Tackling the Salesforce admin certification: my journey and top tips

If you’re thinking about earning your Salesforce admin certification, you’re in good company. The Salesforce ecosystem is packed with certifications covering all sorts of Salesforce Clouds, technologies, and niche products — but the Salesforce administrator certification remains one of the most important and popular first steps. In this blog, DevOps Architect, Sam Crossland deep dives into what the admin certification covers, why it’s worth pursuing, how he prepared (and passed!), and what resources helped him succeed. Plus, he’ll share top tips to boost your own exam day confidence.

What is the Salesforce administrator exam?

The Salesforce admin certification is designed to give you a broad understanding of the Salesforce platform’s core functionality, including:

• Configuration and setup
• Object Manager and Lightning App Builder
• Sales, Marketing, Service, and Support Cloud fundamentals
• Process automation and workflows
• Productivity and collaboration tools
• Data management, reporting, and analytics

The admin exam is aimed at those starting out in the Salesforce ecosystem or beginning their professional accreditation journey. Hands-on experience is essential for this certification, as you’ll need to feel comfortable navigating a Salesforce org’s setup and functionality. Here’s what to expect:

• Format: Multiple choice (often with 4+ options per question)
• Length: 60 questions in 105 minutes
• Passing score: 65%

Sounds achievable, right? It is — but in my experience, this was one of the more difficult Salesforce exams, as the breadth of knowledge required is significant, despite being an entry-level certification. However, there are some really good resources around to help you prepare as much as possible — and we’ll dive into those shortly.

Why pursue the Salesforce admin certification?

Some certifications can feel like “tickbox” exercises — nice to share on LinkedIn or include on your CV, but they don’t actually provide fundamental knowledge of the content you’re being scored on. The Salesforce admin certification isn’t one of those. It’s a notoriously difficult yet valuable exam that truly tests your understanding of the Salesforce platform — covering a wide array of scenarios. It’s extremely unlikely that you could “just take” this exam without adequate preparation and practice.

Alongside a deeper understanding of the Salesforce platform, it can also help on both a professional and personal level. Passing the exam proves that you know your stuff, which can open doors professionally, boost your CV, and give you a real sense of achievement. Plus, it lays a solid foundation for future Salesforce certifications, like "Advanced Admin", "Platform App Builder", or even Salesforce DevOps certifications like the ones available for free through DevOps Launchpad.

On the overall Salesforce certification pathway, the admin certificate is one of the most popular and — before the associate exam came along in late 2022 — is seen as a true starting point for demonstrating Salesforce knowledge. Even though it’s only a direct pre-requisite for one other certificate (the "Advanced Administrator" exam), it works as the perfect grounding before taking on other, more specialised areas.

My journey: how I prepared for the admin exam

Before tackling the admin exam, I took the newer Salesforce associate certification. This gave me a taste of the Salesforce exam structure and helped highlight the areas I needed to dig deeper into for the admin exam — like Object Manager, Lightning App Builder, and Reports.

Trailhead is a fantastic platform offered by Salesforce for learning about all parts of the platform and ecosystem. This Trailmix took me step-by-step through the key areas of the admin exam, with useful modules and projects to help me prepare.

The main asset I used in my preparation was the community site, Focus on Force. It breaks down key exam preparation guides and practice exams for a lot of the Salesforce certifications. The admin page not only provides all this, but also includes case studies, advice on how to study, and detailed analysis on the exam itself, with key weightings.

The practice tests were also really useful for me, especially as they covered the key topics of the exam, and also allowed me to practice both full tests and 20-question randomised tests — so I wasn’t just “learning the answers”. I completed all of these practice exams over the course of several weeks, alongside Trailhead and the study guide, before feeling confident enough (with multiple practice scores above 80%) to go ahead and book the exam in.

When I booked my exam (through Kryterion Webassessor at the time), I also made sure to prepare for the logistics of remote proctoring using this Trailhead resource — confirming my camera and microphone setup, checking room requirements, and doing a trial run. It’s important to note that this exam-booking process will change due to the latest updates to the Salesforce certification experience.

Taking the plunge: exam day

As mentioned, if you’re doing the exam remotely, understanding exam day requirements is really key. Give yourself plenty of time before the exam to set up your room, re-read all your important study notes, and get into the frame of mind to sit in a silent environment for a lengthy period of time.

Another tip for exam day is to make sure you read every question carefully. It sounds obvious, but the admin exam often includes “most likely” or “best option” questions that can throw you off, as there may be more than one correct answer. Just remember, they’re after the best route for that specific scenario, so make sure to read these and consider them thoroughly.

Personally, I also found “mark this question for later review” really useful. It allowed me to consider the question for a while, provide the most likely answer from my understanding, and then optionally make some notes and come back to that question at the end. One piece of advice here is to remember: your first answer may actually be right, so don’t second-guess or deliberate too much — trust your instincts and exam preparation.

Once the exam is over, you can breathe a sigh of relief! You’ll be presented with a pass or fail — either way, be proud of your attempt. You’ve now got the experience to take forward and improve on your next attempt, if needed. At this stage, you’ll also get a breakdown of each topic section and your percentage score. This is useful in case you need to dive into key areas to retake the exam, or to build your knowledge for future certifications.

You’ll also get an email from Salesforce confirming your result, and access to a shareable certificate ID for attracting those likes and comments on LinkedIn.

One interesting point is that Salesforce doesn’t give you an overall exam percentage by default. But luckily, Focus on Force has you covered with a score checker. This allows you to select your exam, type in the percentage per topic section, and get your overall score percentage.

Additional insights and tips

There are some great tips and tricks available here around passing Salesforce exams, which apply to a wide range of certifications on offer, so I recommended reading that article to help with your study guide and plan of attack.

For the admin exam specifically, since it’s so broad, here’s what I wish I’d known when I started:

• Focus on the foundations: understand how triggers, workflows, validation rules, and automation tools work together.
• Master permissions and security settings: company-wide settings, Profiles, Login Hours — they will come up.
• Practice data handling skills: know when to use tools like Data Import Wizard versus Data Loader.
• Don’t skip tricky topics: Flows, Lightning page layouts, and productivity tools are all fair game!

Don’t be afraid!

Booking in, studying for, and taking Salesforce certificates can certainly be daunting, but as a closing statement I’d say, “don’t be afraid”. Each step you take strengthens your skills, boosts your confidence, and unlocks new career opportunities. Passing the Salesforce admin certification is more than a badge — it’s proof of your capability, resilience, and readiness to take on the Salesforce world. So, all that’s left to say is, good luck, and see you at the finish line!

Don’t tackle your certification alone — get extra help

If you’d like additional guidance before you book your admin exam, join DevOps Launchpad’s upcoming webinar, How to pass your Salesforce Certification exam with 9x Salesforce-certified DevOps Advocate, Rob Cowell. Register now to get expert advice, study strategies and real-world tips on how to pass with confidence — as well as insights into the latest updates to the Salesforce certification experience.

And once you’ve passed your admin certification, why stop there? At DevOps Launchpad, you can keep your momentum going with free, Salesforce-specific DevOps certifications that help you stand out even more in the ecosystem.