I took the Google Adwords Qualified Professional exam last weekend and managed to pass with a 95%. The exam wasn’t as bad as I expected, but it is definitely something you need to prepare for in advance. What’s important to note, when you search for tips on the exam, is that Google changed their test dramatically at some point between the summer of 2009 and the beginning of 2010. Most of the tips I have found in my own searches refer to the old version.  The current exam is much more difficult than it used to be. In light of this, I thought it might be useful to many people to have an updated set of tips to look at.

HOW THE EXAM WORKS:

- You get 120 minutes to finish 120 questions.
- You need 85% to pass, which means you can’t get more than 18 questions wrong.
- You can leave questions unanswered or marked and come back to them later.
- Don’t plan to keep other tabs and windows open while you take this exam. Google makes you download an application that prevents you from doing anything else.

HOW YOU SHOULD STUDY, AND SPECIFIC TOPICS THAT MIGHT BE HARD:

- Make sure you go over everything in the learning center, specifically the area dedicated to the Google Advertising Fundamentals Exam. Definitely go through all the e-learnings; the way they’re designed makes the information a lot easier to digest and remember than simply reading blocks of text.

- Know what’s allowed and what’s not. Study the policies, the requirements for ad text, the format guidelines. Don’t just skim these things; Google asks very specific questions.

- Spend time clicking around and exploring the Google Adwords My Client Center. Google asks things along the lines of, “To ____, you must go to the ____ under the ____ tab.” You really need to know the organization, the tabs, and what happens in each of them.

- Don’t just know the rules and guidelines; make sure you understand them enough to think through a lot of hypothetical scenarios. The e-learnings have some pretty good examples of these. (Click here for an example of an e-learning containing quizzes that are very similar to some test questions. Click on #6 and #9 in the links on the left.)

- I guess following the example I posted in that last tip, you should know the rules for language and location targeting. Those details get a little tricky.

- Definitely make sure you can clearly differentiate between keyword targeting (on the Search Network) and placement targeting (on the Content network).  Google asks a lot of questions back and forth between these to try to trip you up.

SOME MORE GENERAL ADDENDUMS:

Be sure to read the questions carefully. The most subtle differences in the wording of a question can result in a drastically different answer. To make your life easier, I would outline a study sheet and print it out for reference beside you. If you want you might choose to set up another computer to search for information on, but don’t plan to have lots of time to look up questions.  You should know the material and leave the option of looking things up as a backup.  Otherwise your chances of failing are pretty high.

If you create a longer and more detailed document for yourself that you leave up on the second computer, you could simply use the Find function to locate things quickly by searching for specific words or phrases. In my document I kept information like very specific ad formatting guidelines, and it came in handy. There is definitely information that you’re tested on that’s impossible to completely memorize, especially if you’re asked to be certified within two weeks (as a lot of companies seem to require these days).

That’s all I can think of for now. I’ll edit this list as more comes to mind.

Click here to leave a comment.