This is my first blog and I’m going to talk about the strategy I followed to clear my System Architect certification in just three months and also share my preparation experience along with some useful blog references and my own notes.

About

To earn this certificate you just need to complete following four certifications and you are entitled Certified System Achitect.

1. Platform Developer I
2. Identity and Access Management Designer
3. Integration Architecture Designer
4. Development Lifecycle and Deployment Designer

Take these certifications as a stepping stone and study the topics keeping in mind that you are preparing for your CTA review board examination.

Strategy

Set a goal

Set a final goal that is achievable and you can stick to it. Also, keep track of your progress.

Here I set my long-term goal to complete the certification by end of the year i.e. 5 months and individual certification goals for one month each and keeping the remaining time as buffer.

I also kept a daily goal to study a new topic every day and mark the days when I studied (highlighted in pink in the above image), this will keep you engage and motivated to keep working towards your goal.

You can very well proportionally increase the time based on your learning speed and time you are willing to devote on daily basis.

Sequence of Certification

Choosing the right certification sequence will help you prepare topics quickly as some of the course content overlap with each other.

The sequence I gave my exam was Integration – Identity – Deployment. I would recommend using this sequence, Identity – Integration – Deployment as it will give you the following benefits.

• Overall understanding of Identity and Access helps how different systems communicate when they are integrated together.
• Identity and Access exam talk a lot in depth about OAuth and Connected App which are also required for Integration exam as an overview and thus will be easy when you prepare for the second certification.
• Deployment exam is a lot of reading and memorizing stuff so keeping it at the end will help, as you will gain a flow and routine in your studies and you will be able to skim through contents quickly.

Lock the dates

Once you have set the goal and decided on the exam sequence, pick the dates, and book your exam on Webassessor. If you are not ready, you can reschedule the exam 24 hrs before the selected date.

Pointers while picking appropriate dates:

1. I picked Mondays for my exam as I was able to find the right slot and use weekends for my final revision.
2. Keep the same time for all the exams, it will give you the same feel and confidence when you give the exam.
3. Book time off for your preparations in advance and make sure there are no project deliverables like deployments or migrations in the week before your exam.
   • I booked each Friday before my exam as time off, so that I don’t have anything falling over the weekend when I need to revise for my exam.

Preparation Timelines

I completed the certification in 3 months as I was preparing for 3 domain certifications and I already had the Platform Developer I (PDI) certification. You can attempt for PDI certification either before or after the domain certifications. I would recommend completing it first.

I gave roughly one month for each certification and split the time as follows.

Preparation (3 Weeks)

On a high level always be focused on gaining knowledge in these three weeks and preparing the notes so that the same notes will be very helpful when you appear for the CTA review board.

All the designer exams can be prepared with a common approach which I followed.

1. Study all the topics in trailmix and keep preparing your notes.
   • Go through the video/ blogs outlined in trailmix thoroughly.
   • Additionally, read the related salesforce articles and note the limitations and implementation considerations outlined there.
   • Also, check out Dreamforce or CTA preparation-oriented sessions of the related topics on YouTube for a better understanding of how to implement them in the real world scenario. I have added such links in the relevant certification preparation blog.
   • Do some hands-on for even those topics which don’t have a hands-on challenge in trailhead to see how it works in real-time.
2. Check out and read all the blogs posted by fellow trailblazers and if you find any topic not covered in trailmix read through that. I have added blog links in the relevant certification preparation blog.

Revision (1 Week)

Try to revise all the notes you prepared and get more clarity on any topics which you find difficult and try to do some hands-on to understand it better.

Check out some flashcards and quizzes for learning the definitions and key terms which can come directly and some sample question on Quizlet. I have added such links in the relevant certification preparation blog.

Preparation Guides and Notes

• Identity and Access Management Designer (Coming Soon!)
• Integration Architecture Designer (Coming Soon!)
• Development Lifecycle and Deployment Designer (Coming Soon!)

Conclusion

Acquiring System Architect certification requires you to complete all the underlying certifications and you are entitled to this certificate, so don’t go for all the underlying certifications as an independednt certification. Try to study all of them as a whole by defining a clear goal for this top-level certification and gaining an in-depth understanding of each designer certification, this will definitely help you with your CTA review board preparation.

Define a clear timeline for your exam and also a timeline for each designer certification, also keep track of your progress so that you are on target for this bigger goal.

Thank you for starting this journey with me and stay tuned for upcoming blogs for individual certification and my own preparation notes.