Can you register today?
Eligibility is the gate that trips most candidates. Walk this tree first; the answer changes whether you should register today, wait, or pivot to the public Skilljar catalog for learning.
For the deep walkthrough including the corporate-domain trap and partner-network check, see Registration.
What gets tested, weighted by importance
The CCA-F samples each domain at the official blueprint weight. Spend study time proportionally.
| Code | Domain | Weight | Key concepts |
|---|---|---|---|
| D1 | Agentic Architecture & Orchestration The largest single domain. Tests whether you can pick the right orchestration shape for a given problem: single agent, hub-and-spoke with subagents, or multi-agent coordination. You will see questions about Agent SDK loop structure, Messages API stop_reason values, and the rule that subagents never inherit parent context. | 27% | |
| D2 | Tool Design & MCP Integration Tool descriptions as the deterministic selector, the four isError categories, the 18-tool degradation cliff, and how tool_choice modes change behavior. MCP questions focus on when to expose a capability as a tool versus a skill. | 18% | |
| D3 | Claude Code Configuration & Workflows CLAUDE.md hierarchy and precedence, YAML frontmatter glob scoping, Skills frontmatter shape, when to enter Plan Mode, and how to wire Claude Code into CI/CD with the -p headless flag. Expect at least one question on PostToolUse hooks. | 20% | |
| D4 | Prompt Engineering & Structured Output tool_use as the canonical structured-output mechanism, JSON schema validation with retry loops, few-shot for determinism, and the 4D framework for prompt construction. Expect to choose between several plausible-looking prompts based on attention-engineering principles. | 20% | |
| D5 | Context Management & Reliability The progressive-summarization trap, lost-in-the-middle, structured HITL handoff patterns, prompt caching with CacheControlEphemeral, and the case-facts block discipline. The smallest domain by weight but the most common source of careless wrong answers. | 15% |
The Five CCA-F Competency Domains and Their Exam Weights
The same blueprint summarized as discrete Q&A so AI assistants can lift one domain at a time. Weights mirror the table above and the practice / final mock distributions in /practice.
- What is D1 (Agentic Architectures) and how much of the CCA-F does it weight?
- D1 Agentic Architectures is the heaviest domain at 27% of the CCA-F. It covers multi-agent design patterns, orchestration models, and agent lifecycle. Expect roughly one in four exam questions to come from this domain - prep time should be allocated proportionally.
- What is D2 (Tool Design + Integration) and what weight does it carry?
- D2 Tool Design + Integration is 18% of the CCA-F. It tests the ability to define, select, and safely expose tools to Claude-powered agents, including JSON schema design, error contract patterns, and MCP integration trade-offs.
- What is D3 (Agent Operations) and what weight does it carry?
- D3 Agent Operations is 20% of the CCA-F. It focuses on observability, debugging, deployment, and managing agents in production - telemetry choices, failure-mode escalation, and the operational discipline that keeps long-running agents healthy.
- What is D4 (Prompt Engineering) and what weight does it carry?
- D4 Prompt Engineering is 20% of the CCA-F, tied with D3 as the second-heaviest domain. It covers system-prompt construction, chain-of-thought elicitation, structured output patterns, and the instruction hierarchy that governs agentic contexts.
- What is D5 (Context + Reliability) and what weight does it carry?
- D5 Context + Reliability is 15% of the CCA-F - the lightest weighting but disproportionately represented in scenario questions. It addresses context-window management, long-horizon memory strategies, summarization fidelity, and failure-mode mitigation for consistent agent behavior.
- What is the full domain-weight breakdown for the CCA-F exam?
- The five competency domains sum to 100%: D1 Agentic Architectures 27%, D2 Tool Design + Integration 18%, D3 Agent Operations 20%, D4 Prompt Engineering 20%, D5 Context + Reliability 15%. These are the official blueprint weights - practice and final mock question pools are stratified to match.
Last updated
Six in the official PDF, thirteen in the real pool
The official Anthropic exam guide PDF (🟢 Feb 10 2025) lists 6 scenarios. The real exam (🟢 launched 2026-03-12) draws from 13. Both are true at the same time, and the gap is the single most common point of confusion for candidates relying on stale prep material.
