In my opinion, passing the Alteryx core exam is about how well you can manage your time, how quickly you can Google for answers, and how quickly you can enter simple data to perform a simple workflow.
Last week, I passed the Alteryx core exam after completing 40 hours of training with The Information Lab and practicing using the software in about 20 weekly challenges on the Alteryx community forum.
I wasn't confident that I could even pass the exam, but somehow I did. And while I was thinking about what I did right/could have done better before/during the exam to pass the 80% mark, here are my tips and tricks:
Before the exam:
- Read this blogpost from one of the dataschoolers in Australia. Essentially, he gave all the important tips that you should take to a T!
- Familiarize yourself with the test using this short practice test from Alteryx and to learn how you will be tested.
- Understand what you can expect in the exam in detail from this video, but it's about 50 minutes long, I was basically just listening to the part where it explains how the type of questions are structured and distributed (from 10.30 - 18.30)
- Review the theories about the tools using the flashcards created by Oscarmacias
During the exam: (do all that Kevin Prescilla mentioned in his blogpost from first point in the before the exam section)
- Make sure you know your remaining time!
It is so easy to get stuck with a particular question and then dwell on it! Always remember to move on! One of the important exam technique is to make sure you answer all the questions and then only come back to the questions you aren't sure about when you have the time! - For the Select All that apply question: Don't select more than two answers if you aren't sure
All the Select all that apply questions will have at least two correct answers and at least one incorrect answer. For these questions, if you get some of the answer correct but not all of them, you still get partial credit. If you select answers that are incorrect, there is a deduction!
3. Write down the practical question number when you encounter them!!!
A little thing that I didn't know before the test: You can't just look for the 7 practical questions that worth 3 marks and solve them ahead. These questions just pop up in the middle randomly. Make sure you mark the number down so that you can know where to look if you have time to recheck your answer (that's something I forgot to do so I wasted some of my precious time to skim through questions that I flagged to search for the practical questions that I failed to do in my first attempt)
4. Text input tool is your best friend and you should always keep your best friend by your side!
I was a bit disorganized in handling my workbook. Up to one point, I decided to delete some of the text input tool I keyed in from the previous questions. DON'T DO THAT! Some of the questions I encountered later on had similar if not the same dataset so I had to key in the data again! So it is good to keep all the text input tool with the data that you key before and reuse them if you can!
5. Read the question carefully!
Seriously this is important! For two practical questions, I missed some key words in the questions so I didn't do the filter correctly therefore the answer I calculated wasn't even in answer selections! Luckily when I revisit the questions and re-read the questions I figured out what I missed out and got it right just in time!
6. Last but not least, always keep your cool and believe in yourself!
I wasn't sure about many theory questions I encountered in the very beginning of the exam. After just 10 minutes or so, the feeling of doubt started to creep in and there was a voice: 'No way I'm going to make it if I have to google every single question. These questions are too comprehensive!' - But then, I quickly calm myself down and focus on giving my best shot.
So, don't panic! Keep calm and google fast!
![made at imgflip.com](https://i.imgflip.com/5ze4u4.jpg)