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Salesforce PDII - 10-Week Practice Plan

This plan assumes 1.5-2 hours of theory + 2 hours of hands-on coding per day. PDII is hands-on heavy. You will not pass by reading.

You must ship at least 3-5 non-trivial Apex / LWC / integration projects during prep.

Lab setup

Week 1 - Foundations + Data Modeling

  • Read notes/01-fundamentals.md
  • Read notes/02-data-modeling.md
  • Trailhead: "Data Modeling" + "Build a Data Model on Salesforce"
  • Lab: Build a 3-object schema (master-detail, lookup, junction). Add roll-up summary, formula, validation rule.
  • Lab: Create a junction object for a many-to-many relationship between two custom objects.
  • Lab: Mark a field as External Id and import via SFDX sf data import.

Week 2 - Apex Triggers and Handler Patterns

  • Read notes/03-process-automation-logic-integration.md (sections 1-3)
  • Trailhead: "Apex Triggers" + "Apex Trigger Patterns"
  • Lab: One-trigger-per-object dispatcher with handler class.
  • Lab: Recursion guard using static class flag, tested with a self-referencing update.
  • Lab: Bulkified handler that processes 200 inserts in a single trigger run.
  • Lab: addError() validation in before-trigger; catch in test class.

Week 3 - Async Apex deep dive

  • Read notes/03-process-automation-logic-integration.md (async sections)
  • Trailhead: "Asynchronous Apex" + "Apex Integration Services"
  • Lab: Write a @future(callout=true) and verify governor limits in debug log.
  • Lab: Queueable that chains itself for paginated processing (with !Test.isRunningTest() guard).
  • Lab: Batchable + Database.Stateful accumulating success/failure counts; email summary in finish().
  • Lab: Schedulable that launches Batch via cron '0 0 2 * * ?'.
  • Lab: Mixed DML scenario (User + Account) - reproduce the error, fix with System.runAs or async.

Week 4 - Integrations: REST/SOAP, Named Credentials, Platform Events

  • Read notes/03-process-automation-logic-integration.md (integration sections)
  • Trailhead: "Apex Integration Services" + "Platform Events Basics"
  • Lab: Build an Apex REST endpoint (@RestResource) supporting GET / POST / PATCH.
  • Lab: Configure a Named Credential (use httpbin.org or similar test endpoint) and call from a Queueable with Database.AllowsCallouts.
  • Lab: Define a Platform Event Order_Placed__e. Publish from Apex, subscribe via trigger.
  • Lab: Subscribe to a Platform Event from LWC using lightning/empApi.
  • Lab: Enable Change Data Capture on Account; subscribe via trigger on AccountChangeEvent.
  • Lab: Generate Apex stubs from a sample WSDL with sf force apex generate webservice.

Week 5 - Lightning Web Components advanced

  • Read notes/04-user-interface.md
  • Trailhead: "Lightning Web Components Specialist" + "Build a Conference Management App"
  • Lab: Parent + child LWC; child fires custom event with bubbles: true, composed: true.
  • Lab: LWC with @wire to @AuraEnabled(cacheable=true); verify reactivity with $propName syntax.
  • Lab: LWC using LDS (getRecord, updateRecord) for record CRUD without Apex.
  • Lab: Three sibling LWCs communicating via Lightning Message Service custom channel.
  • Lab: LWC Toast notification on success / error.
  • Lab: Imperative Apex call with try/catch and error display in template.

Week 6 - Visualforce and Aura (legacy coverage)

  • Read notes/04-user-interface.md (legacy sections)
  • Trailhead: "Visualforce Mobile" + "Aura Components Basics"
  • Lab: Visualforce page with custom controller and actionFunction.
  • Lab: Aura component embedding an LWC child.
  • Lab: LWC embedded inside an Aura wrapper to expose to a Visualforce-only context.

