5 Tips for Passing the Google AdWords Certification Exams

In 2010, Google revamped its AdWords Certification program, designed to recognize individuals and agencies proficient in pay-per-click management. In order to be individually certified, you must now pass the AdWords Fundamentals exam as well as at least one of three Advanced Exams (Advanced Search Advertising, Reporting and Analysis, or Display Advertising) with a score of at least 85%. Each exam costs $50 to take, contains approximately 120 questions, and must be completed in two hours. I recently completed the AdWords Certification process and thought that it would be helpful to provide tips for preparing for these exams.

1. Use the resources Google gives you
   • The Learning Center is an excellent starting point to prepare for the exams. They provide written summaries of key concepts as well as interactive modules and YouTube videos. Be sure to pay attention to all of the sections, even the ones that you don’t think that you will ever use, as the exams cover all of the materials contained in the Learning Center.
   • The AdWords Help Center offers more in-depth information on the concepts covered in the Learning Center modules. Many concepts in the Learning Center are hyperlinked to their specific help article.
2. Find your own resources
   • Pay-per-click blogs such as PPC Hero and The Wordstream Blog provide explanations of many of the concepts in AdWords. If I was still unsure about a concept after looking through the Google resources, I found that related blog posts were usually a good way to gain a grasp on those concepts.
3. Do-it-yourself
   • The best way to learn AdWords is to set up an account and dive in. In addition to reading about concepts I wasn’t as familiar with, I found that creating a campaign (you can delete it when you’re done) and playing around with the various options available gave me a deeper understanding of those concepts. Many of the questions on the exam are phrased as real-world scenarios, so having experience with the concepts is a definite plus!
4. Take Notes
   • The testing module does not let you have any other windows open while taking the test, so while it’s not impossible to take the test “open book,” Google doesn’t make it easy. I made notes of things that seemed to make good test questions (lists or statistics) and organized them in a way that I could quickly find what I needed.
5. Take Advantage of the Testing Software Features
   • The software used for administering the test has many useful features available while taking the test. The first is the ability to mark questions. As I was going through the test, if I was unsure of any questions (or if I had no idea), I marked them and continued through the test answering the questions that I was sure about. After going through the whole test, the system lets you go back to the questions that you marked. Throughout the test, you can see how many unanswered questions and time you have remaining.
   • Another useful feature is the ability to cross out answers that you know are not correct simply by right-clicking on those answer choices. I found that it was very helpful to narrow down the answer choices on a few of the questions.
   • You can go back through the questions as many times as you want before the time runs out. The software allows you to either scroll through them one at a time or use a handy drop down box in the upper right, which shows whether questions are unanswered or marked.

While studying for the test, I found several ideas for PPC campaigns that we are currently working on. So not only will preparing help you make a better score on the test, you may find features on AdWords that could be useful for current or future campaigns you conduct.

AdWords Advanced Display Exam Resources

Information from Google about the exams
Achieve partner status as a company
Join as an individual
Let me know if you have any questions about the exam or becoming a Google Partner. Both experiences are fresh in my mind now, but I can’t guarantee that will be the case a month from now.

Read more at http://www.business2community.com/online-marketing/pass-adwords-advanced-display-exam-earn-google-partner-status-0772789#XKcQidLUod8QECmj.99

We’ve already delved into surviving the AdWords Advanced Search exam, thanks to Margot da Cunha’s post last December, so now let’s take a look at the other advanced exam, Advanced Display.
Display seems to be a bit of a great unknown, the dividing line between the hardcore search geeks and the creative, right-brained people who cringe at all the spreadsheets and analysis that accompany search. It bears mentioning here that 95 percent of people’s online time is spent consuming content, so learning about display (and video) can be a nice upsell to your clients, or it could be a career path you carve for yourself. Here’s an interesting fact: YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine – and it’s a major component of the Advanced Display exam.
Let’s assume you’ve already cruised through the fundamentals exam and get right to some Advanced Display overview and exam preparation steps. I’ll close with some information on what passing the exam means as it relates to actually becoming a Google Partner (hint: you have to do more than just pass the exams).

