I recently left my previous job at Malmö University and started a new role as an analyst with Search Integration – this is an awesome opportunity for me, Search Integration are a great company and the hook for me was being able to work 100% with web analytics. A huge bonus is being able to work with Brian Clifton, whose book ‘Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics‘ got me into the field of web analytics in the first place – definitely a Matrix moment!
Part of my new journey with Search Integration was to formalise my Google Analytics knowledge by taking the Google Analytics IQ test. I’m happy to say that I passed first time, with a score of 94%. There’s already some great posts about the IQ test out there – for example, I recommend checking out the very candid ‘How to fail the Google Analytics Exam‘; but I thought it would be useful to share my insights about taking and passing this exam.
Passing the Google Analytics IQ Test
You can find a good description of what the test is like here, so I won’t bother going over that ground again. Here’s my top tips for passing, and getting maximum benefit from the exam:
1. You need to be familiar with Google Analytics, and using it on a regular basis, before taking the exam. You need to have a basic understanding of implementation and, crucially, interpreting the GA reports – this will give you a strong foundation to build on; otherwise your revision is going to be very abstract. Despite having worked a lot with GA I was very glad that I had revised – there were definitely areas I needed to brush up on.
2. Google’s IQ exam presentations are great. Watch them several times and make notes. I’d put aside at least 2 full days to go through them. Incidentally, right click on the links and open them in a new tab to get the full screen view – I noticed a few people were missing this on some forums and squinting at the preview size. My approach was to watch the presentations, pausing them often and referring to the Google Analytics help site and Brian’s book as supplementary material.
3. Use the awesome Google Analytics Test site – it’s an unofficial community driven labour of love led by Eric Fettman. I would say that most of the questions are harder, and require more lateral thinking, than the GA IQ itself. Beast yourself on their site. To get maximum value from the questions pay attention to the answer sections – for all the questions, not just the ones you got wrong. I found the site particularly helpful in identifying my weak spots.
4. Don’t get cocky. My revision was good, and I’ve a lot of experience in using Analytics but there were definitely a few questions which got me scratching my head. I made sure that I was particularly confident with the following sections:
– Cross domain, and sub-domain tracking
– Attribution rules (and dudu’s blog has one of the best visual explanations I’ve seen)
– Adwords integration with GA
– How cookies work in GA
– Ecommerce tracking
– Filter functionality
Really, the subject is so broad that it’s hard to point at particular subjects and say you must understand these more than others. However, a big epiphany for me – in my journey as an analyst – was really getting to grips with what a visit is, and how Google Analytics measures them. Also, really work hard at understanding the difference between a dimension and a metric – this will pay back big time.
5. As my driving instructor said to me, ‘don’t learn to drive to pass the test, learn to be a good driver’. Aim to exceed the level of the GA IQ test with your revision and you’ll not only feel very confident as you answer the questions, but also as you continue to use it in your job – which is the whole point.
My revision benefited from the following resources:
– The IQ Exam presentations
– Brian Clifton’s book and blog
– The Google Analytics help site (this gets better and better – good explanations, often with examples)
– The Google Analytics Developer site (I love this site, but you don’t need to dive too deep into it – it will help with GATC customisations and cookie understanding; the dimensions and metrics reference guide is also awesome))
– Google Analytics YouTube channel (check out the web analytics TV – benefit from web ninja wisdom and lots of real world cases)
There’s a ton of good analytics blogs, but here’s a start:
– Advanced Web Metrics
– Occam’s Razor
– Google Analytics Blog
– Lunametrics
– Analytics Talk
I guess my main take away is to make your understanding of Google Analytics as real world as possible – if you’ve got a access to a range of accounts representing different types of websites then you’ve got a great start. Otherwise pay particular attention to the examples and demonstrations in the resources I identify above.
Good luck, and feel free to get in touch (via comments below) if you’ve got specific questions, or comments, about the IQ exam.
University Usability 
Thank you John. Great post and congratulations. Joe
Thanks Joe – I really enjoyed reading your blog posts about the GAIQ exam! Happy analyzing!
John, thanks for the good tips on using the Google Analytics Test site and for your overall test strategy and broader perspective on GA – very helpful all around.
Thanks Eric!
thanks for the post !!! Is there a website you can practice for the exams, like doing a mock exam? thank u
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Hi
Do you have the answers to these questions?
