[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":130},["ShallowReactive",2],{"lesson-/academy/sdr/sdr-certification-assessment":3},{"path":4,"data":5,"html":67,"toc":68,"prev":81,"next":17,"track":87},"/academy/sdr/sdr-certification-assessment",{"title":6,"description":7,"primaryQuery":8,"module":9,"order":10,"publishedAt":11,"author":12,"reviewedAt":13,"asset":14,"relatedTool":17,"practiceCall":18,"challenge":17},"The SDR/BDR Certification Assessment (CSDR): How It Works and How to Pass","The CSDR is earned on one scored live call, not a quiz. This is the assessment page: what it tests, how it's scored on the five rubric dimensions, the 3.0+ pass bar, and what passing earns you.","sdr certification assessment",9,8,"2026-09-10","closers","2026-09-24",{"type":15,"title":16},"scorecard","The CSDR assessment scorecard: five dimensions, 0–4 each, pass at 3.0+ (Distinction 3.9+)",null,{"persona":19,"industry":20,"objection":21,"difficulty":22,"goal":23,"deal":24,"voice":66,"assessment":66},"skeptical_ops_director","saas","we-have-a-vendor","standard","Run a full prospect call out loud, end to end — earn permission, run real discovery, handle “we already have a vendor,” and land one specific next step.",{"company":25,"product":26,"valueProp":27,"buyer":28,"benefits":29,"downsides":33,"pricing":37,"competitors":38,"proof":39,"features":40,"situation":45,"blockers":46,"battlecards":50},"Clarity","an AI meeting-notes tool that turns every call into CRM-ready notes","reps stop typing and no next step falls through the cracks","the ops or sales leader who owns the team's tooling",[30,31,32],"~5 hours per rep per week back from notes","every call logged in the CRM with next steps","new reps ramp faster off transcripts",[34,35,36],"needs CRM access to be useful","accuracy dips on heavy accents and bad audio","not worth it under ~5 reps","about $40 per seat per month","Gong and Fireflies","a 60-rep team cut CRM-update time 70% in a quarter",[41,42,43,44],"auto-joins Zoom / Meet / Teams and records the call","writes a structured summary and next steps after every call","one-click push of notes into Salesforce or HubSpot","a searchable transcript library for the whole team","You are VP of Operations at a 250-person company. About 40 people sit in revenue — 12 AEs and 28 SDRs across two regions. HubSpot is the CRM, Gong does conversation intelligence, and the Gong renewal is up in March with finance already questioning it. Notes only reach the CRM when a rep types them, and mostly they do not. Half the team sells to contractors and trucking companies, so a lot of calls happen on a cell phone in a noisy cab or job site.",[47,48,49],"The CRO owns this budget — you can recommend it, you cannot sign it","Anything new needs a security review, SOC 2 report and a DPA, and that queue is three weeks","Gong already pays for call recording, so new spend has to replace something, not stack",[51,56,61],{"competitor":52,"weWin":53,"theyWin":54,"whenItMatters":55},"Gong","a fraction of the price for the job you actually have — notes and next steps landing in HubSpot without an admin project","it already owns the analytics and forecast layer your CRO reviews, your AEs are trained on it, and it is paid for until March, so you would be paying twice for call capture","if the problem is forecast accuracy or deal inspection, Gong wins and the honest answer is that you do not need a second tool; if the problem is notes and next steps never reaching the CRM, that is the gap",{"competitor":57,"weWin":58,"theyWin":59,"whenItMatters":60},"manual notes / a human notetaker","always on, every call, searchable — nothing depends on a rep remembering","free, and a human notetaker catches tone and what was not said","it stops mattering at forty reps and hundreds of calls a month; it matters across six high-stakes executive conversations a quarter",{"competitor":62,"weWin":63,"theyWin":64,"whenItMatters":65},"Fireflies","cleaner summaries and a native CRM push that does not need a Zapier plumber","cheaper per seat, and it is already in every AE's calendar from a free trial, so nobody has to approve a purchase","this is the live one — a lot of your calls are a cell phone in a loud cab, so ask what the transcript looks like on your worst recording, not the demo one; if a searchable transcript is all you need, Fireflies is cheaper",true,"\u003Cp>The SDR/BDR certification (\u003Cstrong>CSDR\u003C/strong>) is earned on one scored live call, not a multiple-choice test. This page is that assessment: you hold a single prospect call \u003Cstrong>out loud\u003C/strong> with an AI buyer and it is graded on the same five dimensions as every practice call — opening, discovery, objection handling, composure, and the clear ask. Score \u003Cstrong>3.0 or higher\u003C/strong> and you can issue your certificate — a public page a hiring manager can open, with your name, the band and a verifiable serial.\u003C/p>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"what-the-assessment-is\">What the assessment is\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>It is the graded act of the course, and it is deliberately one call, end to end. The lessons are how you get ready; the assessment is the spoken version of the same skill — because talking to another person is the job, and a written answer never proves you can do it under pressure.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>You are given a \u003Cstrong>deal card\u003C/strong> — what you're selling, to whom, its real benefits and honest limitations, \u003Cstrong>the world the buyer is bringing into the call\u003C/strong> (their team, their stack, their contract dates), and \u003Cstrong>why a deal like this stalls\u003C/strong> (who signs, what review it needs). It stays \u003Cstrong>open in the call panel\u003C/strong> while you talk, exactly like your own notes on a live call. There is one copy of it, in the room — not a second block above the call to scroll back to.