If you've been on the fence about whether or not to make the leap and trailblaze your way to becoming Salesforce-certified, now is the time to go for it! Whatever your role, earning credentials from Salesforce shows that you have the ability to help transform companies by applying your knowledge to solve real-world challenges.

You may have already heard that the Salesforce ecosystem will create 3.3 million new jobs by 2022—check out the report! So now, more than ever, Salesforce-certified professionals aren't just in demand, they're increasingly indispensable.

Here are two of our top secrets for acing your certification exam:

1. Get your cert prep on.

Firstly, choose the certification path that's right for you. Download our guide to certification paths—offering an overview of all Salesforce roles and their associated credentials. This step-by-step guide will take you through each certification, depending on your experience level with Salesforce. It's packed with study materials and includes links to hundreds of training resources including videos, trails, study guides, and more.

Once you've decided on your certification of choice, download the relevant exam guide from the Salesforce certification site. This will give you details of the full exam outline and the weighting of each topic covered in the multiple-choice test to help structure your study approach. 

Next, check out the certification prep trailmixes. Curated specifically to help with your exam prep, these popular certification trailmixes are a fantastic study tool. Plus, you'll build out your Trailhead profile along the way, helping you to rank up and prove your stellar Salesforce skills:

• Prepare for Your Salesforce Administrator Credential
• Prepare for Your Salesforce Advanced Administrator Credential
• Prepare for Your Salesforce Platform App Builder Credential
• Prepare for Your Salesforce Platform Developer I Credential
• Prepare for Your Salesforce Platform Developer II Credential

2. Discover the cert taking secrets of the experts.

One of the most popular sessions at the Trailhead Academy theater at Dreamforce '17 was the “Expert Tips & Tricks for Crushing Your Certification Exam” session. And for good reason too! Be sure to watch the recording as a panel of Master Instructors take you through their tried and tested hints and tips when sitting for your cert exam. Covering the exam format itself, what to expect, and what you can and can't do during the test, they also share some insider secrets making this one not to be missed!

The biggest secret of all? Failure IS an option!

Some of you may have been putting off scheduling your exam date just in case you don't pass. But here's the biggest secret of all...plenty of test takers do not pass their exam on the first attempt (and as you'll hear in the session recording above, not even some of the instructors themselves!). So don't worry about being one of them, instead, take it as a learning exercise to help you be more prepared for the retake.

At the conclusion of most multiple-choice exams, pass or fail, you'll get an email with section-level feedback. The feedback shows percentage scores on each topic covered in the exam to help you determine your strengths and weaknesses. Compare this with the topic weighting from the exam guide and you've got your revision plan in the bag.

The time is now.

With just a few trailblazing days left in 2017, it's time to take the plunge! Schedule your exam (at either a testing center or virtually), join the Trailblazer Community to connect with others who are trailblazing their way to a certification, and ring in the new year as a member of the Salesforce #CertifiedPro club.

Good luck, Trailblazers!

Check out the previous post – 12 Days of Trailblazing: 1 Big Thank You to Our Trailblazers