Tableau Certified Data Analyst Beta exam first impressions: Tableau Certification

0:00Hey, it's Tim here. In today's video, I'm

0:01going to be talking

0:02about the new Tableau Certified Data

0:05Analyst beta exam. Now this

0:07actually came out a few days ago, I got an

0:08email from Tableau

0:09sent out to everyone who's on their mailing

0:12list. And

0:12essentially, it was offering an offer, if

0:15that makes sense.

0:16Essentially, if you set the beta exam, you

0:18could do the exam for

0:20a slightly reduced rate. But there's a

0:22couple of catches

0:23though, the beta exam itself will take a

0:26period of time to

0:27assess, you're essentially going to be

0:29willingly putting yourself

0:30through a slightly longer exam, because it

0:33's a beta and also

0:34sort of doing questions that won't

0:36necessarily count towards

0:37the final assessment. But what they're

0:39trying to do is collect

0:40a pool of results. And then from there,

0:42they're going to make a

0:42judgment on what the final exam should look

0:44like. So I thought

0:46I'd give it a go. I signed up yesterday,

0:47and I started this

0:48morning, I'm literally just half an hour

0:51since I finished the

0:52exam. So I'm trying to do a first

0:53impression, just to give

0:55you an idea of what to expect an exam, I'm

0:57only going to be using

0:58the exam prep guide, I can't obviously show

1:00you anything in

1:01the exam itself. And other than the

1:03procedures to set up and

1:05stuff that comes before the exam. And so I

1:07did sort of

1:08capture a bit of that. But nonetheless, let

1:09's go into the

1:10exam prep guide and have a look at it

1:12because I think it's

1:13actually super important to pay attention

1:14to this guide because

1:16it does actually have all the detail that

1:17you need. This is

1:18one of the first exams to cover a range of

1:21skills, I'll just go

1:22ahead and call it out that you do need to

1:25have at least six

1:26months experience with the Tableau desktop,

1:29Tableau prep

1:29and Tableau server or Tableau online. This

1:32is one of the first

1:33exams to test the whole entire architecture

1:35. And the way they

1:36do that is they've broken it down into

1:38domains. If I just

1:39skip a bunch of the guide here, and I go

1:41right down to the

1:42bottom, you'll see that the domains are

1:44split out in these

1:45proportions. Now, having sat the exam, what

1:48I can say to you is

1:49just round these up to the nearest whole

1:51percentage. And

1:52that's probably a much fairer reflection of

1:54how much the exam

1:54those questions are going to take. So for

1:56example, domain one,

1:57I just call that 25%. domain two, just call

2:00that 50%. domain

2:02three, call that 25%. And the final one,

2:05and this one's only

2:06got 10% of the exam. But to be honest with

2:09you, it felt like I

2:10wasn't really asked the question in this

2:12particular domain,

2:13because there was a few questions on it. So

2:16call it 10%

2:17in terms of how you rationalize how you're

2:19going to learn this.

2:20But in essence, you could almost sit the

2:22exam without not knowing

2:24much about domain four, and technically

2:26still pass it. The

2:27reason that is, is because the pass mark is

2:30750 out of 1000,

2:31essentially 75%. And so if you look at

2:34these percentages here,

2:35you can see that well, if you scored 90%,

2:38you'd be perfectly

2:39fine. But it's not as simple as that. So

2:41let's get into the

2:42detail of this exam. Let's first start

2:45talking about the structure

2:47of the exam. Okay, so here on screen, I

2:49have the paragraph and

2:50exam structure. And this is so important,

2:53it's broken down into

2:54three sections, one multiple choice section

2:57, one hands on

2:58section, and then another multiple choice

3:01section. Now,

3:02the reason they're done like that, I think

3:04is to create a bit

3:05of time pressure, essentially, you can't

3:06sort of go to the end

3:07of the exam, go through blitz through

3:09everything and then go

3:10back and redo the questions you weren't

3:12sure of. Essentially,

3:13you got to make sure you spend just enough

3:15time on the first

3:16section, which is I think, doesn't say the

3:18exact number.

