The Admission
It was then, when I passed out from my Engineering in June – July, 2007. I was searching out for job. My Grandfather always used to say, to get Employment you must make yourself Employable. So, the process to make me more employable started and in the same process my father got to know about SAP ABAP Certification Course from one of our relatives. He is a real learned and influential person working in Financial domain and SAP FICO expert. He has achieved a lot in life and also wants to share his experience with the desiring person. And I am not so sure that I was desiring.
At first, It came as a shock to me and I laughed off at the idea of me doing a course worth upwards of 3 Lakh INR, especially when the percentage required to clear the SAP ABAP certification was over 70 %. I was not sure that I can crack the Certification with that huge number given my scores in B.Tech and pre Engineering Education.
Anyways, this was not a joke and my father was serious about this. He was really confident that I will be able to crack, I don’t know how. Even my relatives pushed me that if I study hard and concentrate on the subject, I can clear this as I am a fairly technical person who understands technology and new tools good enough. But the main challenge was score which was giving me the scare.
The Fear Factor
The Major fear was clearing the certification for the obvious reasons. I got to know that there are 5 Books of around 400-500 Pages with small fonts. I was told that I will have to complete all the 5 Books in around a month. To be exact in 32 days and give exam on the last Friday of the 5 Weeks. This really sent shivers down my spine. I am definitely not friends with the Books and this was a lot to ask for. There were 80 questions which were to be completed in 3 Hours. I did not know if this was enough or less.
At the end of the exam, you will have to press the exit button if you get to complete the exam before 3 hours. The moment you press that button the SAP ABAP certification result is displayed. It expires automatically after 3 hours. It needed a lot of courage to go and hit that button.
Fear about exam that I will have to write programs? Is cheating possible in the exam? what will be the pattern of exam? The Books and the SAP tool is written in German originally. These are then translated to English. So this was an added challenge which actually I found out later.
Not to forget that the Classes were starting from 9:00 AM in the morning sharp till 6:00 PM in the evening. It was definitely a challenge for me, i do not know about others. Being technical I never feared about learning SAP. That was the easiest thing for me. As I usually learn new technology pretty fast.
The Preparation
Personal
After so much of a dilemma in my mind and confusing my soul, I trusted my parents and accepted the challenge which was thrown at me. It was a really tough life changing 5 weeks for me. I had to stay at my relative place who suggested to go for this exam. It was needed so that I can cut down on my travel time and also I could study in their guidance. Basically it was important to have a check on myself.
It was good to know that we were provided with only 1 book per week, and not all the books at the starting, otherwise, it would have been overwhelming and demotivated me and my batch mates.
Exam Patterns
As you do with any exam, I was interested in knowing what all is important and what are the most scoring parts. The SAP provides us with a weightage sheet, so it does help a lot in leaving the unimportant things.
I also searched on the exam Pattern and last couple of years question papers, these are very important as you definitely need a reality check. However, these can also be detrimental to your confidence. Because, as far as I have seen the questions and answers provided over the internet lacks credibility and are not 100 % correct.
You should use these and discuss with your Trainer about the same and if possible ask the Authorised training center to give you alternate Training faculty number as well. It may be possible that trainer is not giving you the correct information or guidance. I strictly followed only the books given by SAP.
Mock tests
You can give the mock tests available on different test sites, which is okay, but just treat them like they are feeding you with variety only. Don’t expect the same questions. Those will help you to identify patterns, Language, Type of questions. That’s it. Everything was mentioned in the book including Exercises and especially the solutions is a potential question, never miss a hint which is given in the book. I even created a kind of notes from all of the hints provided in the books.
I had to go through the book multiple Times. First Time, I had to go with the book in the classroom itself. I Ensured that I finish reading the book in the classroom itself when the chapter is being taught in the class, I tried not to create a backlog & Finish whatever has been taught on the same day, I had spent a lot of sleepless nights and Tough reading till I got to the speed of the course and the tools.
Speed & Relax
I found that the first week was most challenging and crucial. This week throws multiple challenges like lot of theory and basic concepts. It makes you feel sleepy which is okay. Everyone goes through this grind, so don’t worry.
I just focussed on speeding myself up to the flow, I really love Coffee and Tea breaks and made good use of those to relax and go for a walk if feeling sleepy, I even slept in front of the trainer, I guess, it’s up to the trainer how he ensures that people are awake all the time. SAP has given exercises for the same at the end of every chapter. So it helped in relaxing and giving you time to implement what was taught. You also have questions at the end of the lessons which are extremely important in clearing your doubts.
