Any tips for ACP-420?

[Susanna Babayan]

Hi Community!

I'm planning on passing ACP-420 at the end of the year and I wanted to ask if you have any tips for the exam preparation,

Currently I'm reading the Atlassian docs, trying them out on my test instance and then taking some notes, if needed. I practiced a bit on sample questions, but I want to try them out a bit more later. 

Anything that can be suggested to concentrate on? Any specific topics that I should focus on?

Any adivce would be welcomed :) 

[Dietmar Doerschlag]

Here are my tips:

1. Download the exam content guide. Study the prep course- all of it. Excellent resource.

2. Spin up a sandbox and practice every single topic on a sandbox. Be sure you have configured every aspect of JSM and understand every nuance. Be sure to practice on latest cloud release.

3. Read all documentation you can find on any topic.

4. Join a study group and discuss topics as a group.

5. Write a brain dump of key concepts and memorize them.

6. Focus on personas ... agent vs customer vs admin

7. Watch videos on tips on how to answer questions.... process of elimination, key words, noise etc.

8. Do it in an exam center. Much better. I'd never do it at home. Take the full 3 hours and flag questions for follow up.

The ACP-420 was the most difficult of the 4 certification exams I've written but with diligence you can hit the 60% pass rate. Good luck!

[Susanna Babayan]

Hey @Dietmar Doerschlag

Thanks a lot for your comment, it does shed a light on some key parts (even tough I'm worried now since you said it's the most difficult one ahah). 

Could you please elaborate for 4. and 7. ? I'm not sure I've heard of those before...

[Dietmar Doerschlag]

@Susanna Babayan   

With respect to 4) We had formed a study group inside our company as several of us worked towards the certifications at the same time. We met frequently to discuss topics, bounce questions and answers from mock exams off each other, and even went as far as writing our own mock exam questions. It really helped. I also lined up a person who had a lot of experience and created a catalogue of topics I needed more clarity on and discussed with that person. 

With respect to 7). Here is one helpful video I had watched - https://university.atlassian.com/student/activity/990720-certification-success-panel-webinar?utm_source=community&utm_medium=comarketing&utm_campaign=P:uni-cert-prep*O:university*H:fy23q3*I:aul-webinar*

It was a conversation facilitated by Joanna who oversees the certification writing team at Atlassian. Some of the key tips are: 

- watch for noise in a question

- watch for key words in the question such as definetely etc.

- deploy the process of elimination. When I wrote the exams, before I started the clock, I wrote all 60 questions with ABCDE out on the scratch paper and then as I answered teh questions crossed out those that I knew for sure were wrong and then focused on those that I had not eliminated. That technique helped me a lot. 

- some of the other topics they discussed is what I had included in my previous post. 

As I was studying, I made myself a brain dump of all key concepts, in a 3 page summary, and I read and re-read that over and over again. It was a key to passing. 

Bottom line - fear not. With good prep you will pass the exam. The ACP-420 is challenging as it combines topics from the ACP-120 plus of course many topics you will only find in JSM (customer management, organizations, etc.). It was the only cert that I had to write twice and it came down to making sure I had every topic down and I had practiced each and everyone in my own sandbox. 

[Kai Krause]

Hello, I studied for the ACP certifications as follows.

First I completed the recommended preparation course
https://university.atlassian.com/student/page/2107991-become-an-effective-jira-service-management-project-admin

Then I downloaded the exam topics. For ACP 420, this is here https://university.atlassian.com/student/page/890656-acp-420-managing-jira-service-projects-for-cloud

And then the weighting from top to bottom.

In the case of ACP 420, first project configuration and then access and permissions.

Of course I tried all of that out, made my own notes, etc.

And read very carefully in the exam and pay attention to keywords like definitely, not, etc. The questions can only differ based on these words.

Good luck.

BR

Kai

[Susanna Babayan]

Hey @Kai Krause

Thanks! Sure will be attentive with the keywords! 

[Alexis Leites]

My recommendation is to study from the official documentation and take the course as a supplement. Many of the topics in that learning path are neither covered nor relevant to the exam.

These sample questions help a lot but do them at the end:

ACP-420 Sample Questions 

[Susanna Babayan]

Hi @Alexis Leites

Thanks for your answer. I'll advance as you suggested :) 

[Susanna Babayan]

oh btw, I've seen this Advice on how to prepare for the ACP-420 certification? but it felt kinda dated...

[Susan Waldrip]

Glad you posted this link, @Susanna Babayan! I agree some of the references are outdated or N/A at this point, but there may be some good advice on this page and its links for some folks, too. It all helps!

[Susanna Babayan]

hey @Susan Waldrip

yeah, I thought of collecting everything I could in once post and then question what's new and what's old. made sense to me...