By Helen Brown
Google have recently created the “Certification centre”, in addition to already having the “Learning centre”. The information contained in these resources is a valuable source of learning. However, it has caused a lot of controversy over what to expect from the exams, given that the information seems to lag somewhat from the features and functions that experienced Google AdWords users see in the current Google AdWords interface.
I’d like to address some comments and feedback I have read recently about the relevancy of our resources compared to the actual Google exams.
We sit the exams regularly and look for updates to information/question content. We do this because we want to keep the products as relevant as possible. Exam candidates use our services so they can feel as ready and confident as they possibly can for the real exam. I can say infact, I took the search exam on Friday 4th January to observe any changes that could have taken place, and I am pleased to say that our search resource is still relevant Image may be NSFW.
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This action is taken with all of our resources frequently so that we can deliver the most accurate exam preparation experience to users.
From an editorial perspective, our team also keep in mind that some of our users are new to AdWords. Whilst experienced users will know about previously retired functions of the interface, new users will not. Website optimiser is a classic example as it is a retired feature, but I have seen website optimiser questions still present within the exam. I’ve also seen questions referring to position preference ( this was retired quite some time ago!)
Some of the exam questions are rather tricky and I end up feeling like they are trying to catch me out rather than test my knowledge. I know I can’t be the only person feeling like this and surely with that in mind, retired features and functions can push an exam candidate over the edge! This is why from our perspective, we do not retire the questions (until they’re removed from the exam). In our opinion, if questions are asked about those features in the real exam, our resources should ask questions about this information too.
The feedback comments I have seen however, do spark a question. I would like to open a dialogue and I welcome comments.
If information on features and functions of the Google AdWords interface is still present in the learning material (this means it can still be found in the exam) but not in the current Google AdWords interface, should our editorial team remove the questions from our question banks?
