Timeline: applied mid-April, got the OA invite in early May.
Duration: 70 minutes. Content: 14 questions total, with a big SQL question in the middle. The content matched what people have shared here in past years almost exactly — really grateful to everyone who shared before me, it was super useful for prepping!
Questions 1-7: you download a csv file. The one I got was about an online ad platform — A/B testing, watch duration, dates, that kind of thing. The HR email actually mentioned all of this ahead of time.
Because I'd read the sharing here, I did this part in Excel too. Used filter, pivot table, countif, sumif, etc. I don't remember most of the specific questions anymore, but one asked which week had the longest watch time during a certain ad's time window — that one needed sumifs. Also, for the date column, only the first row actually had a real date written out (e.g. 2008-01-01), the rest of the rows just used "-" instead, so remember to replace the dates first.
Question 8: SQL. It had three requirements, so you had to get the whole query right to get any points at all... I thought I'd written it correctly but kept getting an error, probably misunderstood one part of it. The data was something like exam scores — I vaguely remember needing to group by for scores above a certain threshold, and using something else for a new column for scores below it. Roughly needed join, aggregate, group by, where, isnull.
Questions 9-15: also ad data, but this time with 4 csv files — platform, ads, videos, total. Honestly if you merge them correctly the rest falls into place. The questions were roughly along the lines of which ads got played the most, which had the highest click-through rate, etc. When you're practicing, it also helps to come up with your own common stats questions to build up speed. The last two questions were t-tests, so review the difference between one-tailed and two-tailed beforehand — I got so nervous my brain kind of shut down and I didn't finish them. This section also needed filter, pivot table, and using vlookup/index+match to merge three tables together.
Other notes: the exam requires you to share your screen (recorded), with camera and mic on. It took about 2-3 days from finishing the exam to getting a certified score, so it really does feel like someone manually reviews how you worked through it. They do say before the exam starts that you're allowed to look up syntax, but I was too nervous during the actual test to even open a search engine. If you suddenly get stuck on an approach, I'd honestly recommend just searching for it — otherwise you watch the clock run out while stuck, and that gets your nerves way worse. The hard part of this exam is really the time limit combined with just understanding what the questions are asking — some of the wording is genuinely convoluted, and I had to read a few of them multiple times before I understood what they actually wanted. I'd also suggest doing the Excel section first and then SQL, just to lock in points more safely — not sure why I felt so confident that day that I did SQL first instead. And if you notice yourself getting anxious partway through, don't rush to submit the parts you're unsure about — you can come back and double check later. Some of the questions are genuinely easy, but getting stuck on one you don't understand really tests how you handle pressure.
Hope everyone's job search goes smoothly and you all land your dream offers!! Also wishing myself luck with the Data Challenge that's coming up next!!
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