The War
Once I was up to speed with the flow and speed of the course, the next challenge or the ultimate aim was to clear the certification exam. Once I understood how the SAP system works, it was just adding up of new syntaxes and new abilities of the SAP ABAP. So basically I was ready with a structure to go through the week. Here it is :
- Go through the book along with the trainer in the classroom itself
- Follow and complete all the exercise either by yourself or by looking at the solution directly. You can learn faster if you look at the Solution first. I would not suggest this if clearing SAP ABAP certification exam was not the criteria. If you are really looking to learn SAP and sole aim is learn SAP and not just clear it.
- Make good use of What is important and what is not
- Usage of Highlighters is a good idea, Mark important items by pencils when you are going through the book in the class for the first time. Study hard at home and Highlight based on you think what is important and search on the internet for the same. Highlight the 3rd time when you are revising at the end of the week, Highlight 4th time when you are revising at end of Subsequent week and Highlight 5th time When you are revising in the last Week.
- Make Notes in Graphical, Text , Mindmap, Post-it format and whatever format you like and know. Include Important Keywords.
- Make sure you are surrounded by these notes, like your Car, your room, your classroom desk. Wherever you go these should be handy and you can have a look at them. If these start to come in your dream, you have made it.
- Use Index as learning Key, If you remember the Index, Half the battle is won
- Have a supporting friend not from your batch, who is curious and always asks questions and try to teach him the course on daily or alternate basis. This will help you having new questions when you are explaining to a third person who does not have any idea of SAP.
You can identify different person for different week. This helped me a lot and I believe this was the key in making my foundation very strong. - Staying positive helps so keep negative people out of the view.
You will have to sit and study for longer hours, I guess, I did not study this much in Complete Engineering. If you study 24 hours each day till 32 days, that is also not enough. So don’t worry and study strategically. - Regarding exercises, It’s better to spend time in reading and understanding concepts by doing those exercises. Once you are done and understood, just create some notes out of these and keep those handy for the last week.
- Don’t worry about the time, if you have understood the concepts properly and gone through the books multiple times and training your subconscious mind, you will more or less clear the exam easily.
- Be calm, patient, go out for movies on Weekend after covering the book for that week. Give your mind and body time to relax. You need the courage, confidence and guts to click the Submit Exam button.
The Conclusion
At the exam day with all the butterflies in the stomach, I stood up to the challenge and went ahead with all the arms and ammunition required to face the German SAP ABAP Certification.
I remembered what all is at stake, not just 3 Lakhs INR, I had to meet the expectations and maintain the trust of my Father who had a belief that I can crack this, I had to prove to my relative that the trust they had shown in me will not let him down. I had to prove to my friends that yes I am technical and I can crack these type of Certifications and last but most important it was me vs me, It was important for me to maintain the self-confidence, will power and self-esteem that yes I can crack this certification no matter what comes.
The exam started and I started going through all the questions one by one. Here are my observations which will help anyone going through the grind.
- Some questions were too easy to answer.
- I did not have answers to some questions.
- You can get a hint from other questions and answer a question which you were unable to answer at first time.
- Don’t rush to answer any question
- Read a question at least 2 times
- Usually the first option comes to your mind is correct
- If you are not sure, flag the question and revisit later.
- Questions will be coming straight from the books, even exercises / solutions
- You can go ahead and solve your favorite area questions first, it will give you confidence and reduce the anxiety which helps you to complete your exam well in time.
- Don’t look at others. Focus on your own exam, don’t worry if someone completes exam in 1 hour and you are at 30 % of the exam. Everyone has own pace. Just create a strategy and follow the same. Keep it simple; don’t complicate.
After all this strategy, climax arrives you have to hit the exit / Submit Exam button. This requires guts, confidence, courage and will power to hit. Once you hit the button the Answers are analysed and you are shown the result on the screen with the percentage. You can have a screenshot of the same from your mobile if that is allowed / You can write down the percentage you got on the screen.
For me, when I clicked Exit after 2-3 times retracting my mouse from the exit Button, I closed my eyes and hit the Submit button. The moment I opened eyes – I was astonished and shocked by what was displayed on the screen.
It read in Green color Congratulations !!! you cleared the Exam here is your score !
