Delta Exam Guide (Vancouver Version)

[Allen Andreas]

Hi everyone!

This article originally began in another post which was from the Orlando version, but has now grown in to this comprehensive article that has been viewed over 90,000 times AND has over 190 Helpful ratings! This article contains both a "Quick" Delta Exam Guide and a "Full" Delta Exam Guide. I'll start things off with the quick version and then follow that with the full version.

"Quick" Delta Exam Guide

• Delta exams become required in November, every year, for mainline certifications holders who did not achieve their mainline certification on the latest ServiceNow release (i.e., Vancouver).
  
• The delta exam period for the Vancouver release is currently scheduled for November 16th, 2023 through February 13, 2024.
• Delta exams usually consist of 20 or less questions.
• They are open book, non-proctored, timed (1-1.5 hour) "assessments" to see if you're familiar with the latest ServiceNow information related to that delta exams focus area.
• An annual ServiceNow certification maintenance fee of $200 (or $100 for ServiceNow Partner organizations) is due during this delta exam period and applies to all mainline certification holders that have had their certification for a period of 1 year or longer. To reiterate, you will only owe this fee if you have had at least 1 mainline ServiceNow certification for 1 year or longer by the time the maintenance fee period begins.
• You are required to take specific delta exam(s) (regardless if you owe a maintenance fee or not) if you did not take your certification exam on the latest ServiceNow release (i.e., Vancouver).
• Login to Now Learning, click "My Certifications", and if one is listed as "At Risk", you must take the delta prior to the end of the delta exam period.
• You can attempt the delta exam up to 5 times.
• After February 13th, 2024, if you not paid your annual maintenance fee (if applicable) AND you have not passed that specific delta exam, you will become uncertified and will need to take the original certification exam all over again.
• The content for delta exams are based on the release notes for the latest ServiceNow version.
• Here's my personal recommendation link  which should be pre-filtered to the Vancouver release notes. This allows you to search the question in an effort to help you easily learn about that topic in an effort to then help you pass the delta exam 🙂
  
• Additionally, ServiceNow has created Delta Exam Study Guides you can reference.

"Full" Delta Exam Guide

Maintenance Fee

Beginning November 16th, there is an annual maintenance fee of $200 (or $100 for ServiceNow partner organizations) due for individuals who have been certified with at least 1 mainline certification for one full year or longer. Next November (2024) we'll repeat this process and the annual maintenance fee will become due again.

ServiceNow will email individuals who are be required to pay the maintenance fee and have previously mentioned verbiage such as this paragraph in the email:

"Our records indicate that you have been in our certification program for one year or longer and will need to pay the $200* annual certification maintenance program fee that will open on November 16th, 2023. By staying up to date with ServiceNow’s latest product release, you are more likely to accelerate the new Now Platform functionality to drive automation and increase your return on investment. The yearly maintenance fee:

• Ensures that you remain up to date with continued learning
• Saves you time and money; you are not required to repeat training or pass the Mainline Certification Exam again
• Opens access to the required delta exams to maintain your certification

Paying the fee in Now Learning

Now Learning accepts either credit card or learning credit payments for the CMP fee. Once payment is submitted, fees are non-refundable. Please refer to the following articles to guide you through the CMP payment process in Now Learning.

How to pay the certification maintenance fee with a credit card

How to pay the certification maintenance fee with learning credits

Steps to take your Vancouver delta exam after payment

1. Log in to the Now Learning training platform
2. Under the "My Certifications" tab, view the status of your certifications. You will need to pass delta exams for those certifications that say, "At Risk."
3. Take each delta exam. Once you pass your exam(s), the certification status fields will change to "Current" within 24 hours.

If you have questions, please review the Certification Program Guide, or find answers in the Help Center.."

Delta Exam -- what is this?

In the Fall of 2018, Delta exams were introduced. Prior to the Fall of 2018, individuals who obtained ServiceNow certifications didn't really have to keep up with the latest release information. Most did on their own, but to ensure the quality of what a ServiceNow certification means and the respect behind it...it was decided to create a Delta (otherwise known as a "change") exam. These delta exams are lightweight, 20 question or less, non-proctored, open-book "exams" that are for mainline certifications. These delta exams are not for micro-certs. The delta exams are updated in November of every year and contain information related to the latest ServiceNow release.

