How to study for Atlassian certification ACP-120 and Atlassian Cloud Organization Admin Certific

[Chiara Squilloni]

Hi all,

I'm a long way Jira administrator (since 2015) and I recently survied on a cloud migration of my jira organization.

Now I am preparing to obtain these jira certification:

ACP-120 Jira Administration for Cloud Certification https://university.atlassian.com/student/page/832603-acp-120-jira-administration-for-cloud-exam · Atlassian Cloud Organization Admin Certification https://university.atlassian.com/student/activity/1364454-atlassian-cloud-organization-admin-certification?sid=bae1cf83-30e9-4b86-a187-1cf31691c99a&sid_i=1

I am following the learing path on Atlassian Accademy but I want to know if I can access on a exam simulator in order to feel more confident and prepare my self.

Do you know if exist a simulator for the exam?

Also where did you study for these certification? 

Thank you in advance,

Chiara

[Valerie Knapp]

Hi @Chiara Squilloni , thanks for your question.

I have both of these certifications.

I would say for the ACP-520, honestly, I just followed the course in the Atlassian University and went and passed the exam. If you regularly are doing the things an admin does in the cloud, like updating groups, product access, looking at billing, the user access settings, etc, you should be fine. 

ACP-520

I prepared for the ACP-520 following this guide - https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Training-Certification-articles/How-to-prepare-for-ACP-520-Atlassian-Cloud-Organization-Admin/ba-p/2441713

I would recommend to at least read this page as it has links to all of the documentation for the exam topics, which, in the pdf from the course, the links don't work, it's just a list of topics (Atlassian Cloud Organization Admin Certification : Atlassian)

I also completed these courses, basically following the Learning Path here - Atlassian Cloud Organization Admin : Atlassian

Atlassian Cloud Organization Admin Certification : Atlassian

Atlassian Access Administration : Atlassian

In the test, I scored like this -

Your score:??84%

Content Breakdown:

1.0??Atlassian Organizations:?85%
2.0??Users and Groups:?75%
3.0??Admin Roles:?100%
4.0??Advanced features:?87%

Many of the questions concentrate on practical scenarios dealing with users / groups / product roles. I think you could do the certification course and, if you have a lot of experience working at the organization / site level, that the questions from the course are a good preparation. I did read the documentation from the list of exam topics, but if it helped me, it was just to consolidate what I had already gained from the course.

A typical question would be -

A user group is deleted from the organization, which problems could this cause in Jira?

or this user appears like this in the directoy, what can you tell about them from this current status?

The certfication preparation course is very well structured, with lots of opportunities to practice test questions within each chapter or section of the guide. However, I would say the course and the questions rely on you having previous experience configuring Jira and Confluence in the cloud, so I would recommend at least the ACP-620 before you try this, if not also the ACP-120.

I also used the app, Quizlet, where I found a set of flashcards for the ACP-520 which were helpful -Flashcard Atlassian ACP 520 - Atlassian Cloud Organization Admin Certification | Quizlet

ACP-120

To prepare for the ACP-120, I studied every day after work for one hour and a few hours at the weekend for at least 8 weeks before attempting the exam. I also already had the certifications for ACP-610 and ACP-620.

My advice is to make regular time to study every day and then, as you get closer to the exam, to try to find as many exam questions as possible and take the practice exams over and over again until you get a perfect score.

If at all possible, that you should try to take the exam in person. The online exam proctoring is always a nightmare. It takes forever to check-in, so you start the exam late, and it just adds unnecessary stress to a test which is already difficult.

Also, only use Atlassian practice exam questions. There are many other resources, like exam dumps, Udemy and study sites, but they tend to have mistakes or errors and it will not help you to learn the incorrect answers, again, for an already difficult exam. Atlassian make the product so they are the only ones who can guarantee the questions are accurate, up-to-date and in the same style as the exam.

Here are some of sample questions I used to prepare myself:
Managing Permissions in Jira Cloud: https://university.atlassian.com/student/path/904496/activity/1163740
JQL for Admins: https://university.atlassian.com/student/path/1006524/activity/1314419
Jira Administration for Cloud Certification Prep (ACP-120): https://university.atlassian.com/student/path/838340/activity/1054385

These are all of the courses I completed to prepare myself:

Jira Administration Part 1 : Atlassian

Jira Administration Part 2 : Atlassian

Managing Permissions in Jira Cloud : Atlassian

Jira Automation for Admins : Atlassian

JQL for Admins : Atlassian

Customizing Jira Workflows : Atlassian

Atlassian Certification: 5 Insider Tips for Success : Atlassian

Jira Automation in Jira Software Premium : Atlassian

3 Jira Experts on the Mistakes that Still Haunt Them : Atlassian

Managing Agile Boards and Reports : Atlassian

Jira Administration for Cloud Certification Prep (ACP-120) : Atlassian

In the actual exam, I felt prepared for most questions. However, they asked a lot of questions about Team-Managed projects. For example, how you can customise the workflow and just lots of questions about the different possibilities that are available. By my calculations, as you cannot see your exam result, I felt I missed the most number of questions related to team-managed projects. I will include my breakdown if it can helpful. There are also, in the preparation courses, many more questions about the administration at organization level of the Cloud. I think in the near future, these will be transferred to the new qualification they are launching - ACP-AOA Atlassian Certified Organization Administrator (Coming early 2023).

Your score:??81%

Content Breakdown:

1.0??Access, Permissions, Security:?88%

2.0??General Project Configuration:?75%

3.0??Issue Types, Fields, Screens:?75%

4.0??Workflows and Automation:?77%

5.0??Notifications:?80%

6.0??Advanced User Features:?87%

7.0??System Administration / Administering Jira:?83%

This ^ is what I wrote up after my experience for work. I hope this helps you but if you have any questions or feedback, let us know here.

Good luck!

[Ree Kent]

Hello @Chiara Squilloni The prep course includes sample questions that are very similar to what you will see on the exam. They are useful for several reasons. They can be used to check your understanding of the content. They provide examples of the structure of the actual exam questions; you read and analyze the question, and then review the options to determine the correct answer. Whenever possible, use the process of elimination to help identify the correct answer. And finally, the sample questions include notes to explain why the correct answer is right and why the incorrect answers are wrong. This last point is important as they will help you understand how to logically evaluate the given choices. 

Another tip, when taking the exam, if you get stuck, you can flag a question and come back to it later. Just be sure to answer all the questions.

I hope that helps! 

[Valerie Knapp]

Agree with @Ree Kent that it's a great tip is to go through all the exam questions and answer the ones you are confident about first. Flag anything you aren't sure about and come back to it. In this way, you can save time to go back through and check over anything you are't sure about.

I re-read everything, even the questions I have already answered. In a recent ACA certification exam, when I was doing a re-read, I noticed that I hadn't thoroughly read a question and ended up changing at least one answer. As a result, I got a 100%, so it pays to try to approach the exams as logically and thoughtfully as possible. Try (I know it's stressful) to stay calm, take your time and you will be great!

Best of luck!

[Joanna Thurmann]

@Valerie Knapp Great tip and congrats on your 100% perfect score!