Passed Core Exam!

Hi everyone!

After a few attempts at the first exam - i.e. the "Alteryx Core Certification" - I passed with a score of 90.7% last night!

My advice to others is to stay persistent and never let failure prevent you from retrying, finding out where (in which areas) you need to work to improve (if you do not pass the exam), and learn the "Nooks and Crannies" of Alteryx as you proceed in your certifications.

Before last night's attempt, my scores averaged around 69.2% and stagnated at that percentage until I continuously looked to see where I was having trouble. I also kept on revisiting the Documentation Page and making notes of the 'Nooks and Crannies' of the various tools.

Hope this helps and best of luck to all of you!

@davechndr

Licensing

Accepted answers

NicoleJohnson

Congrats, and that is such terrific advice for anyone learning to use this incredible tool and hoping to show off their skills through the certification process!! Persistence and curiosity are key, but it certainly helps to have such a supportive group of users and Alteryx advocates cheering everyone on!

The two greatest things about this Community are the endless resources (provided by both Alteryx and the various Community members), and then the enthusiasm that users share across the world for continuing to grow their skillset and then share their wins and knowledge with others. Such a fun, exciting, collaborative environment... and so great to hear about successes from people like you! Keep it up, you'll be passing the Advanced exam in no time!!

Cheers, and congrats again!

NicoleJohnson

@davechndr - you are absolutely correct about the unlimited resources on this Community, that's for sure!!

If you've read through the Advanced exam description here, that's a pretty accurate depiction of the exam itself, but I'll give you a few more tips from my experience when I took it:

1. The four practical questions are worth a significant number of points, so it's probably more critical to make sure you get those right in order to give yourself some wiggle room on getting a few of the multiple choice ones wrong. So if you're concerned about having time to finish those, I've seen others recommend that you skip ahead to the end, tackle the four practical questions first, and then go back and answer the multiple choice ones with the time remaining.

2. To prep for this exam, particularly the practical questions, do the Weekly Challenges!! This is the BEST method for preparation by far, especially since the Weekly Challenges are essentially the same format as the practical questions in the Advanced exam, other than the part where they don't give you an answer to compare to You'll also get great exposure to some of the topics covered in Advanced that were not in Core, such as tools/concepts in Spatial, Interface, Developer, etc.

3. Check out a some of the Live Training options in the Academy, particularly the Tips & Tricks ones. I seem to remember a few good tidbits of information in these trainings that showed up in the exam.

4. The only category that really caught me off guard (and that is challenging to prepare for if you don't currently use it) were the Alteryx Gallery questions. So I'd maybe just check out a few of the help articles on the Community ahead of time, just to familiarize yourself, and then remember that during the test, you can always reference the Community... so if you get stuck, use that Search feature!

Hope these recommendations help you & others feel confident in preparing for this exam... the best thing you can do is to practice with the many many many opportunities available throughout the Academy section of the Community - you won't be confronted with anything on the test that isn't available to learn somewhere on the Community site or in the built-in help & example features of Alteryx itself!

Best of luck, and well done with the hard work and enthusiasm for getting certified!!

Cheers,

davechndr

Hi @dondapati,

Thank you for your compliments! I very much appreciate that and your trust in me!

What I suggest you do is open the Alteryx program and go through the tool families - meaning categories of different tools. (Specifically, I would go through the different tools in the Preparation, Join, Parse, Transform and Interface families, as the tools within these families are a big weightage in this exam.)

To quickly learn these tools and how to configue/program them, you can click on each tool within the various families (once) and choose "Open Example." Once you do this, you can see the input data and simulate different outputs; there is also a paragraph description on how a tool is configured in different situations, next to each tool.

Please let me know if I can assist you in any other way!

Good luck!

Very best,

@davechndr

davechndr

Hi @dondapati!

Happy to help! Please let me know if I can help you further - I will be glad to when I get time.

Very best,

@davechndr

shomear1807

Hi @dchandra,

I am writing to you to check if you can advice how I can get the practical questions correct in the designor core exams. I am getting stuck in the 70's and I know that I am unable to crack the practical 3 pointer questions. I need some help in how to get the 3 pointers correct. Thanks!

wenjuanchen

Congratulations!

davechndr

Hello @shomear1807,

I also struggled with the practical application questions, as I too had low scores in that area, until I passed the exam.

