Hi:
There are 5 modules in the entire Data Science Academy program because there are 5 exams that you need to take to earn the Data Scientist credential.
For the Big Data Professional level, there are 2 exams you have to take to earn the credential. So are you asking about the Big Data Module 1 or the Big Data Module 2 exam? Or are you going to take both exams on August 15?
The SAS Academy for Data Science program is composed of a total of 18 classes split between these 2 levels:
--SAS Certified Big Data Professional Level 1 is composed of 9 classes and 2 modules
------Big Data Professional Module 1 has 5 classes which prepare you for the Big Data Preparation, Statistics, and Visual Exploration certification exam
------Big Data Professional Module 2 has 4 classes which prepare you for the Big Data Programming and Loading certification exam
After you pass these 2 exams, you will earn the Big Data Professional certification credential.
--SAS Certified Advanced Analytics Professional Level 2 is composed of 9 classes and 3 modules
------Advanced Analytics Professional Module 3 has 1 class which prepares you for the Predictive Modeling certification exam
------Advanced Analytics Professional Module 4 has 4 classes which prepare you for the Advanced Predictive Modeling certification exam
------Advanced Analytics Professional Module 5 has 4 classes which prepare you for the Text Analytics, Time Series, Experimentation, and Optimization certification exam
After you pass these 3 exams, you will earn the Advanced Analytics Professional certification credential. When you have passed the 5th exam, you are automatically awarded the Data Scientist credential. In total, you actually earn 4 credentials because when you pass the Predictive Modeling exam, you earn the Predictive Modeling using SAS Enterprise Miner credential.
My recommendation is that you study for and take 1 exam at a time. When we teach the in-person Academy classes in the 12 week session, we do the classes in order and the students take each exam at the end of their studies for one module.
So if you have purchased all 5 modules in the Data Science Academy, then I recommend you start with the Big Data Module 1 and study the 5 classes in that module, take the exam; and then, move on and work on the 4 classes in the Big Data Module 2 level. After you study those classes, focus on taking the second Big Data exam.
We have a timing estimate that shows, by credential, how long we estimate it will take to study for each level. Here's the link: here,
https://www.sas.com/content/dam/SAS/en_us/doc/other1/Training/time.pdf which explains the weekly time commitment for the e-learning only program, based on the module(s) you purchase.
For example for the 2 Big Data Professional modules, we recommend that to finish the work in 6 months, you'd need to spend approximately 8 hours per week on the Big Data Professional modules.
In the in-person academy classes, the students follow the classes, do the exercises, do the case studies and then take the exams. So I would recommend that you watch all the demos, listen to all the lectures and do all the exercises to prepare. Then, be sure to do the Case Studies as your final pass through the material to make sure you've synthesized the material. Also, you can purchase a Practice Exam for each of the 5 certification exams from Pearson VUE. It is definitely worth it to take the practice exam to gauge your readiness for the graded exam.
Also, we have these content guides for each exam that outline the topics that are covered:
Big Data Exam 1:
https://www.sas.com/content/dam/SAS/en_us/doc/other1/certification/exam-content/big-data-exam1.pdf Big Data Exam 2:
https://www.sas.com/content/dam/SAS/en_us/doc/other1/certification/exam-content/big-data-exam2.pdf Predictve Modeling Exam 1:
https://www.sas.com/content/dam/SAS/en_us/doc/other1/certification/exam-content/predictive-modeling1... Advanced Analytics Professional Exam 2:
https://www.sas.com/content/dam/SAS/en_us/doc/other1/certification/exam-content/advanced-predictive-... Advanced Analytics Professional Exam 3:
https://www.sas.com/content/dam/SAS/en_us/doc/other1/certification/exam-content/text-analytics.pdf Hope this helps,
Cynthia