Study Strategy & Certified Expert Explained

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Intro
This strategy guide is designed to give you some pointers on how to prepare for and approach the path to becoming an Atlassian Certified Administration Expert.
For context, I have achieved 3 out of the 4 exams for the Atlassian Certified Administration Expert, aiming to complete a final and 4th exam this year.
I should stress that whilst links are those from Atlassian Learning (previously University) any strategy and thoughts are from my own personal experience; so should be taken in that context.

My primary role within companies is to implement business agility and Agile team delivery within the Atlassian ecosystem, so my time is spread over areas from admin to implementation.

What to Consider
Atlassian now offers 2 different levels of Certification, being described as follows:

Atlassian Certified Associate (ACA)
Designed for professionals who use Atlassian apps in their jobs, ACA certifications are industry-recognized credentials that help showcase your Atlassian knowledge and skills to boost your career.

Atlassian Certified Professional (ACP)
Crafted for Atlassian solution administrators, the ACP credentials highlight advanced skills, helping you stand out as a skilled and trusted expert.

Exams and costs differ as does how you can utilize the different certifications, so I would advise taking some time before jumping in; even though you can pick and choose as you go along :-)

How to be an Atlassian Certified Professional (ACP)
The link below shows the 3 different designations/certifications, reflecting recent updates, such as Data Center retirement from the ACAE.
In Summary, you need to pass any 4 relevant subject exams to earn the higher level certifications.
https://university.atlassian.com/student/page/844004-atlassian-certified-expert
Focusing on the Atlassian Certified Administration Expert, there are now only 5 available, with which 4 must be successfully navigated.

Jumping into the Atlassian Certified Administration Expert
Each course link is available with similar content, so for example for the Jira Cloud Org Admin link
https://community.atlassian.com/learning/certifications/atlassian-cloud-organization-admin , will provide a brief overview but selecting to open full exam details shows:
The exam topics and exam breakdown %
- Cost, exam duration and other key information
- A link to a downloadable pdf
- Also provided further down the page is a link to 'Start preparing for free' - a key piece of study that is a significant help - and scheduling your exam
Specifically for this exam, you may see the following 'codes', this is how they associate
ACP-120 - Jira Administration for Cloud
ACP-220 - Confluence Administration For Cloud
ACP-420 - Managing Jira Service Projects for Cloud
ACP-520 - Atlassian Cloud Organization Admin
ACP-620 - Managing Jira Projects For Cloud

The Study approach
After experimenting with my first ACP exam, I can honestly say to keep things simple, immersive and repeatable.

Simple - After trying as many questions from different sites, some paid for, the best and only source I ended up using is the free Atlassian learning - prep resources and learning paths - associated with each exam. Below is for the ACP-520
https://community.atlassian.com/learning/path/administer-atlassian-organizations
https://community.atlassian.com/learning/course/atlassian-cloud-organization-admin-certification-prep-resources

I followed the exam subject % breakdown form the exam details with how I allocated my time, although I can't speak to how that played out in my actual exam.

I also found a number of errors and other issues with using external paid for sites, so I would say to save your money.

Immersive - As you are going through the learning path, ensure you are going into the areas of study themselves. This is best done by setting up your own free org instance of Jira, Confluence and ideally JSM. While following the learning path, poke around in different areas, you'd be surprised how much you take in before you actually hit that specific area in the learning path.

Repeatable - I used my own free instance of Confluence to make my own form of notes and supporting comments, while going through the paths, going through numerous times. One approach I found really beneficial was to repeat the subject tests in the learning paths, taking time to read why answers where wrong as much as being right.

Overall Strategy
I work full-time so I found that allocating 3 months was enough time to cover and learn without stress combined with other things.

If the exam is an area you work with day-to-day then it may be something you can comfortably cover in a month.

With working across all aspects of Jira/Atlassian, I wasn't sure where to start, so initially did the ACP-620, ACP-120 then ACP-520 most recently. If I had my time again, for me sitting easier to harder, I would sit ACP-520 first, then ACP-120 and ACP-620 last.

The exam itself is scheduled through a portal from CertMetrics,, not something I am specifically covering in this post. Apart from to say for your exam technique is to limit your time on each question and ensure you attempt them all.

Finals shouts

I'm unsure whether to sit the ACP-420 or ACP-220 as my final exam for the Certified Expert accreditation, so I welcome and thoughts/feedback around that.

Aside from Atlassian Learning of course I found value in the Community-Led classes with the Atlassian Champions, particular shout out to @Robert Hean @Alex Ortiz 

Hope you found the read was of value , let me know your feedback and where you are on your journey.

Take it easy, Rich

[Frank Reitel]

Hi @Rich Allen 

I went through ACP-120, ACP-420, ACP-520 and ACP-620.

I used the PDFs with the lists as checks and recap. I went through the courses on https://community.atlassian.com/learning/catalog and filtered by app and cloud. I went from the top down either for level or better type as there is no option to exclude the items you already went through.

I participated in the community led courses from @Robert Hean @Alex Ortiz .

most of all when something differed form Server/Cloud and in general I went through the UI and tested it myself (e.g. how team managed projects can get filtered together with company managed projects).

I am still thinking about taking ACP-220 as well.

great guide @Rich Allen 

[Robert Hean]

Appreciate the shoutout @Rich Allen and love the overview!

One thing I would stress is that hands-on practice/experience is incredibly useful for any/all of these certifications. Getting hands-on (even in a free, demo instance) helps solidify concepts and builds in a lot of muscle memory for things (plus you'll learn a lot by making mistakes :D).

Best of luck getting your ACE!

[Stephen_Lugton]

Thanks for the article @Rich Allen 

I did ACP-620 last week, and it's good to see that you think ACP-120 and ACP-520 are easier 😊, although I'll probably do ACP-420 next as it's most relevant to what I'm working on at the moment (and it's either that or Loom Essentials to complete the Atlassian Certified ITSM Specialist designation).

And I echo the thanks for @Robert Hean and @Alex Ortiz for the community lead courses!