CCA-F is short for the Claude Certified Architect - Foundations exam, also searched as the 'Claude Certified Architect exam' - Anthropic's official certification for engineers who design, build, and operate Claude-powered agents. It is a 60-question, 120-minute, online-proctored, closed-book exam scored out of 1000 with a 720 pass mark, launched 2026-03-12 through the Anthropic Partner Network.

How do you get Claude certified?

Register for the CCA-F through Anthropic's Skilljar flow (partner-employer attestation), study the five weighted domains, then pass the 60-question proctored exam at 720/1000. Start with the free practice test (the 10-question diagnostic, no login) to find your weak domains, then work a study plan.

How long is the Claude Certified Architect Foundations exam?

120 minutes total for 60 scenario-based multiple-choice questions, which works out to roughly 2 minutes per question.

What is the passing score for the CCA-F exam?

720 out of 1000 on a scaled score. Anthropic does not publish the raw question count required, because the form is equated.

How long is the CCA-F certification valid?

12 months from the date the credential is awarded, per Anthropic's version 1.0 exam guide (effective July 2026). Competitor prep sites still say '2 years' (an LLM hallucination). Trust the guide.

How much does the Claude Architect Foundations exam cost?

$125 USD, per Anthropic's version 1.0 exam guide. Eligible partner-company employees get a 100% partner-network discount that takes it to $0.

How do I register for the Claude Architect Foundations exam?

Through the Skilljar entitlement flow triggered by Anthropic Partner Network attestation. Your employer must be in the Partner Network and you must use a corporate email on a recognized corporate domain. Personal email addresses are rejected.

Why was my @gmail.com address rejected when I tried to register?

Because the Skilljar attestation flow requires a corporate email on a recognized corporate domain. Personal addresses (gmail, outlook, yahoo, icloud) cannot map to a partner employer. Use your work email.

Is the CCA-F exam open-book?

No. The exam is closed-book, online-proctored, and the proctor verifies a clean desk and a full-screen share before starting.

Can I have Claude open during the CCA-F exam?

No. You cannot have Claude.ai, Claude Code, the API console, or any Anthropic surface running. The proctor will flag it during the room sweep and end the session.

Are there any multi-select questions on the CCA-F?

Yes. The guide specifies a mix of multiple-choice and multiple-response items, and each item states how many responses to select - so read the instruction line on every item.

What score should I hit on the mock exam before sitting the real one?

Aim for 850 / 1000 on our mock exam before booking. An 850 mock typically maps to a comfortable 720+ real-exam pass with margin for nerves and ambiguous questions.

How long should I study for the Claude Architect exam?

Two to four weeks at 60-90 minutes a day if you already build with Claude. Six to eight weeks if you are coming in cold on Agent SDK, MCP, and Claude Code.

Is the Claude Certified Architect certification worth it?

If you design, build, or operate Claude-powered agents for work, yes. The standard exam fee is $125, and eligible partner-company employees get it at $0. It is new (launched 2026-03-12), so treat it as an early-mover signal rather than an established industry standard.

Is the real CCA-F exam harder than the mock?

About the same difficulty when the mock is calibrated correctly. The real exam has more curveballs in the 27% Agentic domain. If you are passing the mock at 850+, the real exam is well within reach.

How hard is the Claude Architect Foundations exam?

Calibrated for working AI engineers, not absolute beginners. The questions punish surface-level Claude knowledge: you need the orchestration shapes, the stop_reason values, the Skills frontmatter, and the case-facts-block discipline by reflex.

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Exam guide · Architect · Foundations

Claude Certified Architect exam guide: 60 questions, 720 to pass

The Claude Certified Architect exam is sixty scenario questions in 120 minutes, scored out of 1000 with 720 to pass, delivered by Pearson VUE. This guide covers the format, the five domains, registration and cost, and links the official exam guide PDF for each cert.

How to register

The guide, as a PDF

12 pages · free

Every domain and its weight, a concept checklist, a two-week plan, and what happens on test day.

No email required. Last reviewed 2026-07-11.

Concept checklist
Two-week plan
Test-day checklist
Evidence pips on every claim

Download the exam guide (PDF)

At a glance

Evidence-tagged

60Questions

120 minTime limit

720 / 1000Passing score

5Domains

$125 USDExam fee

12 monthsValidity

01 — Domains

What gets tested, weighted by importance

The CCA-F samples each domain at the official blueprint weight. Spend study time proportionally.

