CPQ Administrator
Salesforce is one of the fastest growing and most in-demand skills in IT right now, and to add that knowledge to your resume can have a payoff almost immediately. The Salesforce ecosystem extends far past its original cloud-based CRM platform, so Salesforce technical skills prove extremely useful and necessary in a wide range of areas, from system administrators, to product managers, developers, integration architects and beyond.
Becoming Salesforce Certified is not only a highly effective way to prove your skills are current and at the expected baseline level but more often than not a prerequisite for companies who seek Salesforce experts. Most Salesforce-related jobs will require a minimum of one certification, and the entry-level – but no less challenging – is the Salesforce Certified Administrator certification.
“Marketing is more than showing products and describing them. It is about building a relationship with potential customers so that you will be able to sell to them.”
Thomas Edison
One thing I hear a lot from people with multiple Salesforce certifications is that passing the Certified Administrator exam was one of the hardest. Why? Well, because it’s the first one and the material covered is very comprehensive. So although this is a prerequisite exam to several other certification paths, it’s not one you can simply show up and take the test without preparation, even if you’ve worked with Salesforce for years.
Don’t let the difficulty level of the test put you off, though. The good news is that it doesn’t matter whether you’re already an experienced system administrator who wants to take the next step and get certified, or if you come from a completely different background and decided to learn a new set of skills from scratch. Getting that first certification can be achieved in a few months, even if this is the first time you’re reading the word “Salesforce”. You just need to devise a plan, prepare and practice.
I passed the Salesforce Certified Administrator exam exactly 3 months after I started studying for it. Before that, my Salesforce knowledge was very limited, to say the least. But with that goal in mind, I also wanted to pass the first time I took the test. Ambitious? Maybe, but very feasible as I later found out.
There are different ways you can prepare for the exam
Salesforce runs courses onsite or online, one of them being the Administration Essentials for New Admins (ADM201), which can run you about $4500 for the 3-day course.
An alternative to the Salesforce Class is a Live Instructor-Led class offered by K2 University.
Salesforce Administrator Training Class
You read that figure correctly. So if you or the company you work for are not willing to make that investment on your certification goals, there are many self-study resources online that can help you prepare for the exam such as the Focus on Tech Admin Practice Exam and Study Guide. I took the second option which proved to be highly rewarding and I plan on using those same resources for my future certification exams.
What to expect from the exam?
I found practicing my test-taking technique to be just as important as learning the contents of the exam. Understanding the format of this test will help you structure the way you study for it.
- There are 60 multiple-choice questions and 105 minutes to complete.
- 65% is the passing score, which means you need 39 correct answers.
- You may take the test at a test center, or remotely on your own computer. The second option is monitored through a webcam and you must submit your biometrics and follow strict guidelines beforehand, but may be worth it if you don’t have a test center near you or need more flexibility in terms of scheduling. You can find the information about scheduling your exam and the guidelines here.
- The fee to take the test is $200 and the retake fee is $100.
- Every question is worth 1 mark on the test. Some questions will ask you to pick more than one correct answer but you either get the whole point or nothing. There’s no partial marks for a multi-select question.
- The questions on the exam are scenario-based. Some questions are longer than others.
- You can mark questions for review on your screen during the test, and that’s a tool I highly recommend using so you can maximize your efficiency during the test.
- When taking the test, if you know the answer to a question right away, don’t dwell on it or second-guess yourself. Pick your answer and move on. Likewise, if you don’t know the answer, mark for review and come back to it later so you have time to answer the ones you know.
- Use all the allotted time given on the test and read each question carefully, while always being mindful of the clock. I recommend spending 80 minutes on the 60 questions, allowing yourself the remaining 25 minutes for questions marked for review. So if you see yourself spending over 1 minute per question, it may be time to move quicker.
- Some of the multiple choice options will have made-up names for things such as a “List” Report Format which doesn’t exist or is not one of the report formats in
- Salesforce. You can eliminate those options easily right off the bat.
- None of the exams are open book so you may not bring any notes, hard copy material or take notes with you during the exam.
Prepare for this certification
To prepare successfully for the Salesforce CPQ Admin Certification Exam, we recommend to work through our CPQ Admin Certification Study Guide and Practice Exams.
Don’t forget you save money by making it a bundle and adding on a Salesforce Voucher too. You can do this from the product pages linked on the right.
CPQ Administrator Practice Exams
CPQ Administrator Study Guide
Study guide topic weightings
| Topic | Weighting |
|---|---|
| Workflow/Process Automation | 16% |
| Service and Support Applications | 11% |
| Sales and Marketing Applications | 12% |
| Data and Analytics Management | 14% |
CPQ Admininistrator Topic Weighting Chart
How to prepare the self-study way
1. Set a goal for yourself
Set a goal for yourself and book the test in advance so you have to meet your deadline.
Any time is the right time, but be realistic and know you will have to dedicate yourself for many hours a day so the content stays fresh in your head. This is particularly important for the Administrator exam because there is SO. MUCH. TO. COVER.
2. Prepare a schedule
I used the last month for revision. The schedule remained the same but by that point, it was all practice. I studied even a little bit every day, building Salesforce “muscle memory”.
How to study
Download the official Exam Guide
Become very familiar with that exam guide because it outlines the weight distribution for the topics required on the exam. Definitely concentrate on the areas of most weight (i.e. Configuration & Setup 20%, Object Manager & Lightning App Builder 20%, Workflow/Process Information 16%, etc.). Anything over 10% is a high priority.
From that exam guide outline, prepare a study schedule
Make a nice little spreadsheet if you’re into that sort of thing. Divide your schedule into two basic areas: large topics and smaller topics.