To best tackle those practical application questions, I would do the following:

Use process of elimination to see which workflows will not give the output since these questions are Select all that apply. Since time is of the essence on this exam, anyone most likely will not find the time to go one-by-one on the workflows and see which ones do work. (So, once you eliminate/knock out which ones will not work, the remaining ones will work.)

Keep in mind that workflows with fewer tools may often yield the desired output, as the "KISS" method often worked in designing things -> "KISS" stands for "Keep it simple and stupid" -> I learned this when I was an engineer (mechanical).

Spend about 30 to 45 seconds to figure out (mentally, or on paper) just two ways you can get to the desired output in the exam question, and then see which workflows of the choices given will work.

I hope this helps, as I did the above three things that helped me increase my scores, to a passing score of 90.7% about a month and a half ago!

Take care and please let me know how else I may be of help to you!

Very best,

@davechndr

ZacharyM

Hi @Aboud -

The biggest recommendation I can give is to review the Prep Guide that is available when you register for the exam - it really is helpful (https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/ayx.policies/Core+Certification+Exam+Prep+Guide.pdf).

The biggest challenge with the Certification Exams is that they test not just the depth of your knowledge, but also the breadth. Because Alteryx is such a powerful tool, this means there is a lot being evaluated. Moreover, most things in Alteryx have more than one approach to solving them, and the exam will ask you to identify all solutions that will solve the problem - so its important to have a good grip on not just one way to do something, but multiple in some situations.

That said, you get 2 hours and you can use Alteryx to do the exercises as a follow-along. I recommend not closing anything else out, as some questions have nuance-likeness components to them where you can rely on work you did from a previous question to solve another. Prepare, then take the exam - it doesn't hurt to go through it once and fail. The example questions give a reasonably good idea, but if you don't pass the first time, don't get discouraged!

Best,

Zak

All comments

NicoleJohnson

Cheers, and congrats again!

davechndr

Hi @NicoleJohnson,

Thanks so much for your compliments and for your congrats!! You have definitely given me some encouragement to try hard for the next exam!!!

Do you mind me asking what is covered (in terms of topics) on the 'Alteryx Advanced Exam,' and how you recommend I go about preparing/learning the subject material?

I am all about preparing hard and succeeding in a new journey! It seems that there are unlimited resources on this site, right?

Thanks, again, and I will keep in touch!

My very best,

@dchandra

1BADLS1

Congratulations on your accomplishment!!!

davechndr

Hi @1BADLS1!!!

Thank you very much for your congratulations on my accomplishment!!! I certainly worked very hard, and did not let failure discourage me from my goals of trying again until I succeed! As I am sure you'd agree, persistence is key (which is what I stated in my first post, when I informed the Community on Monday about passing the Core Exam)!!!

How do you feel I will do on the next exam?

I very much welcome your advice.

Thanks, again!!!

My Best

@davechndr

danilang

Congrats and welcome to the club

It took me 2 tries as well. Patience and Practice were the cornerstones of my success

Dan

dondapati

Congrats @dchandra....

Really it is great to hear.

I am planning to write the exam. could give any suggestions how to prepare and any reference links

Thank you.

davechndr

Hi @dondapati,

Thank you for your compliments! I very much appreciate that and your trust in me!

Please let me know if I can assist you in any other way!

Good luck!

Very best,

@davechndr

wenjuanchen

Congratulations!

davechndr

Hi @wenjuanchen,

Thanks a million! Best of luck to you!

Regards,

@davechndr

Aboud

My Congratulations

I wish passing the exam

Can you give me your advice

How can I pass it easily

Any materials or files to read

How can I practice

Give me yourrrrrrrrrrrr advises

Thanks

ZacharyM

Hi @Aboud -

Best,

Zak

davechndr

Hi @Aboud ,

How are you doing?

Thank you very, very much for your compliments on my passing the Core Exam! I really appreciate your well wishes!

