ACA-920 Confluence Essentials Certification
I recently took (and passed) the newest Atlassian Confluence certification, ACA-920 Confluence Essentials. I’ve been using Confluence for almost a decade, but have never made time to take any formal training or certification on it, so when I heard a new one was available I decided to give it a shot.
Who it’s for
Unlike many certifications that are geared towards admins or super-users, this certification is geared towards anyone who uses Confluence. It covers topics around creating and editing content, navigating the system and general knowledge of how Confluence works (and what it’s for).
The certification is valid for 2 years, which seems fair given Confluence is constantly changing. You can also renew it by earning 50 continuing education credits.
How to prepare
Since Team ‘24 (Atlassian’s yearly conference) all training has been free (which I think is great!). They have an entire learning path that will prepare you for the ACA-920. Even if you’re not looking to sit the exam, this is a great resource to get a handle on everything you need to know about Confluence. The learning path is intended for someone who has zero background in Confluence, making it a great place for someone to begin their learning journey.
Other than the learning path the best way to prepare is to just use Confluence. If your organization has one jump in and start using it. If you don’t have access to one you can get a free one (instructions here). If you go the free route, however, you won’t have access to some of the features that will appear on the exam (notably no Atlassian Intelligence, and no Page Restrictions - both important topics!).
About 70% of the exam is focused around creating and maintaining pages, so be sure you spend time practicing creating content and working with others on maintaining it.
There is also an Atlassian-hosted session on the ACA-920 on July 17th where someone from Atlassian will go over the certification.
What’s on it?
The exam has 25 questions and you get 60 minutes to answer them all (more than 2 minutes per question!). I assume the questions rotate, but they are broken down into the following areas (full details here):
Intro to Confluence terms and navigation ~ 12%
Creating pages and basic editing ~ 35%
Advanced editing ~ 15%
Working with pages ~ 35%
Advanced features ~ 8%
Since 70% of the exam is taken up by creating, editing and working with pages make sure you spend a lot of time doing those tasks. Many of the questions related to it were easy to answer since it’s something I’ve been doing on an (almost) daily basis for years. Understanding the layout of toolbars and menu bars is another important area to learn (Honestly this was a bit more challenging for me since I tend to ignore a lot of the options).
The questions are all multiple choice, and fortunately many of the options could easily be ruled out as being the correct answer, so if you don’t immediately know the answer take time to exclude ones you know are wrong.
Tips on getting it done
If you’ve ever taken a certification before the same tips apply here:
Take time to read and understand the question - I sometimes miss questions because I don’t read the whole thing or really understand it… don’t be like me! You’ve got 60 minutes (over 2 minutes per question), so take time to make sure you understand it.. And if you don’t see tip #2
Don’t be afraid to flag a question and come back later - Reading it, then coming back later to read it again can help jog your memory. I do this A LOT when I’m not 100% certain of an answer.
Eliminate incorrect answers - If you can’t find the correct answer, begin to eliminate incorrect ones. At the very least this improves your odds if you have to guess, but many times most of the answers will be obviously wrong.
My thoughts
Atlassian claims that this certification is for anyone who uses Confluence, and they’re not wrong. It does require folks to understand the basics of using Confluence, which does impact anyone in an organization. Selfishly I’d love for more folks to understand these background concepts and ideas as it would make for a better system overall (and less headaches for me!). That said, I can’t really tell why someone would want to pursue it other than just wanting to earn it (like me).
Other Atlassian certifications, like their Professional series, are clearly targeted toward admins, a group that does need to prove their skills. This certification, however, isn’t one I can easily see an employer needing someone to have as a job requisite. We do see Confluence listed on job reqs, but using it is never a core part of a job.
So if you’re looking to add something else to your resume and are excited about it - go for it. Otherwise, you will get almost as much out of the free training and invest the $100 elsewhere.
