TOPICS FOR SAS BASE PROGRAMMING EXAM

TRAINING AND PREPARATION:

SAS offers specifically designed packages of instructor lead courses that are tailored to the requirements of individual certification tracks. But if these excellent training resources are beyond your budget, there are still other options. One can practically prepare for the certification exam just by reading paper published in different SAS conference. Majority of the papers given below will cover the topics tested by certification exam and might give more information than required. It’s always good to be over prepared than under prepared.

Accessing Data
Use FORMATTED, LIST and COLUMN input to read raw data files	The Power of SAS! Input Statements: Imelda C. Go
Use INFILE statement options to control processing when reading raw data files	The SAS INFILE and FILE Statements: Steven First
Use various components of an INPUT statement to process raw data files including column and line pointer controls, and trailing @ controls	The Input Statement: Where It's @ : Ronald Cody
Combine SAS data sets using the DATA step	Get it together: Combining data with SAS® MERGE, UPDATE, and SET : Mel Widawski
Creating Data Structures
Create temporary and permanent SAS data sets	A Hands-On Introduction to SAS® DATA Step Programming :Debbie Buck
Create and manipulate SAS date values	Looking for a Date? A Tutorial on Using SAS® Dates and Times: Arthur L. Carpenter
Use DATA Step statements to export data to standard and comma delimited raw data files	The Little SAS Book – Chapter 9 Exporting Your Data.
Control which observations and variables in a SAS data set are processed and output	Programming with the KEEP, RENAME, and DROP Data Set Options: Stephen Philp   WHERE vs. IF Statements: Knowing the Difference in How and When to Apply: Sunil Gupta
Managing Data
Investigate SAS data libraries using base SAS utility procedures	PROC CONTENTS and DATASETS from SAS Documentation.
Sort observations in a SAS data set	The SORT Procedure: Beyond the Basics: Britta Kelsey Bassett
Conditionally execute SAS statements	UTILIZING CONDITIONAL LOGIC TO IMPROVE EFFICIENCY: Karla E. Atwell
Use assignment statements in the DATA step	How SAS Thinks : Neil Howard
Modify variable attributes using options and statements in the DATA step	SAS®'s Various Varying Variables, or 1000+ Ways to Manipulate SAS Variables: Paul A. Choate
Accumulate sub-totals and totals using DATA step statements	The Power of the BY Statement: Paul Choate
Use SAS functions to manipulate character data, numeric data, and SAS date values	An Introduction to SAS Function-ality: Deb Cassidy
Use SAS functions to convert character data to numeric and vice versa	INPUT and PUT function from SAS Documentations.
Process data using DO LOOPS	Do Which? Loop, Until or While? A Review Of Data Step And Macro Algorithms: Ronald J. Fehd
Process data using SAS arrays	Arrays Made Easy: An Introduction to Arrays and Array Processing: Steve First and Teresa Schudrowitz,
Generating Reports
Generate list reports using the PRINT and REPORT procedures	A Gentle Introduction to the Powerful REPORT Procedure: Ben Cochran
Generate summary reports and frequency tables using base SAS procedures	Proc FREQ –What's it really good for? Theresa Gordon and Monique Eleby
Enhance reports through the use of labels, SAS formats, user-defined formats, titles, footnotes and SAS System reporting options	SAS Documentation on following topics: Label statement/ dataset option, label option in proc print, title and footnote statement and proc report options like headline, headskip etc.
Generate HTML reports using ODS statements	Creating HTML Output with Output Delivery System Kirk Paul Lafler
Handling Errors
Identify and resolve programming logic errors	Errors, Warnings, and Notes (Oh My) A Practical Guide to Debugging SAS Programs Susan J. Slaughter and Lora D. Delwiche
Recognize and correct syntax errors
Examine and resolve data errors