Although you're likely reading this because you're thinking about tackling the Advanced certification, on the off chance that you haven't yet done the Core exam, feel free to check out my blog on how to navigate your way through that!
Now, into the details...
Firstly, in terms of the exam itself, the format is incredibly similar to its predecessor. However, with the Advanced, you may actually find that you have a lot of time left at the end, which is a very nice change. For reference, I finished my Core cert with 5 seconds remaining, and had 20 minutes left at the end of my Advanced. There are fewer questions overall, though you still have to tackle 4 practical questions which again count for 50% of the marks. So what are the differences? Well, as the name suggests, the exam is aimed at 'advanced' users. The challenges and questions asked of you will involve some of the more technical tools and require you to build more complex workflows (i.e. macros). If you're looking for a list of things to brush up on then you'll certainly want to make sure you're comfortable with:
- Parsing (RegEx)
- Spatial analysis (Joins, info, summarising, drawing/breaking down polygons)
- Macros (You can be asked to build an iterative or batch macro)
- Advanced prep (Make sure you have a fully sound knowledge of the key prep tools)
- Interface tools (How to configure them and how they influence your workflow)
- Reporting (For any internal readers, this isn't taught in the Data School and so you will need to do some additional research/learning/googling on the spot!)
- Data investigation (Ensure you have a good understanding of statistical outputs and what the stat tools are capable of handling as inputs/producing as outputs)
When it comes down to the format of the questions, you should expect to see the same mix of multiple choice, 'select all that apply' types and assigning of definitions (e.g. you are given 4 scenarios and have to assign the most suitable type of macro to each). The really nice thing about the Advanced cert is that all 4 practical questions come at the very start, meaning you can quickly get them out the way, or bookmark them to come back to whilst you work through the others and think about how you may want to approach them.
Preparation is definitely key for the exam and I'd certainly recommend doing a good chunk of intermediate/difficult Alteryx weekly challenges to get yourself warmed up/thinking along the right lines (the practical questions are very much on the same track in terms of scenarios & how to handle them). Again, for any internal readers, make sure to ask Robbin for his mock exam - this was super useful! Finally, giving the official preparation guide a read is obviously a sensible shout!
Much like the Core, you can also access the help & community pages and other resources, as long as nobody is actually there helping you! Overall, it's actually quite a fun exam to tackle, as weird as that sounds! Feel free to reach out if you want to chat about it more and best of luck!