How to Approach and Pass a SAP Certification

Posted by Ravi Sankar Venna in SAP Certification on 22 Mar, 2012 7:01:42 PM

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Me, after passing Six SAP Certifications, I thought it is time for me to share my experiences, tips and ideas with
the user community on passing a SAP Certification. SAP Certification is a tensed affair not because of its
toughness, but, because of the money involved in it (gambling on one day cricket match

). This is particularly

true, in case if you have also attended SAP Training at SAP Education or SAP Authorised Training Institutes.
There are many people who have invested everything for just a Certificate. Me also one of such bunch of jokers
(my wife says !!!

) who invests everything in education / certification, and at the end of the day, what you get is

a peace of paper. However, the value of certification will come along with you and definitely recognised your
efforts in the long run. There are many people still blame the certification process itself, because they feel that
SAP has not tested their knowledge properly or they might have failed in one of their SAP Certifications or they
may feel SAP Certification is a waste of money. Probably, this blog is not for so called intelligent people. I know
the importance of hands on experience, but at the same time your fundamentals must be clear to work on a
system. I have seen people who are having very good knowledge and 5 end to end implementations under their
belt, but failed. I cannot blame their knowledge, I feel, there is a GAP in approach in attempting SAP Certification.
This blog is for those who are really motivated to crack the SAP Certification at any cost and prove themselves to
add one more A4 size paper to the list of their certificates
I would like to summarize some my personal experiences, tips and ideas, may be helpful in approaching and
cracking SAP Certification.
Identify your strengths: Before writing a certification first know your strengths. If you want to write a certification
in a particular area, you should know whether you have worked in any of those areas and gained any functional
knowledge / domain knowledge / end user experience / configuration experience / coding experience / training
etc. Note that everybody cannot get all the opportunities in all the above areas. But, you should able to Identify
your strengths with respect to these areas, then decide which Certification you are required to attempt.
Understand SAP Certification Policies: Unfortunately, SAP is having different type of policies with reference to
SAP Certification in different countries. I had to travel from India to Malaysia in order to write my SAP BW
Certification

. Dictionary meaning says Policy means, the rules are same for every one. But, unfortunately,

SAP Education policy change from country to country, person to person and organisation to organisation. They
are very complex, layman like me cannot understand
. First contact your local SAP Education Team and

understand what is their policy applicable for your case and get a written confirmation that you are eligible to
write the certification. Sometimes, it may so happen that you are eligible to write SAP Certification on day 1 and
surprisingly may not be eligible on day 2.
Formal Training: If you are really new to an area, but intended to write SAP Certification, you need to attend the
formal training. In some countries, SAP says, you must get trained from SAP Education / SAP Authorised
Training Partner. But, in other countries, you can register yourself and write the exam. If you are fortunate enough

to afford the money, then, it is recommended to get some sort of formal training. There may be some exceptional
people who has written some Certifications without formal training. But, please note all the certification you
cannot adopt the same approach. Some of the Certifications really test your ability and conceptual knowledge.
Please note that unless you are formally trained, you cannot reach the level of passing the Certification Exam. If
you pass such certifications without having any knowledge and training, then you are a star
Plan in advance: You must plan in advance. At least couple of months are really required from the date of start
of your formal training and attempting the certification. If you are privileged to get a formal training from SAP, you
would get lot of new concepts every day and will have less time to practice and study, then your next day starts
for new movie

. Therefore, hardly you get any time to master the things. Since, you have gone through every

page in detail, probably, you may in a better position position to attempt the examination.
Exercises: At the end of the each chapter, there used to be exercises, but do not worry if you are not able to
complete them. In my whole life, I could not complete all the exercises in a book (little incompetent !!! LOL

).

Please note that the exercises are given only to get clarity on the theoretical and conceptual knowledge. They are
not intended to make you master or test your hands on exercises. Therefore, do not put much stress even if you
cannot complete them.
After Training - Before Examination: I would say this is the real crucial stage. During the training period, you
never had chance to revise anything. But, this is the period where you will really put the concepts into your mind.

Read each Certification Curriculum book for not less than FIVE times, very RELIGIOUSLY, before going
to examination. First time, it would take longer period, but the more number of times you read, the time
would be reduced. You must keep a notes and note down the important points. Meanwhile, you also
highlight any important points with marker and note some questions with pencil. But, all my Certification
books are filled with different marker colours, so could not read anything

Give more importance to chapters with +++ or ++ ratings in the syllabus. You may expect more number
of questions out of these chapters.

You are not advised to memorise the things, but, try to read in order to understand the concepts.
Because, in certification, SAP is trying to test your conceptual knowledge, but not your memory.

