This is the study guide for the Acquia Certified Drupal 9 Site Builder Examination.
This guide explains the exam blueprint, breaks down knowledge domains, and helps you get familiar with the nature of questions asked in the exam. It also provides helpful steps to prepare for the exam and links to further resources for study and preparation.
The purpose of this exam is to validate the skills and knowledge of a Drupal Site Builder in the areas of using Drupal features, content and user management, content modeling, site display, community and contributed projects, module and theme management, security, and performance.
This exam can be taken in a testing center or in your office, provided certain environmental details can be guaranteed (such as a webcam on the testing computer). Do not be discouraged if you do not pass the exam the first time. Many do not.
This exam validates a candidate’s ability to:
The basic knowledge and skills required at this level include all of the following areas and objective components:
Drupal
Web and IT Knowledge
Acquia offers free Drupal preparatory courses on Acquia Academy.
Customers, Partners, and the public can self-register on the appropriate branch of Acquia Academy to access these and other Drupal resources.
We offer private, instructor-led Drupal training for groups of up to 10 people. Visit Professional Services Product Guide to review our available private training.
Through our network of training partners, we offer public, instructor-led training, sold by the seat. Visit the Acquia Developer Portal for public training listings.
After taking an introductory course, build a small website on your own to reinforce the concepts learned in the course.
Completing the courses may not fully prepare you to take the certification exam. You need some practical experience to attempt the exam. We recommend that you gain practical experience by working on at least 2-3 real-life projects.
Once you decide to take the exam, we recommend that you study the domains and topics covered by the exam and their relative weight. You should also perform a self-assessment of your own areas of strength and weakness vis-a-vis the domains/topics covered by the exam blueprint. This is a recommended starting point for experienced Drupal Site Builders.
A Site Builder practice exam is available in our introductory Drupal course on Acquia Academy.
Based on your self-assessment, you may need to gain knowledge and experience in some domains or topics. The best way to learn Drupal is by working or experimenting with it. Follow the suggestions given for preparation in the Preparation section and refer to the external resources given in the Study Guide section.
At this stage, you should be ready to take the exam. Follow the instructions for registering for an exam.
Domain | % of Questions |
---|---|
1.0 Understanding Drupal and working with a Drupal Site | 12% |
2.0 Content Modeling | 28% |
3.0 Site Display | 20% |
4.0 Site Configuration | 20% |
6.0 Contributed Module and Theme Management | 12% |
8.0 Security and Performance | 8% |
TOTAL | 100% |
Experienced Drupalists will likely be more aware of their weaknesses than their strengths. You might have judged your own skill levels while reading through the domains listed above. It is quite natural for you to be more experienced and proficient in one domain than another. Also, within a domain, it is likely that you have hands-on experience on some topics but have never touched other areas within the same domain.
We suggest you perform a skills and expertise self-analysis with respect to the domains and topics listed in the blueprint. The blueprint lists test objectives (topics) for each domain. Rank your skills on a scale of 0 to 10 against each test objective (0 for absolutely zero knowledge or exposure and 10 for complete mastery).
You may use the following table to carry out your self-evaluation.
Domain | Topic | Your Score (1-10) |
---|---|---|
1 | Understanding Drupal | |
1.1 | Demonstrate the ability to explain the distinct and differentiating features of Drupal and understanding of Drupal Terminology | |
1.2 | Given an example of a page layout, determine what is content versus a block | |
1.3 | Demonstrate an ability to troubleshoot problems related to content, configuration and maintenance | |
2 | Content modeling | |
2.1 | Demonstrate ability to model content using content types and vocabularies | |
2.2 | Demonstrate ability to configure and manage comment types and comments | |
2.3 | Demonstrate ability to configure and manage block types and blocks | |
2.4 | Demonstrate ability to configure and manage contact forms | |
2.5 | Demonstrate ability to configure and use multilingual content and interface | |
2.6 | Demonstrate ability to configure and manage menus, menu items and menu blocks | |
2.7 | Demonstrate the ability to configure and use Rich media in content using Media module | |
3 | Site Display | |
3.1 | Demonstrate the ability to control the display of content across various regions of the site using the block system | |
3.2 | Demonstrate the ability to provide different presentations of content entities, such as nodes, comments, user profiles, and terms, for editing or viewing | |
3.3 | Demonstrate the ability to create, manage and display lists of content using Drupal views | |
3.4 | Demonstrate the ability to build layouts of content using Layout Builder | |
4 | Site configuration | |
4.1 | Demonstrate the ability to use the various options related to site configuration like account settings, content authoring, development, search, site and system settings, media | |
4.2 | Demonstrate the ability to use the configuration and synchronization options to import, export, compare configuration across environments | |
4.3 | Given a scenario, demonstrate the ability to configure user accounts | |
5 | Contributed Module and theme management | |
5.1 | Demonstrate the ability to add, update, and remove contributed modules | |
5.2 | Demonstrate the ability to add, update, and remove contributed themes | |
5.3 | Identify ways of community participation and reporting issues | |
6 | Security and performance | |
6.1 | Identify security issues resulting from site configuration | |
6.2 | Identify performance issues resulting from site configuration |
Once you have a list of topics for which you need preparation, you may face two challenges:
Customers and Partners the public can self-register on the appropriate branch of Acquia Academy and take courses in the relevant domain to refresh their knowledge.
