Taking the Salesforce.com Admin Exam

It’s been over a year since I took the Admin exam so I am sure it’s a little different, perhaps more scenario-based than I remember, and probably harder. But I think the following test-taking advice still applies. Read my advice carefully and then take some of the sample tricky questions I have below. See how you do… then read my advice again.


So you should first understand how the exam is structured. It is 60 questions, multiple choice, and hard. I won’t sugar coat it. You have 90 minutes to complete the exam and get at least 36 questions right. If you can do that, get 60% right, then you will pass. Passing is good.


Second, you should know that there are two options for how you take the exam. The first is a test center. In Cleveland, OH we use New Horizons located in Garfield Heights. When you go there you have to relinquish all of your cheat materials – phone, flash cards, and 7-11 Big Gulp cup. The test room is monitored by the proctor at the front desk and you cannot talk to any other people in the room with you. At the test center they will provide you with two pages of blank paper and two pencils. You may not think you’d need them but I know I used the paper. I hash marked the questions I knew I had right… good to know how close you are to the magic 36. I also used it to try and visualize certain questions, especially the ones dealing with security and giving users access to records. It’s nice to see the parent child relationship in front of you before you commit to answer C. 


The other option is online. When you commit to this option, be advised that you need a standalone web camera. You cannot use the one built into your laptop. Before you launch the exam, find yourself a nice quiet room. You cannot be in an area where people will be walking past you, talking, or feeding you the answers on paper airplanes. Once you are in your comfy, private place Kryterion (who hosts the online exam for Salesforce.com) will walk you through setting up the web cam at the right angle and completing your biometric enrollment status taking a picture of yourself with the webcam. Once that is done, you keep your desk clear and start the exam. There is a remote proctor that is making sure you don’t slip a cheat sheet out of your sleeve or phone a friend for help. No cell phones, paper, or writing utensils are allowed. If you are comfortable with this set up and an eye in the sky watching you, this is a nice option because you can do it from home, in your jammies, and with your hair all unruly. Yes, I have done that.


More than physically taking the exam, I think the you need to know how to mentally take the exam. This is my third and final point. The questions are not easy. They are not clear cut. They are wordy and sometimes very scenario-based. I recommend taking the following approach to every question:


1. Read the question carefully
2. Re-read the question carefully and look for the true question
3. Read the answers carefully
4. Rule out any answers that don’t make sense (usually at least one)
5. Treat each multiple choice answer as its own true-false statement in regards to the question
6. Question options that grammatically don’t fit
7. And remember that you are looking for the BEST answer, not just the RIGHT one(s).


Let’s break it down with this example:


Question: A prospective customer completed a Web-to-lead form on your corporate Web site. Upon follow up with a sales representative, the customer indicated he intends to buy your product. In the Salesforce CRM application, what is the process for moving a prospect to a customer?


When you read that question, note the following key terms:


Question: A prospective customer completed a Web-to-lead form on your corporate Web site. Upon follow up with a sales representative, the customer indicated he intends to buy your product. In the Salesforce CRM application, what is the process for moving a prospect to a customer?


What is the real question? How can you make a lead into an account? Remember that Leads are one standard object in their own table and Accounts are a separate object with their own table. Visually, it looks like this:

Okay, now for the answer choices:
A. Prospect validation
B. Account Setup
C. Lead Conversion
D. Contact Management


Which one doesn’t fit? To me, I would say, ‘Prospect Validation.’ I know you can score leads but I am not familiar with any prospect validation tool built into Salesforce.com. Products like “Google AdWords” will do this for companies by analyzing leads generated from their Google Search Engine but in this scenario, the prospect didn’t google your company; they went directly your corporate website. 


So that leaves B, C, and D. Let’s go back to the real question: “How can you switch (or convert) a lead (the prospect) to an account (or customer)? To me, C makes the most sense. After all, we basically just asked how to convert a lead to an account. 


Sure enough, that is the answer. 


Now it’s your turn. Here are four more questions for you to tackle on your own. Good luck. And no cheating.


Question 1: Acme Computers has a private sharing model for their Salesforce.com solution. However, they found that they need sales reps to have access to accounts based on criteria such as zip code, account revenue, and number of employees. What is the best solution for Acme? (Select 2)
A. Lead Assignment Rules
B. Territory Management
C. Customizable Forecasting
D. Account Sharing Rules


Question 2: Universal Containers is in the early planning stage to implement salesforce.com. The business is asking what metrics to track to determine whether the implementation is a success. Select three quantitative metrics you recommend to track the adoption:
A. Number of logins per week
B. Count of activities created
C. Number of people who are uncomfortable using the application
D. New contacts created daily
E. Number of downloaded AppExchange analytic packages


Question 3: How long can the administrator restore data from the recycle bin for?
A. Not at all
B. 30 days
C. 15 days
D. Unlimited time


Question 4: Marketing is excited to launch a new product and wants to track related transactions. They requested an email be automatically sent to notify them. As a system administrator, you:
A. Create a Dashboard
B. Create a workflow to send an email each time that product is added to an opportunity
C. Train them to leverage the Global Search function
D. Encourage each user to follow the products through Chatter