ServiceNow isn't here to beat you down with yet another exam to cause you stress...it's meant to keep all of us up to date on the latest changes. That way, we're all on the same page and we've at least seen/read/heard about new or modified features in the latest release.

For Vancouver, the English and Non-English Delta Exam window will be from November 16th, 2023 to February 13th, 2024. 

• How do I know if I need to take the delta exam? You are required to take the delta exam if you obtained a respective mainline certification (system administrator, application developer, implementation specialist, etc.) prior to this release. Remember, this delta exam is about the changes introduced with Vancouver. So if you took your certification exam AFTER the Vancouver certification window has opened, your recent exam already contained Vancouver related information so, you're all caught up. However, if you had your mainline certification prior to Vancouver being released OR the Vancouver examination window hadn't begun, you must take the delta exam for Vancouver. Another way to verify if you need to take the delta exam is to login to your Webassessor account: ServiceNow Webassessor and click "My certifications" at the top of the screen. Here, you'll see a list of your certifications which will have a status of either: Current, At Risk, Expired, or Never Attained. If your certification says "At Risk", then you need to take the delta exam.
  
  
• Ok, so I need to take the delta...now what?  You'll need to login through your Now Learning account, which is a separate portal from this ServiceNow Community. Once logged in to your Now Learning Account, click on "My Certifications" and you'll see a list of all your certs. You'll see a status there as well saying Current, At Risk, etc. For the certifications At Risk, there'll be a link to click that will take you to the instructions page for that particular delta exam. Here's an example of the process you may go through after logging in to your Now Learning Account to verify that you need to take a delta exam, how to access that delta exam, and then enrolling and subsequently taking the exam:
  
  
• How difficult are these delta exams? Honestly...they're not meant to be extremely difficult. The goal of all this is to keep you up to date with latest information regarding recent changes and modifications. These assessments are open book, not proctored, 1 to 1.5-hour time limit, and consist of 20 or less questions. Most of the time the delta exams won't take you the full allotted time given.
  
  

Do you have any tips or advice for me? 

I do! I'm so glad you asked! All you need to do is review the Vancouver Release Notes. Once you've done that, simply launch a delta exam and as an additional resource I'd recommend you have open, here's a personal link I use. You can have any resource open that you'd like while taking this exam. For the personal link I included above, it should be pre-filtered to the Vancouver release notes already. From there, if you need help during your exam, use this link and simply search for the information.

Additionally, ServiceNow has created Delta Exam Study Guides, which are new knowledge articles focused on each mainline certification that contains recommended topics and information you should be familiar with for that respective focus area. I'd highly suggest bookmarking/saving the link as it appears that these knowledge articles will be updated each delta exam cycle instead of brand new articles being created each time.

I'll also link to the ServiceNow Credentialing Program Guide . A lot of this content came from that, but also from my own personal experience and knowledge I have about these delta exams. Please refer to the attachment below if you have any other questions or want to see it officially from ServiceNow.

Can you fail? If so...what happens?

I know none of us want to fail the delta exam, but here's some information in case you do. If you fail your delta exam, you can retake the delta 4 additional times (so a total of 5 times overall). If you fail the delta exam a 5th time, you become uncertified for that specific mainline certification and you will be required to pay for and take that proctored mainline certification exam all over again. Remember, you must pass your delta exam on or before February 13th, 2024 or your certification will become expired.

Please don't be the one who waits until the last minute. A lot of people push the delta exam off until the very end (see some of the comments posted below). Get it over with as soon as you can!

Something's wrong with my Now Learning Account...HELP!

If you need assistance with your Now Learning Account (i.e., your certification isn't showing At Risk and for some reason you think it should, your Now Learning Account is reporting that your certifications are At Risk and you are unable to search Now Learning, find your respective Delta exam for your mainline(s) certification and successfully enroll to then take the exam...), please check out some of the comments below as this similar scenario may have been covered and resolved below or login to your Now Learning Account and then locate the "Help Center" menu at the top of the screen and choose "Create a Case" from the menu on the right:

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Additionally, here's a YouTube video I created that covers ServiceNow Certification Maintenance:

So there you go, I think I've covered this pretty well. If you have any additional questions, feel free to drop a comment below. If this guide helped you, whether it was the quick version or the detailed version, please BOOKMARK this article, mark "Helpful", and pass it along to someone else! I'll keep this article updated for future releases. If I've missed something, definitely let me know so I can update this to help everyone.

Thank you for reading and I wish you the best!

