Study Plan¶

Three plans for three timelines. Pick the one that matches the time you can actually commit each week, and stick to it.

Pick your plan¶

All three plans cover the same content. Total study hours are similar — only pacing changes.

🚀 4-week sprint (12–15 hours/week)¶

gantt
    title 4-week sprint
    dateFormat  X
    axisFormat W%w

    section Content
    Mapping & Visualization      :a1, 0, 1w
    Data Management              :a2, after a1, 1w
    Performing Analysis          :a3, after a2, 0.7w
    Layouts & Sharing            :a4, after a3, 0.3w

    section Practice
    Practice questions ×1        :p1, 1w, 1w
    Practice questions ×2        :p2, 2w, 1w
    Mock exam + review           :p3, 3w, 1w

Week 1 — Mapping and Visualization (36%)¶

Week 2 — Data Management (32%)¶

Week 3 — Analysis + Sharing¶

Week 4 — Practice + final polish¶

⏱ 8-week balanced (6–8 hours/week)¶

gantt
    title 8-week balanced plan
    dateFormat  X
    axisFormat W%w

    section Content
    Mapping & Visualization      :a1, 0, 2w
    Data Management              :a2, after a1, 2w
    Performing Analysis          :a3, after a2, 2w
    Layouts & Sharing            :a4, after a3, 1w

    section Practice
    Domain practice (rolling)    :p1, 2w, 5w
    Mock exam + final review     :p2, 7w, 1w

Weeks 1–2 — Mapping and Visualization¶

• Week 1: Interface, Map Layers, Symbology.
• Week 2: Labeling, scale, layer/map properties. Read Mapping & Visualization prep. Take 15 questions.

Weeks 3–4 — Data Management¶

• Week 3: Coordinate Systems, Vector + Raster data.
• Week 4: Attribute Tables, Joins & Relates, file geodatabases, metadata. Read Data Management prep. Take 15 questions.

Weeks 5–6 — Performing Analysis¶

• Week 5: Select by Attributes, Select by Location. SQL for GIS section.
• Week 6: Buffer/Clip/Intersect/Dissolve/Spatial Join. Read Performing Analysis prep. Take 15 questions.

Week 7 — Layouts and Sharing¶

• Layout Design, Exporting Maps, Sharing to ArcGIS Online.
• Read Layouts & Sharing prep. Take 10 questions.

Week 8 — Practice + exam¶

• Two full passes through the Practice Questions. Aim 80%+.
• Re-read Test-Day Tips.
• Take the exam.

🐢 12-week steady (3–5 hours/week)¶

Ideal if ArcGIS Pro is new to you.

End each week with 5–10 practice questions. Track your weak domains and re-read those pages.

How to study (independent of plan)¶

Daily checklist¶

• Did I open ArcGIS Pro today and click on something?
• Did I do at least 1 hands-on exercise?
• Did I review yesterday's practice questions for any I got wrong?
• Did I check 1 thing off this week's plan?

What to memorize¶

You don't have to memorize everything, but you must memorize:

• EPSG 4326 = WGS84 (geographic), EPSG 3857 = Web Mercator (projected)
• Datum vs projection — datum models the earth, projection flattens it
• Buffer = zone around feature; Clip = cookie-cutter (input attrs only); Intersect = overlap (all attrs); Dissolve = merge by attribute
• Select by Attributes uses SQL; Select by Location uses spatial relationship
• Layer Properties is per-layer; Map Properties is per-map (CRS, transformations)
• Web Layer vs Web Map vs Package — three different sharing methods
• Reference scale locks symbol size at a chosen scale

Daily resource allocation¶

You can mix-and-match free resources:

→ Next: Data Management (32%).