Week 7 - Testing: Stub API, mocks, dependency injection

  • Read notes/05-testing-debugging-deployment.md (testing sections)
  • Trailhead: "Apex Testing" + "Apex Mocks Framework" reference
  • Lab: Refactor a service to take an interface dependency; mock the dependency in a test.
  • Lab: Use Test.createStub + StubProvider to mock a concrete class without an interface.
  • Lab: HttpCalloutMock test for an integration class.
  • Lab: MultiStaticResourceCalloutMock for a multi-step integration.
  • Lab: Test data factory class. Refactor 3+ test classes to use it.
  • Lab: Bulk test (200 records) verifying no governor limit hits.
  • Lab: Negative-path test asserting exception message.

Week 8 - Debugging, performance, governor limits

  • Read notes/06-performance.md
  • Read notes/05-testing-debugging-deployment.md (debug + deploy sections)
  • Trailhead: "Performance Profiling for Apex" + "Apex Performance Best Practices"
  • Lab: Use Developer Console -> Query Plan to optimize a non-selective SOQL.
  • Lab: Add Limits.getQueries() / Limits.getCpuTime() checkpoints in a long-running flow.
  • Lab: Reproduce a CPU timeout; refactor to bulk pattern.
  • Lab: Reproduce a heap-size error; stream via Iterable instead of loading all rows.
  • Lab: Identify a non-selective filter; add a custom index (note: in real org needs Salesforce support).

Week 9 - Deployment, packaging, SFDX

  • Read notes/05-testing-debugging-deployment.md (deployment sections)
  • Trailhead: "Application Lifecycle Management" + "Unlocked Packages for Customers"
  • Lab: Convert your codebase into a 2GP unlocked package (sf package create, sf package version create).
  • Lab: Install the package in a fresh scratch org; verify metadata deployed.
  • Lab: Set up CI: GitHub Actions workflow running sf project deploy validate on PR.
  • Lab: Validate-only deploy with --check-only --tests-to-run RunLocalTests.
  • Lab: Change Set (UI) - upload from one sandbox, deploy to another. Compare to SFDX experience.

Week 10 - Practice exams + Weak areas

  • Re-read fact-sheet.md twice
  • scenarios.md - work through all 15
  • Practice exams: Focus On Force PDII (~3 attempts), Salesforce Ben PDII set, Trailhead practice
  • Score 80%+ on practice exams two days in a row
  • Re-read weak-domain notes
  • Review strategy.md the day before the exam

Stop signals (you are ready when)

  • You can write a bulkified, recursion-guarded trigger handler from memory
  • You can write a Queueable with chaining and callouts from memory
  • You can write a Batchable with Database.Stateful from memory
  • You can write a @RestResource endpoint and a Named Credential callout from memory
  • You can build an LWC with @wire, @api, custom events, and LDS from memory
  • You can write Apex tests using Stub API, HttpCalloutMock, and a test data factory
  • You can identify a non-selective SOQL query and explain how to fix it
  • You can name the limit and units for: SOQL queries, DML rows, CPU time, heap, callout count
  • You score 80%+ on Focus On Force PDII practice exams two attempts in a row

Anti-patterns to internalize before exam day

  • SOQL inside a for loop -> always wrong answer
  • DML inside a for loop -> always wrong answer
  • @future chained from another @future -> not allowed
  • Passing sObjects to @future -> not allowed; use Queueable
  • seeAllData=true for new code -> avoid
  • Hardcoded endpoint URL or token -> use Named Credential
  • Mixing setup + non-setup DML in one transaction -> use runAs or async
  • Trigger.new accessed in before delete -> it's Trigger.old for delete operations
  • cacheable=true on a method that does DML -> compile/runtime error
  • Visualforce / Aura for new builds -> use LWC

Daily routine while studying

  1. Morning (45 min): Re-read prior day's notes, work through 2 fact-sheet sections
  2. Mid-day (90 min): Hands-on lab from current week
  3. Evening (30 min): 10 practice questions, log weak areas

The PDII exam rewards muscle memory. Keep your dev org open. Type, don't read.