[Kieran Anson]

Always a pleasure to read one of your articles Allen!

To everyone, don’t look at Deltas as big scary exams similar to CIS mainline certifications, they’re there to solidify your understanding of the release notes more than quiz you on remembering the latest and greatest the platform has to offer. The exam is open booked so there is no real need to be asking for exam dumps or referencing screenshots of answers! In doing so, you’re cheating yourself out of understanding the platform and become a great dev / administrator / awesome.

[Allen Andreas]

Thank you for checking it out and great advice!

[Allen Andreas]

Once the blackout period has passed and the Delta exams are available, I'll make an update here about the payment process, etc.

[Kusum]

Best explanation 🙂

[Allen Andreas]

Thanks! Feel free to bookmark and mark as Helpful if it was.

Stay tuned for more updates as the Deltas get released!

[Miguel Donayre]

AWESOME ARTICLE!! Keep them coming!!

[Allen Andreas]

Thank you sir!

[Daniel F2]

Excellent article, good Job @Allen A 

[Allen Andreas]

I appreciate that, seriously.

Thanks!

[Kim86]

Excellent article, good Job @Allen A 

[Allen Andreas]

Thank you Kim!

[david parot]

Thank you for clarifying what's CSA Delta exam means. this is my first "Delta" exam i need to pass and hope not the last 🙂 ...

[Allen Andreas]

You are welcome!

I'll be adding an update today about the payment process (for the maintenance fee) since more information around that was released today.

Plus the Deltas will be released today (they are normally not all released at the same time, so you'd want to give it until the end of the day if you don't see your delta exam showing yet).

[Anna6]

Hello Allen,

I've downloaded the PDF file of "Topic and Subtopics" from

https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/paris-release-notes/page/release-notes/family-release-notes.html

I understand that I can search on the net while I'm doing the exam because there's no proctor, but I would like to be a bit prepared about this argument. There are more than 600 pages in the downloaded PDF, should I read ALL to give my Delta exam?!

Thanks in advance for your support.

Ciao,

Anna

[Allen Andreas]

Hi,

You'd definitely want to familiarize yourself with the latest features and adjustments that Paris brings, but I agree, it's certainly a bit much to try and read and study 600 pages.

In my guide above, we mention the Paris release notes located here: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/paris-release-notes/page/release-notes/family-release-notes.html

From here you can navigate to the Paris highlights page, which is a high-level section that goes over briefly those new features and adjustments: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/paris-release-notes/page/release-notes/reference/release-highligh...

Once you've done that, you can also download the Paris Fact Sheet: https://downloads.docs.servicenow.com/enus/paris/upgrade/paris-fact-sheet.pdf

Which is also a quick read and should give you a quicker dive in to the topics most likely covered on the Delta exam.

If my guide above helped, please mark it as Helpful and perhaps Bookmark it as they'll be changes made along the way in the future as well.

Take care!

[Allen Andreas]

The Delta Exam Guide has now been updated to reflect the maintenance fee payment process that was introduced to the public today.

Thanks!

[Arnab22]

Hi,

Where is the link to take the Delta Exam? I logged into now learning and I see my Certification is at risk. I click on Let's fix it and nothing happens. I see the same message in www.webassessor.com.

Please advise.

Thanks,

Arnab

[ciqbal]

Does delta exam questions remain same or they can be different in each attempt? The reason I’m asking you because I want to make sure I have enough information for Paris release notes so it will help to pass the delta .

[Allen Andreas]

Hi,

I believe there is a possibility that the questions could be different, but majority would remain the same. The Delta exams are 10 questions or less and for example, the last Delta (Orlando) or Sys Admin was only 6 questions.

They are open book, open note, non-proctored exams.

If you refer to the release notes and the link(s) I've mentioned above, you should be fine 🙂

Best of luck and the goal of all this is to understand new or updated features for Paris so that you are well informed, etc.

Take care!

[Barb]

I am shocked to see that ServiceNow is choosing to start charging $200 a year to take the delta exams (this was not disclosed to me when I earned my initial certification 1.5 years ago).  Most people paid $2,400 to take the class and test (Paying for the class is required for taking the test).  And now they add another fee, which is yearly, in order to "keep" your certification you worked so hard for and paid the money.  PLUS, this is at a time when many people are out of work and cannot afford to fork out an extra $200 to just keep the certification they earned (many companies won't either).  For a company that's making a lot of money, it's upsetting to see that they are turning to this.  

