Today you will learn how to prepare to get ACP-120, the Jira Cloud administrator certificate. I will share with you the materials that helped me pass this exam and tell you what to focus on.

For several years, Atlassian has been giving the opportunity to obtain certification in the administration of its products. These exams are a great way to validate your skills and raise your value on the job market. Experienced administrators will also benefit from them, as the preparations will systematize their knowledge and fill any gaps. An ACP-120 exam takes 180 minutes. It contains 70 questions, and 65% of them must be answered correctly. Atlassian suggests that people who want to take the test, should have at least two years of experience in administration. But I think that with proper preparation, this period may be shorter.

How to prepare?

Although the exam only contains test questions, practice and some experience will be needed in addition to the theoretical knowledge. For starters, see the certification scope.

The theory

This Learning Path should be your starting point. There you will find several thematic courses that will allow you to systematize your knowledge and track any gaps. Most of the materials are free, but you can also invest in a dedicated Jira Cloud course. In addition to some very useful exam tips, the authors also give 30-days access to a specially prepared Jira Cloud instance and several practical tasks. Of course, you can also set up Jira Cloud yourself, it costs nothing. In addition to the courses, it’s a good idea to go through the official documentation and try to replicate the examples yourself. And so we come to the key part of the preparation which is…

The practice

Clicking, clicking and clicking. Take a look at every place in your Jira Cloud instance, check what the individual settings are responsible for. Log in to the administrator and user accounts, test permissions, and so on. It is best to use Jira without installed plugins and in English, just to be aware of how the application works in its basic form. It will be tested in an exam.

It’s also worth checking out the Atlassian Community forum to exchange experiences with users who are already past the exam. Additional reading, such as “ Be a Jira Hero ebook ” is also very welcome.

If you are currently preparing for the exam, good luck! If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at contact@jiraforthepeople.com.