Daily Archives: January 16, 2022

Fresh Tips for Google Level 2 Exam

Google for Education Certified Educator Level 2 Badge

Just do it! Take your Google for Education Certified Educator Level 2 exam NOW! It has become much less rigorous and can be passed with much less preparation.

The Google Certified Educator Level 1 and 2 exams drastically changed on September 1, 2021 – the scenario-based questions were removed and the exam now consists of 35 multiple choice/drag and drop questions. You still have 3 hours to do these questions AND can use your Google search engine on another device. So ultimately, if you are stumped on a question, you have time to Google the answer or work it out on the side. In fact, when I recently wrote the test and was puzzled by some more obscure questions, I was shocked by the similarity to the related Google Support pages!

These are the most recent materials supplied to Google Trainers by Google for Edu. USE THESE!!!!

The best place to practice and do some training?

Previously I would have suggested taking a course to review for the practical part of the exam (from a Google Trainer like myself!). But – and it pains me to say this – I don’t think that is even necessary if you are fairly Google proficient. Here are some good review options:

I would HIGHLY recommend that you physically work through all of the steps in this Google Educator Level 1 Tasks Document. The Workspace tools questions on this exam are very specific; as a regular and high-level user of all Workspace tools, I found the “tool” questions challenging. DO the steps. CLICK links and READ the content. The training challenges have been specifically curated! The same thing applies for Level 2: Google Educator Level 2 Tasks Document.

Another solid avenue for reviewing or learning the content is the Advanced Training Course offered through Google’s Skillshop. Tips:

  • Be sure to log in so that it saves your progress.
  • You may not need to do the 15 hours of course content, but BE SURE to do the quizzes at the end of every section; retry until you have the correct answers. (When I get an answer wrong, I take a picture with my phone of the “key” showing my wrong answer and the correct answer. I then scroll through these pictures as a super-fast way to review.

What should I know?

Although the Level 2 exam includes the core educational tools (Docs, Slides, Sheets, Classroom, Drive, Forms, Calendar, Gmail), it wants to test your knowledge about more obscure features within these core tools, and it asks about several other tools that you may not have used as much. Be sure to check out the review materials listed above to brush up on Google Sites, Translate, the “Explore” tool, Google Scholar, Google Books, Trends, Google Chat, and the geo tools (Google Earth, My Maps, Streetview).

Be prepared for some comparative questions, such as, “In the case of….., should you use this or that?” Google Docs or Google Keep? Google Slides or Jamboard? Google Earth or My Maps? Sites or Blogger?

The test is for educators, so there is an expectation that you are current in modern pedagogy. Again, I would refer you to the Advanced Training Course which really frames your training around pedagogical practice and classroom considerations. Several questions are still “scenario” in nature and you can imagine that the “drag and drop” questions might be used to ask you to put steps or skills in an order that they would be used.

Other considerations

  • Once you receive your exam registration you have 8 days to complete the test.
  • You have 3 hours to complete the 35 multiple-choice questions. This is now AMPLE time since there are no longer any scenario questions..
  • If you have any doubt, flag the question so that you can come back to it – you will have AMPLE time to do so.
  • You don’t need 100% to pass. When I wrote the test to recert most recently in November 2021, there were a few, shall we say “quirky” questions. For example, there was at least one question (about Forms, which I use proficiently) that didn’t seem to have all of the parts that it needed in order to make sense. Do your best and move on.

You’re ready for this!

Something else to consider – creating a bibliography in Google Docs.

Looking for Google Educator Level 1 advice?