How to analyze your Salesforce certification exam results

Did you recently take a Salesforce certification exam? Did you fail? Do you want to try again? If so, good!

Everyone fails Salesforce exams. I have failed at least three Salesforce exams, probably more. You are not alone. Still, it sucks to fail an exam of any kind, especially one directly related to your career.

This article will show you how to analyze your Salesforce certification exam results, understand your knowledge gaps, and optimize your study time for your retake.

I will use the Platform Developer I exam because I have failed the exam twice so far. I want to analyze my section-level feedback to better understand my overall performance and make a study plan so I can pass the exam on my third—and hopefully final—attempt.

Why not put my glorious failures on display for all the world to see? After all, I believe failure is good. Failing means you tried something beyond your reach and came up short, but you still tried. Failure is extremely useful, too, if you use it as an opportunity to learn and grow.

I hope this article helps you learn from my failures and study more effectively for your next Salesforce certification exam, even if it is your first Salesforce certification exam.

A word of caution before we begin

Do not obsess about tactical minutiae of my analysis, like which Salesforce certification exam I analyze or which tools I use to perform my calculations. The exam and the tools do not matter. What matters is the approach, the thought process.

This approach will work for any Salesforce certification exam and any set of tools you have at your disposal. If necessary, you could even perform my calculations using (gasp!) a pencil and paper. Do not let tactical minutiae stop you from understanding what your Salesforce certification exam results mean and how you can use them to learn and grow.

With that said, let’s dive in.

Platform Developer I: A tale of two failures

Here is what Salesforce has to say about the Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I program.

The Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I credential is intended for individuals who have knowledge, skills, and experience building custom applications on the Force.com platform.

This credential encompasses the fundamental programmatic capabilities of the Force.com platform to develop custom business logic and interfaces to extend Salesforce using Apex and Visualforce. To achieve this credential, a candidate must successfully pass the Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I exam. This exam is also a prerequisite to the Salesforce Certified Platform Developer II Multiple Choice exam.

This exam guide provides information about the Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I exam.

Given that I have a near-total absence of knowledge, skills, and experience building programmatic anything on the Force.com platform, I knew passing the Platform Developer I exam would be difficult, though not impossible.

My first attempt

On July 29, 2017, I took the Platform Developer I exam for the first time and failed.

Here are the section-level scores from my first attempt.

• Logic and Process Automation: 32%
• User Interface: 50%
• Salesforce Fundamentals: 83%
• Data Modeling and Management: 85%
• Debug and Deployment Tools: 83%
• Testing: 42%

My overall score was 52%.

I did well on Salesforce Fundamentals, Data Modeling and Management, and Debug and Deployment Tools. I did poorly, however, on Logic and Process Automation, User Interface, and Testing.

My results were disappointing but not surprising. You see, I knew I would fail. I took the exam to test my limits and get a better understanding my strengths and weaknesses, an honest self-assessment.

What’s more, the Platform Developer I exam is an obstacle I must overcome on my journey to Salesforce Certified Technical Architect and complete all of the “Measures” in my V2MOM for Q1 2018. (I failed to accomplish that goal by the way.)

My second attempt

On March 31, 2018, I took the Platform Developer I exam again and failed again.

Here are the section-level scores from my second attempt.

• Logic and Process Automation: 41%
• User Interface: 50%
• Salesforce Fundamentals: 100%
• Data Modeling and Management: 57%
• Debug and Deployment Tools: 60%
• Testing: 43%

While my section-level scores shifted a bit from my first attempt, my overall score was exactly the same: 52%. At least I was consistent.

My scores increased in the Logic and Process Automation and Salesforce Fundamentals sections, stayed the same in the User Interface and Testing sections, and decreased in the Data Modeling and Management and Debug and Deployment Tools sections.

Again, my results were disappointing but not surprising. Nevertheless, I learned a lot from both failures, mostly that I have no idea what I am doing when it comes to Salesforce development.

All is not lost, however, because I have section-level feedback from both exams and can use that feedback to prepare for my third attempt at the Platform Developer I exam.

The evolution of Salesforce certification exam results

When I took my first Salesforce exam, I got only one piece of feedback: my exam result, pass or fail. That was it. No other insights were provided.

Here is an excerpt from the email I received from Salesforce when I became a Salesforce Certified Administrator.

Dear John Garvens,

Congratulations! You have successfully completed the certification exam to become a Salesforce Certified Administrator (SU16). Welcome to the Salesforce.com worldwide community of Certified Professionals!

Test Taker Name: John Garvens
Examination: Salesforce Certified Administrator (SU16)
Result: PASS
Date Completed: 08/19/2016

While I was excited to know I passed, I wanted to know more. How well—or poorly—did I perform in each section? What was my overall score? What are my strengths and weaknesses? Given that I completed the exam in 37 minutes and thought it was easy, I assumed I did well, but I wanted to know for sure.

