My SAS Certification Log

[Nietzsche]

Hello mods,

If you don't mind, can I create this thread to log down my certification journey, and have the rest of the SAS community advise on various study and preparation techniques for the SAS certifications.

My goal is to pass the Base exam this Nov/Dec and pass the SAS Advanced programming in the first half 2023.

Thank you

[Nietzsche]

Just a quick overview of what I have done so far.

I first started learning SAS back in 03 Sep 2022, about 2 months ago, 

From 03 Sep to 14 Oct, I read chapter 1 to 6 from SAS Essentials by Elliot , I spent 22.9 hours, which averages to about only 0.55 hours day. 

It is a very good book but I have been consistent due to adapting to my new job and just being undisciplined in applying myself. I will come back to this book later.

From 15 Oct to 20 Oct, I decided to switch take the free SAS courses as it is highly recommended, I finished the SAS Programming 1 course in 13.6 hours, that is an average of 2.27 hours a day.

From the 20 Oct to now, I am currently doing the Programming 2 course, so far I am in Lesson 4 and I expect to finish this course by end of this week.

My plan is to go back to the SAS Essentials by Elliot book and then Base exam prep guide, then go for the Base Exam in November.

[MarkusWeick]

Hi @Nietzsche,

what levels of the practises do you do?

Best,

Markus

[Nietzsche]

I do the first two, the skip the challenge ones for programming 2.

[MarkusWeick]

I foubd it helpful for the exam, that I had done all levels.

[Nietzsche]

To be honest, I don't know SAS expect you to complete the challenges coding with like a 3 minutes ish explanation video. I usually just go straight to the solution and practice with the solution code or skip challenges.

[MarkusWeick]

It was just my personal impression. All knowledge you need for the challenges is provided in the course earlier. The additional thinking and transfer is a good preparation for the exam.

[Nietzsche]

Programming 1 and 2 is just like your typical Coursera courses.  Any average book would be superior to these courses in every single way.  I am only doing it to see what the fuss is all about like like Google DA certificate, not very impressed so far. Looking forward to the official SAS base exam prep guide tho.

[MarkusWeick]

with nearly 30 years of trainer experience (many more years with learners experience) and an M.A. in Adult Learning in the back two comments:

- there are many learner types, some are best suited with a book

- the two base programming courses are excellent e-learnings, which should suit many people.

Best,

Markus

[Anne_A]

Hello @MarkusWeick ,

What do you mean by " levels of the practises" below?

Many thanks in advance

Anne.

[MarkusWeick]

Hi @Anne_A, here an example from "SAS Programming1: Essentials" with three levels:

I hope this answers your question.

Best

Markus

[Anne_A]

It does, thank you @Bruehl !

Cheers.

[MarkusWeick]

As exam preparation I also recommend EXAM CONTENT GUIDE, Sample Questions and Practice Exam, which you all could find here: Base Programming Specialist | SAS

[Mark2010]

Plus I'll add:

• Review the recently released Programming Tip Sheet: 
• Watch this recorded webinar about the A00-231 exam featuring 2 top-notch SAS instructors 
• Review our Tips & Strategies article.
• Take the free full length practice exam. This should be your last step after all other preparations are done. Don't make the mistake others have and work backwards from the solutions, actually work through each problem until you get the right answers. 

[MarkusWeick]

And after the practise exam go through the exam content guide again(!), reflect it with your experience from the practise exam and fill your newly discovered gaps . 🙂