How to get Certified SAFe 5 Agilist (Leading SAFe) certified

How to get Certified SAFe 5 Agilist (Leading SAFe) certified

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The SAFe is recognized the world over as the gold standard in Scaled Agile frameworks.

In this post I am sharing my experience on how to prepare for the Certified SAFe 5 Agilist (Leading SAFe) exam.

 

Steps to get certified

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There are two steps to get certified viz.

Step 1 – Attend the Leading SAFe training (generally 2 day training) from an institute recognized by SAFe.

Step 2 – Take the certification exam within 30 days of completing the training.

 

Study Plan Steps

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·        Attended 5–day online learning. Had very good trainers who related with their real–life experiences, so it was easy to understand and related to the theory.

·        Day 1–3 – Took a 3–day break after the course.

·        Day 4 – Started exploring the Scaled Agile website and completed the profile etc.

·        Day 4 – Read the initial sections the study guide and followed the guidance there.

·        Day 4 – Gave the sample quiz of 7 questions. Was able to remember some key concepts from the training and got all the answers right.

·        Day 5–6 – Didn't do much

·        Day 7 – Started going through the Study guide. Completed Reading and Reference List for Section 1. The topics were heavy and had to really concentrate to understand. – Approx. 8 hours of reading

·        Day 8 – Completed Reading and Reference List for Section 2 and 3 (also covers up to Chapter 3 of the Student Workbook). The topics were small and was able to cover them fast. – Approx. 10 hours of reading

·        Day 9–14. Completed Reading and reference list of Section 4 including Chapter4 of Student Workbook. Covered this whenever got time during the work week.

·        Day 15 – Completed Reading and reference list of Section 5 and 6 (which includes Chapter 5 and 6 of study book.) – Approx. 6 hours of reading.

·        Day 15 – Realized that it was not possible to remember all that were read earlier. I had started forgetting things I had read on Day 7, although conceptually it was all clear.

·        Day 16 – Gave the official sample test. Scored 87%.

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**Tip:  If you want to avoid one more revision of the material (which I realized didn't add any value for me) and if you have scored well in the practice test, this might be the right time to take the final certification test.

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·        Day 17 – Gave the test available at https://agilewaters.com/safe–quiz/. Scored 80%.

·        Took the test available at https://www.izenbridge.com/free–resources/SAFe/leading–safe. Scored 75%.

·        Day 18 – Watched https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v8SBy0jLlA . Nice for reviewing some concepts.

·        Day 19 – Gave the official sample test again, for the questions that I had difficulty earlier, I referred the reading material to get the correct answers. Scored 100%.

·        Day 19 – Started quick revision of all the reading and reference articles – 3 hours

·        Day 20 – Continued quick revision of all the reading and reference articles – 5 hours.

·        Day 20 – Gave the exam, passed the certification with a good score 😊

 

Lessons Learned

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1. The difficulty level of questions in the exam is not high. If you know the concepts well, you should be able to pass the exam easily.

2. For Steps 5, 6, 7 & 8, go through all the links in the books to scaledagileframework.com and read the same, also going to the hyperlinks of topics you want to know more about on the website. This will help to build the knowledge. Just going through the Student workbook won't help.

 

Tips for Exam

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1. Giving exam at home? – Use the mobile hotspot network for internet instead of relying on the Wi–Fi network due to the risk no network due to Power going off.

2. After the last question, go back to a previous question and come back to the last question. To make sure that all your answers have been captured.

3. Take a photograph of the result after the test.

4. Reload only the frame of the page if any internet issues happen.

4. Take a photograph of the error, if any issue happens.

All the Best!

I hope my experience helps you in your SAFe certification journey. If you have any specific questions do drop in a comment and I will try to respond at the earliest.