3:19But I think in my exam, it was probably

3:22around 35 to 40

3:24questions in the first section, then you

3:25had the middle section,

3:26which was a hands on section, which kind of

3:28got you to go

3:29through several tasks. And you had the

3:31final batch of sections,

3:32which was 15 to 20 questions, I can't

3:34remember off the top of my

3:35head. But nonetheless, this was really,

3:38really sort of

3:39interesting, because it forces you to mark

3:41that section

3:42complete. And once you've done that, you

3:44can't go back. So it's

3:45actually called out here, it's called out

3:47in pretty clear

3:48detail, that that is what's going on. And

3:50so time management

3:51is important. Now, the difference with this

3:55exam

3:55compared to what I think the final exam

3:57will be like is that

3:57this is a beta exam. So there's more

4:00questions in there. And the

4:01exam is probably longer than it ought to be

4:03, it's probably been

4:04designed to be longer, so they can test a

4:06broader pool of

4:07questions. And so it shouldn't necessarily

4:10be used as a

4:10reflection of how long you'll have in the

4:12final exam. But

4:13nonetheless, if you're going to take the

4:15beta, just be aware that

4:16the total time you get, which is roughly

4:18two and a half hours

4:19needs to be spread across three sections.

4:21And depending on your

4:22skill set, you might actually find that you

4:24have a slightly

4:25unusual split between these sections. For

4:28me, I personally

4:29found the hands on section the easiest,

4:30because the products are

4:31right in front of you, you're being asked a

4:33very simple

4:34question. And there's a clear task involved

4:36with the other

4:37multiple choice sections, it gets a little

4:39bit more tricky.

4:40And I'll explain why in this next bit. So

4:42you can see we have

4:43different types of questions being asked.

4:45And there's

4:46actually quite a lot going on here. And it

4:48's really important

4:49to make sure you pay attention to the

4:50mechanics of the

4:51question. I sort of wish we had a little

4:54bit of a trial of these

4:55mechanics so that we could just go through

4:57these advanced and

4:58get through them rather than having to

5:00spend time in the exam

5:01figuring them out, figuring them out. But

5:03again, the beta is

5:04longer than it ought to be. So you should

5:05be fine sort of

5:06figuring things out. In the exam, I noticed

5:08that because I

5:09have a large screen, the exam would load

5:12the question in the

5:13top portion of the screen, creating a

5:15scroll bar.

5:16Essentially, what that would then mean is I

5:18wouldn't be able

5:19to see the whole question. And it took me a

5:20while to realize

5:21that I didn't have to scroll, there's

5:22actually a little slider

5:23in the middle of the view that you can

5:25slide down, that enables

5:27you to see the whole question in one go.

5:29That's kind of important

5:30because sometimes you don't want to be sort

5:31of slight scrolling

5:32up and down getting the context of the

5:33question correct. So just

5:35bear that in mind, do try and drag that

5:36little slider down so

5:37you can see the whole question. Then in the

5:39bottom half or on

5:40the right hand side, depending on the

5:41question type, you have

5:42the space to answer the question. Now,

5:45build lists are

5:46really cool types of questions. Essentially

5:48, on the left, you

5:49have a list of options. On the right, you

5:51have to put it into

5:52the right order and choose the right

5:54options in the right

5:55order. So this exam really does test your

5:58ability to recall how

5:59to do something without the product in

6:01front of you. That's

6:02something that's not really been tested

6:03before, because you've

6:04always had access to things like the

6:06documentation, and also the

6:08internet. This exam has no access to the

6:10internet, you

6:11can't go out on the internet and search

6:12things, the only resource

6:13you have is actually the fact that you have

6:17access to the

6:18documentation. So if I go down here, we can

6:23see access to

6:25materials, you can see that access to the

6:27internet, or any

6:29other outside application is prohibited

6:30during the exam. But

6:32in the hands on sections, candidates will

6:34have access to

6:35the PDF version of tablet help during this

6:37section of the exam.

6:38Okay, so that's all you have access to, you

6:40can go out and

6:41search things in the help document, but you

6:42can't really

6:43go out to the internet. And so it's really

6:45important to sort of

6:46just make sure that when you prepare for

6:48this exam, sort of

6:49really try and make sure that you can

6:52visualize your journey

6:54through the product without having the

6:55product in front of

6:56you. And I don't really know a good way of

6:58doing this other

6:59than making sure you've had six months of

7:01experience, because

7:02once you've had six months of experience,

7:04it should be fresh

7:05in your mind. But you can also suffer from

7:07this other problem,

7:08which I think I experienced a little bit

7:09today, which is I've

7:10used tablet for five years. So some of what

7:12I do is just second

7:13nature, I actually don't consciously think

7:15through the

7:16steps I'm going through, I see a question.

