Today 20th Aug 2021 I obtained my Alteryx Designed Core Certification after passing the 2h-long test with 89.6%. During this week starting 16th Aug. 2021 DS25 has been preparing for this examination during 3 days (Monday to Wednesday) with the aid of TIL Alteryx trainers to take the examination today Friday 20th Aug 2021. In this blog, I will share some tips for those who are planning to take this examination as well as the resources I used during its completion (since it is an open-book examination):
Tips:
- Keep track of your time: You only have 2 hours to do 80 questions (73 multiple choice questions, 7 practical application questions). That is 90 seconds per multiple choice question and around 3 min per practical question. I recommend to use your phone's stopwatch to keep track of time when completing each question. After completing one, press the 'lap' button instead of stopping and resetting the stopwatch.
- Bookmark questions: Use the 'Bookmark' feature to tag questions where you are spending more time than you should. You can refer to them and complete them at the end. I also recommend to write down the questions that you have skipped and believe to be "easier" to complete them first. Mark a random answer and rectified it at the end (worst case you have 1 in 4 chance to obtain a mark).
- Alteryx Text input is your best friend: This tool has been super useful to quickly test some of the Core Certification multiple choice questions. I recommend to have Alteryx Designer open while you complete your test.
- Read carefully: Super important! Read the question 2-3 times to make sure that you are not missing important information or "tricks" from the question.
- Have all useful information sources opened in a Chrome tab: Make sure they are organised, or at least open the main ones. The ones I had opened when I took the test are listed below:
Resources:
Note: You may not even need to use them all. In the majority of questions, I was able to answer them correctly by reading the question carefully, testing it or exploring Alteryx Designer and its tools.
- Tool Mastery: https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Knowledge-Base/Tool-Mastery-Index/ta-p/84593
- Core Tools Presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1KxvazY03_VOsXox6cMPFXH72xqXk-3UyRtbsaqMHf28/edit?usp=sharing
- File Types: https://help.alteryx.com/20213/designer/alteryx-file-types
- Data Types: https://help.alteryx.com/20213/designer/data-types
- Date Functions and Specifiers: https://help.alteryx.com/20213/designer/datetime-functions
- DateTime Tool Specifiers: https://help.alteryx.com/20213/designer/datetime-tool
- Shortcuts: https://help.alteryx.com/20213/designer/shortcuts-alteryx-designer
- Alteryx Designer !!! (with a workflow containing a few text input tools and another workflow with just the core tools - to either open the tool's documentation or explore the tool itself without searching for it)
Best of luck! =D
