Salesforce Admin Mock Exam: Key Concepts by Domain

The Right Audit Tool: Setup Audit Trail tracks configuration changes by admins for the past 180 days (who, what, when). Field History Tracking covers record field values, Debug Logs cover code and flow execution: the exam loves making you pick between the three.

Security Health Check: Scores your org's session settings, password policies, and network controls against the Salesforce baseline and flags at-risk settings, the go-to answer for 'identify and fix session vulnerabilities'.

Login Controls: Profile-level Login IP Ranges block access from outside the network entirely; org-wide Trusted IP Ranges only skip identity verification. Login Hours and failed-attempt lockouts explain most 'user cannot log in' scenarios.

Freeze vs. Deactivate: Freezing instantly blocks login without touching the account, buying time to clean up references (hierarchy fields like Manager, default owners) before deactivating. Deleting users is impossible in Salesforce.

Licenses & Access: A new user cannot be created without an available license, and new users cannot log in before verifying their email. Check both before debugging anything else.

Profiles vs. Permission Sets: One profile per user sets the baseline; permission sets and permission set groups grant additive rights, like Read/Create/Edit without Delete for an analytics user, without cloning profiles.

OWD Is the Floor: With Private organization-wide defaults, access only opens back up through the role hierarchy, sharing rules, teams, and manual sharing. Know what a private Opportunity model implies for managers and opportunity teams.

Situational Settings: Business hours drive time-based support processes per timezone; the Data Protection and Privacy setting surfaces the consent-tracking pages; My Domain is a prerequisite for building Lightning apps.

Record Types Drive Picklists: Different picklist values per opportunity or case type means Record Types, paired with distinct sales/support processes. Picklist Value Sets are for reusing values across objects, never for per-type filtering.

Field Changes Have Consequences: Changing a field's type (text to number, multi-select conversions) can silently lose data; deleting a custom field takes its data with it (recoverable for a short window); restricted picklists reject imports with unknown values.

Universally Required Fields: Enforced when saving through the standard UI, but not on every API or Web-to-Lead/Web-to-Case path, and independent from page layouts. A classic two-answer question.

Master-Detail vs. Lookup: Master-detail ties the child's sharing and lifecycle to its parent and unlocks roll-up summary fields; lookups keep records independent. 'Designs must not be deletable' or 'needs roll-ups' both point to master-detail.

Junction Objects: A custom object with two master-detail relationships models many-to-many, the pattern behind every 'a product can belong to many X and vice versa' scenario.

Relationship Conversions: Converting lookup to master-detail requires every child record to have a parent value; converting the other way drops roll-up summary fields first.

Component Visibility Filters: Show or hide any component based on record data without code: the answer to 'alert reps when the customer is VIP' and most conditional-UI scenarios.

Page Structure: Tabs and accordions split details, related lists, and Chatter into separate panes; record pages can be assigned by app, record type, and profile so each role sees what matters.

Dynamic Forms & Filtered Lists: Dynamic Forms places individual fields (with visibility rules) on the page; dynamic related lists filter what appears, like showing only open cases.

Import Wizard vs. Data Loader: The wizard covers standard objects with built-in dedup up to 50,000 records; Data Loader handles custom objects, larger volumes, exports, and scheduled API-based loads. New API-sourced bulk loads mean Data Loader.

Undoing Mistakes: Mass Delete Records and the Undo Import tool are the two ways to recover from a bad import; know which applies where.

Bucket Columns: Categorize numeric, picklist, or text values directly in the report (Small/Medium/Large by contract value) without creating a formula field.

Dynamic Dashboards: Run as the viewing user so each person sees only their own data. A dashboard 'showing incorrect data' almost always has a fixed running user; also know refresh limits and filter behavior on drill-down.

Folders & Distribution: Nested report folders with Viewer/Editor/Manager access control who sees what; subscriptions and scheduled exports handle recurring delivery, like 'Closed Won opportunities from the last 90 days'.

Validation Rules for Conditional Requirements: Make a field required only at a given stage and only for certain profiles (Amount required at Negotiation for reps, not managers). Validation rules block saves; they never assign owners or send emails.

Flow Types: Record-triggered flows fire on create/update; scheduled flows run recurring batch logic (count open cases per account every Friday); screen flows guide users through steps (expense submission); autolaunched flows run from buttons or Apex.

Approval Processes: Entry criteria and multiple steps handle threshold logic like discounts above 10% going to a manager and above 25% to a VP. Make responding easy via email approval, the Approval Requests list, and in-app notifications.

Get Records & Collections: In Flow Builder, Get Records finds records matching criteria and stores them (with all fields) in a collection variable for later loops or updates.

Flow Errors & Versions: Custom fault paths turn cryptic flow errors into helpful user messages; a flow built in a newer release may open in the newer runtime with behavior notes. Failed record-triggered flows surface in Paused and Failed Flow Interviews.

Paths & Guidance: Path on cases or opportunities enforces stage discipline with key fields and guidance for success, often the declarative answer before reaching for a flow.

Lead Assignment Rules: Route new leads to the right rep by criteria like address, at creation. Escalation rules are for cases, validation rules block saves, formula fields display values: none of them change owners.

Web-to-Lead Pipeline: Web-to-Lead captures forms, auto-response rules send the personalized follow-up email, and custom lead fields need Map Custom Lead Fields to survive conversion.

Conversion & Campaign History: Converting a lead from the campaign member detail page creates the account, contact, and opportunity while preserving campaign member history.

Campaign Influence: Links campaigns to the opportunities they helped win with attribution models, the ROI answer. Campaign Hierarchy only organizes campaigns in parent/child structures.

Opportunity Contact Roles: Track key stakeholders (decision maker, sponsor) on the opportunity and report on them; add the related list to the opportunity page layout.

Rep Productivity: Split view list views, inline editing, and Path with key fields answer most 'help reps see and edit opportunities faster' scenarios.

The Three Rule Types: Assignment rules fire once at creation, escalation rules act on time thresholds (reassign a case open more than 7 days), auto-response rules send immediate acknowledgements. Mixing these up is the exam's favorite trap.

Queues & Tiering: Queues hold unassigned cases for teams; combine with assignment rules to route by customer tier (Silver/Gold/Platinum) or transfer unclaimed VIP cases to specialists.

Omni-Channel: Skills-based routing and capacity settings assign work to the right available agent, the answer to 'easier way to manage agent capacity and skills'.

Support Processes per Record Type: Each case record type gets its own support process, so agents see only the 5 statuses relevant to their case type instead of all 10.

Customer-Created Cases: Web-to-Case on the public site and Experience Cloud self-service portals let customers submit warranty requests and check status themselves.

Agent Shortcuts: Macros and Quick Text automate repetitive responses; Einstein Case Classification and reply recommendations speed up first response.

Safe Evaluation: Test an app by installing it in a sandbox and checking edition compatibility first; Test Drive runs in the vendor's demo org, not yours, and a Trailhead Playground is not your data.

What You Can Get: Beyond apps: certified consultants, Lightning components, and prebuilt Bolt solutions like a mortgage-calculator lead generator.

Quick Actions: Object-specific actions (create a Case from an Account) live on the object and its page layouts; global actions live in the publisher everywhere. Mobile visibility depends on the action's placement.

Mobile Navigation: Know which elements appear in the Salesforce mobile navigation menu and which Lightning app elements are mobile-only.

Chatter Groups: Private and unlisted groups scope feedback to a single team (product managers sharing ideas); broadcast-only groups keep announcements one-way.