If you have a large block of consecutive hours, tackle one of the big topics (over 10%). I spent an entire week on Security & Access, so use as many “large blocks” to study those as you need.
Tackle the smaller topic (Productivity and Collaboration) on days you can’t study for hours consecutively but can still read up on the subject, like on your lunch break.
Overall, I highly recommend starting with Configuration & Setup because that’s really the beginning of everything.
The reason why I put a high priority on these 3 topics is because they cover a large chunk of the exam, they are often interrelated, so if you understand these 3 areas really well, you will be able to answer the most difficult questions in the exam. This doesn’t mean you should skip the other topics. But learn these ones VERY, VERY WELL.
If you’re a Salesforce beginner (like I was!), go to Trailhead first
Trailhead is the official Salesforce FREE online learning tool. It’s fun and gives you a practical, hands-on approach to learning Salesforce. They divide the subjects into modules and trails that you can take at your own pace and you earn badges after you complete a module. There’s something there for every level. A lot of the modules will correspond to topics on the exam guide but it’s not comprehensive because that’s not what Trailhead is for. The Admin Beginner and Intermediate Trails cover a lot of ground but it’s not a one-stop shop. It’s a starting point, especially if you’re stuck on a subject you don’t know much about. Be aware that Trailhead alone will NOT get you that certification.
Implement the projects found in these Trailhead Trails
Build Platform Apps in Lightning Experience
Build Apps Fast with Salesforce Platform Services
I recommend taking the time to fully implement them in your Developer Org. They will cover a lot of scenarios.
One of the questions I asked myself a lot while studying was “do I need to learn this in Salesforce Classic or Lightning Experience?”.
We strongly suggest to focus on Lightning Experience, but do learn the functionalities that are Classic only as well as how to switch and when to switch and some of the limitations.
You’ve studied hard. You passed the test. Congratulations! Now what?
Getting the “Pass” mark and earning your certification is definitely not the end of the road. Salesforce Certified Administrators are required to take 3 maintenance exams per year, in order to keep their certification valid and current. It is an online and open book exam that is 30 minutes long and typically 5-10 questions, related to the current release. You can find more information about the maintenance exams for all certifications here.
The Salesforce Administrator certification is only the first of many available, and once you earn yours you will find it’s very much like a tattoo: you will want many more! So set yourself that goal, go get it and best of luck!
Case Study
Here's what Focus on Tech user Tom Apicella had to say:
“I would not have been able to pass without the Study Guide and Practice Exams, so a big thank you to Focus on Tech! In the same token, the trail-blazer Admin trail was very beneficial on the problem solving questions, and terminology.
To prepare for Admin Exam, here are the steps I took.
1. Completed the Admin Trail On TrailBlazer Prepare for Your Salesforce Administrator Credential
2. Bought the Focus on Tech study guide and practice exams — I studied each section of the study guide and then took the corresponding section exams. The first time through the practice exams I used the option to see my answers after each question. Whether I was right or wrong on a question I read the commentary they have for each answer and some of the reference links as needed. After taking the test I highly recommend reading those reference links!
After I took the sectional exams, I then took the practice exams, study on the weak parts and then took the sectional exams again and then the practice exams one more time.
On the 2nd time on the full practice exams I took them with the option to have the answers at the end like the actual exam. I was scoring in the 90’s on these this time so I felt I was ready to take the exam.
Third: took Test and Passed First Time!!! Although overall I felt I was well prepared for this test, there seemed to about a half of dozen or so questions that were a bit foreign to me. Maybe those were the extra 5 questions they throw in there?
I have a new game plan for the next cert I am going to obtain based on this experience.
Going forward here are the steps I plan on taking for preparing for the exam.
- Buy the Focus on Tech study guide and go through all the material.
- Complete the Advanced Admin Trail On TrailBlazer
- Buy the Focus on Tech Advanced Admin Exams and use the study guide and practice…
I wish you all Good Luck on your Journey!” – Tom Apicella
Agentforce Specialist
Certification Contents
The following are the core topic areas of the Agentforce Specialist certification and what you’re expected to know:
Important Note: In December 2021, Salesforce renamed the “Data Architecture and Management Designer” certification to “Data Architect” certification. Exam content has remained unchanged. You can learn more about these changes from the official Salesforce release note.
What our students say
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Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently asked questions
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Do I interact with a real person at all?
Yes
Why should I pay for this, when there are many free sites out there?
We know there are many sites out there with free practice questions and quizzes.
The problems with these sites are :
- The answers are often incorrect, which will cause you to become confused
- There are no detailed explanations to explain the answer, so you are left wondering
- They don’t cover all of the exam objectives
- They are not updated for the latest release.
- They don’t allow you to study one particular objective.
We have spent a huge amount of time to create practice questions that are realistic and up to date. We make sure that each question has a detailed explanation to help your learning. Using the weightings from the study guide, we have made sure there is a balance of questions from each objective, so you can make sure you have covered all areas.
You get to practice answering 60 questions in the same time that you will have when you take the actual exam. Also, if you need to review questions on a particular topic, you can choose to just take questions on that topic.
Is there a money back guarantee?
Yes
Meet your expert AI instructor
Our AI training is delivered by Enrico Grandi, a seasoned AI expert, data scientist, and entrepreneur with specialized expertise in machine learning, data analytics, and software development. As the co-founder of start-up Aitomotivelab.com, Enrico leads groundbreaking AI solutions in the automotive sector, focusing on innovations that drive efficiency and elevate customer experience. With a robust background at industry leaders like Stellantis and Calzedonia Group, Enrico has a proven track record of using AI to tackle complex challenges across diverse industries. He’s ready to share real-world insights and actionable skills to help you harness AI’s full potential.
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