Hi Walid,
I took the 19-001 Desktop Associate exam in August 2019. The main difference between that exam and 10.5 is that the 19-001 version focuses exclusively on ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online, where the 10.5 version also includes questions about ArcMap. Also, the 19-001 version is not version specific, compared to the 10.5 exam which, obviously, would be more specifically catered to ArcMap 10.5. I was told by Esri that the non-versioned exams are refreshed on an 18-24 month basis.
I chose the 19-001 version since it seemed to align more closely with industry trends, since Esri is in the process of retiring ArcMap. But there's obviously no "right" answer here.
To study, I took all of the free courses in the Esri learning plan for this exam, as well as reviewed the exam guide to see if there were any knowledge gaps I needed to brush up on (for instance, I had no prior experience working with 3D data). That, in combination with my on-the-job experience, worked well enough for me that I passed the exam. There are certainly enough resources out there that you shouldn't need to spend a lot of money to prepare for the exam, in my opinion.
Hope that helps!
Katherine
Best,
Katie
“The goal is not simply to ‘work hard, play hard.’ The goal is to make our work and our play indistinguishable.”
- Simon Sinek
