How to Pass the New FREE Neo4j Graph Data Science Certification Exam
All about the free Neo4j Graph Data Science certification exam. Pass it in just 2 or 3 days, with no labs or courses. This will not make you an expert, but if you don’t have time enough to walk through the excellent material prepared and recommended by Neo4j, this is how to do it. Use my new practice tests on Udemy, or my Kindle e-book (a paperback edition is also available on Amazon).
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The New Neo4j Graph Data Science Certification
The Graph Academy branch of Neo4j announced in March 2021 a new professional certification, for developers and data scientists: the Neo4j Graph Data Science Certification. The free online certification exam will test your knowledge on the Graph Data Science (GDS) and most of the graph algorithms implemented by Neo4j in this proprietary library.
Graph Academy recommends some excellent free online training courses, or its online documentation. If you do not have time enough to go through everything, I’d recommend at least the following three resources:
- Introduction to Graph Algorithms in Neo4j 4.x – interesting free course (could just read it, without the labs or videos).
- Neo4j Graph Data Science Documentation – online documentation (a must!).
- Neo4j Graph Data Science Developer Pages – with additional, but somehow redundant information.
Is this just for Data Scientists?
No. I am a Software Engineer myself, and this certification helped me acquire new skills and knowledge in a very dynamic area, even if maybe I’ll never get a full time job to do what a data scientist does. But, combined with the modern skills and knowledge about AI (and machine learning in particular), the advanced graph algorithms implemented by Neo4j just enlarge your horizons.
You’ll never go too deep into the internal implementations, as everything is nicely encapsulated in easy Cypher procedures. You focus only on what they do.
And just so you know, the exam will test you on only a dozen of the 50+ algorithms from GDSL. Want to know which? Continue reading and look at my practice tests below.
The Neo4j Graph Data Science Certification Exam
The online exam is free and not proctored. You can try it as many times as you like, there is no restriction. But you will have to wait 24 hours since the last time you tried it (from the same email address).
The exam has a total of 40 questions, that you have to complete in less than 60 minutes. The passing score is 80%.
The time limit is not a problem, as you’re expected to complete the exam much faster. And the passing score is also low enough, once you used some high-quality preparation material, like my own practice tests below.
The problem is your score appears on the certificate they issue when you pass, and you may want this to be as high as possible:
Most questions are single or multi-choice, and a few just True/False variants. Some multi-choice questions could be the most challenging, because they are in the style “check all that apply” and it is easy to miss one or two valid answers. However, you’ll still get valid points even if you do not select all correct choices or if you miss a few.
There are three categories or domains, and they appear in clear below the question’s title: library (around 20% of the questions), workflow (around 35%), and algorithm (the rest of 45%). You’ll be asked all questions from Library first, followed by Workflow, and ending up with those from Algorithm. It’s not entirely clear which questions go into Library and which into Workflow, as they both concern the GDS library itself. But once you reach the middle of the exam, you’ll clearly notice when the questions about the graph algorithms start.
Once you finish the exam, you get a list with the incomplete questions and wrong single-choice answers. Be aware they still don’t show you the questions you got right, and do not tell you the correct answers, unless they are part of an incomplete multi-choice question.
What is NOT Required for this Exam
As the exam itself tests you for way less knowledge that you will find in the Neo4j recommended material, I left on purpose several areas out of my practice tests below:
- There are no exam questions on Machine Learning – so Using a Machine Learning Workflow for Link Prediction recommended course is not actually required for this exam.
- There are no exam questions on Natural Language Processing (NLP) – so you may skip those chapters from the recommended Developer Pages.
- No web application integrations with the GDS algorithms – so the Applied Data Science for Web Applications recommended course is not actually required for this exam.
- No questions on specific Neo4j graph tools, on installing the GDS library, on the migration from Graph Library to GDS – so you can focus only on the functionality and the algorithms.
- No deep Cypher knowledge required. There will be however a few basic Cypher queries, with MATCH-RETURN and CALL-YIELD pairs you need to know about.
- Except for random graphs, nothing on the other Auxiliary Procedures, on graph export or Pregel.
- Almost nothing on Link Prediction and Node Embeddings algorithms. However, many questions on the other types of implemented algorithms, so be prepared.
I insist that passing just the exam, in no time, will not make you an expert in this domain (far from it). Truth is you can learn for and pass the exam without even trying one single time to run one of these algorithms, or even a Cypher query.
Continue to improve, in time, with the excellent online courses, hands-on labs and documentation provided by Neo4j.
My New Neo4j Graph Data Science Certified: Practice Tests
My brand new Neo4j Graph Data Science Certified: Practice Exams on Udemy has 80 similar exam questions with explained answers, to help you get the free Neo4j Graph Data Science Certification. They are split up in two interactive practice tests with 40 questions each, timed for maximum 60 minutes and with a 80% passing score, just like the real exams!
Example of an incorrect answer to a single-choice question, with Explanation section and References, from my interactive Udemy quizzes (you get a total of 80 questions like this):
Get them at the lowest possible price for a limited time!
Remember these are not identical questions to those from the exam, as this is not a brain dump (anyone recommends against brain dumps!). However, they are very similar, and by practice you quickly learn the concepts behind. Practice until you score 90% or more, and you will get a high score at the real exam as well.
As an alternative, get my new published Kindle or paperback book Neo4j Graph Data Science Certified: Exam Practice Tests. It has the exact same content: 80 questions, with detailed answers and external references, split between two high-quality practice tests with 40 questions each.
This is how you can read it on Kindle, on iPad:
Conclusions
The new Neo4j Graph Data Science Certification is a great professional certification, for Data Scientists or Software Engineers, with a free online exam.
To become an expert in this wonderful domain, use hours and hours of labs and courses from the excellent material prepared by Neo4j on their site. If your goal is to quickly pass the certification exam first (and improve later, in time), try as alternative my practice tests, on Udemy or as Kindle/paperback books.
For best results on learning Cypher and Neo4j, and passing other Neo4j free certification exams, try any of my other high-quality practice tests for Neo4j on Udemy:
- Neo4j 4.0 Certification: Practice Exams – 5 x 30 Similar Exam Questions with Explained Answers, to Help You Get the FREE Neo4j 4.0 Certification
- Neo4j Certified Professional: Practice Exams – 2 x 80 Similar Exam Questions with Explained Answers, to Help You Get a FREE Neo4j Professional Certification
- Neo4j Cypher Expert: Cypher Puzzles with Answers – 3 x 10 Questions, to Improve your Cypher skills for the Neo4j Certified Professional exam