D1 Agentic Architecture & OrchestrationThe largest single domain. Tests whether you can pick the right orchestration shape: single agent, hub-and-spoke with subagents, or multi-agent coordination. Agent SDK loop structure, stop_reason values, and the rule that subagents never inherit parent context. 27% D2 Tool Design & MCP IntegrationTool 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 & WorkflowsCLAUDE.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 Outputtool_use as the canonical structured-output mechanism, JSON schema validation with retry loops, few-shot for determinism, and the 4D framework. Expect to choose between several plausible prompts based on attention-engineering principles. 20% D5 Context Management & ReliabilityThe 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%

Weights from Anthropic's v1.0 guide. Ten questions in the free diagnostic tell you which of the five is costing you most.Take the diagnostic All 71 concepts

02 — Chapters

Four chapters, in the order you'll need them.

01 · Before

Registration

The partner-network gate, the Skilljar form field by field, and the corporate-domain trap that rejects most first attempts.

6 steps · 8 min read

02 · Plan

Study plans

Three paths picked by diagnostic score, not ambition: 2-week sprint, 4-week canonical, 8-week comprehensive.

3 paths · 4-week day by day

03 · Avoid

20 anti-patterns

Every distractor is an anti-pattern dressed up as the right call. Wrong call and right call, side by side, for all five domains.

8 critical · 10 common · 2 edge

04 · Sit

Day of the exam

The six things to confirm before you start, five time tactics that move 700 to 760, and what happens after submit.

Checklist · 2 min per question

03 — Register

Ready to sit the official exam?

Most readers come to this page for one thing: how to register. Start here, then check your eligibility.

Registration · via Anthropic Skilljar

Official

Register through Anthropic Skilljar

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.

Open Anthropic Skilljar Registration walkthrough

Personal email addresses (gmail, outlook, yahoo, icloud) are rejected by the attestation flow. Use your corporate-domain address.

Eligibility check · 3 questions

Is your employer in the Anthropic Partner Network?

Anthropic lists partners at anthropic.com/partners. Ask your practice lead if unsure.

Mirrors Anthropic's Skilljar attestation flow: partner employer → corporate domain → attestation → sit → 720+. Full walkthrough, including the corporate-domain trap

04 — Format

Exam mechanics: format, timing, and proctoring rules

Closed-book, online-proctored, 60 items in 120 minutes.

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)

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.

05 — Scenarios

Six in the official PDF, thirteen in the real pool

Anthropic's 2025 PDF lists six scenarios; the live exam draws from thirteen. Treat the six as the core and the other seven as fair game.

All scenarios

01Customer Support Resolution AgentIn official PDF 02Code Generation with Claude CodeIn official PDF 03Multi-Agent Research SystemIn official PDF 04Developer Productivity ToolsIn official PDF 05Claude Code in CI/CDIn official PDF 06Structured Data ExtractionIn official PDF 07Agentic Tool DesignBeyond guide 08Long Document ProcessingBeyond guide 09Claude for OperationsBeyond guide 10Conversational AI PatternsBeyond guide 11Agent Skills for Enterprise KMBeyond guide 12Agent Skills for Developer ToolingBeyond guide 13Agent Skills with Code ExecutionBeyond guide

06 — FAQ

Frequently asked

Showing 16 of 16 questions · the full set ships in the PDF

07 — Sources

Sources and evidence

8 sources · refreshed every 60 days · last reviewed 2026-07-11

Confirmed officialPublic consensusCommunity-reportedUnverified / conflicting

Official Anthropic

Claude Certified Architect Foundations Exam Guide (PDF, Feb 10 2025)

The canonical document. 30+ pages covering format, six PDF-canonical scenarios, and domain structure.

Official Anthropic

Anthropic Partner Network announcement

Confirms 2026-03-12 launch date and partner-employer eligibility model.

Official Anthropic

CCA-F Exam Guide v1.0 (effective July 2026)

The authoritative source: $125 fee, 12-month validity, 60 items, 720/1000. Supersedes beta-era figures.

Official Anthropic

Skilljar entitlement page (validity inspection, beta cohort)

Surfaced the 6-month validity that killed the '2-year' hallucination; since superseded by the v1.0 guide's 12 months.

Community

zintaen, The Architect's Playbook (985/1000 debrief)

Highest-scoring beta cohort write-up; corroborates scenario pool expansion beyond the official six.

Community

paullarionov, claude_architect_study_guide.pdf

Independent beta cohort study guide. Cross-checks domain weights and confirms scenario coverage.

Community

r/ClaudeAI thread 1ruf70b (Sea_Creme5238 + 7 corroborators)

The thread that broke the '2 years validity' hallucination via Skilljar screenshot.

Skilljar

Skilljar entitlement flow (registration, attestation)

Authoritative on registration mechanics. Badge issuance moved to Credly in 2026; proctored delivery moved to Pearson VUE.

Download the PDF

Compare the complete Claude certification portfolio, then use the Claude Certified Architect practice hub or sit the Claude Certified Architect mock exam.