Thankfully, Salesforce started providing section-level feedback for Salesforce certification exams completed after January 13, 2017. Until then, you could only guess how well you did on Salesforce exams. In addition to Salesforce’s article on section-level feedback, news of the change was shared in a post on Reddit and in an article written by Salesforce Ben.

When you take a Salesforce certification exam today, you get an email from Salesforce containing your exam result—pass or fail—and your section-level feedback, which helps you understand your strengths and weaknesses.

Here is an excerpt from the email I received from Salesforce when I failed the Platform Developer I exam for the second time.

Hi John Garvens,

Thank you for your interest in becoming a Salesforce Certified Professional. Unfortunately, you did not successfully pass the exam.

Test Taker Name: John Garvens
Exam: Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I (WI18)
Result: Fail
Date Completed: 31 March 2018

Section-Level Scoring:
Salesforce Fundamentals: 100.00%
Data Modeling and Management: 57.14%
Logic and Process Automation: 41.37%
User Interface: 50.00%
Testing: 42.85%
Debug and Deployment Tools: 60.00%

Learn more about section-level feedback in this article.

As you can imagine, section-level feedback is extraordinarily valuable, if you know how to use it. The question is, how do you use it?

The rest of this article will show you how to use section-level feedback to answer three questions:

1. What was my overall score? (In other words, how close am I to passing?)
2. What are my biggest strengths and weaknesses?
3. What should I do to improve my scores?

I will use my second failed attempt at the Platform Developer I exam for my analysis and to illustrate my points.

For obvious reasons, Salesforce cannot give you question-by-question feedback (a.k.a. right and wrong answers). “Exam dumps” and cheating are already serious issues. Question-level feedback would make those issues exponentially worse. Section-level feedback will suffice.

Calculating your overall and section-level scores

Section-level scores are not worth much on their own because they reflect only the percentage of questions you answered correctly in a given section. To get the most value from your section-level scores, you must determine how those scores contributed to your overall score.

For example, in my second attempt at the Platform Developer I exam, my section-level score for the Salesforce Fundamentals section was 100%. In other words, I correctly answered every Salesforce Fundamentals question, achieving a perfect score for that section. So what?! Salesforce Fundamentals accounted for only 10% of my overall score.

Meanwhile, I correctly answered only 41% of Logic and Process Automation questions, which accounted for 46% of my overall score. In other words, the Logic and Process Automation section cost me 27% of my overall score, nearly as much weight as the User Interface, Salesforce Fundamentals, and Debug and Deployment Tools sections combined!

With a margin of error of just 5%—or two questions—for the other five sections of the exam, should it surprise anyone that I failed? (No, it should not, in case you are wondering.)

“Where did he get those numbers?” you might be asking yourself.

Well, you are in luck because I am about to show you where I got those numbers. In short, they all came from my section-level scores.

A breakdown of the Platform Developer I exam

Each Salesforce certification exam contains 60 multiple-choice questions; five of those questions are not scored. That means your total score will be calculated based on your answers to just 55 questions, making each scored question worth 1.81% of your total score.

A perfect score on any Salesforce certification exam is 100%, but passing scores differ by exam. With 55 scored questions and a passing score of 65%, you must answer 36 questions correctly to pass the Platform Developer I exam.

Given those parameters and my section-level scores from my second attempt at the Platform Developer I exam, we are in a position to analyze the results and answer those three big questions.

1. What was my overall score?
2. What are my biggest strengths and weaknesses?
3. What should I do to improve my scores?

With that, I will begin my analysis, using my weapon of choice—an Excel spreadsheet.

Updated Platform Developer I exam and exam guide

Trailhead updated the Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I exam guide since I last attempted the Platform Developer I exam. Here are the new sections and section weights:

• Salesforce Fundamentals: 7%
• Data Modeling and Management: 13%
• Process Automation and Logic: 38%
• User Interface: 25%
• Testing, Debugging, and Deployment: 17%

You can use the same approach with the new sections and section weights to gain the same level of insight into your Salesforce certification exam results.

Step 1: Rank each section by weight

Before you begin any journey, you must understand the landscape. You must know where you are and where you are going. Passing Salesforce certification exams is no exception.

Fortunately, Salesforce provides official exam guides for every Salesforce credential, showing the landscape of each exam and taking the guess work out of what you need to know. You can obviously supplement your studying with study guides from other sources, like The Complete CPQ Specialist Study Guide by Simplus, my employer. However, Salesforce’s official exam guides should be your primary resource for test preparation.

In this case, I downloaded the official exam guide for the Platform Developer I exam, examined the weighting of each section, and documented the weights in a spreadsheet. Then, I used that weighting and my section-level scores to convert my section-level scores into overall scores, calculating the number and percentage of questions I answered correctly.

