The morning checklist.

The 5 things to confirm before you start

Run this list 24 hours out, then again the morning of.

1. ID ready. A valid, unexpired, government-issued photo ID with a name that matches your registration exactly. This is the single most common day-of snag across all four Claude certifications.
2. Room and lighting. A solo room, door closed, even lighting on your face. The proctor scans the room via webcam before the exam unlocks, and verifies your ID during the same scan.
3. Workspace clear. Keep your workspace clear of notes, books, phones, and a second monitor. Prohibited items for the CCA-A: mobile phones, smart watches, headphones, study materials, recording devices.
4. Stable internet. Wired connection if possible. If WiFi only, sit close to the router. A brief disconnect can typically be recovered; a long one may abort the session.
5. Bathroom and water before. Plan ahead: once the proctor unlocks the exam, the 120-minute clock starts. Eat well, hydrate, and use the bathroom before you log in.

5 tactics for 60 questions in 120 minutes

The math: 60 questions, 120 minutes. Bank time on easy questions and spend it on hard ones.

1. ~2.0 minutes per question is the average. 60 questions in 120 minutes. Treat it as a soft budget, not a per-question cap.
2. Bank time on the easy ones. If a question reads as obvious, answer quickly and move on. The buffer is what lets you spend extra time on the genuinely hard ones.
3. Read the instruction line on every item. The exam mixes multiple-choice and multiple-response items, and each one states how many responses to select. Don't assume single-answer by habit.
4. Answer every question - there's no guessing penalty noted in the guide. A blank answer gains nothing over a wrong guess, so always commit to your best answer before moving on.
5. Don't change answers without a specific reason. First-instinct answers are typically right. Only change on review if you can articulate the specific evidence that contradicts your first pick.

Patterns that catch most candidates

What happens after you click submit

1. Immediate scaled score. You see pass/fail and your scaled score (out of 1000) at submit. The cut is 720. You'll also see percent-correct broken down by domain, though that breakdown itself doesn't determine pass/fail.
2. Certificate delivery. Anthropic's guide gives a delivery window for the certificate and badge; treat the exact number as provisional and check your Anthropic Partner Academy account for the authoritative status.
3. Validity. Your certificate is valid for 12 months from the date it's awarded. Renewal before that window closes is a free, non-proctored assessment on the Anthropic Partner Academy.
4. LinkedIn add. Add the credential as a Licenses & Certifications entry, not a Skill, using the verifiable badge link from your Anthropic Partner Academy account.
5. If you didn't pass. Retakes follow the ladder: 14 days after the first fail, 30 after the second, 90 after the third, up to 4 attempts in a rolling 12-month period, with the exam fee due each time. Use your domain breakdown to target the weakest 1-2 domains before re-sitting.

If the exam is still ahead of you