Advice !!!

[Vero Rivas]

Hi Everyone

  My certification exam for the ACP-620 is approaching with a lot of nerves

  Those of you who have already taken the exam, what advice would you give me to face it successfully

   All advice will be well received !!! 🙏

Cheers 👌💪

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

I'll say what my parents taught me when I was at school - exams are not to be feared, don't be nervous, just work your way through it and if you're not getting good questions, so what, there's another chance later.

The nature of the Atlassian exams means you can adopt a speed-run strategy to optimise your time and thought.  In exams like these you'll get short and long questions, and it is very likely there will be a mix of ones you can answer straight away or have to think about.  So it can be quite good to blitz through all the questions, stopping to read the shorter ones and quickly answer the ones you are highly confident of.   

After the first run through, you'll have a good feel for the sizing of the others, and this allows your brain to do a bit of subconscious memory searching - I often find a question I read in the first run and was not sure of pops into my forebrain on the second read of it.

The aim here is to score the points - each question is worth the same, so when you have a time limit, it's better to run through the 40% you can do quickly and easily to get the 40%, then the 30% that take a bit more time, then the 20% you really need to think about, and heck the last 10% where you're stuck - don't waste the time on them, just leave a couple of minutes at the end for guessing (answer all the questions, even if you don't know and you're guessing - there's a chance you might get the right one)

There's also the prep - make the space (exam centre or home space if you're doing it online) as comfortable and distraction-free as you can.   At a minimum, make sure you've got something to write with and on, and backups (even if it's just to note which questions you might want to skip and come back to, it's worth having a jot-pad around ), something to drink (nerves make a lot of people thirsty), and the 'phone is off, the kids are at school/minder/out and the cat is on the sofa, not your keyboard!

Overall, I'd reword what @Jimmy Seddon said - he's absolutely right but I'd say it as

• Read the questions carefully.  The way they are constructed can be a little torturous.  I helped write a couple of the exams, and revised some more of them later, and sometimes we had to construct very precise scenarios in the question, in order to make the right answer(s) unarguably right and the dstracors wrong.
• In the immortal words of DNA - Don't Panic.  
  • It's just an exam
  • You can do this
  • There's no huge penalty for a fail, just some money for a re-sit, and having to do a bit more revision for next time
  • Don't worry about the time constraints - when you start, you will feel like there's little time, but if you blitz through the first 40% that don't hurt, that feeling will fade.  The only bit to remember is to make sure you have 5 minutes at the end to ensure every question has an answer, even if it is just a roll of a di.
  • Relax, it's not going to hurt.  My sister, who had the same sort of exam training I did, pretends it's a game, or a pub quiz, that totally takes all the pressure off for her (and hence lets her concentrate!)

And lastly, I've been reading your answers.  You know what you're doing - I suspect the worst thing that might happen is actually that you'll waltz through this one so fast, you'll get a bit nervous that you haven't spent enough time on it!  Do not doubt your answers if it feels too fast - just use the free time to check them!

[Vero Rivas]

Wow @Nic Brough -Adaptavist- 

  Thank you very much for your words and advice, my morale has risen to superhero levels.

   I will continue to prepare and keep your every word in mind.

   Sincerely thank you and a hug

Cheers

[Alexander Bondarev]

Great answer, thanks @Nic Brough -Adaptavist- !

I agree with you on 100%!

[Jimmy Seddon · Accepted solution]

Hi @Vero Rivas!

My best recommendations would be this:

• Take your time, don't worry about the exam time limit you should have more then enough time to answer all the questions.
• Read all the questions carefully.  If you aren't 100% sure about your answer flag the question to review it again at the end.
• Relax, you are going to do just fine.  You know the material and you just have a few questions to answer to pass your certification.

Good luck!

-Jimmy

[Vero Rivas]

Hi @Jimmy Seddon 

   Many thanks for your words

   I will continue to prepare and take into account each of your advice, thank you for taking the time with your advice.

  Sincerely thank you and a hug

Cheers

[Ben Thoma]

I appreciate what @Nic Brough -Adaptavist- and @Jimmy Seddon have already told you. All I can add is that this webinar might give you even more peace of mind. Jimmy was a panelist for it and one of my favorite questions was, "Imagine you get on an elevator with a bunch of people heading to their Certification exam. You only have a few floors to tell them a bit of advice before they step into the exam room. What do you tell them?" 🤔

Break a leg, @Vero Rivas !

[Vero Rivas]

Many thanks @Ben Thoma  👌

[Sandra]

I'm planning on taking the ACP exams soon . any tips on extra things I can study aside the cert preparation course?

[Joanna Thurmann]

@Sandra There is great cert-prep content on Jimmy Talks Jira: https://www.youtube.com/@JimmyTalksJira/streams