Confusion about contents of SAS Certified Associate: Programming Fundamentals Using SAS 9.4 A00-215

[ALoHa]

Hi all,

I have a question concerning the contents of the SAS Certified Associate: Programming Fundamentals Using SAS 9.4 exam (A00-215)

At the SAS website it is stated you should learn both e-learnings:

• SAS Programming 1: Essentials
• SAS Programming 2: Data Manipulation Techniques

However, when looking through the exam content guide al lot of topics discussed in the e-learnings (such as PROC SQL and PROC TRANSPOSE) are not in this content guide.

From your experience, would you say that I should follow the e-learnings while learning or focus on the topics stated in the content guide?

Thanks in advance!

[shelby62b · Accepted solution]

My advice (yes I tested and passed), for the exam, focus tight on the Content Guide. I think the SAS team did a good job scoping the exam to the guide.

In real life, know and understand that these other things exist. You may not use PROC SQL today, but if you stick with SAS you'll run across it and learning these other topics, even if you don't master them, is worthwhile.


Good luck.

[ALoHa]

I followed your advice and passed the exam. You were right!

Thanks Shelby!

[Mark2010]

Hi,

Can I also provide a little bit of context as well?

When we developed the Associate, we knew that it was going to cover much of the same content as the Specialist, with a few difficult topics removed ( such as TRANSPOSE), and no performance-based items. We decided to recommend the same training as the Specialist (and same prep guide) even though they do cover these additional topics. We didn't want to create a separate purchase. We want candidates who purchased training or the prep guide to be able to use that same content to later (when they have more experience) to prepare for Specialist without incurring additional preparation expense.

And @shelby62b is exactly right, go by the Content Guide. 

Thanks,
Mark