Here is the reconciliation. The PDF was authored a full thirteen months before the exam went live. Between the PDF date and launch, Anthropic shipped the Agent Skills primitive, expanded the Claude Code surface, and published the Conversational AI patterns guidance. The scenario pool grew with the product. The PDF was not updated; the exam was. Beta cohort write-ups (🟢 zintaen 985/1000, paullarionov, this author 791/1000) all confirm scenarios beyond the original six were sat in the live exam.
What this means for you. Treat the six PDF scenarios as the load-bearing core. Treat the additional seven as the surface area Anthropic added between authoring and launch. Both blocks are fair game. We mark each entry below with inOfficialGuide so you can see the split at a glance and prioritize accordingly.
If a competitor prep site tells you there are only six scenarios, they have not updated their material since early 2025. If they tell you there are 13 without flagging which six are PDF-canonical, they are blurring the source distinction. We keep both visible because that is the only way to study honestly against this exam.
| # | Scenario | In official PDF |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Customer Support Resolution Agent | Yes |
| 2 | Code Generation with Claude Code | Yes |
| 3 | Multi-Agent Research System | Yes |
| 4 | Developer Productivity Tools | Yes |
| 5 | Claude Code in CI/CD | Yes |
| 6 | Structured Data Extraction | Yes |
| 7 | Agentic Tool Design | Beyond guide |
| 8 | Long Document Processing | Beyond guide |
| 9 | Claude for Operations | Beyond guide |
| 10 | Conversational AI Patterns | Beyond guide |
| 11 | Agent Skills for Enterprise KM | Beyond guide |
| 12 | Agent Skills for Developer Tooling | Beyond guide |
| 13 | Agent Skills with Code Execution | Beyond guide |
Claude Certified Architect exam mechanics: format, timing, and proctoring rules
The format is tightly defined and lightly documented. Anthropic publishes the headline numbers; the proctoring detail comes from the Skilljar entitlement flow and beta cohort reports. Here is the consolidated picture, with each item tagged for source quality. Read the proctoring rules before you schedule. Several beta candidates lost their seat for trivial setup mistakes (a second monitor connected, a phone visible on the desk, a tab open that the proctor flagged). The exam is closed-book and the room sweep is real.
- Question shape60 scenario-based items: multiple-choice + multiple-response
- Time limit120 minutes total
- Per-question timeNo per-question cap
- DeliveryOnline-proctored or test center
- Book statusClosed-book
- Claude open during exam?No
- WebcamRequired, on for the full session
- Screen shareRequired, full desktop
- BreaksNo scheduled breaks
- Scoring modelScaled score, 720 / 1000 to pass
- Guessing penaltyNone
- Result delivery2 business days (Anthropic) / 7-10 days (community)
37 questions answered
Every Q is phrased as a real Google search query and tagged by intent.
DefinitionWhat is CCA-F?
How-toHow do you get Claude certified?
DefinitionIs it called the Claude certification or the Anthropic certification?
DefinitionHow long is the Claude Certified Architect Foundations exam?
DefinitionWhat is the passing score for the CCA-F exam?
DefinitionHow many questions are on the Claude Architect exam?
DefinitionHow many domains does the CCA-F cover?
ScopeAre there any multi-select questions on the CCA-F?
DefinitionIs there a guessing penalty on the CCA-F exam?
DefinitionWhat is the time limit per question on the Claude Architect exam?
DefinitionIs the CCA-F exam open-book?
DefinitionHow long is the CCA-F certification valid?
ComparisonWhy do other prep sites say the CCA-F is valid for 2 years?
ScopeDo I need to recertify for the CCA-F?
ScopeIs the Early Adopter badge permanent?
How-toAnthropic is moving my Claude certification badge to Credly - what do I do?
ScopeIs my Claude Certified Architect certification still valid after the platform change?
How-toHow do I register for the Claude Architect Foundations exam?
DefinitionWhat is the Anthropic Partner Network?
TroubleshootWhy was my @gmail.com address rejected when I tried to register?