7:19And I just start doing

7:20stuff, it's sort of hard to explain, but

7:22you just

7:22subconsciously know what to do, how to do

7:24it and how to get the

7:25end result. But you don't necessarily pay

7:27attention to the

7:28exact steps you took to got there, because

7:30you just know how

7:31to achieve the end result. And so this exam

7:33does require you to

7:34be able to recall those steps, you can't

7:37just sort of blow

7:37through something without being able to

7:39recall it in the in the

7:40way they set up the questions. Now, if you

7:42don't know the

7:43answer every time, that's fine. Because

7:45normally what you can do

7:46is you can choose the right one from the

7:48options that are there.

7:49So using the process of deduction, you can

7:50figure out

7:51what's right answer is. And there are these

7:53things called

7:54detractors, which are deliberately designed

7:55to sort of

7:56lead you off the path. And then they're

7:58also essentially

7:59sometimes the multiple choice questions.

8:01Let's say there's

8:01four answers, you'll get one that's correct

8:04, one that's

8:04nearly correct, but not quite correct. And

8:07then you'll get to

8:08which are just flat out wrong, but could

8:11sound correct. And so

8:12the questions are designed in that way to

8:13kind of challenge

8:14you a little bit and make sure that they're

8:16, they're all

8:16friendly. But nonetheless, again, this is a

8:18beta. So this

8:19could all change. And so yeah, these are

8:20the different exam

8:21types. I really liked it, because I think

8:24for once I felt

8:24like I was actually being challenged on the

8:27really small

8:27aspects of Tableau, and all the way from,

8:29you know, finishing

8:31off calculations, table calculations, how

8:35to set up

8:35different sort of chart types and make sure

8:38that they were

8:39showing the correct sets of values, how to

8:41manipulate the

8:42marks pane. This is all covered in this,

8:45this sort of domain

8:47guide here at the bottom. And I think they

8:49're actually correct

8:50in this list. Sometimes you never really

8:52know how in depth

8:53am I going to need to understand these

8:55things. And to be honest

8:56with you, I think you just got to bear in

8:58mind what are the

8:59things you're most likely to have used in

9:00the first six months

9:01of using Tableau in each of these areas,

9:04right. So you can

9:05see here, they talk about fixed LODs, but

9:07they don't talk about

9:08the other level of detail calculations.

9:09That's maybe for

9:10more pro exam. And as you go through this

9:13list, you can see

9:14there's a whole range of different things.

9:15And so I would

9:16actually make sure you're comfortable

9:17working with all of

9:18these. Of course, I've got videos on some

9:20of this in my

9:21channel. And there are other people who've

9:22created lots of

9:23great content on some of this other stuff

9:25as well. So be

9:26sure to check out that content on YouTube.

9:28But more or less,

9:29this domain guide is actually I think,

9:32fairly quite thorough.

9:33Having seen the exam and having done the

9:35exam, I can confidently

9:37say that this list is a good list to make

9:39sure you go through

9:40and you can understand at least in a mental

9:43model, how to do all

9:44these things. And so yeah, literally this

9:48guide is actually

9:49surprisingly, well, it shouldn't be

9:50surprised because Tableau do

9:52put a lot of effort into their guides. But

9:54it's actually a

9:54really good sort of context for the exam.

9:57And it's really good

9:58thing to study before the exam. One last

10:00thing I will say about

10:01the beta exam is that it takes a long time

10:03to get your results.

10:04So you can see here candidates will receive

10:06their score at

10:07least 90 days after the beta period for the

10:10exam closes. So

10:11the exam is open for a short period of time

10:13, and the beta

10:14will close, and then you'll get your

10:16results 90 days after that.

