10-week study plan for ACP-300 Agile Development with Jira Software

[#1]

This certification (along with ACP-400 Atlassian Certified Jira Service Desk Administrator) does not require years of experience as a Jira Administrator which was part of the reason I choose this as my second certification to study towards and achieve.

Unlike ACP-600 Project Administration in Jira Server, the certification prep course guides you need in what you need to study not what information you need to know i.e. it gives you the questions you should be able to answer not the answers themselves.

For that reason, this study plan has 3 phases including product training tutorials, examination preparation videos, and time for studying before sitting the exam.

Week	Task
1	Enrol in 'Agile Development with Jira Software', download and read Exam Topics ACP-300 Agile Development with Jira Software. Bookmark the Jira Software product documentation.
2	Watch Getting Started with Jira Software
3	Watch Getting More from Jira Workflows
4	Watch Jira Reporting and Dashboards
5	Watch Agile Development with Jira Software Certification Prep Welcome, and topics 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
6	Watch Agile Development with Jira Software Certification Prep topics 6, 7, 8, and 9
7	Read Agile Development with Jira Software Certification Prep Case Studies, watch topic 10 Case Studies, and complete Course Wrap Up
8	Have an hour study session. Review the exam topics PDF and answer all the questions.
9	Book your exam. Have an hour study session. Review the exam topics PDF and answer all the questions.
10	Have an hour study session if needed. Review the exam topics PDF and answer all the questions.

Do I really need to all of those courses?

No, of course not. Even the highly recommended certification preparation course is not prerequisite for sitting the exam.

This study plan makes use of the training that is available as a suggested approach and also because access to (some) of these are a perk for being a Community Leader and/or working for an Atlassian Solution Partner.

How did you study for ACP-300?

[Jimmy Seddon]

@Kat Warner  This is awesome!  I still haven't done the ACP-300 cert yet so I'm going to use this and I'll let you know how things go!  Thanks for putting this together!

[Kat Warner]

@Jimmy Seddon - I'd love to hear your feedback.

[Anne Akinbiyi]

Thanks for the advise Kat, I will follow this process. Have you taken the exam yet?

[Kat Warner]

I passed ACP-300 last year and have my renewal coming up soon. I did not use this guide however I do have someone in my team following it right now.

[Anne Akinbiyi]

Congratulations, this is very encouraging. Can you provide me any tips? Did you find the exam very hard? What material did you use to study?

[Kat Warner]

To be honest if feels like a lifetime ago. I used the certification prep course and relied on my existing experience with Jira and Aglie practices to see me through.

[Nathaniel Simpson]

@Kat WarnertHanks again for putting this recommended study plan together.

Note: Getting Started with Jira Software no longer exists for purchase/use, you may want to update the plan to include Jira Essentials with Agile Mindset ($300) and Learn the Basics with Free Tutorials instead :)

Regards

Nathaniel

[Kat Warner]

@Nathaniel Simpson - a few of my articles need updating after the great updates made to Atlassian University in December 2019 and January 2020.

[Nathaniel Simpson]

An Update ... I was successful in passing ACP-300 Agile Development with Jira Software after about 6 weeks of intense preparation. A colleague of mine completed it with 3 weeks of prep but I would expect that this is the extreme exception rather than the norm.

I know there is many different ways to complete getting your certification and thought it may help some of you to understand the thought process and methodology I used to prepare (and pass) the ACP-300 exam as there may be some similarities for helping you as you prepare to get certified.

Some Useful study tips

I had successfully completed AC-JSW Atlassian Certified in Jira Project Administration prior to this ACP-300 exam. I would strongly recommend this as a prerequisite before attempting the ACP-300 exam. The preparation material Atlassian provides (Project Administration in Jira Server) is very good and by having ACP-600 it actually allowed me to be able to learn ACP-300 materials much quicker. Check out more info on how to prepare for the ACP-600 in the community article 10-week study plan for ACP-600 Project Administration in Jira Server also prepared by @Kat Warner.

To help prepare me for the ACP-300 exam I went through the Agile Development with Jira Software Certification Prep course sentence by sentence and used Atlassian product documentation and Atlassian online forums to find information on each of the discussed topics. I also tried to replicate each of the discussed scenarios using a free version of Jira Software Cloud using the built in sample data for Kanban and Scrum Boards.