Supplementing introductory Drupal training with documentation and online resources is a good idea.
A list of online resources and documentation for each learning domain appears in the Study Guide section.
Finding sufficient practical case studies covering exam topics can be a challenge. Here are a few ideas and suggestions for finding case studies for your preparation:
Review several (3 to 5) Drupal 9 projects that you or your team has worked on in the past year. Review the content types, field settings, display settings, vocabularies, blocks, menus, and views used on the sites.
For each project, study the following:
Once you study the projects as above, for each project, ask questions:
Check out the new Drupal User Guide for understanding key concepts. |
1.1. Demonstrate the ability to explain the distinct and differentiating features of Drupal
1.2 Given an example of a page layout, determine what is content versus a block
1.3 Demonstrate an ability to troubleshoot problems related to content, configuration and maintenance
Topic | Link |
---|---|
Understanding Drupal | Understanding Drupal |
Drupal Version Numbers | Understanding Drupal version numbers |
Drupal System Requirements | System requirements |
Overview of Drupal | https://www.drupal.org/docs/understanding-drupal/overview-of-drupal |
Administering a Drupal Site | Getting started with Drupal administration |
Managing Content on a Drupal Site | Managing content |
2.1. Demonstrate ability to model content using Content Types and Vocabularies
2.2. Demonstrate ability to configure and manage comment types and comments
2.3. Demonstrate ability to configure and manage block types and blocks
2.4. Demonstrate ability to configure and manage Contact forms
2.5. Demonstrate ability to configure and use multilingual content and interface
2.6. Demonstrate ability to configure and manage menus, menu items and menu blocks
2.7 Demonstrate the ability to configure and use Rich media in content using Media module
Topic | Link |
---|---|
Planning Data Types | Content Entities and Fields |
Planning Content Structure | Planning your Content Structure |
Content Types | Setting Up Content Structure |
Blocks | Blocks |
Contact module documentation | Contact module overview |
Drupal Multilingual Guide | Multilingual guide |
Working with Menus | Menu |
Setting up Content Structure | Setting Up Content Structure |
Media Module | Media module |
3.1. Demonstrate the ability to control the display of content across various regions of the site using the block system
3.2. Demonstrate the ability to provide different presentations of content entities, such as nodes, comments, user profiles, and terms, for editing or viewing
3.3. Demonstrate the ability to create, manage and display lists of content using Drupal Views
3.4 Demonstrate the ability to build layouts of content using Layout Builder
Topic | Link |
---|---|
Views User Guide | Creating Listings with Views |
Working with Views | Views overview |
Working with blocks | Blocks |
Layout Builder | Layout Builder |
4.1. Demonstrate the ability to use the various options related to site configuration like account settings, content authoring, development, search, site and system settings, media
4.2. Demonstrate the ability to use the Configuration and Synchronization options to import, export, compare configuration across environments
4.3 Given a scenario, demonstrate the ability to configure user accounts
Topic | Link |
---|---|
Managing your site configuration | Managing your site’s configuration |
Managing User Accounts | Managing User Accounts |
5.1. Demonstrate the ability to add, update, and remove contributed modules
5.2. Demonstrate the ability to add, update, and remove contributed themes
5.3 Identify ways of community participation and reporting issues
Topic | Link |
---|---|
Finding and installing a contributed module | Installing Modules |
Extending Drupal | Extending Drupal |
Installing themes | Installing Themes |
Evaluating a contrib module | How to Select Drupal Modules: Part 3 - Evaluation Tips |
Ways of community contribution | Contribution areas |
Reporting a problem | https://www.drupal.org/docs/develop/issues |
6.1. Identify security issues resulting from site configuration
6.2. Identify performance issues resulting from site configuration
Topic | Link |
---|---|
Secure configurations for Site Builders | Secure configuration for site builders |
Drupal Performance improvements | Improving application performance |
Drupal core and modules |