All You Need To Know About The New Google AdWords Exam

What's New?

First of all, if you have already passed the old Google Advertising Fundamentals Exam (that is, before November 2009) then you will have to sit the new exam. But don't worry, you have 6 months until your old qualification expires, during which you can sit the new exam at any time.

Whether you're an existing Professional re-sitting the exam, or you're a newbie (like me), then you'll need to brush up on the new format of the test and familiarise yourself with the new-look AdWords Learning Centre.

The Learning Centre has been structured to show you exactly what you need to study for each exam. Just click the exam links at the bottom of the page and the relevant modules will display on the right hand side, with any irrelevant modules greyed out. This is a helpful modification from the old version where it was often difficult to know whether you were studying the relevant materials or not.

There are now 4 tests in total, each at the standard cost of US$50, however the only one you need to complete to obtain your Google Advertising Professionals certificationis the most basic test - the Google Advertising Fundamentals (GAF) Exam. The other three exams are there for those who want to specialise in areas like Search, Display or Data Analysis. For now though, let's start with the basic GAF exam.


Preparation

So, where do you start? With a plan of course!

This test is not overly difficult and there are no trick questions, but if you don't cover all sections in your study then you will come unstuck in the exam (speaking from experience here) as it covers pretty much all of the categories in the Learning Centre. The last thing you want is to skip over one section in your study, only to have 5 questions in a row in the exam on that very subject (again, from experience!).

The best way to avoid this is to set aside time each day to dedicate to the learning modules. Set yourself a goal of say, two sections  of the Learning Centre per day, so it will take you four days to get through the 8 Lessons required for the GAF exam. As this part of the study is all text based, I recommend adding in another element like taking notes or drawing mind maps to help the information sink in. You can also cut down on your time by identifying what you do and don't already know about AdWords so you can dedicate more time to learning new material.

For the other three days I recommend using all of the other resources available. So, as well as the AdWords Learning Centre, there is also the On-demand Tutorials, and any of the free Google webinars you have time to attend. The webinars are a great resource for getting up-to-date information on the new exam format and they usually schedule time at the end to submit your own questions for a live Q and A session.


The Exam

The GAF exam goes for 2h and contains 120 questions. This means you've got exactly one minute per question, so use your time wisely but don't rush. I had on average about 15 minutes of spare time after answering all the questions to go back and review some of my answers. If you are unsure of any questions as you go through the test, there is a handy 'Mark' button at the bottom of the screen which flags the question so you can easily get back to it when you do your review.

It is essential to read each question carefully as you go through the exam. There aren't any trick questions, but the little details that can be skipped over have the potential to alter the question completely and steer your answer off track.

The new exam format requires you to download a Google program that actually shuts down all running programs on your computer and locks your computer into the test. It's a new preventative measure to stop users from sourcing answers from around the web. This means you can't open any other applications until the test is complete, so if you're using a laptop make sure you are either near a power source or confident that it's got enough battery life.

In the unfortunate event that you fail the exam, don't worry, you can sit it again after 7 days -- however you do have to pay the US$50 fee each time. One frustration that I found was that if you do fail, there is no feedback on which questions you got right or wrong, just the overall percentage you got right, so it's difficult to know where you need to focus your studies for the next time. The only way to get around this was to revise the areas where you feel least confident and study them the most. There's no easy way, just study, revise, study!

Good luck to everyone, and please share your experience in the comments below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

This article was posted by Chris Pahor. Chris is a specialist in Search Engine Marketing at Traffika. You can follow Chris on Twitter @chrispahor.