I completed the three recommended trainings Getting More from Jira Software (This was the best for going through advanced Jira topics), Jira Reporting and Dashboards (This was good for going through a detailed analysis for Agile Reports) and Jira Essentials with Agile Mindset (This course is really an intro to how to use Jira and discusses similar Agile concepts that I had covered in my Scrum Master certifications. I didn't find it so relevant for preparing for the ACP-300 exam. As previously mentioned I would recommend the Project Administration in Jira Server course instead of Jira Essentials if you are tight on the budget and/or time).

Finally to test if I was ready for the exam after all this study I completed the badges ASB-616 Customizing Jira Workflows and ACB-312 Jira Reporting and Dashboards as they provided a good basis to understand what further types of questions might be asked, simulate an online exam environment and to gauge If I was ready to take the ACP-300 exam.

After all this hard work, time and investment was it worth it? Definitely yes! I feel I have a very advanced understanding of Agile development in Jira Software and would STRONGLY recommend becoming an Atlassian Certified Professional to any user who uses Jira Software and Agile methodologies.

All the Best with your Atlassian endevours!

Nathaniel

[Shalu Sandha]

Hello All,

I have one query, that I am not a technical person; I have worked as a Business Process Consultant for 10 years and now aiming to move on with Agile Coaching. So would like to know, I should go for this Cert r not? will it be beneficial for me to coach and mentor Scrum Team for Agile transformation projects? Please enlighten!

Regards,

Shalu

[Kat Warner]

@Shalu Sandha This certification may be appealing to potential customers who use Jira and want to have confidence that the agile coaching give to their team uses the language and shared understanding of the tool that is already in place.

[Seth Copeland]

Hello All,

I was looking at the ACP-300 exam for cert as thought it was a good idea to get some depth here, but when I got into it I found I'm starting to have second thoughts. I'm new to the community but a bit shocked. For a exam like the ACP-300, the suggestions is we take all these courses - but we are talking about a prep course here for $400, another for $300 and perhaps others for $300-$400 dollars. I bought the $50 prep package for preparing for the ACP-300 but its just a repeat of a sylabus plus a few extra questions and discussion of what they want you to know. Given the level of quality you can see on other course offered from organizations like Coursera or EDx, the Atlassian approach was a jike.

I am wondering how people can justify $1,500 roughly for these prep course and exam fee to get this little piece of paper when in fact what we are talking about is a software tool. In the end its just a certificate that says to the world you are competent in applying and using the tool and are vetted.  It seems like certification is now a profit center for Atlassian in addition to the software so wondering if there is any way to stay away from this black hole or if its even worth it.  I dont mind paying someting for the effort and cost, but a series of videos for $400 - it is gouging and seems like the expectatiuon is that everyone who enrolls is backed by a corporation.

Seems to me that you should be able to take these cert exams if you reed the technical literature that you can download via PDF from the site. Otherwise, what is the point? Its a tool - not a methodogy or paradigm or an international standard. Has anyone found good educations resources other then the Atlassian monopoly? I took the PMP last year and it is not even 1/2 the cost of one of these Atlassian certs and that was with a 40 hours online prep course included.  

[Kat Warner]

Hi @Seth Copeland, the study plan I wrote takes advantage of my free access to many Atlassian resources which are available to Atlassian Community Leaders and employees of Atlassian Solution Partners.

Many people do and have passed the exams using their practical experience, self-study, and the free Skillbuilders offered by Atlassian. Doing this means there is only the cost of the exam.

You can also find Atlassian training courses on Linked In if you have a premium subscription and other places online.

[Julia]

@Seth Copeland , Atlassian offers two Certification packages that might interest you:  Project Administration in Jira Server, and Managing Jira Cloud Projects.

Each package is a full training course and an exam voucher, bundled for USD $100.

Server: https://www.atlassian.com/university/certification/certifications/exam-acp-600

Cloud: https://www.atlassian.com/university/certification/certifications/exam-acp-620

If you have at least 6 months experience with Jira, these training courses prepare you for the Certification (along with study and practice.)