resume becomes indispensable.
To put it in perspective, most resumes I see have 1-3 certifications.
How do I pass the Technical Architect review board?
The #1 thing you can do to prepare for the review board is attend Destination Success!
Certifications and maintenance is expensive! How can I afford it?
Check out this post for tips and discounts!
Next post: My top eight certification test-taking tips!
Hi David,
Question: I have my admin certification and going to now pursue a bunch in 2023. The order you laid out each certification in this article: Would you suggest that be the order I should take the exams based on overlap of topics?
I want to be efficient with my time and want to maximize the learning so I can complete certifications quicker by not having to re-study topics bc they are not top of mind.
Id love to know what order would be best all the way up to the system/application architect trees.
Thanks in advance!
Hello David
Thanks for everything you do for the salesforce community. I do have three salesforce certification admin, advanced admin, and developer 1. I was thinking next to do CPQ and then developer 2. Because I do not have a lot of experience on salesforce I was thinking this way but I do have over 6 years in other IT field like server and networking, my goal is to migrate to salesforce, do you think should I consider CPQ and then developer 2 or you suggest another way and my goal is to get employer trust to land a job in salesforce. Thanks for your feedback in advance.
Dev 2 will get your more job offers but it’s probably more difficult than CPQ. If you have existing coding experience I’d go Dev 2 first. Either way you should do both eventually!
Hi David,
Great material here!! What are your thoughts on the Javascript Developer I certification and how it ranks with the breakdown here? For example, I am trying to determine which to do first: Platform Developer II or Javascript Developer I. Which one do you see as more beneficial and why? Note that I have limited work experience, but most of it is tailored to Apex. Thanks!
Respectfully,
Brandon
My thoughts on that cert here! https://youtu.be/Jci2ZiI25ow
This is awesome. Best 12 minutes I have spent in a long time! Thank you!
-Brandon
David,
Thank you so much for your guide. Is this version currently up to date? I ask because several of the certifications I see listed under the Architect section no longer appear on Trailhead under the list of certifications. And there are a few certifications there (such as B2C Architect and Heroku Designer) that are not on this guide. I just want to make sure I am reviewing the most up to date guide before I dive in to the content. Thanks again!
Thanks I gotta update it! Principles and tips are all the same though. Flashcards + great strategy. I don’t even recommend the other certs at this point as well
Wonderful. Thanks so much for replying and for all your fantastic tips and information!
Do you have any flashcards created by you?
If so, how to find them?
Thanks for the great sharing ;D
Hi David,
Thanks a ton for sharing your valuable tips.
I am just starting my Salesforce journey and hoping to take the Admin exam over the weekend.
I wanted to know which flashcards are you referring to?
When I click on the Flashcard sets – Administrator link, it takes me to the quizlet search results that contains over 20 pages. Can you please specify which ones are we supposed to focus on?
Thanks!
–
Kay
The more the better really!!!
David,
This is amazing, was looking for this information, but everybody telling me that certifications depend on what you want to do. I don’t have CRM experience, but I do have production support, Oracle SQL and PMP certification. Now I know where to start and will do Goethals from first posting. Thanks
Hi David. Thanks for this great info. Please, would you update the ebook links. None of them is working.
Hi David, your website so helpful. If follow all your tips, you will pass the exam, 100% guarantee. I just got my first Salesforce Admin certificate exam. Thanks, David for your work.
Congrats Yuri. =)
David,
There are several people on here soliciting and posting exam dumps. It’s my understanding this is strictly prohibited by Salesforce and cheapens the certifications.
Furthermore, having been in this industry for over 20 years I can assure those just trying to memorize questions and answers on an exam won’t be successful with their actual job skills.
+1, DO NOT USE DUMPS!!!!
Finally sat for the Salesforce sharing and visibility designer exam and passed with a good marks. Now only one more exam to get my Application Architect Certificate.
The exam really tested me on, role hierarchy, territory management, profiles and permission set, apex sharing, company security, manual sharing, granular locking, deferred Sharing calculations, parallels haring salculations,
Mostly people asked for passing tips for this exam and my reply to everyone “Best resource to cover lots of topics in short time is Sharing-and-Visibility-Designer dumps pdf because its contains more real and valid exam practice questions in it which give you a brief idea about the Sharing-and-Visibility-Designer exam”. http://bit.ly/2F2g93t
Hi David,
in the Salesforce Administrator Certification section, the link for the Official Guide: Administrator Exam Guide needs to be updated.
Thanks for the great site!
Thanks Todd, updated!
Hi David,
I am interested in obtaining – to start with one or two SalesForce certificates. I have been working with SW development and lately as an SW Test Engineering. A job position as a SalesForce Developer I currently look for want “Salesforce Certified Developer or Salesforce Certified Administrator”. What learnig strategy do you recommend? Is the certification test online? The guy with 8 certificates within 6 weeks impress.. I assume I willl need more…hopefully not 6 M or Y.. Best/ Carl
Hi David,
Thank you for your job but I have a comment to do about Community Cloud:
– “The most “important” of the optional exams, since communities are covered in the Technical Architect review board! Also, while communities aren’t a super popular feature, they’re a lot popular than the rest of the certs (Marketing Cloud, Pardot, social, etc) .”
Can we assume this position these days?
Because the needs about social media management are increasing, so the marketing cloud and pardot certifications will be more and more popular, if it is not already the case.
Sorry for my english, i’m from France (the country with the lowest English level compared to european neighbors ) :((
Best Regards,
Aziz
Hey Aziz! It’s definitely popular just not nearly as popular as the others so far. For example, there are a lot of competitors in the marketing space! Also, marketing cloud is basically a separate industry.