10:18So I might not get my results until January

10:20at this rate. And

10:21because if you sort of do the timings, and

10:23you sort of figure

10:24it out, we're basically into Christmas. And

10:26so I shouldn't

10:26really I shouldn't really expect a result

10:28this year. But

10:29nonetheless, I thought I'd still do a video

10:31just to sort of walk

10:31through the mechanics of the exam and show

10:33you some some of

10:34the things that you should be aware of. Now

10:36, of course, this

10:37exam is managed by Pearson VUE. And I

10:39hopefully in this video,

10:41I've already gone through the process of

10:42setting all of that

10:43up and going through that. But you can see

10:45it's a very sort of

10:46simple process. And you know, it's I'm, I

10:49much prefer the

10:50Pearson VUE setup for the exam than I did

10:53the else. And the

10:55previous exam provided because I think the

10:58Pearson VUE setup not

10:59only provides for home delivery, so in the

11:02remote world, we sort

11:03of have to live in sometimes you can do

11:05this test at home, and

11:06they have a good way of proctoring the exam

11:08, they can

11:09actually load a virtual environment in the

11:10browser,

11:11which was also available in the exam today.

11:13So yeah, just make

11:14sure you go through all the prerequisites,

11:16all the tests and

11:16everything and make sure that you set all

11:18of that up. And the

11:19exam should go fairly well. So yeah, let me

11:21know what you think

11:21of the beta. And I've pretty much

11:23summarized all the key

11:24things that sort of pulled out of my head

11:26that I wanted to talk

11:26about, obviously can't talk about the exact

11:28questions I

11:29said, that's not allowed according to the

11:31exam rules. And

11:32but if you go to this guide, and you work

11:33through it, and you

11:34make sure you read it in full, you shouldn

11:36't be surprised by

11:37anything you get in the exam. And more

11:39importantly, you'll

11:40actually know what the exams are like. Now,

11:43one thing I will do

11:45is try and see if we can get a more public

11:48example of what

11:49these question types are, because I think

11:51it's one thing

11:51reading them, but it's another thing seeing

11:53them. So maybe I'm

11:54going to try and see if we can persuade

11:56tablet to create a

11:57video, maybe a video on the certification

11:59pages that shows

12:00you the different types of questions that

12:01they might be

12:02using. Once this beta has ended, because of

12:04course, it is a beta

12:05exam. So they might decide not to use some

12:07of these question

12:08types altogether. So I think once they

12:11settle on that exam,

12:12there probably will be some exam readiness

12:14content from

12:15Tableau to help you sort of get familiar

12:17with the exam. And I

12:19did this a lot, I actually left a lot of

12:20comments in the exam

12:21where I thought the answer that I thought

12:24was correct was also

12:25simultaneously vague or where the question

12:27could have been

12:27worded better. I also left comments about

12:30the experience as

12:31I went through it, for example, me

12:32discovering that you could

12:33scroll things around halfway through the

12:35exam. And I didn't

12:36think that would be obvious for some people

12:38. So I put that

12:39comment in there. And but everything else

12:41is I think

12:41pretty tight. I think this is a really good

12:43format for the exam.

12:44I know for a lot of people doing a Tableau

12:46exam without access to

12:47Tableau and without access to the internet

12:49is a change in the

12:50way things work. But again, I will say this

12:52, most other

12:53technology tools have been doing this for

12:54quite some time. And I

12:55think it's appropriate for Tableau to raise

12:58the bar and make

12:58sure that their exams are done at the same

13:00standard because

13:01otherwise, you look at a Tableau

13:02certification versus let's say a

13:04power bi certification, especially this

13:07exam, which is

13:08typically labeled for the analyst, you want

13:10to be able to

13:11have these skills and certifications at a

13:13comparable

13:14level. And so I think they're just sort of

13:16falling in line

13:17with the rest of the industry. And so we

13:19should be comfortable

13:20with that. And we should we should really

13:21sort of rise to

13:22that challenge. But again, if you've been

13:23using Tableau for

13:24six months, this shouldn't really be a

13:25problem. You just

13:26have to make sure that you work through

13:28your mental models when

13:29you revise. Okay, so it's the day before

13:31the exam. So what I'm

13:32going to do is I'm going to go to my exam

13:34dashboard, I'm going

13:35to hit the Tableau certified data analyze

13:38beta link here. And

13:39that will pull up this page, you need to

13:41run the system twice,

13:42once before the exam, and then it's

13:45actually going to run again

13:47during your exam to make sure that

13:48everything meets up. So

13:49they sort of double check it essentially.

