Level of Difficulty: Junior – Senior.
Since writing the UiPath Advanced RPA Developer (UiARD) Certification Exam, I have received many questions about and requests for assistance with preparing for the exam. So I’ve decided to detail an approach that worked for me.
Some background context – the first time I wrote the certification over a year and a half ago, I’d failed the exam. I spent weeks studying for the exam and it still wasn’t enough. I made many notes about the theoretical concepts which I used as a “cheat sheet” this time around. I redefined my study process and managed to get through everything in about 2 days. The approach I followed is as follows:
UiPath did a great job in providing detail around what to expect from the exam. The resources they have provided through the exam outline PDF and the Academy Training were a huge help. And yet, it’s quite normal to want to start the practise test first and focus on what didn’t go well in the practise test. I did that first too and then I practised the test over and over and over again. I spent a lot of time stressing about whether I really knew the answers or whether I remembered the answers from the previous attempt.
So the approach outlined in the figure above helped me separate the anxiety a little. Let’s break this approach up a little further, in more detail.
Theory Cheatsheet
My first step was to get the hardcore theory out of the way. I developed a cheat sheet for that. You can find that cheat sheet in this GitHub repo:
The above cheat sheet contains the following:
- State Machines: the states that exist within a state machine and the phases they consist of.
- Selectors: Full selectors compared to partial and dynamic selectors
- Input Methods: Comparing default hardware operations, simulate (type and/or click) and send windows messages
- REFramework: A breakdown on using orchestrator queues and single transactions as well as exception types used within the REFramework.
- Queue Item Priority: The priority of items can be set based on deadline and actual priority, the cheat sheet explains how these items are processed based on the different concatenations of priority
- Classes and Objects: The way that code is invoked in UiPath can be referred to as how classes and objects are used. The target object and target type differentiate based on use and declaration. This is explained in slightly more detail
- Version Control: The different methods of version control supported by UiPath (Git, TFS and SVN) each have different steps associated and are detailed above
- Logging Levels: The different levels of logging are placed in order of severity with a brief description of each
This cheat sheet does not contain all of the required information for the exam but it does contain the important chunks that had me scratching my head and stressing a little <I know I’m not alone in feeling that right before the exam>. Going through these concepts before answering the practise exam questions will help you identify which areas you need to focus on more after the practise exam.
Practise Exam
Attempt writing the practise exam. Take your time, as you would in the exam. Think about the question and the answers. Use the process of elimination. I found that eliminating incorrect answers based on my practical experience and theoretical understanding was the key to finding the right answer.
With a quick Google search, you’ll find a lot of sites selling exam dumps. I went through some of the sites and practised their questions. At first, I thought it was a great idea until I encountered two different sites asking the same questions but had different answers associated. Which one do you believe? It is for that reason that I would advise against using any external dumps. I have found one or two of the exam questions in the dumps but with the incorrect answers associated. Trust your experience and your skillset. You can get the certification on your own merit!
UiPath Academy
UiPath created a learning path on the Academy Training specifically geared towards equipping you for the UiARD cert. All of the information you need to pass the exam is in that learning path. Watch the videos, practise the exercises and the “check your knowledge” questions – it’s a great way to test your understanding. The UiPath Academy says that the learning course is over 86 hours long. I did not do the practical exercises; I only watched the videos and practised the “check your knowledge” questions and I got through the content in roughly 10-12 hours (provided, I have a few years of practical experience to draw understanding from).
Redo Practise Exam
Once you’ve better prepared through the academy training, try retaking the practise exam with a fresh mind and fresh understanding.
Nisarg Kadam has posted quite a few great videos on YouTube explaining how to prepare for the exam. This video of his actually takes you through the practise exam. I would advise watching it after redoing the practise exam to fill any gaps in your understanding that still exist.
Once you’ve gone through all of the above, get some good rest and take on the final exam.
Final Exam
The Pearson VUE proctors are professional and very skilled. It was a great experience taking the test from home. I had to clear my desk space and make sure my internet connection was stable. Whether you write online or at a test center, remember to take your time, work through the questions one-by-one, use the process of elimination and try not overthink. Sometimes the first answer was the right answer. Don’t go back to change your answers too many times – you may regret it.
Hopefully this approach will help you as much as it helped me. Feel free to reach out or drop a comment below.
The JPanda 