Woo Hoo!!!!
I am VERY happy to announce that yesterday I passed the Salesforce Platform Developer I and II transition exam. This exam is offered to Advanced Developers that want to take an easy path to getting their Platform Developer certs.
But, that does not mean this test is easy. The questions are scenario based (as you would expect) and do not test whether you memorized the material, but rather whether you “know” it like the back of you hand.
There are only 16 questions and you have 30 minutes to complete the test. That makes it a bit nerve racking in my opinion.
The official study guide lists the main areas you need to focus on for the test and I would say that is a pretty good start. The list consists of the following:
According to Official Study Guide
- Describe the capabilities of base-system objects such as sharing objects, history objects, metadata objects, multi-currency, and Chatter objects.
- Describe the different capabilities of and use cases for the various Salesforce development platforms (Heroku, Fuel, Force.com).
- Describe how to design code that accommodates multi-language, multi-currency, multi-locale considerations.
- Describe the implications of compound data types in Apex programming.
- Describe the interactions between Visualforce/Apex with Flow/Lightning Process Builder.
- Given a scenario, describe when and how to use Apex managed sharing.
- Describe the use cases for the various authentication techniques.
- Given a set of requirements, describe the process for designing Lightning components.
- Describe the common performance issues for user interfaces and the techniques to mitigate them.
- Describe how to expose Apex classes as SOAP and REST web services.
- Describe how to use system classes to integrate with SOAP- or REST-based web services.
- Describe when and how to use metadata, streaming, and Analytics API to enhance Apex and Visualforce solutions.
- Given a scenario, identify the appropriate tool to analyze application performance profiles and troubleshoot data and performance issues.
I would add to this list some other areas that I suggest you also concentrate on:
- @InvocableMethod and @InvocableVariable versus ProcessPlugin interface
- Querying the PermissionSet
- Using Developer Console to debug an app (especially checkpoints)
- Using Webservice keyword and considerations
- Querying based on the Currency field
- How to register certificates
- Apex Managed Sharing considerations
Just to give you an idea, I spent about 3 weeks and over 20 hours studying for the exam. Even though I work with Salesforce development everyday, the exam does cover topics that I do not necessarily deal with on a daily basis, so I would suggest you spend some time reviewing the topics listed above.
Good luck on the test and let me know how you did.
saramorgan.net 
Congratulations! I also need to take this transition exam. Do you remember any questions out of topics provided in learning path?
Do you remember any tricky or unexpected questions?
Hi,
I remember they were all tricky really. I do not remember the questions specifically, but they were all scenario-based and not something that just memorizing the material would help with. But, it definitely covered all those areas I mentioned. You just need to understand that material cold. Like the back of your hand kind of thing. For just a few questions, it was surprisingly tough.
Good luck!!
Hi Sara
Thank you thank you and thank you for your notes , it helped me clear the transition exam with ease since most of the questions came from the topics you have pointed out.
That’s awesome! Thanks for letting me know it helped.
Sara ,
I can’t thank you enough for this blog post.Salesforce is so vast but focusing on the areas you listed really helped me and I passed my transition exam today.Super happy.
Anyone who wants to pass this exam I would suggest to study what is listed above and you will definitely succeed.
Once again thank you very much.
Thanks
Basu
That is awesome to hear. Thanks for letting me know and CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
Hello Sara, I have passed Transition exam on 24th May 2017. Your blogs helped me to obtain necessary Information to pass the exam.
Thanks ! Sankar
Congratulations Sankar!!! Thanks for letting me know!