Since starting at my new job, I had to be trained on the spot using the marketing platform for Google, Bing and Yahoo. One thing my boss wanted all the employees that work in search marketing to have was to be certified with Google Adwords. I did some research ahead of time and noticed that the exam was revised in November 2009 and made much harder to filter out those who don’t know the platform from those who do. To be certified for Google Adwords you need to take two exams; the first is about basic fundamentals and the second in either advanced search or reporting and analysis. There were also very few posts/threads on sample questions, practice tests or anything that would help me. The little information there was, turned out to be an emphasize on the amount of detail in the questions.
I have only used Adwords for a month, 6-8 hours a day and I skimmed the help center for an hour or so and managed to pass the test with a 89% score. Most of that is attributed to my hands on experience and my coworker mentioning that the test would ask for really pointless questions like the size of an image ad that’s allowed (which you could easily look up, I do not know why information like that is required to know). The test itself won’t be a cakewalk for those who haven’t managed a campaign or dealt with features such as the ‘My Client Center’ which is used to handle multiple accounts. I remember one question asked what I would do as the first step when dealing with a new client. Out of all the answers, the one that dealt with talking about the advertising goals for the client was best suited. Those answers aren’t available in the Adwords Help Center (at least I couldn’t find it afterwards) so it’s best to have some hands on experience before taking the test.
Some questions that were on the exam:
- The maximum length of a video ad
- What was the advantage of using the display ad builder
- What the formula for ad ranks was
- What the Adwords Discounter was
- If image ads show up on mobile phones
- When to deliver key messages in the video ad
Out of the 120 questions that were asked in the exam, I’d say a good 20 of them won’t be found in the Help Center. You’ll be required to think about these questions which will turn out to be very easy if you’ve had experience with a client or fooled around in Adwords and are very familiar with the interface. It was a shame there wasn’t enough resources online for helping people with this but I guess it’s a way of filtering out those who shouldn’t get it. I still have one more exam to go so hopefully that won’t be any harder then this was. If you have any questions, leave me a comment and I’ll answer them.
Ever since I had florentines in a random cookie tin, I remember the deliciousness of them. I was reminded again after not having it in a while when Norma brought them from the office she worked at and it was on my mind since then. I actually made these a while back but didn’t write about it until now. I took this recipe from Giada on the Food Network and it’s amazingly difficult for the amount it produces. I can’t imagine making these again unless it’s a special occasion but they are oh so damn good.
- Title: Sweet Sweet Florentines
- Uploaded By: cLin
- Upload Date: 21th March, 2010
Ingredients:
- 2 cups sliced almonds, chopped
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons grated orange zest
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into pieces
- 1/3 cup whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips
Directions
Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Line a heavy large baking sheet with parchment paper. Stir the almonds, flour and zest in a medium bowl. Stir the sugar, butter, cream, and honey in a heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring the mixture to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the almond mixture. Cool the batter for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Using 2 teaspoons 1 teaspoon of batter for each cookie, spoon 8 6 mounds of the batter onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing evenly apart (the cookies will spread). Flatten the batter slightly with your finger.
Bake the cookies until they are lacy and golden brown, about 10 minutes. 7 minutes. Gently slide the parchment paper with the cookies onto a rack and cool completely. Transfer the cookies to paper towels. Repeat with the remaining batter, lining the baking sheets with clean parchment for each batch. (The cookies can be made up to this point 2 months ahead. Cool completely, then store airtight in the freezer. Defrost before continuing.)
Stir the chocolate in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water until the chocolate melts. Spread the melted chocolate over the bottom of 1 cookie. Top with a second cookie, bottom side down, pressing lightly to adhere. Repeat with the remaining cookies and chocolate.
Note: I changed some parts of the recipe according to reviews and my personal experience. The timing is crucial, 30 seconds later or earlier and it’ll be burnt or undercooked. Also make sure you use one teaspoon instead of 2 teaspoon for the cookie size. It won’t be cooked if you use that much and all the cookies will mold into one big cookie. I opted out of getting orange zest cause…well, I didn’t have any and I could care less for the orange flavor. And last but not least, try to use wax/parchment paper or Silpat for the baking sheet. I made the mistake of not using either and I regretted it (first batch would not get off of the baking sheet, I had to toss it).