How to clear the Alteryx Designer Core Certification Exam in Two Weeks

 Alteryx is basically a software that extracts information from raw data, converts into a format that fulfills business requirements and then loads it into a target system.

Alteryx is used by many companies these days because of its ability to build data models, and that too without requiring the knowledge of any programming language.

So, basically we have three exams here:

1. Alteryx Designer Core
2. Alteryx Designer Advanced
3. Alteryx Designer Expert

Now, I'll be discussing about how to clear the Alteryx Designer Core Certification here. The best way for it is as follows:

1. Interactive lessons on Alteryx Community: Here, go through the lessons labelled as 'Core', as for now. The link for it is: Interactive Lessons
2. Alteryx learning path: Do go through the learning path for tutorials. The link to it is: Learning Path
3. Alteryx Core Certification prep guide: This is a whole package on 'How to prepare for Alteryx Designer Core Certification'. This well help you the most in your preparation journey. It does have a list of various resources and video lectures as well in it. The link to it is: Prep guide
4. The weekly challenges on the Alteryx community can help you a lot for practice. Do solve only the beginner level challenges, they would be more than sufficient.
5. Alteryx Flashcards: Very helpful to remember tools. The link to it is: Flashcards
6. Alteryx designer sheet: A small sheet summarizing the use of all tools in Alteryx. Best for revision purposes. The link to it is: Alteryx sheet

So, these were some of the best resources for Alteryx Designer Core Examination preparation. The perfect roadmap for self-preparation would be:

1. Interactive lessons on Alteryx Community
2. Using the Alteryx prep guide and checking the tools once you have mastered them.
3. Practicing the weekly challenges.

These three things are enough to clear the examination. 

For those who want a structured preparation, some courses on Udemy can help:

1. Alteryx Designer Core Certification + Practice Tests-9 Hours: This seems to be a good course as per the ratings listed. This might help you clear the exam in case you need a structured preparation. The link to it is: Alteryx Certification Course

Although, you can easily clear the exam with self-preparation, the above link can help those who want a proper structured course for their preparation.

Now, lets know more about the pattern of the exam:

1. Price: Free of cost
2. Skills Measured: Interface elements, basic workflow building concepts, Browse, Input Data, Output Data, Text Input, Data Cleansing, Filter, Formula, Sample, Select, Select Records, Sort, Unique, Append Fields, Find Replace, Join, Union, DateTime, Text to Columns, Count Records, Cross Tab, Summarize, Transpose, Comment, Tool Container
3. Questions: 80 Questions
4. Question Type: Multiple-Choice
5. Time: 2 Hours
6. Level of Questions: Easy to Intermediate
7. It is an online and on demand examination. You can give it from your home at any time.
8. It is an open book exam.
9. Time per question: 90 sec/question
10. You can give the exam once in every 7 days.

Tools to master:

1. Input and Output tools
2. Data Preparation tools
3. Join tools
4. Parse tools
5. Transform tools
6. General tools

Some other important topics:

1. Workflow constants
2. Saved Expressions
3. Alteryx Shortcuts
4. Annotations
5. File types
6. Tool conversion
7. Workflow Group Files
8. File extensions

Types of Questions asked:

1. Single Answer MCQ
2. Multiple Answer MCQ
3. Drop down
4. Hands on Question -  Single Answer MCQ -  In this question, you will have to download the dataset, work on it as per the question demand, and then get the answer.

Weightage: 

1. Theory Based questions (Mark per question: 1 mark): 73 Mark(Approx)
2. Hands on Question (Marks per question: 3 Marks): 21 Marks (Approx) (Never underestimate these questions)

* This is an approximate weightage and it might change from time to time.

Approximate weightage given to every tool:

For Theory Based Questions:

Category	No. of Questions
Preparation	22
Join	12
In/Out	10
Transform	10
Parse	5
Documentation	1
Miscellaneous	13
Total	73

For Practical (Hands-On) Questions:

Category	No. of Questions
Join	~1-2
Parse	~1-2
Preparation	~1-2
Transform	~1-2

An useful strategy for clearing the exam, solve the exam in 3 rounds, which are:

1. Do the questions which you are very confident about in the first round - 40 questions - 50 minutes 
2. Then go for the hands-on questions in the second round - 7 questions -  20 minutes 
3. Then go for questions in which you are not that confident - 33 questions - 50 minutes

This was all I had to say about Alteryx Designer Core Exam preparation. Do let me know in case you have any doubts. 

Happy Learning !