Try to answer the questions given at the end of the each chapter.

Practice number of questions during this period. There are number of yahoo / google groups, where you
can find number of sample questions. Try to attempt them. Do not worry, if you are only able to correct
few in your first attempt. Even me used to get few correct answers only. If it is wrong, understand why it
is wrong, if it is correct, why it is correct, this is the only way, you can clear the conceptual
understanding, rather than blindly remembering the answers.

There are number of pictures / graphs that are being given in the Certification material. Please do not
look them as nice looking coloured pictures. Try to analyse them in functional / technical perspective.
Hopefully, you will find lot of meaning from them. Then read the underlying text in conjunction with those
pictures. You will see much and better confidence view.

If you have any time try to go through help.sap.com, where the concepts are written in crystal clear
language. If you find any time and also go through some of the threads on SDN, that would be a bonus.

Day before examination:

Know the address of your examination center. Otherwise, you may get panic in searching for the center
tomorrow morning

Go to bed little early.

Do not read too much the whole night, it may not help, moreover, you may be sleepy in the examination.

On the day of examination:

Get up little early and have relaxed bath, take adequate breakfast.

See if you have time and can rush through pages, but not spend too much time here, you will forget
going to exam.

Ensure that you have identity card (passport / driving license) or admission ticket, pen / pencil etc.

Ensure that you reach half an hour in advance to the examination time. One time, I could not reach the
examination center due to traffic and I am forced to reschedule my examination.

Whoever be the person, there will be definitely some tension boiling inside. But, try to keep yourself as
much relaxed as possible. Just think, even if you do not pass, it is not the end of the world, still there is a
tomorrow. Be calm.

In the Examination Hall:

Before coming to the examination, you must have enquired the pattern of the examination. In earlier pattern, you
can still get partial credit for partially correct questions. However, for new pattern, SAP only will award marks if all
your answers / sub answers are correct in a question. Even if you make one sub-question incorrect, you will not
get any marks for the total question. Therefore, your concepts must be crystal clear, you cannot take chances to
put lotteries in the examination center
questions (including me

, whereas in old pattern, many people used to put lotteries for unknown

), as you were not going to loose anything. No negative marking is there in either

current or old pattern of valuation.

Ensure you have completed all the formalities, like filling the form containing the name, contact details,
address (where you should get your certificate) etc.

Use elimination technique - First try to identify the wrong questions, which you can identify very easily,
then finally you will reach the right answers.

Concentrate on Single Answered Questions - For certain questions are called single answered
questions, which will have radio buttons, only one question will is the correct answer. I heard that they

have higher weightage, but not sure. Ensure that you reach the correct answer by using elimination
technique.

Try to attempt the easy questions first - Try to attempt the easy questions first, then this will give you
confidence and keep you in better frame of mind.

Mark the questions - If you cannot answer the question completely, then put them as "Marked question",
then at the end you can easily identify such questions and complete the answers. Even if you do not put
as "Marked Questions", still you can come back and complete them, it would waste your valuable time.

Take few minutes break - Go to wash room and come back, your mind may be recharged.

Do not worry much about the time - You should usually get ample time. Every time, I used to get time to
go through all the questions 3 to 4 times. Therefore, in my opinion, time will not be a constraint, unless
somebody spends more than an hour on a single question

Give last ten minutes for re-look at all questions - At this point of time, you do not have the time to read
the question, only look at the question with your eyes and ensure that you have answered all questions.
So, go through in this fashion for all the questions.

Relax - If you are confident, then you can click submit button, if you are shivering, just sit, relax and
close your eyes, the system will take your session and issue the results. If you pass you will see
Congratulations, otherwise, you will see your failed message. You can note down the marks obtained
chapter wise on a plain paper.

Even if you pass or fail, do not much worry about it, calm / relax and come out of the examination hall.

After the Examination:

You should get your hard copy of the certificate within 4 - 6 weeks of time from the date of your
Certification.

If not contact your Local / Global SAP Education Team, they should be able to help you out.

Contact SAP Education Team for password of your S ID. This you can use in order visit Service Market
Place (https://service.sap.com). Do not share this User ID and Password with others.

Contact SAP Education Team for your Certification Logo, which you can use on your CV.

Earlier SAP used to send S ID cards. I got for my three certifications, but not for other three. But, I do
not know where I misplaced

Hopefully, I believe that I have covered most important points and will be useful for SAP Certification aspirants.
This is the approach I used to follow. If you have any better approach, you are always welcome with suggestions
and updates.
All the best.
Best Regards,
Ravi
PS: Please do not waste your money on bogus web sites, who are selling the questions / useless materials.