In a moment reminiscent of taking my driving test, I sat down behind my computer screen and was ushered into exam conditions (a full screen application that blocked anything else on the internet) by Google and told 'when you press this button you have 120 minutes to answer 120 questions'.
The exam was the Google Advertising Fundamentals exam and it was all about the fundamentals behind marketing using Google AdWords. The exam was the usual mix of suspiciously easy questions, utterly confusing questions that may have well been written in morse code and then the downright unfair questions which expect you to reel off a list of numbers and letters from the top of your head as if you are the rainman.
Anyway, after the initial panic of the first 20 minutes I settled into the exam and quite enjoyed it, ok not enjoyed it, tolerated it, ok not tolerated it, got on with it. For those of you who are preparing to take the Google Advertising Fundamentals exam I would say the key thing is: if it is in the Google AdWords Learning Centre then it could be in the exam.
The questions included things such as:
how to manage the basic Google AdWords interface
how to create a campaign
how to optimise a campaign
how Quality Score is calculated
how Google works out how much you pay for a click
when Google works out Quality Score and CPC
what size image ads can be (get your memory hat on)
Googlebot's favourite Chinese meal (that might be a lie)
access levels on the account
my client center
You get the idea; the exam was pretty comprehensive and really tests you to make sure that you know what you are doing. Also be prepared to read and re-read; like a GSCE English exam, some of the wording is cryptic to say the least.
All things said and done the exam was the perfect mix of challenging and satisfying and I breathed a sigh of relief when I got the pass (phew, that is £50 not wasted!).
Now it is time to disappear and start revising for the Advanced exam! Wish me luck!