[Arnab22]

I agree with Barb. Most certifications do have a fee to renew for instance PMI, however they also provide you additional PDU's and options to take training and attend webinars. ServiceNow is charging you 200 for taking an open book exam, complete absurd. They should provide additional resources, training for that fee.

[Allen Andreas]

Hi,

I won't turn this article/thread in to a debate over the maintenance fee, there's a whole forum section for that where you can voice those concerns/opinions and it'll reach out to the appropriate individuals.

As far as my own opinions, I can understand your point of view, but ServiceNow for years and years and years never charged another fee once a certification was obtained. There was also no such thing as a Delta exam either.

ServiceNow justifies the $200 a year maintenance fee as a fee to maintain this Delta process. It allows the onDemand form of delivery and other maintenance specific reasons.

Most individuals have an allowance at their company who will cover this fee. $200 a year, to me, is not that much with the understanding of what the bigger picture is. There is a smaller cohort of individuals who pay for their own certifications out of pocket, but overall, their own salary is more than high enough to take that "hit".

Thanks

[greenbean]

Q: If my delta exam lapses, and my certification expires can I still maintain/develop in my organization instances DEV/UAT/PROD e.g. admin and security admin role impact?

Q: Can I still submit HI Portal Cases and use ServiceNow support resources.

Q: Can I still upgrade my organizations instances to Paris/Quebec  

[Allen Andreas]

Hi,

Yes to all three. Your certification does not impact your actual job. Your job may be concerned that your certification expired and you aren't certified, but, you can still manage your instances with admin and security role, you can still submit HI Portal Cases and use all ServiceNow Support resources and still upgrade your instances. That is all separate from your certification. The certification is more for the employer side. Not for you to be approved to work with ServiceNow resources, etc.

Still...pass that open book Delta and don't let it expire 🙂

[SNowUser11]

Hi Allen,

Have some really serious question . Article was really helpful. 

1)Is it mandatory to have email address as partner email address in order to get benefits.?

2) what would happen when anyone changes the organization and no more with the existing one do they loose all certifications then????

Thanks

[Allen Andreas]

Hi,

The obtain the partner benefit (which is $100 maintenance fee versus the normal $200 maintenance fee)...you have to login to NowLearning using your partner email address. Then...you also need to have had certifications with that partner email address for the "at risk" warning to show up...and thus the payment option to even show up. If you login to NowLearning with your partner email and don't have any certifications, then you see nothing, because you have nothing to pay (the maintenance fee is to take delta exams for certifications that are at risk).

What you'd have to do...is open a case with NowLearning to have them "move" your certifications from 'x' email address(es) and put them under your partner email address, then when you login, you'll see your at risk certifications and can pay the fee, etc.

If you ever leave your organization, you'd have to open a case again...and "move" your certifications from your partner email address to a different email address, if you wish. You could just leave them under the your old partner email address, but why would you?

For me...what I'll be doing? I work with a partner, but it's a bit of a hassle to move the certs around and them possibly move back, etc. so I am just going to pay the $200 and move on with my life, haha.

Hopefully this information helps.

Take care!

[Adrian Baron]

Hi there, 

Are you sure this is possible only by submitting a case? I think you can do this also via PartnerPortal with the S/N of the certification and the date?

[Allen Andreas]

Hi,

The partner portal is where you can link your certifications from various other email accounts you've had...but that is merely for "points" towards the partner account as a whole.

To link them for the purpose of receiving the $100 discount...you'd need to submit a case. This is about "NowLearning" and not really the "partner portal".

Again, I work for a partner, I've logged in to my partner email address NowLearning...there are no certs there. I never obtained certs under my partner email address...they are under my personal address. I can not receive the $100 discount because there are no certs that are at risk under my partner address. A case ticket would need to be submitted to associate all 9 of my certifications under the partner email address just so that when I log in to that NowLearning account, they'd show at risk and the $100 discount would show.

I do not need $100 discount that bad to go through all that, lol, so I'm not and did not. I'll just pay the $200.

So to recap, all 9 of my certs show within the partner portal. The partner portal isn't where the discount is had, it's within the NowLearning account of your partner email address.

Take care!

[Anusha87]

Hi,

Here are the answers for your queries.

1)  yes, you need to have the partner email address to get the benefits out of it.