It was a great feeling and I thought I have won the World over. I was at cloud nine. But here comes one more challenge, a minor one, but more humane. You are excited about you clearing the certification. But there are others who have not cleared. Its difficult to contain your excitement and show humbleness towards fellow members who were giving certification. So need to behave accordingly. I got 78%. People who failed even got 69.4 %. That was so heartbreaking. I was lucky to be on Green side of it. Thank God !!
The Second Encounter
The Other Side
After my SAP ABAP certification in 2007, I got placed in Siemens after couple of months, to be exact in October 2007, I got recessionized on April 2009 from Siemens after gaining good hands on experience in SAP ABAP. I started getting opportunities of being a SAP ABAP Trainer and I gleefully accepted that again after much resistance from my inner self. When I was training my First ever batch, the tables had turned.
I was nervous, but as they say everything begins at some point with most probably 0. So this was my chance to begin a career which I thought I would be the last person on earth to do. Yes, to train or to teach. I am not a natural person when it comes to training / teaching. It was a complete shift from a developer to a trainer profile. I got to learn how basic a question can be and How difficult it can be for the trainer to answer. Its amazing to see what creativity of students can bring to the table. Even the books can contain wrong information. And why the common sense is not so common.
Common Sense is not so common because it varies with experience and maturity.
By Anuj Garg
The Responsibility
I now had the Responsibility of the complete batch to clear the certification. So initially when I was a student I had to focus on only my capabilities, but now the game has gone bigger.
With great power comes greater responsibilities.
Spiderman Movie
Now I was responsible for each and every one clearing the SAP ABAP certification, irrespective of there capability or acumen. Some Authorised Training Center does not pay attention to whether the person will be able to clear the exam or not, they just look to enroll the student. However, I do not appreciate this exercise. They should counsell the student accordingly and not try to sell the certificate to them not just because of the kind of money involved but also the time and mental trauma the student may go through this grilling course.
My First batch contained 5 students and students complaint in between that I was not teaching properly and hence i was removed after a couple of weeks. I was hurt by this badly and wanted to prove that I can do this as well again. It took me some time but I again got the chance to train in Authorised Training Center again. By this time, I was more prepared and ready for the questions of my students and other things involved.
It was a batch of 3 as far as I can remember and I went through the complete training. I was elated. However, this was only the personal battle which I won. Professionally still I had to show the result. Out of 3 students only 1 cleared 2 other students were not able to clear at first attempt, one of them managed to clear it in the next attempt. I was not satisfied, leaving me to work out more on this weak point of mine.
The need for the second
I got Batches after batches, 3, 4, 7, 11 ,3,3,2,4 – this was the number of students who were part of the training and the percentage of Student passing rose max to 80 %. Which was somewhat satisfactory but not awesome. Meanwhile, in 2012 in between batches, there was anti-climax, I was told that my SAP ABAP certification has expired. I was baffled by this. But they were right on their part and to train further I needed to go for certification again and upgrade myself.
The International Touch
If I need to go for the SAP ABAP certification again, I have to go though and attend the complete training again and give the exam again by paying the complete 3 Lakh INR + fees again. I was not ready to put in so much money again. I searched and luckily I figured out that there is a way to get certified without paying the entire fees. It was going international, yes, I found my answer in Dubai.
There you can directly give the exam after paying the SAP ABAP certification Certification fee only. So, I was excited to have the smile back on my face. Luckily I had a relative in Dubai, so it was economically easy for me to stay in Dubai and give this examination. I guess, I spent roughly around 50,000 INR for the Certification, my stay, travelling to and from India and other expenses excluding lots and lots of Shopping.
I did not worry at all about clearing the certification for the obvious reasons. My target was getting 100% in the certification. It was really ambitious. I must admit however, I did not study that hard to reach the amazing mark. Fast Forward to the exam day, minus the butterflies and the dilemmas, I answered all the questions without much difficulty. Only difference was that I was clear if I knew the answer or not. There still were some answers which I could not crack due to lack of preparation or over confidence.
Confident Soul
I guess the stakes were less and a negative outcome was not that scary. I completed the Exam and confidently clicked on that submit button without any retractions in under 1 hour and 30 minutes. Although, still closed my eyes and got the desired result once again … Congratulations !! . I secured 88% and hence elated, happy and satisfied. I secured 100% in sections like Data Dictionary & Object Oriented Programming & Others.
And I came back to India and continued training in different Authorised Training Centres. Additionally, I trained in the Corporate companies as well like Accenture, S’Oliver, HCL and others, which was a completely different experience altogether. It deserves a separate post. Will write about it someday later.