I recently had an opportunity to take the Google Advertising Fundamentals Exam, what fun! Overall it was a good experience, but here are a few tips that I wish I had known before taking it:
1) Read all of the materials in the learning center for the exam. Even if you’ve been working with Adwords for a while, this could still be useful for the random trivia they throw at you. Especially if there’s a new feature or if one might have been updated.
2) Watch all of the videos. Whether it was intentional or not, there are topics which are not covered in the readings but covered in the videos. You’ll definitely have a few gaps in your learning, if you skip the videos. Here is one that I thought was great at explaining quality score.
3) Best practices for ads are important. Review Google’s list for the exam.
4) Know what to expect when you click Begin Exam. Once I started the exam, my screen blacked out, so I only had the exam in front of me…. no googeling! If you plan on using notes, print them out.
5) 120 questions and 120 minutes. I nearly ran out of time, so bust out the questions you can. As with most certification exams, at least put down an answer and mark it to come back to, before you finish.
6) Experience counts. If you’ve been working with accounts for any amount of time the exam will be much easier for you. Some of the questions have you thinking through real life scenarios and choosing the best solutions. New account managers may find it a little more challenging.
Before taking the exam, I wasn’t quite clear on the adwords account access levels. Know the limits you can place on accounts! Also be fully aware that text, image and video ads are all covered equally. If you’re more familiar with one than the other be sure to read up. Best of luck!