I can agree with the tips that Zak gave in his explanation about passing the Core Exam and like he said, do not be discouraged if you do not make it the 1st time around. (FYI - I needed a few tries myself, to make it through with that 90.7%.)

One thing that I would add to Zak's suggestions would be to get to know workflows well, and, be able to create simple ones and make them work. I'm seeing more emphasis on the need to master basic workflows.

For other tips I gave another member, please refer to my reply in pink text above, from my response on 9/6/2018. You'll notice that I spelled out any detailed recommendations for studying/passing the Core Exam.

Of course, please do let me know if you have any further questions.

Regards,

@dchandra

sbahali

Hi,

Is there any question bank where you can practice and appear for the exam. This is my first attempt and I scored 70.2% and I will have to pass by End of this month.

Regards,

Arun_KV

Hello Team -

I passed the core certification exam yesterday . I could see the badge on my profile , but I did not receive any email with the certificate (PDF document ) and the link to add the certificate to my linkedin profile yet.

Is there a need for any follow-ups here ? Please advise.

Thanks,

Arun

davechndr

Hello Arun,

Many congratulations on your achievement in passing the Core Exam on Tuesday! That is fantastic, and I also passed the Core Exam after a few tries at it, myself.

As for your certificate, you should be receiving it in your email (in .pdf format) within a couple days of your pass attempt.

I took my test on a Sunday evening and received my certificate the following day - that being on Mon. morning (first thing). Though, this was July 2018; I don't know if the time to receive a .pdf certificate since passing the Core Exam is longer or different since then.

One thing - make sure you check whichever email address you used, that is associated with your Alteryx account.

Hope this helps, Arun, and excellent job on your passing the exam!

Very Best,

- Dave Chandra

estherb47

@Arun_KV

Congratulations!!! Fantastic news. Thank you for sharing it here.

Cheers!

Esther

EricR

Hi @Arun_KV ,

Congratulations on earning your Core certification! You will receive your certificate in an email within 48 hours of your exam time. That email will include a link to your certificate that you can post to your LinkedIn profile (basic instructions will be provided in the email). On occasion, messages are intercepted by filters, so if you don't receive your message within that time frame, send an email to certification@alteryx.com from the email address that you provided when you took the exam and we will be happy to assist you.

Thanks @davechndr for your help!

All the best,

Eric

Alteryx Certification Team

Arun_KV

Thank you folks . Really appreciate all your inputs !!

Razzle

Wow, Nice work!

aditrio1

Thanks for sharing your experience! Mine is similar -- I will be attempting the exam again today!

Raghunatha_Ganjikunta

Thanks for sharing your experience on Alteryx Core certification.

I am trying for certification , i have attempted 4 times so far getting 45%,68%,71%,73% still preparing and most probably in next 2 weeks i will attempt one more time.

taking notes on documentation for each tool , at least this time i need to complete.

Thanks

Raghu

davechndr

Hello Raghu,

Thanks for taking the time to reach out to me! Very much appreciated!

I am providing the following tips from my experience with the Alteryx Core Designer Exam which (by the way) has changed since my post that indicated that I passed the Core Exam - that post by me was two years ago.

Yes, taking good notes helps on the Documentation tools, but, more importantly trying the weekly challenges helps with the 7 or 8 questions that involve creating workflows in Alteryx, based on large Excel sheets/tables. What I found, is that the Excel/Alteryx questions are more involved and count more in the Alteryx (first-level) Core Designer Exam -so by being able to piece together workflows, from the practical exercises that are there, should help you increase your marks to a minimum passing score of 80%. If you like, you can also create your own Excel tables (just make them small) and feed them into an Alteryx workflow of your choice (make sure that use as many of the preparation tools' family, as you can - these are the most important ones).

Raghu -the most important thing on this exam is to manage your time good, as the two hours expires before you know it. I had trouble finishing the exam because I did not know the new format of the first-level exam until I needed to re-take it to try to keep my certificate active, and only saw the Excel/Alteryx questions for the first time a month ago.

Hope this helps and please let me know if I can help you in other ways.

Best of luck,

@davechndr

JEFFBRAKE

Congrats. I'm failed my first try at the Micro Core Data Prep. Test result feedback is so-so. Would prefer to see which questions missed.