Advanced Display Exam Overview

Here’s the skinny on the display exam and what you must score to pass it:

• 120 minutes
• 90 questions
• 70% passing score
• 4 lessons

Now, one of the four lessons mentioned above is actually the PDF download that you study with, so there are really only three sections. And, yes, you only need to score a 70 percent to pass. You might infer it’s possibly a very challenging test, or one that’s supremely easy to pass. I’d say it’s a bit of both: You do need to study and understand the material, especially if this is brand-new territory for you, but passing it isn’t going to break your brain. We’re in PPC, folks—this isn’t the bar exam or medical boards.
Here’s the Google study area for Advanced Display, and you’ll notice the guide I mentioned:

Of the three main focus areas from above, and I’d say the split for the exam is about 45 percent Google Display Network, 45 percent YouTube, and 10 percent mobile devices.
The exam itself is very rule- and capabilities-oriented as opposed to calculations and analysis. By that I mean you spend most of your study time learning what all AdWords and YouTube can do—and it’s a lot.
For example, if you’ve ever wondered how all those text ads show up in your Gmail, or how you’re forced to watch an advertisement with the little “You can close this ad in ____ seconds” notices before you watch your content, or how you start noticing stalker ads from sites you’ve visited, you’ll learn all that in the Advanced Display material.
You’ll also learn the various specifications for ad sizes, how to create video and display ads with Google’s tools, how to measure performance, and all the necessary things you’d need to know to be considered worthy of Google Partner status.

How I Passed the AdWords Advanced Display Exam

When you dive into the study material that Google has provided, you’ll notice an abundance of links, links, and more links to even more material. Soon you find yourself so deep in Google pages you start to wonder, Am I the first person who’s ever visited this page?
Instead of taking that route, I chose a bit more strategic path. These are the exact steps I took to pass the exam:
1. Invested in iPassExam’s $98 package for access to all their exams: fundamentals, advanced search, and advanced display. I justified this expense by telling myself that a.) the exam is free and b.) I don’t want to have to retake it, so I’m doing everything I can to avoid that.
2. Focused on the iPass question bank instead of reading through all the Google material. The bank has 313 questions from the exam, and it even provides explanations and links to more information.
Here’s a sample question from iPass with the link to the source below it:

3. Took the iPass practice exam. This revealed my weak areas, which allowed me to then dive into the material and absorb it. At this point I did look at Google’s material and even created my own “study book,” which was nothing more than about 40 pages of copied-and-pasted material from Google into a Word document (not available in book stores).
4. Read back through my mini study guide, went back through the iPass question bank, and retook the practice exam. At this point I’d seen the practice questions four times and knew what the gotcha questions were (yes, there’s a bit of misdirection in the exam that’s meant to confuse you).
5. Crushed the actual exam. I studied too much, and that was mostly fear-driven. Don’t worry, you’ll do fine on the exam.

Advanced Display Exam: The Key Takeaways

You could likely pore through all of the free information that Google provides and still pass the exam. I’d also add that iPass isn’t perfect because Google is constantly changing the exams and where they keep their information, and iPass is in catch-up mode all the time. Even in Google’s own material you might see outdated information occasionally, such as reference to the display ad builder even though it’s now called ad gallery.
The final analysis of the exam is that it’s not only a test of your knowledge, but also a test of your ability to take tests. It’s for this reason, I believe, Google has layered on additional requirements to become a Google Partner. Not only must you pass the exam, you also must meet the following criteria:
A.) Follow best practices, which is vaguely defined as “add exact match keywords,” “add text ads to each ad group,” and “raise your position and lower costs – improve quality score.” How Google determines this is beyond me, and I imagine they either manually review your accounts or use an automated checker.
B.) You must be managing at least $10K in spend over a 90-day period. Google will look at your MCC account (it’s preferred that you use an MCC but not a requirement) to review this. This is what my Partner page looks like:

If you’re ready to get started, use the resources below to learn more about the exams and Google Partner status.

AdWords Advanced Display Exam Resources

Information from Google about the exams
Achieve partner status as a company
Join as an individual
Let me know if you have any questions about the exam or becoming a Google Partner. Both experiences are fresh in my mind now, but I can’t guarantee that will be the case a month from now.

Read more at http://www.business2community.com/online-marketing/pass-adwords-advanced-display-exam-earn-google-partner-status-0772789#XKcQidLUod8QECmj.99