Here is the weighting of each section in the Platform Developer I exam.

• Logic and Process Automation: 46%
• User Interface: 10%
• Salesforce Fundamentals: 10%
• Data Modeling and Management: 12%
• Debug and Deployment Tools: 10%
• Testing: 12%

Now, let’s rank the sections by weight.

• Logic and Process Automation: 46%
• Data Modeling and Management: 12%
• Testing: 12%
• User Interface: 10%
• Salesforce Fundamentals: 10%
• Debug and Deployment Tools: 10%

Does ranking the sections by weight change how you view their importance? It should.

The Logic and Process Automation, Data Modeling and Management, and Testing sections account for 70% of the overall score. Theoretically, you could pass the Platform Developer I exam without answering a single User Interface, Salesforce Fundamentals, or Debug and Deployment Tools question correctly. However, I do not recommend that approach, for obvious reasons.

Step 2: Calculate the number of questions per section

Next, I calculated how many questions each section contained, using the formula “X/100 = Y/55” where X represents the weighting of the section and Y represents the number of questions in the section.

That calculation is the good old “cross-multiply and divide” equation we learned in high school and, for most of us, promptly forgot. Because I already knew the value of X—the weighting of the section—from the previous step, I simply needed to solve for Y and calculated that in my spreadsheet as well.

Here are the results:

• Logic and Process Automation: 25
• User Interface: 6
• Salesforce Fundamentals: 6
• Data Modeling and Management: 7
• Debug and Deployment Tools: 6
• Testing: 7

It should be noted that, the way Salesforce exams are scored, you get Salesforce exam questions 100% right or 100% wrong. You cannot get partial credit for a question, no matter how badly you want it. As Brandy sang, “Almost doesn’t count.”

Step 3: Review your section-level scores

Here are the section-level scores from my second attempt at the Platform Developer I exam.

• Logic and Process Automation: 41%
• User Interface: 50%
• Salesforce Fundamentals: 100%
• Data Modeling and Management: 57%
• Debug and Deployment Tools: 60%
• Testing: 43%

Again, section-level scores are not worth much on their own. They tell only a part of the story. I needed to put my section-level scores in a broader context to understand how each section impacted my overall score.

Step 4: Calculate the number of correct answers

To calculate the number of questions I answered correctly, I multiplied the number of questions in a section by my score for that section. I also added that calculation to my spreadsheet.

Overall, I answered 29 of 55 questions correctly.

• Logic and Process Automation: 10
• User Interface: 3
• Salesforce Fundamentals: 6
• Data Modeling and Management: 4
• Debug and Deployment Tools: 3
• Testing: 3

Step 5: Convert your section-level scores into overall scores

Finally, I needed to put my section-level scores in perspective, converting them into overall scores.

• Logic and Process Automation: 19%
• User Interface: 5%
• Salesforce Fundamentals: 10%
• Data Modeling and Management: 7%
• Debug and Deployment Tools: 6%
• Testing: 5%

After running the numbers, I knew my overall score was 52%, and my performance was the same on both attempts, even though my section-level scores were different.

All of that is good information. It is easy to see changes in section-level scores and think you did better or worse than you actually did. That is why it is important to run the numbers and validate whether your gut is correct.

Once you know how your section-level scores fit into the big picture, you need to dig into your section-level scores to understand your strengths and weaknesses, in general, and for the particular Salesforce exam you need to pass.

To help you calculate your section-level scores for the Platform Developer I exam, I created this calculator for you. If you want help calculating your scores for another exam, send me an email. I will run them through my calculator for you, free of charge, as a way to give back.

How NOT to study: The “STUDY EVERYTHING!” approach

Looking at my section-level scores on their own, it is clear I need to learn a lot, especially about logic and process automation. But what is the best use of my time and energy? Will studying each section equally lead to a better outcome on my next exam? I doubt it.

Like anything, strategy is important here.

Most people take the “STUDY EVERYTHING!” approach, locking themselves in a room, working their way down a list of Salesforce exam objectives, studying late into the night, fueling their efforts with coffee and Red Bull.

Studying everything makes sense at first. After all, if you know everything, you will certainly pass. But can you truly know everything? How long would it take you to learn everything? Do you really want to wait that long?

There is a limit to how much and how quickly you can learn, especially when learning difficult material. The concept is called “cognitive load.” In short, we can absorb only so much new information in a given period of time.

Fortunately, you do not need to know everything to know enough, and the knowledge gained studying they key section impacts other sections as well, like dominoes. When you topple the lead domino, the other dominoes fall, too.

The same concept applies to learning, most of the time. If you unlock the concepts of the key section, Logic and Process Automation in this case, you can unlock the concepts in other sections as well. If the lead domino happens to be your biggest weakness, as is the case for me on the Platform Developer I exam, so much the better.

