The certification studying is still ongoing. I'm nearly through the first book, so I will hopefully take the first tests in a week or two. I have so many irons in the fire right now that I get stuck in a paralysis and nothing gets done quickly. There are many professional reason to get the certification, but side-lining my hobbies for 6 months is difficult to do.
My Tau army is sitting at 1250 points purchased with about 800 of it built and painted. I could get to 1500 if I built all that I had and picked up three more battle suits. I could get it finished by the end of the year if I didn't have this certification thing going on. Before the starting the certification stuff my schedule was constrained to where I had to choose painting or playing. I'm not too thrilled with playing my other armies right now, so when I do have a free weekend, I don't much feel like making the drive to G2D4.
I'm going to set a goal of getting my tau to 2000 for next years Nova. Hopefully I'll have it done a lot sooner than that.