20.Someone visits your website and subscribe to your newsletter which you are tracking as goal. A colleague then immdetaitely also subscribes using the same computer(without closing the browser). How many conversions will be recorded?
a)0
b)1
c)2
23)Channel A has an Assisted/Last interaction Conversions value of exactly1. Which of the following is true?
A) Channel A always initiates conversion.
b)Channel A is always the last click before conversion.
c)Channel A equally initiates and assists conversions.
d) None of these is true
24)Which of the following reporting dimensions would be useful to reference if you were rebuilding a website?
None of these dimensions
All of these dimensions
Screen colours
Language
Browsers
26)Which of the following metrics would be useful in measuring how many conversions were initiated by Paid Search?
a)none of these metrics
b)First interaction(Click) Conversions
c)Assisted Conversions Value
d)Conversion Rate
34)You want to know whenever weekly revenue for your “spring sale” campaign increases or decreases by an unusual amount. Which of the following would be most useful?
a)secondary dimensions
b)intelligence
c)Annotations
d)Real – Time
36)Your business objective is to maximize the number of sales through your website. Which of the following metrics would most directly help you measure performance against this objective?
a)Page/Visits
b)Bounce Rate
c)Ecommerce Conversion Rate
d)Visits
e)Page Value
41) Your website has three sections and would like to have an aggregated view of date for the entire website as well as a view for each section. What is the recommended way to set this up?
a)one web property that includes a profile for the entire website and duplicated filtered profiles,each with a customized include filter to track each section
b)one account per website section and one for the entire site
c)one account that includes a profile for the entire website and a second profile with an include filter for the sections
d)This is not possible
Which of the following is true of ROI?
a)If Cost is $5 and Revenue is $5, your ROI is 0%
b) If Cost is $5 and Revenue is $5, your ROI is 100%
c) If Cost is $5 and Revenue is $5, your ROI is 50%
d) If Cost is $5 and Revenue is $5, your ROI is 20%
e)None of these are true
52)Which of the following would you use to set up a custom alert?
a)Intelligence
b)Real -Time
c)Content
d)Conversions
53)You want to see conversions rates for windows visits coming from London. Which of the following dimensions would you need to select?
a)Operating System, and City as a secondary dimension
b)Goal Conversions Rate, and City as a secondary dimension
c)City, and Goal Conversion Rates as a secondary dimension
d)any one of these options
55)Why would anyone install e-commerce tracking code (select two)
a)To log transactions for accounting purposes
b)To enable an online payment system
c)To monetize goals such as newsletter signups
d) To track revenue generated by the website
e)To see which keywords led to the sale of which products
56)Which of the following are measured of traffic volume?
a)Bounce Rates
b)Visits
c)Avg. time on site
d)None of these
60)Which of the following statements are true?
a)Advanced segments must be created when you create the profile to which they apply
b)Advanced segments permanently alter the date that appears in a profile
c)Advanced segments may be applied to historical data.
d)Advanced segments can be compared side by side in reports
62)The site search report shows_______________?
a) How visitors search your site
b)traffic coming from search engines
c)traffic from Google organic search
d)traffic coming from non-Google organic search
64)You want to know whether button A is clicked more often than B. Which of the following would be most useful?
a)Intelligence
b)Events
c)Real-Time
d)Annotations
1)Why might your reports show visits coming from a paused or discontinued campaign?
a)because visitors originally referred by that campaign are now returning via or
organic search
b)because visitors originally referred by that campaign are now returning as Direct visitors
c)because visitors originally referred by that campaign will always be reported as coming from that campaign
d)because visitors originally referred by that campaign are now returning via Adwords campaign
48)The URL for the homepage of your website is http://www.mysite.com/index
You would like this to appear as “home” in the Top Content report. How can this be achieved?
b)Use a search and replace custom filter on the requested URI field searching string is “/index” and replace string is “/home”
17)If a paid keyword has an Assisted/Last interaction confession value of 5, wich of the following is true?
a)None
b)The keyword played an assist role in each conversion
c)The keyword played an assist role less often then it played a last click role
d)The keyword played an assist in exactly one conversion.
Last week I dreamed about a giant pan filled with bacon and there is a little kid sitting in
center of it, eating it.
For the totality of facts establishes what is the case, and also whichever is not the case.