It has been 2 months since I got my Alteryx Designer Core Certification, so I think maybe it’s time to give the Advanced Exam a try. Luckily I passed the exam in my first attempt. In this blog I’d like to share my experience and some tips about the exam.
Exam Format
Generally there are two types of questions in the exam: 36 multiple choice/ select all apply/ match questions, and 4 practical questions. The first type is worth 1 point per question, while the second type is 10 points per question. Unlike the Core Exam where practical questions are randomly allocated in all questions, in the Advanced Exam 4 practical questions come first.
Time allotted is also 2 hours, so you’ll probably spend the first hour in the practical part. The passing score is 80% as well. This means you have to get a least 3 out of 4 practical questions correct to pass the exam. More details about the exam can be found in the Exam Prep Guide.
Exam Preparation
The interactive lessons Advanced Certification Learning Path on Alteryx Community is a good staring point. It covers most of the topics and tools that will be in the exam. If you’re already very familiar with these tools, try to solve some Weekly Challenges to make sure you know how to approach a problem. There are also practice exams at the end of prep guide and learning path. These can give you an idea about what the exam questions look like.
Alteryx also provides a series of videos covering 5 main fields in the exam – spatial, macros, apps, reporting, and advanced preparation & parse. I especially found this one helpful because it gives you an overview of the exam. Some exam tips and strategy, including how questions and points are allocated in each fields, are also included here.
Exam Tips
Similar to the Core Exam, the Advanced Exam is also open book. Have any resources or webpages open before you start. I had Alteryx Help Document open (especially the Functions page). This would be very helpful if you can’t remember all the DateTime Specifiers like me. In addition, you can also have some built Alteryx workflow open. So if you get questions asking about a specific tool configuration and you’re unsure of, you can quickly refer to those workflow as examples. I also had RegExr open to verify my regular expression in practical questions.
Time management is another important thing. Make your best guess on a question you’re unsure of, bookmark it, and move on. Don’t be stuck in one question for too long. Leave them in the end after finishing all other questions.
If you feel yourself prepared, then just give it a go. The exam is free and can be retaken every 7 days. On your certification it won’t say how many times you’ve attempted. So approaching the real exam can be a good way of practicing. Take advantage of it and improve yourself accordingly.
I hope you found this blog helpful and good luck on your Alteryx Designer Advanced exam!
