My Salesforce PD1 Certification Experience

I recently cleared my Salesforce PD1 certification and would like to share my experience on the certification and the resources that I’ve used to study for the exam. The questions were 60-70% scenario based, so you should have good understanding of each topic referenced in the study guide. During the exam certain questions may leave you confused with more than one correct answer so read through the questions more than once before you select your answer(s).
The key point is to define your strategy. I have started with Salesforce http://certification.salesforce.com/platformdeveloper link. I have gone through each section from the study guide to see if there is any specific area I need more knowledge on. Also Salesforce provides lots of documentation on each specific topic, so that you can study hard and practice a lot in your developer org. Each section in the study guide is assigned with appropriate weightage.

• Salesforce Fundamentals(10%)
• Data Modelling and Management (12%)
• Logic and Process Automation (46%)
• Logic and Process Automation (Part 2)
• User Interface (10%)
• Testing (12%)
• Debug and deployment tools (10%)

I would recommend you to complete the necessary Trailhead modules which gives a clear picture of the programmatic development. I’ve gone through the Trail Mix (Trailhead mix link) which has all the Trailhead trails that are necessary for the PD1 certification. It gives the detailed description of each topic with hands on challenges.
Once you feel comfortable with the Salesforce platform, you can start following Salesforce Fundamentals workbook for development at resources library( Trails | Salesforce Trailhead) (Salesforce Developers Documentation). I personally found it highly valuable. And the thing you have to remember during the exam is to try and read questions properly because sometimes you might see multiple possibilities, but based on the scenario a specific option may not fit.
I would like to point out the requirements which a candidate should possess before taking the PD1 Certification.

• Fair knowledge in Programmatic Development.
• Proficiency in customizations of standard Salesforce features.
• Good understanding of Salesforce CRM

Note: It is recommended that you take up the exam if and only if you satisfy the above mentioned requirements as That is because experience in development is vital if you want to clear the exam. But, the good news is that you will be asked only multiple choice questions. You need to score 68% in the exam and you will be allotted 110 minutes to complete the exam.
I would like to share some of the resources which also helped me in clearing my PD1 Certification.

• Apex Developer Guide –
  1. https://resources.docs.salesforce.com/sfdc/pdf/salesforce_apex_language_reference.pdf (PDF format)
  2. https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.apexcode.meta/apexcode/ (Online)
• Visualforce Developer Guide –
  1. https://resources.docs.salesforce.com/sfdc/pdf/salesforce_pages_developers_guide.pdf (PDF format)
  2. https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.pages.meta/pages/ (Online)
• Apex Workbook –
  1. https://resources.docs.salesforce.com/198/latest/en-us/sfdc/pdf/apex_workbook.pdf (PDF format)
• Visualforce Workbook –
  1. Visualforce workbook has been replaced by the Visualforce BasicsTrailhead module.

All these resources helped me a lot to clear the exam.