10th Grade — Extra Credit: ACP / GMetrix Exam Preparation

⏰ Do Now — Start Here

Which of this semester's projects do you feel MOST confident about, and which one felt hardest?

🎯 Today's Big Question

How do we review for the Adobe Certified Professional (ACP) Photoshop exam using GMetrix?

📈 By the End of Today, You Will Be Able To

Identify the 5 ACP exam domains and give one example task from each.
Complete a GMetrix practice test and identify personal areas of strength and weakness.
Create a personal review plan for any weak domains before the real exam.

🧰 What You'll Need

Computer with internet access
GMetrix account/access
Notebook for a personal review plan

📋 Your Plan for Today

Day 1: Review

Do Now (5 min): which project this year do you feel most confident about? Mini-lesson (30 min): walk through the 5 ACP domains (Working in the Design Industry; Project Setup and Interface; Organizing Documents; Creating and Modifying Visual Elements; Publishing Digital Media) and connect each to a project completed this year.
Discussion (10 min): which domain feels least familiar?

Day 2: Practice

Do Now (5 min).
Practice test (30 min): take a GMetrix practice test.
Build review plan (10 min): build a short personal review plan targeting your weakest domain(s).

🖥️ Today's Slide Deck

Short, on-the-board pacing slides — project these to follow along. (The full details are in the handout above, not here.)

Day 1

⬇️ Open / download this slide PDF

Day 2

⬇️ Open / download this slide PDF

📚 Key Words

ACP (Adobe Certified Professional): An industry-recognized certification proving proficiency in an Adobe application like Photoshop -- formerly called ACA (Adobe Certified Associate).
GMetrix: The practice-test platform used to prepare for the ACP exam.
Exam Domain: One of the major skill categories the ACP exam is organized around.

✅ What Your Finished Work Should Include

Practice test results reviewed individually with each student; review plan checked for specificity.

Exit Ticket: Name the one ACP domain you plan to review most before the real exam, and why.

📊 Before You Leave

Quick, anonymous class check-in -- takes less than a minute.

Class Check-In

📤 How You Submit This — For Credit

How you submit today's work depends on what kind of work it was. Physical/paper work (most of this semester so far): photograph it with a classroom camera, upload the photo from its SD card onto a computer, and save it into your portfolio -- that upload is your submission, and the physical piece itself is yours to keep, the same as in Grade 9 (your notebook is the one thing with a home base in the room, and even that's your call to bring home when you want it). Digital work (once you're producing files in Photoshop, second semester on): no camera needed -- instead, EXPORT the file. Export your finished project as a JPG, as a PNG, AND save a copy as a PSD (all three), then upload all three into your portfolio. Either way: the portfolio upload, with a description, is what actually counts as turning the assignment in for credit.

📁 Portfolio Update — Once a Week

Once a week, add your best finished or in-progress piece to your portfolio (the Google Drive folder you started in Grade 9, becoming your Google Sites portfolio in Lesson 10) with a 1-2 sentence caption: what it is, what tool/skill it used, and one thing you learned. Keep it current -- don't save it all for the portfolio-website lesson.

✍️ Example description for your Google Sites portfolio (fill in YOUR blanks -- don't just copy this):

For this piece, I made ______________ (name what you made) for “Extra Credit: ACP / GMetrix Exam Preparation.” This project asked: “How do we review for the Adobe Certified Professional (ACP) Photoshop exam using GMetrix?” I used ACP (Adobe Certified Professional) by ______________ (explain how you used it in THIS piece). The hardest part was ______________, and I solved it by ______________. I'm proud of ______________ because ______________.

🎓 ACP Exam Prep

This lesson connects to the Photoshop Adobe Certified Professional exam: Domain 1: Working in the Design Industry · Domain 2: Project Setup and Interface · Domain 3: Organizing Documents · Domain 4: Creating and Modifying Visual Elements · Domain 5: Publishing Digital Media

🔗 Want to Learn More?

🚀 The Extra Mile

Cross-Class Connection: The same test-prep strategy (practice tests, targeted review) any Regents review class uses.

Career Connection: The ACP certification itself is a real, resume-worthy credential referenced across nearly every career on this site.

Go further -- turn this into a portfolio piece:

Build a personal "weak spots" study guide from your practice results — real material you'll actually reuse before the real exam. Start here: pull your actual missed-question list from the practice test report and sort it by topic first, since a study guide built before you know your weak spots is just generic review.
Design a one-page infographic explaining what the ACP certification is and why it matters, for students deciding whether to pursue it. Start here: look up the certification's real issuing organization and one concrete statistic (pass rate, number of students certified) before laying out any graphics.