Tips on studying for the Google Adwords Advertising Fundamentals Exam

I just sat my first Google Adwords Certification Exam (Advertising Fundamentals), so thought I would share my study method. I scored 97%, pretty pleased with that! You need 85% to pass this exam so it is quite demanding.
Preparation:

• Google Resources:
  • Updated 23/02/2013: Extensive review of the Google Learning Centre study notes and questions (I printed these out, they have been very well annotated and well thumbed), which you access from here. And extensive review of the eLearnings associated with the online study notes.
  • Updated 23/02/2013: Extensive review of the Google Certification PProgram (GCP) help, which has its own set of notes for the exams (which aren’t set up for print like the study notes). And extensive review of the videos and info notes associate with them.
• I typed up my own study notes, rewriting and reorganising the content from the Google Study Notes so that it resembled how I think
• I purchased a subscription to iPassExam and drilled myself using their 343 question bank and 110 question timed mock exam:
  • a great way to get used to the multi-choice format and to identify areas you need to work on
  • I did the 343 questions about 3 times and took the mock exam twice
• Read additional posts both about exam tips and tools, good posts I found:
  • PPCHero How to Pass The Google Advertising Fundamentals Exam – I suggest reading the comments as well as the post, people shared alot of useful tips
  • I check the following search blogs daily, because I <3 them:
    • Search Engine Land
    • Search Engine Watch
    • Inside Adwords
  • The Wordstream Blog did a series on adwords tools that helped me wrap my head around tools available in Adwords:
    • The Google AdWords change history tool
    • The AdWords conversion tab
    • Google Analytics Reporting within the AdWords Interface
    • Google Website Optimizer
    • The Google AdWords Keyword Tool
    • The Google AdWords Traffic Estimator
    • The Google AdWords Placement Tool
    • The Google AdWords Contextual Targeting Tool
    • Quick Guide to the Google AdWords Ad Preview & Diagnosis Tool
• I made up Quick Reference Infographics on topics like Image Ads for Desktop, Mobile Image Ads and Video Ads that covered sizes, specifications, formats and more (Will probably share these later down the track)
• Use the Adwords Interface practically, kind of goes with out saying but still…

Having sat the exam, the tips I would share are:

• Make sure you have all the materials you need printed out so you can reference if required. Some of the questions are a little tricky/ambiguous so it does help to go back to the source and double check before you answer
• You will need to go beyond just the study notes: Some of the questions were on things that were mentioned in passing in the notes/elearnings. Use the Google Study Notes as the jumping off point for further study…
• Drill yourself on answering questions – when I was drilling myself in the mock exam, I did it the first time in ~20 minutes iirc (got 84%), the second time in an hour and 11 minutes (got 92%), so I had a feeling for time and used that to my advantage in the real exam
• When it came to the real exam, I finished the questions in the first hour, then used the second hour to double check the questions I had marked for review and then double check all the questions again (to be sure, to be sure) before I submitted my exam

Last of all: good luck!