Adobe Flex 3 w/AIR Exam: I did it for a burger.

August 31, 2009 · by · in , , , , ,

I found out last week that I had to upgrade my Flex 2 certification to Flex 3, and quickly…my ACI certification was on the line.  Of course this happens when I’m completely swamped and have too many other things to do.  In other words, I needed to pass the exam and do it with very little study time, in other words, after finding out last week, I took the test this afternoon and passed.

So what helped me with getting an 88% on minimal study?

1. I’m an experienced Flex/AIR developer.  Flex/AIR is what I do every day at work and that’s what I’ve been doing since Flex 2 beta.  That being said, if you’re just getting started, “results may vary” if you know what I mean.

2. I downloaded the Adobe Flex 3 with AIR Exam Preparation Guide from the Adobe site. It can be found here.  Basically, I scrolled to the bottom and took the 9 question practice exam to get a feel for what the questions would be like.

3. Over the course of a week I ran each of the three 50 question, and five 25 question practice exams in the Attest simulator once.  Immense kudos to the Attest team.  It’s a great product with a great comprehensive feel, and a very awesome price tag…free!

4. I spent an hour before the test skimming through the Adobe Flex 3 LiveDocs.  An hour goes quick, but the questions I got wrong on the Attest gave me a good idea on what I needed to concentrate on.

5. I got good sleep the night before, visualized myself passing the test, and spend 15 minutes or so before the test thinking of other things and concentrating on slowing my breathing and pulse rate. (I was pretty nervous, I always am)

6. During the test I took my time, read all the answers before jumping to conclusions, and unless I was 100% sure, ruled out all the FAIL ones before deciding which one was the correct.

7. Most importantly, I told myself what I would do for myself if I passed.  In my case today, I took myself out for one of my most favorite and unhealthy burgers in the world, the Big Daddy at Good Times.

Needless to say, success tasted good this afternoon.

Overall, I thought the exam was somewhat challenging in areas and easy in others.  If one really understands the concepts covered during the exam, I think that the resulting certification is at least a good way for someone to get their foot in the door to an interview for a Flex job.

For those wanting to take the exam soon, I can’t disclose any specific details about it.  However, I can say, if you’ve built at least a couple Flex and AIR applications and if you take all the practice tests provided in the Attest simulator and pay attention to what you miss, you’ll have a pretty good idea on what you need to study in more detail.

Now I can relax again until the Flex 4 exam comes out…ugh. ;-)

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