Having a plan is the difference between people who complete the Google Data Analytics Certificate and people who let it sit half-finished for months. This guide gives you a concrete, week-by-week schedule designed for working adults who can realistically commit 8–12 hours per week.
Before You Start: Set Up for Success
Before your first week, do three things: set a target completion date and work backward, set up a distraction-free study environment (even 45 focused minutes beats 3 unfocused hours), and bookmark a SQL sandbox like SQLiteOnline.com or DB Fiddle so you can practice queries independently from the course.
Weeks 1–3: Foundations and Asking Questions (Courses 1–2)
These early courses are conceptually light and set you up for the harder material ahead. Use this time to establish your study habits rather than push pace. Aim for 6–8 hours per week here.
Beyond the course: practice basic spreadsheet formulas (SUM, AVERAGE, IF, COUNTIF) in Google Sheets every day, even for 15 minutes. Muscle memory with spreadsheets will serve you throughout.
Weeks 4–6: Prepare and Clean Data (Courses 3–4)
SQL begins in Course 3. This is where most students hit their first real obstacle. Budget 10–12 hours per week for these two weeks. Write every SQL query yourself — don't copy/paste from the course. The act of typing reinforces syntax.
By the end of Week 6, you should be comfortable with SELECT, WHERE, GROUP BY, HAVING, ORDER BY, and basic JOINs.
Weeks 7–9: Analyze, Visualize, and R (Courses 5–7)
Course 5 is the SQL heavy-hitter. Course 6 introduces Tableau — download Tableau Public and build the dashboards yourself, not just watch them built. Course 7 (R) can be intimidating if you've never programmed. Focus on the basics: loading data, using tidyverse, creating ggplot2 charts. You don't need to master R for the certificate.
Week 10: Capstone and Job Prep (Course 8)
Don't rush the capstone. It's the artifact you'll use in your portfolio and job applications. Choose a case study topic you find genuinely interesting — that enthusiasm shows. Start writing your resume and updating LinkedIn in parallel this week, so both are ready the moment you complete the certificate.