13:52So I'm going to

13:52click run a system test and you get to this

13:55page. Now I'm on the

13:56max. So it's definitely worth doing this in

13:58advance, because

13:59sometimes you have to give this particular

14:03application access to

14:05run essentially needs access to your

14:06microphone, camera,

14:08automation and input monitoring to make

14:10sure you're not sort of

14:11using any support or any assistance from

14:13someone else or

14:15some other system on your machine. So to do

14:17this test, you

14:18simply go to this page, you copy the access

14:21code, you download

14:22the software, this software downloads to

14:24your machine, I'll

14:25overwrite the existing one that I've got

14:27here. And essentially,

14:28your code is unique to use, you can't use

14:29one that someone has

14:30given you, you need to make sure you use

14:32your code. And because

14:34I'm on a Mac, I'm just going to download

14:35this, it might look

14:36slightly different on the windows. But

14:38essentially, it

14:39should do exactly the same thing. I'm going

14:41to unzip it.

14:42And when we unzip it, you should see the

14:45application is what's

14:46inside of that folder. It's, it's a really

14:49big application

14:51725 megabytes. I have a fast internet, so

14:54that downloaded

14:55reasonably fast 189 meg, and then it unzips

14:59to be almost one

15:00gig. I don't know what could possibly be so

15:02large, it kind

15:03of makes me suspicious. But nonetheless,

15:05let's double click

15:06it, open it. It's coming from a trusted

15:09source. So we'll go with

15:11it. And when you open it, you will see this

15:13notification that

15:14says, hey, you've downloaded this

15:15application that's coming

15:16from on view, who's the exam provider,

15:19click open, and you

15:20should get a full screen window like this.

15:23Now, the code you

15:24want to get, I always make sure I paste it

15:26again, it should

15:26already have copied it from your clipboard.

15:29But you just want to

15:30make sure you paste and get your exact code

15:33, hit next. And then

15:34what it will start to do is run a system

15:37test. So if we start the

15:38microphone check, it'll ask you for access

15:40to your microphone.

15:41And you can see here that I'm speaking

15:43through my microphone.

15:45It's got my default microphones correctly

15:47set up. So that's all

15:48working nicely. We can start a speaker

15:51check. We have the

15:54micro speakers, so that works. And then the

15:56webcam check, it's

15:57going to connect to my standard webcam as

15:59for permission as

16:00well. In this case, I have got my this is a

16:04sort of Elgato

16:05camera link. Now it's saying that it's

16:07working because I've

16:09actually got the camera off. So if I was to

16:11switch this on, it's

16:13technically working. So you can see I'm

16:15waving there inside of

16:16the webcam. So everything is working great.

16:18And I can hit

16:19next. And that access code, I think they're

16:22able to actually

16:23validate that you've run the test before

16:25the exam. So if we

16:26hit next, it will then do a network

16:29connection. And so I

16:31think what this software does, it does send

16:33the test results

16:34back to the test center. So they can see if

16:37you've run this or

16:38not prior to the exam. So that's why I say

16:40do it the day before.

16:41You want to get it done, you don't want to

16:43be asked to have

16:44to do it before the exam. Network

16:47connection is fine. So

16:48network test is all good. We're currently

16:50downloading your exam

16:51files. This is just a test, the exam is

16:53ready, click the next

16:54button, and then minimize risk of

16:56disruption by following the

16:58instructions below. And basically, you can

17:01you can go

17:02through this whole process, if you hit next

17:05, it's basically

17:07going to say, okay, your exam simulation is

17:09done. But in the

17:10real exam, it will take over your machine,

17:12you'll go full

17:13screen, and you're basically in the exam.

17:16Okay. So once we

17:17launch the simulation, you'll see that as

17:22for permission. And

17:24it asks for quite a few things. So it's

17:28essentially replaces one

17:42of my keys with an automation. So you've

17:45completed test your

17:46system. Congrats. Now it's opening

17:48everything that it

17:49closed again, get ready on exam day, make

17:51sure you prepare your

17:53testing space and don't forget to bring

17:54accessible government

17:55ID. If you're testing space, computer and

17:58or internet change

17:59prior to exam day, we suggest running a

18:01system test again, to

18:02avoid any issues on exam day. So I'm going

18:04to hit close. And that

18:08should be the end of the simulation. So it

18:09's opened up

18:10every single app that I had shots, which is

18:12sort of

18:12frustrating. It's even closed my browser.