Remember: Salesforce certification exams should help understand your strengths and weaknesses on the Salesforce platform. A Salesforce certification exam is simply a tool you can use to understand your Salesforce knowledge, skills, and abilities at a given moment in time. And failing a Salesforce certification exam does not mean the end of your Salesforce career.

Like I wrote at the beginning of this article, failure is good for you, if you use it as an opportunity to learn and grow. If you treat failure as an opportunity to learn and grow, you will find it much more tolerable. Maybe you even begin to enjoy failing because it means you are pushing yourself and trying new things.

While you should obviously strive to know as much as possible about Salesforce, you should optimize for your strengths and weaknesses to make studying for Salesforce exams as effective as possible. It does you no good—from a test-taking perspective—to spend time and energy studying low-impact sections.

Think about it. If Salesforce expected you to know everything in an exam to pass the exam, the passing score would be 100%, not 65%, and there would be only a small number of Salesforce certified professionals.

You must constantly balance your desire to know everything with your need to know enough. There will always be gaps in your knowledge. Understanding and accepting that fact is essential in any career, especially a career in technology.

How to Study: The section-weighted approach

Rather than study for each section equally, I suggest you take an alternative approach: allocate your study time based on the weight of each section. Optimize for opportunity.

“Why should I listen to you? You failed the Platform Developer I exam twice.”

That is true. But I failed because I never actually studied for the Platform Developer I exam. I was overconfident, had to burn two exam vouchers before they expired, and thought I could pass the exam without studying. I was completely wrong, twice.

That said, I have also passed seven other Salesforce certification exams, including the notorious Salesforce Certified CPQ Specialist exam, and earned the Salesforce Certified Instructor credential for CPQ-201 and CPQ-211. Moreover, I have had numerous CPQ students and several Vetforce members follow my approach with success. Ultimately, you must decide whether to follow my approach or not.

Let’s begin.

Step 1: Rank each section by weight

Let’s revisit the each section on the Platform Developer I exam, ranking based on section weight because a section’s weight shows you its importance.

Here are the sections by weight:

• Logic and Process Automation: 46%
• Data Modeling and Management: 12%
• Testing: 12%
• User Interface: 10%
• Salesforce Fundamentals: 10%
• Debug and Deployment Tools: 10%

Now that I know the importance of each section, I can properly plan my study time, distributing my study hours proportionally by section.

Step 2: Allocate total budgeted hours by weight

My assumption for this example is, I will retake the Platform Developer I exam after 40 hours of studying. That means I will spend 10 hours per week studying. How, then, should I allocate those hours?

If I break that down based on the weight of each section, I will spend my time as follows:

• Logic and Process Automation: 18 hours
• Data Modeling and Management: 5 hours
• Testing: 4 hours
• User Interface: 4 hours
• Salesforce Fundamentals: 4 hours
• Debug and Deployment Tools: 4 hours

While helpful, that breakdown is not specific enough. I must continue breaking down my study time until I know which sections I will study each day and for how long I will study each of those sections.

Step 3: Allocate weekly budgeted hours by weight

Dividing each section’s hours by four, I know how much time to spend studying each section every week. Again, do not obsess over the minutiae, like the 1.25 hours I need to spend studying Data Modeling and Management each week. Rather, keep it simple and round to the nearest hour or so. This is not a perfect science.

Here is the weekly breakdown:

• Logic and Process Automation: 5 hours
• Data Modeling and Management: 1 hour
• Testing: 1 hour
• User Interface: 1 hour
• Salesforce Fundamentals: 1 hour
• Debug and Deployment Tools: 1 hour

Now that I know how many hours I must study each section every week, I am ready to book time in my calendar for studying.

Step 4: Schedule time for studying

This is the most important part! If I do not block time in my calendar for studying, I will not study. I know myself. If something is not in my calendar, it will not happen.

So my final step is to add two one-hour blocks of time each day, ideally covering multiple sections to keep things interesting. From there, all I have to do is execute my plan.

Here is what I conjured up:

• Monday
  • Logic and Process Automation
  • Data Modeling and Management
• Tuesday
  • Logic and Process Automation
  • Testing
• Wednesday
  • Logic and Process Automation
  • User Interface
• Thursday
  • Logic and Process Automation
  • Salesforce Fundamentals
• Friday
  • Logic and Process Automation
  • Debug and Deployment Tools

While that plan is not perfect, it is something. I can always make adjustments as I go based on how well or poorly I am learning the material in each section. You should create a plan but leave room for adjustment.

Conclusion

I hope this article helped you understand how use your section-level scores from Salesforce certification exams to determine the most effective study strategy for exam retakes. By taking a strategic approach to Salesforce certification exams, you can get better results in less time.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this approach. Leave a comment and share your key takeaways.