FCPX Exam Preparation Guide for level One Associate Level Certifications

As long as you come here to Louisiana State University to take you test! Just kidding, I won't help you. JUST KIDDING!

Sure, I'll help you out. Do you have iChat, Yahoo, or Skype?

Thank you so much! I am also following your FCPX 204 Media Management training on MacProVideo.com. This has given me tremendous practical insight. Thank you for bringing it.

My skype account is dukesxm

Do that course to help yourself out personally, but don't do it until after the test. Many of us use terminology and workflows that may differ slightly from the APTS book. The test strictly and literally IS THAT BOOK. I can't stress that enough. I've had students fail the cert test because they called things by other terms, and did understand the wording of some questions, because they did other trainings, not the ATPS book. The book is that test, the test is that book, period. The test questions come directly from, use the terminology, workflow, and wording exactly from the ATPS book.

Other trainings such as Ripple and macProVideo (the two best on the market) will expand your knowledge greatly, but they have nothing to do with the actual certification test.

Just my advice. I've actually taught the certification class and given that test to more students than I can count for more years than I care to remember. Well, "officially" since version 4 as a certified pro users, since 4.5 as a certified trainer.

BenB...
Thanks for the advice!
Can you explain a little more an Event Collection (Ch.2)? I understand it as the analyses grouped by Smart Collections during media import. Is this the only method create an Event Collection? If I grouped several analyses by Smart Collections in a folder can this be considered an Event Collection?

Analysis is not done by a Smart Collection, the collection is the result of an analysis. Let me put it this way.

There are 3 types of Smart Collections that can be in an Event.

Analysis and fixing type of collections that are done by FCP X itself. These can be done during import, or after by right-clicking the media and selecting Analyze And Fix. The icon is purple with a gear in it.

There are keyword collections created by assigning keywords to clips. The icon is blue with a key in it.

And there are the advanced search type of collections created in the Search Editor. The icon is also purple with a gear in it.

You can crate a folder inside of an Event to group any combination of your collections to help you organize things. But it's just a folder, not a collection, only a "folder" that contains "Smart Collections".

Thanks Ben, Now I get it!!... I will quote from the book what made it a bit confusing —'At present be aware that Smart Collections group the results of stabilization, rolling shutter, number of people, and shot type analyses into Event collections'—
Just making sure I get the terminology correct!
Bedankt! as we say in Dutch for Thanks!

Yes, they're not specifying that there are actually two ways to create smart collections, with the advanced search window, and with the analyze functions. There's an issue with the difference between smart collections and keyword collections, too. One you can drag clips from the Browser in to, the other you can't. Your job is to understand which, and why.

Also, I sent you a PM, check your In Box.

Hi Everyone,

I just passed FCPX Level 1 Certification.

If you would like to ask for my help don't hesitate to email me at macapangyarihan@gmail.com

Congrats! What did you think about the test in general?

Thank you BenB!

I really enjoyed the exam because I studied the Peachpit book.

I got 93.46%

Nice score! But remember that Apple only gets a report that you passed or failed. Actual scores only matter to you, not to the certification. Glad you got through it. Good job!

Now get the Advanced book, it's got some really neat tricks in it. Especially the color grading and compositing sections.

Congrats to the score!

Ben, does the advanced book go beyond anything that Rippletraining shows in their advanced tutorials? (No need/interest in doing the test - would have to travel to Manila for that one...)

Ben, my sincere THANKS to you for your valuable advice!
I passed my test today (May 10th) with a score of 93.85%.
With regards to the test IMHO the practice questions in the book is a far cry from the style in which the exam is given. As you rightfully mentioned the test requires you to not only to know the stuff, but to understand it right, left and center. And you get that level of understanding following your advice of doing the book several times. What I liked most of the test is visual display of the questions to be solved.
I know now how to prepare for Level 2 in a few months!

Hats off to you Ben!

Thank you dukesxm. Let me know how you do with Level 2.

cgbier, the Level 2 FCPX book goes through some review of stuff from the first book, but goes into more depth / detail about it. It covers multicam and other stuff. Great compositing and color grading exercises.

As for comparing it to Ripple Training, remember that the same guy from Ripple did I think the compositing section of the Level 2 book. If you do the basic and advanced (basically ALL) Ripple Training FCP X videos, you'll have done all the stuff in the level 2 book, mostly.

BUT be aware Ripple Training is NOT geared towards the Apple certification test! ONLY the APTS books do that. They are the test.

Thanks for the info, Ben. Helped me a lot in decision making.

I'm going through the "basic" book right now, and might take the associate certification just for the fun of it later this summer. Hopefully, there also will be a Motion Associate (I'm concentrating more on Motion lately).

If you are really serious about Motion, do all of the Ripple Training videos for Motion. No one goes into the depth and necessary detail as Ripple does.

There is not, nor will ever be an associate certification for Motion. There's simply no market there. Apple has re-vamped the certification program, and that's it. We won't see any more changes until FCP X 11.0 or something.

But yes, Motion is way more powerful and easier to use than most folks have any clue about. Do all of Ripple Training for Motion 5, you'll be amazed.

Thank you Ben, I'm doing that already.

As said, I don't really need that certificate for career reason. I'm living on a small tropical island with a very limited market, and I'm basically using skills I learn as a hobby on my job (kinda of an PR guy for our college's agriculture department). The gigs I get as a side business are coming from word to mouth. I don't even need a business card, demo reel or website - just my cell phone.

I love Motion. You get simple things done simply. OTOH, it is very deep, so the hints Mark Spencer gives in his advanced tutorials (and on MacBreak Studio) are very welcome and pretty amazing. I also got my feet wet in After Effects, but, while extremely powerful, it is has also the usual extremely complex Adobe UI. The only thing I really need and use is the Roto Brush (and before FCP X, the chromakeyer).