Hello David, thank you so much for all the resource and heartfelt advice (Of course it makes me laugh often). My question is how many hours do you recommend studying for Salesforce Administrator Certification and Salesforce Platform Developer I Certification before attempting to take the exam?
Best,
Eddy
I’d say until you can answer 80% of flashcards right =) Hours vary wildly – some people can study for a few hours one night and some people need months!
Link on sharing sets in Sharing designer section is broken page 404 error.
Thank you Igor – fixed!
Can you please help me with deployment and lifecycle designer exam please.
Thanks for sharing. This is very valuable info
For the Latest Development Lifecycle and Deployment Designer Certification dumps SUM 17 reach out to me on rakesh.sdna@gmail.com
Hello David,
Thanks for inspirational posts, really motivational and helped me acquire Application & System Architect certifications. 8 Exams in 6 weeks.
Your word, gave hope to take on journey [Don’t let the word “Architect” intimidate you! You can pass all certifications]
Wow!! Congrats!! That is success story worthy you know!!!
For the latest Development Lifecycle and Deployment Designer Certification SUM 17 please reach out to me on rakesh.sdna@gmail.com
Hey Rakesh,
I am looking for the latest dump for Development Lifecycle and Deployment Designer Certification SUM 17. Can you forward me the details ?
Hey Mridul,
Did you get the dumps? Will you mind sharing it with me?
Please share if you any specific material with me as well
reach out to me on rakesh.sdna@gmail.com
Great guide, thanks for sharing! I’ve been working through the list of Certs and having real reservations about the Service Cloud Consultant exam. I have worked with a company that had a call center, Case routing, and Chat, but its been a few years since working there and can’t really duplicate all of that setup in my dev org (I think). Any advice on getting practical working knowledge of these items, or maybe I should just skip this one and work on the Developer Certs.
Honestly you can get the cert without practical knowledge! Or you can troll around the success community for challenges!
On Service Cloud cert you can practice most items in dev org and now there are several good Trailhead modules and projects on this topic that will help with settings. Things like LiveAgent, Omnichannel routing and service console in Lightning or Classic. Only feature remains is CTI part that very specific to business and cannot test in DEV. I did my cert some years ago did not have Trailhead. Here is trailmix to help https://trailhead.salesforce.com/users/005500000060Q9FAAU/trailmixes/service-cloud—call-center-setup
Hi David, great info, but just checked and saw all the ebooks on inkling are gone, do you have backups you can share.
Thanks
Thanks for the heads up Adi, updated all links!
Thanks a ton Sir!
Hi David,
Thanks a lot for your guidance through this website. It’s been really very helpful. Could you please tell how to prepare for Marketing Cloud Certification?
Thanks in advance
Regards,
Mayur
Hi David
I am giving Administrator Exam (Summer ’17) in October .As I see lot of material online, I get muddled up. More confusing part is the latest materials are focusing on Lightning , I really want to know whether I should focus on Classic only and see few concepts on Lightning OR
focus entirely on Lightning .
Thanks :)
I’d say 75% classic and the rest Lightning!
Most of the concepts are shared between both though!
I am having a lot of trouble passing the Service Cloud exam. I am sure you know, but a whole new exam was released about 3 months ago. The flashcards link you have for that are outdated and do not help for the exam. Do you have a link to updated questions? Thank you!
Ouch! Try using all the other tips in the full series!
https://www.sfdc99.com/ultimate-salesforce-certifications-guide/
Flashcards are optional if you follow the other pieces of advice!
# Salesforce Certified Service Cloud Consultant (SU17) on 09/05/2017
Hi,
I got failed in my exam by just ‘2’ questions(approx) on Monday, Around 60 to 62 % I scored. This time putting more effort in understanding because of Interaction Channels: 20%, Industry Knowledge: 41%, all other section were above 70% was good, that I scored. if anything related to this will be better in my learning.
Regards
Mayur | India
mayurcisolanki@gmail.com
Mayur – Did you take the exam again? Please share your experience.
Hello,
Same here. Struggling a lot with the Service Cloud Exam. Were you able to figure out a link to the latest exam dump?
Same here. Were you able to get some links with updated questions?
Hi David,I just want to tiration.hank you for your positive inspiring words. You give a lot of people hope. I passed my Administrator, Advanced Administrator and App Builder exams thanks to your insistent inspirwice!ation. I am off to do Sales cloud next!
PS I failed App builder twice!
Thanks again.
Terry
Sorry about the spelling – my keyboard is dying!
Wooo!! Congrats on failing and getting vengeance on it! That’s the way to do it!!
Can you please help me with Identity and access management exam please.
The only materials you need for that are linked =)
Thanks David passed my exam.
Yay!! Congrats Rakesh!!!
Recently passed my Community cloud exam.
Thanks a lot David
Congrats Rakesh!!!
Hello Rakesh,
I’m passing the Community cloud exam tomorrow morning.
Do you have any recommendations for me ? :)
I studied with Trailhead and the quizlet materials (quiz & revision sheet). Do you think it’s enough?
Thank you so much
Edouard
Hi David,
Thanks for the great information. Quick question – I am planning to attempt Advanced Admin next week and was wondering if you would recommend going through all the quizzes available in your “Flashcard Link” above.
Thanks
Short answer – the more you go through the better.
I personally would keep going until I could reliably answer 80% of questions, even brand new ones.
I see you haven’t included the Pardot/Marketing certifications in here, not even as part of the Optional certification.
Any specific reason?
PS: love the site! thank you for the awesome work!!
I consider those optional. =). I just had nothing to say about them!
Thank you so much!
You’re welcome =)
Thanks a lot for making it more simpler and easy to understand. Much appreciated.