I have recently passed my 2nd adwords exam as my 2 years was about to finish and it brought a question into my mind.
Is it too easy? I think yes, it is.
Some of our clients use content match, (nothing new there) none use, image or video ads at all. I have barely looked into them as we have no need at present. I have read and understand basic info on it, but never tried it to be able to comment on it in that sense.
A lot of questions are worded very strangely, and like being back in school, read the question, then read it again to make sure you read the right message, before answering. A lot of questions were about parts of the system i have never used before as well.
I would not say i'd be near the top of this industry at all, but feel it should be harder to pass a qualification like this.
I sometimes feel that anyone could pass it if they have the learning center open on one screen and the exam on the other. This take away from the qualification and brings the standards down in my opinion.
Anyone else feel the same?
Anyone else feel the same?
I do. Completely.
We have had many clients come to us from other AdWords qualified professionals and companies. The standard was diabolical.
Everyone sets up campaigns and manages them slightly differently, but some things we saw were terrible:
- Campaigns being run with no conversion tracking set up
- Campaigns being run with no analytics set up
- Campaigns running for months on end with a nagative ROAS
- Campaigns being locally targeted where the client did not operate
All of these were seen in accounts previously managed by "AdWords Qualified Professionals".
I too have taken the test twice. 91% the first time and 93% the second time. I should have gotten 100% both times. I was lazy, I didn't have the learning center open. I have screenshots of the last exam where I got the answer wrong because I was asked to "Choose two" options from four. It was a single radio button choice answer.
The exam is WAY too easy and gives a qualification to people that is sometimes undeserved.
The minimum spends for are also too little in my opinion. Managing 100k in 90 days for a company is NOTHING if you have more than a few clients.
It just makes it harder for those who DO know what they are doing to differentiate themselves from those that can afford $50 for an online test.
I too have taken the test twice. 91% the first time and 93% the second time. I should have gotten 100% both times. I was lazy, I didn't have the learning center open. I have screenshots of the last exam where I got the answer wrong because I was asked to "Choose two" options from four. It was a single radio button choice answer.
Passed my 2nd one a few days ago (83.6%) and I had a question in it with a radio button and click 3/4 answers.
I'll pass this thread along to the right team tomorrow if anyone else cares to weigh in. ;)
Thanks!
AWA
I think that people may be missing the point.
Being Qualified doesn't mean you're professional, organised, competent or know how to write good ads. It means that you know how the system works.
I know of *many* people with driving licences who are bad drivers.
I also know of qualified accountants and lawyers who are lousy at their jobs.
And I know *many* people with University Degrees who are more than a little sense-challenged.
Being qualified, like passing a driving test, means that you know how the machine works.
Google can't be expected to ascertain an individual's writing skills, attention to detail, professionalism, fairness etc. All they can do is make sure they know how the AdWords system works.
I just passed the exam for a second time to maintain our company's qualified status. And I got a great score! :-) I think the exam's fine as it is.
I recently had to take the test again, and I still feel there are questions that are more akin to 'what the professor wants to hear' over what the correct answer is.
I also wish it were customized a bit more based upon actual needs.
Most US users don't need to know the Ireland invoicing options. Trademark issues are by country. Multi-lingual campaigns are common in Europe, but not in the US.
I can see a value in 'International certification', 'US certification', 'EU certification', etc.
I think that is a great idea and it falls into Google's lovely topic of 'relevance'
I'm just studying for the exam right now and the pass rate is 75%. I think it needs to be higher. I'm getting 92%+ every time and I was completely new to AdWords only 3 moths ago!
I'l be able to take the exam as my boss has had the account for years but made a position - mine - to manage the account now the business has grown. Perhaps that is also a flaw that needs correcting.
We are currently working with clients from the US, UK, France, China, Russia, Spain and other countries.
There is *no* difference in the work that we do for each. The AdWords skills are the same.
> I have to take it again sometime in June or July. I'd as soon not
>have to bother with the invoicing issues in Ireland, myself.
Two points:
(1) How many questions do you think will be about invoicing in Ireland? :-)
(2) Do you *only* want to take on US clients?
Trust me. There are **massive** markets beyond the US. The more you know, the more you can tap into them.
There is *no* difference in the work that we do for each. The AdWords skills are the same.
Without trying to hard, I can think of payment options, trademark issues, and credits which are different in the EU as opposed to the US.
What got me was the training center had huge sections on Analytics and AdWords editor, but there was not a single question on the exam. Now I do believe that I received value from learning the information, yes i do, but those two products being in the learning center gave the impression that you would be tested on them. AdWords, you should remove the sample tests next to those items so that issue is cleared up for others getting ready to test.
I also agree that some of the wording and questions were not valid or well written. It would make total sense for real qualified people to take the test and earmark the pages and questions for the Google team so that they can fix the problems or re-word a very ambiguous question.
Should the test be harder? Have you taken the Yahoo Ambassador test? (Just in case you missed the irony, I think the Yahoo test is very easy). I'm not necessarily an advocate for making something really hard as I am busy, I do run a business, and I did study and watch and take notes while viewing the training modules, but I do think that the test should be accurate, well written, and reflect the information in the training center. Show me the module that discussed calculating quality score as an example!
The AdWords qualification means something to clients and I agree with others that the test is not about how good you are, but is a measure of do you understand the products and the programs to be able to implement them for others. How good you are will be determined by the results that you get for clients.
just my two cents.