How-toWhat if my employer is not in the Anthropic Partner Network?
How-toHow long do I have to take the exam after I register?
ScopeCan I have notes open during the CCA-F exam?
ScopeCan I have Claude open during the CCA-F exam?
DefinitionWhat proctoring software is used for the Claude Architect exam?
ScopeAre two monitors allowed during the CCA-F exam?
ScopeCan I take a break during the CCA-F exam?
ComparisonIs the Claude Certified Architect certification worth it?
DefinitionHow much does the Claude Architect Foundations exam cost?
ScopeIs the CCA-F exam free for partner employees?
ScopeIs recertification free for the CCA-F?
DefinitionHow hard is the Claude Architect Foundations exam?
How-toWhat score should I hit on the mock exam before sitting the real one?
How-toHow long should I study for the Claude Architect exam?
ComparisonIs the real CCA-F exam harder than the mock?
DefinitionWhen did the Claude Certified Architect Foundations exam launch?
DefinitionIs CCA-F the same as a CCAF certificate?
Ready to sit the official exam?
Request access to the official CCA-F exam through Anthropic's Skilljar portal. Free for the first 5,000 partner-company ↗ employees. Once your access is approved, you sit the 60-question, 2-hour proctored exam with a 720 pass mark.
Why every claim on this site carries a pip
Every prep site you have visited mixes confirmed Anthropic facts with paraphrased speculation and never tells you which is which. We tag every factual claim on this site with a four-tier evidence pip so you can calibrate trust at the sentence level. This is the moat. When you see a 🟢 next to a claim, that claim is verifiable against an official Anthropic surface (announcement, certification page, or Skilljar entitlement). When you see a 🔴, the claim is unverified or sources conflict, and we flag it explicitly so you can discount it. The tier is the meta-skill the exam itself rewards: knowing what you know, knowing what you don't, and structuring decisions accordingly.
Verifiable against an Anthropic-owned surface: anthropic.com announcement, Skilljar entitlement page, or partner-network materials. Trust at face value.
Multiple independent beta-cohort write-ups agree, and the official PDF or sample materials corroborate. Strong signal but not a single authoritative source.
One or two community sources, no Anthropic-owned confirmation. Probably true, but treat as provisional. Common for proctoring detail and result-delivery timelines.
Sources disagree or the claim has no traceable origin. Often the result of LLM-hallucinated copy reproduced across competitor sites. We surface the conflict rather than pick a side.
What this page is built on
- Claude Certified Architect Foundations Exam Guide (PDF, Feb 10 2025)Official Anthropic. The canonical document. 30+ pages covering format, six PDF-canonical scenarios, and domain structure.
- Anthropic Partner Network announcement ↗Official Anthropic. Confirms 2026-03-12 launch date and partner-employer eligibility model.
- CCA-F Exam Guide v1.0 (effective July 2026)Official Anthropic. The authoritative source: $125 fee, 12-month validity, 60 items, 4 scenarios from a bank of 6, 720/1000. Supersedes beta-era figures.
- Skilljar entitlement page (validity inspection, beta cohort)Official Anthropic. Surfaced the 6-month validity that killed the '2-year' hallucination during the beta; since superseded by the v1.0 guide's 12 months.
- zintaen, The Architect's Playbook (985/1000 debrief)Community. Highest-scoring beta cohort write-up; corroborates scenario pool expansion beyond the official six.
- paullarionov, claude_architect_study_guide.pdfCommunity. Independent beta cohort study guide. Cross-checks domain weights and confirms scenario coverage.
- r/ClaudeAI thread 1ruf70b (Sea_Creme5238 + 7 corroborators)Community. The thread that broke the '2 years validity' hallucination via Skilljar screenshot. Single most load-bearing community source on this page.
- Skilljar entitlement flow (registration, attestation)Skilljar. The enrollment and attestation platform (Anthropic Academy) for the exam. Authoritative on registration mechanics. Badge issuance moved to Credly in 2026, and proctored exam delivery moved to Pearson VUE.
Last reviewed 2026-07-11. Refresh cadence: 60 days, or whenever Anthropic publishes new guidance.