Most people think that you have to spend money on Udemy, Mike Wheeler courses, Focus on Force and countless other offerings in order to pass the Salesforce Platform Developer 1 Certification. The truth is, while many of these resources are valuable, they are not at all necessary. There are extremely valuable 100% free resources out there thanks to the Salesforce Ohana culture, which is always ready to give back. Below you will find a list of the best free resources to use to pass your Salesforce Platform Develper 1 Exam and start your career!

In this Modules lessons we will cover the following material:

• Trailhead - Salesforce's own completely free training platform.
• Salesforce Certification Days Webinar - Salesforce hosted webinar you can join to refresh on content and prepare for your exam.
• Optional Certify CRM - This is a 3rd party company that offers training materials.
• Optional - Mike Wheeler's SF Platform Developer 1 Certification Udemy Course

In the next Module we will cover Practice Exam material:

• Focus on Force (Free and Paid Practice Exams)
• Salesforce's own Practice Exam (Paid)
• Salesforce Ben Practice Exam (Free)

9 Week - Salesforce Admin Certification Pacing Guide

WEEK 1

Setup a Trailhead Account and get started in the Prepare for your Admin Certification. Follow the steps below to get that setup. 

• Open your browser and go to Trailhead, Salesforce's completely free training platform.
• Click Sign Up in the top right and fill in your information as accurately as possible.
• Once you sign up you will be sent a Single Use Verification Code, check your email and fill it in and you will now be logged in to Trailhead!
• You will now want to go directly to the Prepare for Your Salesforce Administrator Credential lesson.
• From here go ahead and click the first link to take a look at the Administrator Exam Overview. This is a great place to start familiarizing yourself with what to expect in this journey. You'll want to take a look at the Administrator Exam Guide to gain an understanding of what this exam will be like and what you are preparing to accomplish. 

Remember, to stay on track for your Admin Certification you should be spending 8-10 hours per week working through the Prepare for Your Salesforce Administrator Credential lessons.

• Your goal this week is to complete lessons up to the "Activity Management" Link lesson. This means your next lesson will be the "Security Specialist Superbadge" which will be your most challenging lesson so far, be ready!

At seemingly random times throughout the year Salesforce offers the opportunity to earn a free exam voucher. Make sure to register for this before you complete the Security Specialist Superbadge next week, otherwise you could void your eligibility. Also make sure to select the Admin path as we are focusing on the Admin Certification and they provide you a voucher for the path you choose. Don't worry about trying to complete the SuperSet of lessons required for the voucher right now, the important thing is to get registered. Continue to follow the lessons for the Prepare for Your Salesforce Administrator Credential path, then we will shift to completing the Super Set for the voucher after that.

Go ahead and get signed up for the Salesforce Certification Days Webinar, we recommend scheduling this for about 6-8 weeks from now depending on the webinar schedule and your availability. This will give you time to continue your self-led training on Trailhead, complete your Prepare for Your Salesforce Administrator Credential lessons and then use the webinar as a chance to refresh on the material and listen for any additional tips or advice.

In the course lessons you will see many references to the information mentioned here as well as deep dives and video guides into the details on these topics. 

Make sure to schedule the above mentioned steps into your week so that you don't fall behind! You are now deep-diving into the preparation for your new career and have already started down the path of separating yourself from the competition. Get the above listed items completed and get ready for next week!

WEEK 2

To stay on track for your Admin Certification you should be spending 8-10 hours per week working through the Prepare for Your Salesforce Administrator Credential lessons.

• Your goal this week is to complete the "Security Specialist" Super Badge. This is going to be challenging, it may very well be the most demanding lesson of the entire training guide. Just remember that as you move through it, things will get easier from here, it's time to put your feet to the fire!

Remember not to worry about the free exam voucher for now. Focus on the Prepare for Your Salesforce Administrator lessons. The great news is there is a huge amount of overlap between these lessons and what is needed to be awarded the Free Exam Voucher, therefore make sure you are registered for the Free Exam Voucher as mentioned in the Week 1 email so you don't accidentally disqualify yourself from voucher eligibility.

If you haven't already signed up for the Free Salesforce Certification Days Webinar mentioned in Week 1 do that now, we recommend scheduling this for about 5-6 weeks from now depending on the webinar schedule and your availability. 

Make sure to schedule the above mentioned steps into your week so that you don't fall behind! You are now deep-diving into the preparation for your new career. Get the above listed items completed and get ready for next week!

WEEK 3

Remember, to stay on track for your Admin Certification you should be spending 8-10 hours per week working through the Prepare for Your Salesforce Administrator Credential lessons.

• Your goal this week is to complete lessons up to the "Products, Quotes & Contracts" lesson. This means the next item on your list will be the "Salesforce Content Overview" link.

If you haven't already signed up for the Free Salesforce Certification Days Webinar mentioned in Week 1 do that now, we recommend scheduling this for about 4-5 weeks from now depending on the webinar schedule and your availability. This will be your final reminder on the topic so make sure it's completed!

Be sure to schedule the above mentioned steps into your week, it's important to stay on track! Get the above listed items completed and get ready for next week!

WEEKS 4 - 9

Continue training in the Prepare for Your Salesforce Administrator lessons. You should be spending 8-10 hours per week studying.

• Week 4: Your goal for this week is to complete lessons up to the "Activity Management" link. This means your next lesson will be the "Data Management" Task.
• Week 5: Your goal this week is to complete lessons up to the "Create Reports and Dashboards for Sales and Marketing Managers" project. This means your next lesson will be the "Lightning Experience Reports and Dashboards Specialist" Super Badge.
• Week 6: Your goal this week is to complete the "Lightning Experience Reports and Dashboards Specialist" Super Badge.
• Week 7: Your goal this week is to complete lessons up to the "Lightning App Builder" Module. This means your next lesson will be the "App Exchange" Task.
• Week 8: Your goal this week is to complete up to the "Business Administration Specialist" Super Badge. This means your next lesson will be the "Study for the Administrator Certification" Trail.
• Week 9: Your goal this week is to complete the "Study for the Administrator Certification" Trail. We do not recommend the last few items in the Prepare for Your Salesforce Administrator lessons list, therefore... Congratulations! You are done with this portion of your study which is a huge hurdle! (If you're a completionist you can simply open the remaining links in the list and that will mark them complete). We can finally move past the heads down study section, take a deep breath and start getting ready to take the actual exam!

Take a look at the Admin Super Set Content. At this point because you have completed the Prepare for Your Salesforce Administrator lessons you should have already completed the Super Set by default, sometimes you may have 1 or 2 items to take a look at, but if it is showing as complete then you are done and you can expect your exam voucher via email in 30 days or less! At this point if you have not already attended the Salesforce Certification Days Webinar it should be on your calendar very soon!

Be sure to schedule the above mentioned steps into your week for the next 5 weeks. These 5 weeks will have a monumental impact on your future. It will be much easier to land jobs and volunteer projects when you have your certification, checkout my landing a job course if you want to deep-dive into that content. Get the above listed items completed and get ready for the Week 10 material!

Next Steps

Take a deep breath, sit back and think about all you have accomplished. 10 Weeks ago you decided to take a chance on a brand new career path! You've studied for hours on end, developing your skills and adding a talent to your talent stack! Now that you've taken this deep breath and considered all that you've accomplished it's time for the rubber to hit the road. Take a look at my landing a job course and get ready to see the top notch strategies for finding volunteer projects, landing jobs, interviewing effectively and so much more!