Preparing and studying for the Facebook Ads Certification or Blueprint Exams can be confusing.

Which exam should you take?

How much should you study?

Do you need experience… or not?

They are very common question I get from our +5,000 member Facebook Blueprint Group.

If you are thinking on becoming Facebook Ads Certified, you should definitely follow these 10 steps.

It is the main advice I give to everyone who asks me where to start.

And it works 🙂

Just look at what some of our members have to say:

facebook ads certification

And this…

facebook blueprint certification exam

And this…

facebook ad certification

So following these steps can really help you pass your next Facebook Ads Certification or Facebook Blueprint Exams (Please keep in mind that some tips suggest content I’ve created).

Here is a video in case you don’t like to read 🙂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0BSddm6O2I

1, Download our Study Guide

More than +4,000 people have downloaded our Free Study Guide.

It has +15 topics in 40 pages with summaries and explanations on some of the most common topics for your exam.

It’s probably the quickest way to figure out what topics to better prepare.

2, Understand your level of digital mkt experience

The test can be tricky. Especially if you have not launched campaigns within Facebook.

I’ve written about this before.

But you really need to be honest with yourself!

Really! This is probably the most difficult but important part.

And figure out your level of knowledge and expertise in Facebook advertising.

Especially with nuances and details within the Facebook platform.

It’s very difficult to assess the level of someone’s experience in social media.

But make sure you read this blog post the learn more about this topics.

3, Why not to schedule your Facebook Advertising Certification exams back-to-back?

Please…

Don’t make this mistake. I’ve seen people schedule the Core exam in the morning and the Planning or Buying certification exams in the afternoon.

Or even worse, one after the other.

So why should you schedule them back to back?

Because Pearson’s allows you to schedule and pay for both exams; however, if you fail the first one, you won’t be able to take the second one.

In other words, you need to have passed the 310-101: Facebook™ Advertising Core Competencies Exam in order to take the Facebook Planning or Buying Certification exam.

So…

If you fail the core ads exam and have scheduled the planning or buying for the same day; you won’t be able to reschedule the other exam and will lose the $150 or $75 that you’ve paid.

4, How to pick between the Planning and Buying exam?

Which Facebook ads certification exam should you take?

There is a lot of content that overlaps between both exams; however, the type of questions and approach might be different.

I honestly think the planning exam is more difficult than the buying exam but only because a lot of the tools used for planning are not widely used by most digital marketers.

For example, buying through reach and frequency or using the campaign planner.

It’s something most people just don’t use in their day to day job.

So make sure you read this blog post and watch the video below to learn more about the difference between the planning and buying Facebook ad certification exams:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK2DWzDHczk&t=2s

5, Join our community and ask a lot of questions

Honestly, it’s probably one of the quickest ways to get feedback and ask questions.

Why?

Because we have +5,000 members who are taking, plan to take or have passed the Facebook ads certification exams.

facebook blueprint certification advertising exams

Plus we post a lot of updates on policies, changes in exams and tips for you to pass your next exam:

So if you want to be on top of Facebook Blueprint Certification Exams, make sure you join our community.

Plus it’s free!

6, Know how to choose courses within all of Facebook Blueprint materials

Facebook has put a lot of effort into building more and more course materials through its Facebook Blueprint Online Training Materials.

There are so many courses know it’s hard to keep up.

However,

I don’t think a lot of them are useful or will help you with studying or preparing for your next exam.

If you are a beginner, make sure you go through a lot of the content; however, if you’ve had +2 years of experience in digital marketing they won’t be of much help.

The best way to approach the Facebook Blueprint is to pick the topics in which you feel the most uncomfortable with.

For example,

  • Reach and frequency buying
  • Facebook auction buying options
  • SDK for mobile apps
  • Facebook campaign planner

or all of the different tools that you usually don’t use. Go through the

7, Play around with the tools and practice with real ads

Practice.

Practice.

Practice.

And more practice!

If there is one advice I can give you is that the exam is more practical than theory. You will get more case studies and the questions are build more like real cases that you need to solve.

In order to become better at the exams, make sure you practice with the different tools that Facebook offers and familiarize yourself with Facebook Business Manager.

facebook business ads exam

Here are some tools you should definitely look at:

  1. Facebook Ads Guide
  2. Facebook Campaign Planner
  3. Facebook Creative Hub
  4. Business Manager Settings
  5. Facebook Ads Manager

Make sure you learn about how to use those tools as you will get questions regarding those topics.

8, Understand reach and frequency

Reach and frequency are barely used by most people managing ads on Facebook.

Why?

Because they are mostly use for branding campaigns, mass market industry products or large retail chains.

Plus,

you need larger budgets. If you are spending $500-$1,000 a month on an account, reach and frequency is just not the best way to spend your money.

Especially if you are looking more at conversions.

Hence, most digital marketers using Facebook don’t know about reach + frequency and have never used it before.

If you don’t have access to reach and frequency within your Business Manager make sure you read this post thread.

Make sure you understand the basics and how this specific type of buying within Facebook really works. I’ve seen a lot of questions in the Facebook ad certification exams that relate to reach and frequency.

9, Practice, practice and practice with our sample questions

There are ten free sample questions you can find here and paid ones here.

I have to say that’s probably the best way to prepare for the exam.

Yes it can be frustrating. Facebook use to have sample questions that were taken down a couple of months ago.

But…

I’ve written 100 sample questions split into different subjects so that you can check which area you need to practice more or just read more about it:

  1. Business manager
  2. Facebook audiences
  3. Facebook campaigns
  4. Facebook buying type and delivery
  5. Facebook pixel
  6. Facebook SDK
  7. Troubleshooting campaigns
  8. 4 different case studies

The questions are tricky and a little harder than the actual exam. So don’t get frustrated if you get them wrong at first.

I just tried to make the questions as confusing and close as possible to the real exam.

This is probably one of the biggest complaint I get from people failing their exams:

The questions were just really confusing!

So I tried to make the sample question as confusing as the real Facebook advertising certifications.

10, Download the right software, test your computer and set up your room

If you are planning on taking the Facebook ads certification exam at home…

make sure you download the right software and test it 2-3 days before your scheduled exam.

What are online proctored exams?

Online proctored exams allow you to conveniently and easily take an exam in the comfort of your home or office while being monitored by an off site proctor.

Before starting your Facebook Blueprint advertising exam, make sure you have done the following:

  1. Download the proctoring software in advance and ensure your system will work with our software. Please also check our list of minimum system requirements.
  2. Make sure you have administration rights on your computer so that you can download the software.
  3. Shut down all non-essential applications.

You can check system requirements and download the software at Pearson’s website.

Conclusion

The last thing I would say it to just have fun!

And make sure you follow those steps.

Trust me!

It’s the same process I took when I was planning for my exams and what I’ve told our +5,000 community members who are taking or have taken the Facebook ads certification exams.

They are not easy… but not impossible either.

It just takes practice, courage and commitment.

Don’t get discouraged if you fail it on your first try. Keep going and scheduled it again.

Hopefully these tips will help you pass your next exam.

If you have other suggestions make sure you share them on the comments below 🙂

Good luck on your next exam!