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>The card is not the exam. Reading it aloud is not an answer, and the buyer will tell you so: the questions are about \u003Cem>consequences\u003C/em> — "with twelve AEs and a Gong renewal in March, what actually changes for us?", "who does the admin work on day one?", "what does this cost against what we already pay?" Your job is to take a fact off the card and make it mean something for that specific company.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>Some questions will not be answerable from the card at all. That is deliberate, not a trap: an honest "that's not in front of me — I'll confirm by Thursday" is a \u003Cem>good\u003C/em> answer and the buyer accepts it. Inventing a confident number is the failure.\u003C/p>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"before-the-exam-unlocks\">Before the exam unlocks\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>The assessment unlocks once you have \u003Cstrong>three passing practice calls\u003C/strong> (3.0+) on the site — free practice, in the \u003Ca href=\"/app/voice\">live-call gym\u003C/a> or the written gym. This is not a toll booth and the pass bar does not move: it means that when you sit the exam you have \u003Cem>already\u003C/em> handled a real objection end to end and been scored on it, so the exam confirms a skill you've demonstrated rather than gambling on one call. The page tracks your count.\u003C/p>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"how-it-s-scored\">How it's scored\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>The same five-dimension rubric used everywhere on the site, 0–4 each:\u003C/p>\n\u003Cul>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>opening\u003C/strong> — permission, a clear reason to stay\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>discovery\u003C/strong> — questions before pitching; real need surfaced\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>objection handling\u003C/strong> — acknowledge, isolate, answer, move forward\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>composure\u003C/strong> — calm and articulate under pushback\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>clear ask\u003C/strong> — one specific, unambiguous next step\u003C/li>\n\u003C/ul>\n\u003Cp>The \u003Cstrong>overall\u003C/strong> is what counts. \u003Cstrong>3.0+ passes\u003C/strong> (a \u003Cstrong>Distinction\u003C/strong> at 3.9+). Nothing else gates it: no lesson checklist, no multiple-choice section. The result is returned as a band, and a passing call can be issued as your certificate — your name, the band, and a public verify page a hiring manager can open and you can add to LinkedIn.\u003C/p>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"how-to-pass-it\">How to pass it\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>Run the call the way the course taught it: qualify before you pitch, give the buyer a reason to stay, handle the objection without arguing, and finish with a single low-friction ask. The buyer is \u003Cstrong>winnable\u003C/strong> — handle them well and the call moves to a real next step; argue or pitch without listening and it stalls.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>Two things that decide more calls than anything else: \u003Cstrong>finish with one clear ask\u003C/strong> rather than trailing off, and if the buyer asks something you cannot answer, do not invent one — \u003Ca href=\"/academy/sdr/what-to-say-when-you-dont-know-the-answer-in-sales/\">scope it honestly and commit to a follow-up\u003C/a>. When you're ready, start the assessment below and hold the call out loud.\u003C/p>\n",[69,72,75,78],{"id":70,"text":71},"what-the-assessment-is","What the assessment is",{"id":73,"text":74},"before-the-exam-unlocks","Before the exam unlocks",{"id":76,"text":77},"how-it-s-scored","How it's scored",{"id":79,"text":80},"how-to-pass-it","How to pass it",{"path":82,"title":83,"description":84,"module":9,"order":85,"kind":86,"practiceCall":17,"core":66},"/academy/sdr/how-to-negotiate-your-first-sales-offer","How to Negotiate Your First Sales Offer: 5 Levers + a Script","Negotiating your first sales offer is expected and low-risk when done well — it is a direct test of the sales skills you're being hired for. Because you have little experience, your leverage is in the terms, not a salary duel: the base, the variable structure and what attainment is realistic, the ramp guarantee, and what training you get. This page gives you the 5 levers, when to negotiate, and the script for a calm, researched ask.",7,"order",{"slug":88,"title":89,"shortTitle":90,"crumb":91,"path":92,"positioning":93,"totalLessons":94,"modules":95},"sdr","Certified Sales Development Representative (CSDR)","SDR/BDR Certification","SDR Certification","/academy/sdr","The free certification for getting your first sales job — no degree, no experience, no upsell.",58,[96,101,106,109,114,118,121,124,127],{"id":97,"name":98,"lessonCount":99,"description":100},1,"The Role",6,"What an SDR actually does, whether it’s for you, and the sales career path it opens — 6 core lessons.",{"id":102,"name":103,"lessonCount":104,"description":105},2,"Getting In With No Experience",3,"Land your first sales job with no experience or degree — a 30-day plan — 3 core lessons.",{"id":104,"name":107,"lessonCount":10,"description":108},"Prospecting and Research","Find the right accounts and contacts to reach — 8 lessons.",{"id":110,"name":111,"lessonCount":112,"description":113},4,"Cold Calling",11,"Make cold calls without freezing up — 11 core lessons.",{"id":115,"name":116,"lessonCount":10,"description":117},5,"Cold Email and LinkedIn","Write cold emails and LinkedIn messages that get replies — 8 core lessons.",{"id":99,"name":119,"lessonCount":115,"description":120},"Conversations: Discovery and Qualification","Run discovery calls and qualify real buyers — 5 core lessons.",{"id":85,"name":122,"lessonCount":104,"description":123},"The Tool Stack","The tools that run an SDR’s daily workflow — 3 core lessons.",{"id":10,"name":125,"lessonCount":99,"description":126},"Money: Comp, Commission and Quota","SDR salary, OTE, commission and quotas — 6 lessons.",{"id":9,"name":128,"lessonCount":10,"description":129},"Getting Hired","Resume, interview answers, offer negotiation, and the certification assessment — 8 lessons.",1792888520084]