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[title]While you are learning Premiere Pro and video editing skills in general, you may want to be on the lookout for opportunities to expand on your professional training and set yourself apart from other aspiring editors. One way to do so is to pursue certification in Premiere Pro, either through a certification exam or through a certificate-granting training program. These certifications will signal to prospective employers that you have put in the necessary time and energy to reach a sufficient and desirable level of proficiency with Premiere Pro.
Recommended: Premiere Pro Certification
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Recommended: Best Premiere Pro classes in NYC
Recommended: Video editing classes near me
What are Premiere Pro certificates and certifications?
While it might not seem immediately obvious, certificates and certifications are not the same thing. While they are both ways to demonstrate your proficiency in Premiere Pro, they gauge an individual’s proficiency in very different ways. A certification is awarded to students who complete a paid, proctored practical skills exam offered by first-party developers and industry organizations. In the context of Premiere Pro, this means passing the Adobe Certified Professional Premiere Pro exam, which covers basic knowledge of the application, its uses and interface, and the best practices for leveraging the tool during an editing job.
By contrast, a certificate is awarded to students who complete an immersive professional training program or bootcamp. It is best to think of it in the vein of a diploma since it indicates to employers that you have passed a training course and certifies that you understand the kinds of skills that a certification exam would test. These courses are ideal for students who don’t have the training they would need to otherwise pass the certification exam since the aim here is to learn how to use the tools, with the certificate being an added benefit to ensure that employers know to trust the veracity of your training.
There are also a few more practical differences between certificates and certifications. Certifications are awarded by Adobe directly, so they carry significant weight, as opposed to certificates, which rely upon the recognition and notability of the certificate-granting institution. In addition, certificates (like diplomas) do not expire, whereas many certifications will only be valid for a few years before you are expected to take the most recent version of the exam again in order to demonstrate that you are still proficient in the basics of Premiere Pro, even as the application has changed.
Exam Snapshot
Adobe recommends that students have at least 150 hours of training or practical experience working with Premiere Pro before they attempt the exam. Each exam consists of 30 questions with a 50-minute time limit. Adobe’s Premiere Pro Certification exam covers five major topics, per their guide to the exam:
- Working in the Video Industry
- This objective covers critical concepts related to working with colleagues and clients as well as crucial legal, technical, and design-related knowledge.
- Project Setup and Interface
- This objective covers the interface setup and program settings that assist in an efficient and effective workflow, as well as knowledge about importing digital assets for a project.
- Organizing Video Projects
- This objective covers video project structure including layers, tracks, and assets for efficient workflow.
- Creating and Modifying Visual Elements
- This objective covers core tools and functionality of the application, as well as tools that affect the sequences within the project.
- Publishing Digital Media
- This objective covers publishing and exporting video and audio sequences in multiple formats for various publishing platforms.
Key differences between Premiere Pro certificates and certifications
- Certificate programs are a structured training method, while certifications require passing a timed and proctored exam.
- Premiere Pro certificates are granted by schools after completing their program. Certifications in Premiere Pro are awarded by Adobe.
- Certificates are meant to teach a comprehensive variety of Premiere Pro skills, while certifications test existing knowledge.
- Certification exams are an industry recognition, while certificates depend on the institution’s credibility.
Preparing for the Premiere Pro certification exam
Obviously, the first thing you need to do in preparation for a certification exam is feel confident in your training in Premiere Pro. If you don’t feel that your training is up-to-date and the kind of thing you can quickly draw upon, you will definitely want to put the exam on hold and consider enrolling in a refresher course or in a certificate-granting program to ensure that you are ready for the exam. Taking a course to learn Premiere Pro skills to learn the program from the ground up is an ideal way to gain the structure and support needed to excel on exam day.
If you do feel comfortable in your skills overall, you’ll want to consider reviewing common materials and study guides and taking a practice exam or two. Even if you understand Premiere Pro, you may not be prepared to answer the kinds of questions that are asked, since they may not be the most practically minded approaches to working with the application. You may also want to gauge how well you operate under a time constraint since the nature of the exam is such that you might only have a minute or two per question, some of which can be rather elaborate. To help students prepare for the exams, Adobe offers study guides, video lessons, practice exams and even on-demand training courses that can help ensure that you feel like you are ready to become a certified professional.
Should I pursue a certificate or a certification in Premiere Pro?
One of the most common questions you may find yourself asking is whether it is better in the long term to pursue a certificate or a certification. The answer is largely going to depend on your own existing relationship with Premiere Pro and whether or not you feel comfortable with your current level of training. If you are someone who regularly uses the program in a professional setting and you are just hoping to add a line to your resume, you will most likely want to commit to taking a certification exam since this will take significantly less time.
Certificate-granting programs, by contrast, are for students who don’t have a firm grounding in Premiere Pro and instead want to expand their professional skills with dedicated video editing training. These programs tend to be designed with beginners in mind, so they are best suited for students without a background in Premiere Pro who want to start learning the finer art of video editing. They are also significantly longer and more expensive than sitting for an exam, so they are certainly going to be ideal for novices who need lots of training rather than experienced Premiere Pro users looking to earn a certificate. That said, there are accelerated Premiere Pro certificate courses that can serve as a good way for professionals to quickly get up-to-date with their training in advance of a certification exam that needs to be renewed, and novice students who complete more advanced certificate-granting courses are sure to be ready to pass their certification exams upon completing the course.
Students who are unsure of which path to take can read through the guide to Premiere Pro classes to see what options are available. This guide lists some of the most prominent training courses in Premiere Pro and features trusted educational providers in the field. Researching and using this information to compare and contrast all of the classes is a practical way to make sure you choose the one that best aligns with your professional goals.