18:14So you can see it's got

18:15a pretty, you know, full on control of your

18:18machines. If

18:19you're not comfortable with that, then you

18:21have to go do the

18:22exam in a test center. So that's your only

18:25options pretty much.

18:27So get your exam done in a test center, or

18:31basically let them

18:33have full control of what's going on. So

18:35you can see it's

18:36even logged me out of the page. So let me

18:39go back to the home

18:40page for Tableau and Pearson V, hit sign in

18:43login again.

18:44And if I click on my exam, it won't say

18:49that you've done the

18:50system test already. And but if you've done

18:52it once, that's

18:52fine, your exam simulations already to go.

18:55And you're ready.

18:56So my check in time tomorrow is 830. Start

18:59time is nine o'clock

19:00half an hour is a lot of time, but it

19:02allows for any issues

19:04that might pop up. They do inspect your

19:06environment as

19:07well. So they will ask you to take your

19:08webcam and turn it

19:09around and show them the room. I encourage

19:12if you're in a room

19:13with a lot of technology, be sure to unplug

19:15and switch

19:16everything off as much as you possibly can.

19:18You don't need to

19:19move everything out of the room, but you do

19:21need to make sure

19:21you're ready for the exam. The exam length

19:24is 150 minutes. So

19:25I'm kind of curious how that works. Because

19:29that's that's a

19:30long amount of time. So that's almost two

19:33and a half hours for

19:34this exam. And I think some of that

19:37includes checking and stuff

19:39like that. So we should sort of wait and

19:40see how this works. But

19:42other than that, be sure to read everything

19:44they ask you to do.

19:45So it does say before the exam day, do the

19:47following tests,

19:48make sure you have everything ready. Make

19:51sure you have your

19:52ID, they have a list of what works. And

19:54yeah, on exam day.

19:55You know, good luck. And yeah, the next bit

19:59of this video, we'll

20:00talk about the actual exam itself. And

20:03hopefully, by this

20:05point, I should have sat the exam, so I can

20:07talk firsthand.

20:08So that's pretty much it. That's all I have

20:11to really say

20:12about this. When we get the results back, I

20:14don't know if

20:15I've passed or not. So I could be doing

20:16this video and I failed.

20:17If you do file a certification, check out

20:19my other video and

20:20failing certifications. I'm really hoping I

20:22don't need that

20:23video myself. So once once this exam is

20:26settled, and once it's

20:27all done, then we will do a proper video on

20:29how to get ready

20:30for it. What I will also start to do is I

20:32'll probably start to

20:33make content on each of these areas ahead

20:36of time so that by

20:37the time it's live, what we can do is

20:38release a certification

20:40playlist for this particular certification.

20:42And if you've got

20:43other videos on certification you'd like me

20:45to do, let me

20:45know just for the record, I won't do a

20:48video on a

20:48certification that isn't currently

20:50available, because

20:51essentially, I won't be able to set it. And

20:53likewise, I'm also

20:54due to set certain certifications in the

20:56future. So

20:57Tableau server certifications, I'm due to

20:59basically renew all

21:00of that next year. So I won't make any

21:02videos between now and

21:03then. Because simply, there's just no point

21:05until the new

21:05exams and the new setup have been released.

21:07Those are

21:08currently sort of offline at the moment. So

21:11it doesn't make sense

21:12to do that content now until everything's

21:14been updated. But I

21:15just thought again, I'd do this quick video

21:17just to show you

21:18through this guide and walk you through it.

21:20Thanks for watching.

21:20If you've enjoyed this, you know what to do

21:22. Be sure to check out

21:22all the other videos on 2021.3 that I'm

21:25currently going through

21:26having a bit of issue setting up slack. So

21:28that's why that video

21:29is not out yet. But nonetheless, I'll catch

21:30you in the next one.

21:31Transcribed by https://otter.ai

21:33Transcribed by https://otter.ai

21:34(soft music)

21:36Because of your