Being such a great way to validate your skills in a number of different areas, it’s no wonder why so many people are seeking to take the Google Cloud Certification, which is known to be an extremely valuable tool in helping people to get their skills recognized by prospective employers, with those who complete one of the certifications often being able to land a decent role in the sector.
The Google Cloud Certification exams are no pushover however, and can be quite difficult, no matter how well you manage to prepare yourself for them, so it might end up being the case that you need to retake them.
If you fail the first time around you can be denied or revoked certification exams. If you do happen to fail, then worry not, as you can still retake it, but if you want to know more about the Google Cloud Certification and certification status, and more importantly, what Google’s retake policy is for the online exams, then this guide will provide you with all of the information you need to know about Google Cloud certification retake policy and what is the certification expiration date?
What Is Google Cloud Certification?
If you’ve never heard of Google Cloud Certification before, but think that it might be a good fit for you and your career, then read through this section of the guide, and you’ll be able to determine whether or not it’ll be right for you.
Google’s Cloud Certification consists of a number of different certifications offered for different aspects of Cloud usage and development. They’re essentially a measure of someone’s ability to perform in a specific role while using Google Cloud.
There are 3 tiers to Google’s Cloud Certification: Foundational, Associate, and Professional.
The Foundational tier is for those who are relatively familiar with the basics of the Google certification program and are looking to begin to progress further.
The Associate tier is for those looking to validate their knowledge of the fundamental skills needed to both deploy and maintain cloud-based projects and services.
Finally, the Professional tier is the most advanced tier and is for people looking to demonstrate their ability to implement and manage Google Cloud’s products and use many of the advanced features and technologies featured within the Cloud.
The certification is desirable for a number of reasons, but mainly because it helps to empower those who pass it, and proves useful in displaying and validating their technical skills to prospective employers.
With Google Cloud technology becoming ever-present in our day-to-day lives, being able to utilize and maintain the technology is a skill that a number of employers desire, which is why it’s definitely worth considering undertaking Google’s certification process.
As mentioned previously, the certification can be a particularly grueling task, and even if you’re someone who is particularly knowledgeable in Cloud technology, there’s still a chance that you might fail the same the first time around, so what happens next?
How Do You Prepare For The Google Cloud Certification?
If you’ve got your Google Cloud Certification exam coming up, then there are a number of things that you can do to prepare yourself, which will hopefully prevent you from having to retake the exam at all.
The first tip is to make sure that you’re already getting hands-on with Google Cloud to begin with, as this will provide you with plenty of real-world experience using the Cloud’s console, and you don’t even need to configure or download it anyways.
The exam guide provided by Google is another great resource to utilize when studying for the exam, as it often provides the blueprint for the exam questions that will crop up in the exam itself.
As a general rule, it’s good practice to be able to answer questions on every topic in the guide, despite the fact that not all of these topics are going to appear in the exam.
Becoming more familiar with the style of questions being asked in the exam is another great way to prepare yourself for the exam because there is an online proctoring, and you can do this by viewing the sample questions provided on each of the certification pages.
Keeping these three tips in mind, along with studying hard and regularly for the exam, you should have no issues with passing the exam, so looking at Google’s retake policy should be an issue.
However, if you do happen to fail the exam, then it’s good to be familiar with what the retake policy actually is!
Google Cloud Certification Exam Retake Policy
For those who have taken the exam before, then you should already be aware of what the retake policy for the detailed exam descriptions is, as it’s included as a part of the exam terms and conditions that you are asked to accept prior to the exam starting.
Whether you’ve forgotten, or have never taken the exam before, then we’ll run you through the exam’s retake policy, so that you’re aware of what happens in the unfortunate case that you don’t manage to pass the first time around.
For those who don’t pass the exam, then there’s no need to worry, as retakes are allowed.
The first time you take the exam and fail, you only need to wait as little as 14 days before you’re able to go ahead and retake the exam.
If you fail on the second attempt, however, the waiting time increases slightly, and you’ll be required to wait for up to 60 days before you’re then allowed to retake the exam again.
If you’re unlucky enough to fail the retake exam, then the waiting period is then increased significantly, and you’ll have to wait an entire year before you are able to retake the exam.
Google states that it is completely fine to take the exam in multiple languages should you want to, but each attempt still counts toward the total attempts, and the waiting period in between each attempt remains the same too.
Another one of the thing to consider about retaking the same exam is that each time you take the certification, you’ll need to pay the fee too, which can make it expensive if you happen to keep failing the exam.
If you attempt to retake the certification exam under a different name or with altered details, and you get caught out, then Google can invalidate your certification, and ban you from taking any more of the certification exams ever again.
Final Thoughts
So, while Google Cloud Certification is definitely an excellent way of validating your skills and knowledge and a great driver in being able to secure a job within the field, it’s also a lot harder to pass than some people might imagine.
If you don’t reach the passing score (which is 70%), then you might just need to retake the exam to ensure that you actually get the certification in the future.
Google’s policy puts a waiting time in place in between exam attempts, with the waiting period increasing as time goes by, and you’ll also need to re-pay the fee in order to take the certification exam.
We hope that this guide will help you with your Google Cloud Certification, good luck!
