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What's new with the Marketo Certified Expert exam?

Veronica_Lazar1
Level 4 - Champion Alumni
Level 4 - Champion Alumni

Like many here, I renew my Marketo certification every 2 years to keep my credential valid. This November was my 3rd time taking the expert exam and my second time renewing.

In 2021 the Marketo expert exam got completely upgraded and this time around the champions and power users were involved in writing the test. Neat! 

 

I heard that around 60 hours of time from each participant went into planning and writing this exam. Crazy if you think about how much work is required for a project like this. 

 

Knowing this, my first gut reaction was: What has changed since the last time I took the exam?

 

Well….quite a few things. 9 to be more specific. Here’s what I could surface:

 

  1. The name. Since moving under Adobe, the certifications got renamed to match the tiers in Adobe. The MCE is now called ACE-MEBP which stands for Adobe Certified Expert - Adobe Marketo Engage Business Practitioner. 

 

  1. The test booking process. The whole thing is managed via the Adobe Credential Management. This is actually nice - to have it all under the same umbrella. You have to create an Adobe account if you don't have one (not to be confused with your instance login). The username can be different than your Marketo login user. 

 

  1. The test options. In 2021 there were 2 Marketo expert exams being offered. Both would grant the ACE-MEPB certificate, which is good for 2 years.
    1. AD0-E552 - this is the old exam, retired Dec 31st, 2021
    2. AD0-E554* - this is the updated exam, the one I took

*Update: in January 2022, AD0-E554 was renamed AD0-E558. No changes apart from the name. For the rest of this blog post, I will refer to AD0-E558 as the new exam.

 

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  1. The test provider. Adobe has partnered with PSI and Examity for the proctored exam. You will have to register with your preferred platform, via Adobe Credential Management. I went with Examity and my test experience went quite smoothly. I did not have to install any external software. My proctor was using Go-to-meeting which I already had installed. My champ mentor, for example, took her certification with PSI on Zoom. 

 

  1. The practice test. Adobe has actually released a practice test for each of the expert exams, which means double the chances to practice! I would advise everyone taking the test to try both, since they are different. The experience is quite similar to the real exam.

 

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 AD0-E552 - 30 question and 1 hour time limit to complete it

 AD0-E558 - 50 questions, no time boundary 

   

  1. The duration, number of questions and passing mark. A few things are different and what makes me happy is that there are way less questions. The passing mark is lower, but that does not mean the test is easier - quite the opposite, I found it harder than the previous one.



 

AD0-E558 (new exam)

AD0-E552 (old exam)

Launch year

2021

2019

Number of Questions

50

75

Duration (minutes)

120

150

Passing mark

35/50

50/75

Passing mark %

70%

67%

 

  1. The exam objectives. First off, the old exam has 6 objectives while the new one has 5. This does not mean that any major area was taken out of the exam but rather consolidated and/or renamed. For example, what was called lead management and data management before, now falls under lead management. 



AD0-E558 (new exam)

AD0-E552 (old exam)

Administration and Maintenance (12%)

Implementation and Operations (18%)

Marketing Activities/Campaign Management (46%)

Targeting and Personalization (16%)

Reporting (4%) 

Analytics and Reporting (16%)

Lead Management (12%)

Lead Management (20%)

Data Management (10%)

Program Fundamentals (30%)

 

Best Practices (16%)

 



What stands out to me is the reporting section is weighting way less than before (went from 16% to only 4%). In all honesty, I applaud this because I am one of the people who does not use much of the reporting functionality in Marketo, since all the reporting for my company lives in another tool.

 

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An addition to AD0-E558 is the best practices objective. I am happy to see this since best practices are so fundamental to a Marketo instance (think naming convention, folder structure, QA, etc)

 

  1. The results. This one got me happy (because I passed!) and a bit sad - as I was used to receiving the breakdown of my results by objective right away. I found that to be super interesting and as you read earlier, this is how I know reporting was the area where I scored the least. 

 

In the new exam there is no breakdown. I received the number of questions I got right out of the total. Also, the results were not delivered immediately, but I did get a provisional pass. A few days later I got a confirmation email that my test results are final and I can see it in my Adobe Portal.

 

  1. The credential. Adobe also changed the platform where credentials are managed & verified. I created an account with Credly to see my certificate and share it. It’s a fairly easy process and I could see the history of the previous exams I took in Credly. I think there was a data transfer at some point from Adobe.

 

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That’s the scoop I have on the new certification. I’m writing this right after taking the test, while it’s all fresh in my mind. I’m curious - if you renewed recently,  what stood out to you? 

 

I’m leaving here the links to the study guides where you can find out more information.

 

  1. AD0-E552
  2. AD0-E558

If you are preparing to take the exam soon, Amy Goldfine wrote a champ blog post about her experience taking the test + tips & tricks. I highly recommend it!

Interested in the other Marketo exam offerings? please check the official Adobe Certification Program guide .

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21 Comments
KCatterall
Level 1

Thank you for sharing this Veronica! It's time for me to renew my certification and was a bit nervous about taking the new test as this will be my first renewal process. Super helpful!

Veronica_Lazar1
Level 4 - Champion Alumni

@TeodoraAusan the links got updated, you should be able to access the sample tests.

Jodi_Stinson
Level 1

I appreciate you sharing your findings. Thanks!

YosaAddissSMNB
Level 1

Great info- one note though- the passing grade has been upped from 23/50 to 35/50. A big increase for those of us trying for the first time!

KyokoKazama
Level 2

Isn't the passing line 35/50?
When I completed the mock exam today, it was displayed that I failed because it was less than 65%.

FireShot Capture 019 - Score report for AD4-E558 Adobe Marketo Engage Business Practitioner _ - scorpion.caveon.com.png

Veronica_Lazar1
Level 4 - Champion Alumni

@YosaAddissSMNB @KyokoKazama you are both correct, the passing score is 35/50 after the exam update in January. I will update the post to reflect this change.

KyokoKazama
Level 2

I took the exam just by solving the mock questions and failed with score 30 .TT

The actual exam questions were quite different from the mock questions and were very difficult.

I don't have any past questions of E558, but I'm wondering how to proceed to study.

Arvin_Poole
Level 3

Thank you for sharing this. Very detailed and comprehensive. I am looking forward to renewing in the next couple of months.

Rochelle_P
Level 1

RE: Marketo Engage Business Practitioner Expert Certification AD0-E558

What does the new section "Best Practices" cover?  Looks like there will be approximately 8 - 9 questions on best practices on the exam.  A lot of questions  for a new section of this exam, being that you can only miss 15 out of 50 to pass.   There used to be a Marketo crash course you could take before the certification exam.  I wish they would offer something similar for the new exam.   

 

For those who took the the new exam, any tips  on the the Best Practices section? 

Veronica_Lazar1
Level 4 - Champion Alumni

Hi @Rochelle_P , that's a great question. Here are a few pointers from the exam guide re Best Practices Questions:

  • Demonstrate the relevance of lead scoring in marketing and sales collaboration
  • Illustrate the benefits of the folder structure and naming conventions
  • Apply best practices around A/B testing
  • Explain the process to perform a quality check on any Marketo program
  • Explain the process to perform a quality check on an email

There is a new exam prep portal made available by Adobe, where you can take the mock test https://adobe.gmetrix.net/Tests/ChooseTest.aspx
In terms of courses I cannot see anything specific to the exam, the format available is learning path for system admin https://learning.adobe.com/learning-path/adobe_marketo_engage/curra000000000006232.html