2) A person wont loose his certification when he changes his organization. Prior changing your organization you can change your email address to personal email id and update it with your new organization email address (provided the organization is a partner) once you have one in place. The certification are based on the user account and they wont be lost while change in organization.

Thanks

[Wendy Sheehan1]

Thanks Allen

[Wendy Sheehan1]

Hi, Whats the story with the $42 tax on top of the $200 maintenance fee for the Paris Delta? Are Irish residents liable for this tax? 

Thanks,

Wendy

[Allen Andreas]

Hi Wendy,

Ouch! I didn't think there'd be some additional tax for some individuals. I assume this is some sort of VAT or something to that extent imposed by the payment processor. That's quite the amount of tax, honestly.

Unfortunately, here, I'd be unable to answer on behalf of ServiceNow and/or the payment processor. I'd recommend making a post in the "Training and Certification" section of the forums and see if someone could explain that to you there. If you don't mind, once you find out, definitely let us know here?

Thanks!

[patricklatella]

Hi Allen,

thanks as always for the very informative post.  I have a question about the CIS - CSM Paris Delta Exam.  Are you familiar with this Delta? 

I have read through the Paris release notes for CSM and am not finding answers directly clarified in the release notes for several of the questions.  I have successfully taken the Paris Delta for CIS - ITSM, CAD, and SysAdmin, and the answers were clear and easy to find.  For CSM this is not the case.  I have already taken the CSM Paris Delta twice, and in checking through the release notes again I would not honestly change more than 2 of the answers.  I value the Deltas because they provide guidance to us as to what the most important new features in a release are.  But if the information is not clearly provided in the release notes, I'm not sure where to turn for assistance.  Can you offer any guidance?  Thanks!

[Radhika3]

What will be the day to day work looks like

[Radhika3]

How to use the open book for Paris delta exam?

[David Nottingha]

The personal recommendation link Allen provided in this article is what I used for the open book test.

[Andrei Parvu]

ServiceNow is well known for changing the rules of the game during the game. I will not continue to take any delta exams...😕

[Allen Andreas]

Hi,

Sorry you feel that way. I'm not sure what you're talking about, but either way, best of luck to you!

[Barb]

I will not be paying the $200 since I am unemployed, and will therefore not be able to take the delta exam so my certification will LAPSE. 

My previous company paid a lot of money so that I could take the class and I spent many hours studying for the test.  It's unacceptable that ServiceNow changes the rules like this and doesn't grandfather people with the rules that were in place when they earned their certifications.

[Allen Andreas]

Updated Delta Guide to account for new information released from ServiceNow:

We understand that year-end and the holidays can be an extremely busy time. The Paris delta exam window is now extended through January 29th, 2021. Kick back, have some eggnog, and complete your delta exam(s)!

[Laurie M_]

Very helpful, thank you!

[Allen Andreas]

Thank you for the kind comment Laurie!

Be sure to mark it as Helpful above and/or bookmark if you haven't already. The Helpful marking helps other see that this is useful information and can be used successfully.

Take care!

[shilpach]

Excellent Article Allen!

[Allen Andreas]

Thank you very much! I sincerely appreciate the feedback!

[abrouf]

Hi Allen,

From my end when I login now learning I see the original deadline of January 7th not January 29.

Thank you.

abrouf

[Mark Roethof]

Yes textually (most) delta exams on Now Learning have not been updated, and still mention January 7th. Though it's like Allen mentioned, that text was sent by email about 2 weeks ago notifying that the delta period has been extended.

If you have any concerns on this, just log a personal case on Now Learning. 

Kind regards,
Mark
2020 ServiceNow Community MVP
2020 ServiceNow Developer MVP

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[Allen Andreas]

Hi,

Thanks for mentioning this as a concern. I can definitely see how you'd be worried with the delta exams themselves still saying January 7th. For that part, I feel it's just an accidental miss by ServiceNow that the 7th is still mentioned, but rest assured the communication around the extension is real and should have been sent to all currently certified individuals of the extended date.

I'll be watching things on the 8th to see if there's any problems for anyone, but I don't think there will be.

Thanks!

[PriyaRanji]

Hi Allen,

Happy New Year! Nice and useful article 🙂 Thanks for the detailed information.

Thanks!

[ktjstn]

I was not able to take my Delta Exam because my certificate is not reflecting on my ServiceNow Learning Account but it's on my Webassessor account. 😞

[Rich Platt]

Anyone else log in today and see that the banners to pay your certification fee and delta exam links was no longer displayed?