How I Passed the Pardot Certified Specialist Exam

Hello, my name is Jermaine. This is my first time attempting to write a blog so let’s see how this goes. I wanted to choose a specialization and was given the opportunity to focus on Pardot as a Pardot Certified Specialist with Roycon. I didn’t come from a Marketing background and had little knowledge about Pardot but I thought it would be an exciting role to take on and something out of my comfort zone. I also wanted to get into something more specialized, eventually, so this came up at the perfect time.

Having recently passed my Pardot Specialist exam I thought I would share tips that I learned along the way and a few study resources that I found helpful. I hope these resources will be helpful to you on your journey. After posting that I passed the exam on my LinkedIn and Twitter pages, I’ve also had several people message me asking for resources that I used which is, another reason why I decided to write this blog post. I want to help others that are preparing to take the exam. When I first started the journey and studying to become a Pardot Certified Specialist, I found it very difficult because a lot of the resources out there were outdated. People would say that most of the content is still the same but that really didn’t boost my confidence and I still felt that I wasn’t fully prepared. So this is how I prepared myself for an exam and navigated the study materials that may or may not have been updated. 

Step 1: Verify Information
First, I went straight to the source that I knew would have updated material and that was the knowledge articles. Yes, I know it is a lot of reading but it had to be done. Anytime I would take a practice exam or study flashcards that someone else put together I would always look up the knowledge article pertaining to that subject and double-check to make sure that I had the correct answer or was reviewing the correct information. So instead of starting with the very first article and reading through all of them, I would just basically use them as a reference when I needed better clarification on a particular subject. The knowledge articles also contain steps on how to perform a certain task also. So when you’re looking at other people’s flashcards and practice exams, I recommend you check the knowledge articles to make sure the questions and answers are correct. If you’re studying bad questions, that can really hurt your score and your overall knowledge on the topic. 

Step 2: Need More Clarification
When I came to the point where I still didn’t feel like I understood a particular concept I would jump on one of the #AskAPardotExpert Pardot Office Hours. These are really helpful. You can join the call and ask a Pardot expert any question you have, and they’ll walk you through the topic and share additional resources to help you understand the topic you need help with. Check out the events calendar to sign up for any of these sessions.

Step 3: Use Great Resources
A really helpful resource is the library of accelerator Webinars. You can register and watch them live or you can watch on-demand recordings! They are up to date and at the end if time permits you can ask questions and on some webinars, you can ask questions as they go through the material. Most of the material they cover is for people that are new to Pardot whether you are a user or an admin.

Additional Recommended Pardot.com resources:

1. Pardot Customer Hub – https://www.pardot.com/success/
2. Pardot Training – https://www.pardot.com/training/
3. The 12-Week Pardot Adoption Challenge

These Pardot pieces of training provide things like webinars, e-learning modules, and downloadable content, and videos. Also, subscribe to the Pardot onboarding email series here.

Step 4: Review the Exam Guide
Take note of the Salesforce Certified Pardot Specialist Exam Guide which can be found here. It provides valuable insight into the exam and details on what you might encounter and what you will not be tested on. Before the exam, I went through the entire exam outline to make sure I understood the objectives regardless of the percentage it weighed. I’d recommend you do the same.

Step 5: Blaze Your Trail
Last but not least, of course, I highly recommend Trailhead. The trails are very helpful but what is even more helpful is having a dev org with Pardot installed to go through some of the tasks like creating an email template, creating list emails, landing pages, forms, or performing some of the process automation. If you are a visual learner like me then I would definitely recommend this approach. I completed all of the trails in the Prepare for your Pardot Specialist Credential. Also, I would recommend even before you think you are fully ready to take the exam schedule it anyway. This will help you hold yourself accountable. If you fail oh well. We have all failed at something before and at least it will give you a chance to see what is on the test and what kind of questions you could face. With about a month of studying and preparing for the Pardot Specialist exam, I took it and passed it first try! I didn’t have a marketing background nor a lot of real-life hands-on experience using Pardot so if I can do it so can you! Good luck!

No matter where you are in your journey, we’re happy to help you get there. Contact us and let’s chat about your potential!

About Roycon
We’re an Austin-based Salesforce Consulting Partner, with a passion and belief that the Salesforce platform’s capabilities can help businesses run more efficiently and effectively. Whether you are just getting started with Salesforce or looking to realize its full potential, Roycon specializes in Salesforce Implementations, Salesforce Ongoing Support, and Salesforce Integrations, and Development. We’re the certified partner to guide the way to increase Salesforce Adoption, make strategic decisions, and build your Salesforce Roadmap for success.