Looking to level up and set yourself apart as a Marketo consultant? Passing the new Architect exam will move you into an elite tier of Marketo users and prove to prospective clients that you know how to lead Marketo projects from conception all the way through to implementation.
The Architect exam replaces the previous presentation exam that was required by Marketo to achieve this certification. According to this post in the Marketo forum, there were less than 150 Marketo Certified Solutions Architects as of December 2017 so this is definitely an exclusive club to be a part of.
Marketo released this new exam format to help with scaling and make it easier for people to become architect-certified. Since I am a Certified Expert I was part of the lucky bunch that got a sneak peek at the new Architect Exam in October 2021. I passed the beta test and as of September 2023, I recently passed the online renewal exam so I can share a more updated version of my experience and some areas to study before the exam.
If you are not yet Business Practitioner certified then I would recommend starting with this certification first and consulting the Business Practitioner Exam Guide.
Tyron’s Study Guide
Before starting your study I recommend taking the practice test of 50 questions and this other older sample test of 16 questions to get a feel for the sort of questions that will be asked. This will show you what is important when you are studying for the exam and going through the product documentation and forum posts.
Then take a look at the links in the Architect Exam guide as a good starting point. Below I offer some links based on particular areas I struggled with in the initial exam and in the renewal since I did not have exposure to them in the one Marketo instance I have worked with at my company.
- Workspaces & Partitions
- Custom Objects
- Attribution
- Channels & Tags and how they influence the program analyzer and reporting
- Know the different multi-touch attribution models available
- Revenue Cycle Modeler
- Program Analyzer & Reporting
- Velocity Scripting
- Predictive Content
- Lead Assignment
- Smart Lists
- Dynamic Chat
- Email Deliverability Best Practices
If you are like me and have not had much (or any) exposure to these topics in your day-to-day work with Marketo then I would recommend taking a look at the Marketo docs linked above before the exam.
Tyron's Advice
The two main pieces of advice I would give you once you are in the exam are:
- Parse the case study description for the section relevant to the question you are answering each time the case study comes up and ignore the rest of the description, you do not need to understand it all to answer the question.
- For cases where you see more than one option that looks correct for a single-select question, choose one answer, move on to answer all the other questions you are more confident about, then come back at the end of the exam to see if you want to change your answer to any of these ambiguous questions. While answering the rest of the questions on the exam you might get clues to the answers of some of these ambiguous questions.
Architect Exam FAQs
What are the requirements to become a Certified Architect?
In order to become a Certified Architect, you need to have a current Business Practitioner Expert Certification.
As explained in my Business Practioner exam guide, the new business practitioner exam replaces the old Certified Expert exam. If you have never been expert certified then I recommend checking out the business practitioner exam guide linked at the top of this post to see my tips and tricks for passing the exam
How long is the Architect exam?
The Architect exam is 100 minutes long consisting of 50 multiple-choice and multiple-select questions.
The online renewal exam is only 72 minutes long and consists of 36 multiple-choice and multiple-select questions.
How many questions are on the Architect exam?
There are 50 multiple-choice and multiple-select questions on the exam and you will have 100 minutes to answer them.
There are 36 multiple-choice and multiple-select questions on the renewal exam and you will have 72 minutes to answer them.
Is the Architect exam online?
Yes, the exam is an online proctored exam consisting of 50 multiple-choice and multiple-select questions.
The renewal exam is an on-demand exam that is not proctored.
How much does the Architect exam cost?
The Architect exam costs $225 for all countries except India where it costs $150.
The renewal exam is free of charge.
How many Marketo Architects are there?
As of December 2017, there were less than 150 Certified Solutions Architects in the world.
How much do Certified Architects make?
According to Comparably a Solutions Architect makes $164k a year.
While this salary is based on existing Certified Solutions Architects who earned this qualification by the old presentation method, this figure should serve as a good benchmark for what newly accredited architects can expect.
Another good benchmark for estimating a lower bound for Certified Architect salaries is the $90k average annual salary earned by Certified Experts.
How do I prepare for the Architect exam?
At a minimum, you should prepare for the Architect exam by covering the topics below:
- Workspace & Partitions
- Custom Objects
- Revenue Cycle Modeler
- Program Analyzer & Reporting
.png)
Adchoices