Exam code CCAR-F · Guide v1.0 (July 2026)
Everything the Claude Certified Architect – Foundations exam guide says you must know — with the sources to prove it.
30 lessons mapped one-to-one onto the official task statements, 408 practice questions with per-option explanations, and a timed mock exam that samples exactly like the real blueprint. Free, no login.
Questions
60 items
Time limit
120 minutes
Pass mark
720 / 1000
Scenarios
4 drawn from 6
What the CCAR-F exam actually is
The Claude Certified Architect – Foundations certification is Anthropic’s first official technical credential. It validates that you can make sound trade-off decisions when building production systems on Claude — across Claude Code, the Claude Agent SDK, the Claude API and the Model Context Protocol.
It is a closed-book, proctored exam of 60 multiple-choice and multiple-response items in 120 minutes, delivered by Pearson VUE either online or at a test centre, for $125 USD. Questions are grouped under 4 scenarios drawn at random from a published bank of 6, each one a realistic production context — a customer support agent, a multi-agent research pipeline, Claude Code inside CI. You pass at a scaled score of 720 out of 1000, and the credential is valid for 12 months.
What that format means in practice: it is a judgement test, not a recall test. Knowing that hooks exist earns you nothing. Knowing which hook fires before a tool call, and why you would intercept there rather than in the prompt, is the whole question. Read the full blueprint →
The five domains
Browse the curriculum →What’s here
Seven ways into the same material, because the last week before an exam needs something different from the first.
30 lessons
One per official task statement, in blueprint-weight order. Each has a deep dive with every claim linked to its source, exam traps, the same judgement set inside several exam scenarios, and a build exercise you can walk before you write.
408 practice questions
Including the 12 official sample items verbatim. Every option carries its own explanation. The mock draws 60 in blueprint proportions, timed — or grouped into four scenarios the way the real sitting frames them.
Your missed questions
Everything you got wrong, from any lesson or domain, collected into one drill. A question leaves the list once you answer it correctly — so the list is the study plan.
385 flashcards
One deck per domain, distilled from each lesson's quick-reference table. Cards you know go quiet for longer each time you get them right; the ones you miss come straight back.
5 cheat sheets
One dense, printable page per domain — tables and terse bullets, no prose. These are the night-before read.
219 glossary terms
Every term, config key and API field the exam can reach for, defined once and searchable, drawn from the lessons and their cited sources.
The divergence log
Where the exam guide and current Anthropic docs disagree — both recorded, with the one to answer with on the exam clearly marked.
How to prepare
- 1
Sit a mock exam cold. Before reading anything. A score you have not studied for is the only honest map of where your gaps are, and it takes two hours you would otherwise spend re-reading things you already know.
- 2
Work the domains in weight order. Domain 1 is 27% of the exam on its own, and its concepts recur inside the other four. Domain 5 is 15%. Study time should follow that ratio, not your interest.
- 3
Do the build exercises, not just the reading. The exam asks which design you would choose under a constraint. That judgement comes from having made the choice once, badly, in your own editor — it does not come from recognising the vocabulary. Each one has a walkthrough that puts the same decisions to you before you open an editor, if you want the judgement without the build.
- 4
Drill what you got wrong, not what you got right. Every miss collects on one page, across every domain. Re-reading a lesson you half-know is the comfortable option; the questions that already caught you out are the ones with something left to teach.
- 5
Let the flashcards space themselves. A card you keep getting right drops out of the rotation for up to a fortnight, so a deck gets shorter as the material sticks. Coming back three times over a week beats one long sitting.
- 6
Re-test until the weak domain moves. Per-domain accuracy is the number to watch. Overall percentage hides the one domain that is going to cost you the pass. Once the numbers are close, sit one grouped by scenario — holding a single production context across a run of questions is its own skill.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Claude Certified Architect – Foundations certification?
It is Anthropic's first official technical credential, aimed at solution architects who design and build production applications with Claude. The exam tests judgement rather than recall across Claude Code, the Claude Agent SDK, the Claude API and the Model Context Protocol (MCP), using scenario-based questions drawn from real customer use cases.
Is it called CCAF, CCA-F or CCAR-F?
The official exam code in the published exam guide is CCAR-F. You will also see CCA-F and CCAF used widely — on course listings, in forums and in this site's own domain name — and all three refer to the same certification. Anthropic's other codes follow the same pattern: CCAO-F for Associate, CCDV-F for Developer, CCAR-P for Architect Professional.
How many questions are on the exam, and how long do I get?
60 items in 120 minutes. Items are multiple-choice and multiple-response, and each one states how many responses to select — so "choose two" is information rather than a hint. Questions are grouped under 4 scenarios drawn at random from a published bank of 6.
What is the passing score?
A scaled score of 720 on a 100–1000 scale. Scaling adjusts for the difficulty of the particular items you were given, so it is not a straight percentage of questions answered correctly. Your score report also breaks down percent-correct by domain.
Is this site really free?
Yes. Every lesson, every practice question, the full mock exam, the flashcards, the cheat sheets and the glossary are open with no login, no paywall and no locked content. There is an optional tip link for anyone who wants to support the upkeep, and that is the entire business model.
How long does it take to prepare?
The exam guide describes an ideal candidate with roughly six months of hands-on experience building with the Claude API, Agent SDK, Claude Code and MCP. If you have that background, plan on 15–20 hours with this curriculum. If you are newer to Claude, budget 30–40 hours and spend the extra time on the build exercises rather than on re-reading.
Which domain should I study first?
Agentic Architecture & Orchestration, at 27% of the exam. It is the heaviest domain by some margin, and the concepts in it — agentic loops, orchestration patterns, context passing — recur inside the other four. Studying in blueprint-weight order puts your time where the marks are.
Where do the facts on this site come from?
The official exam guide, Anthropic's product documentation, and Anthropic's engineering write-ups. Every claim in a lesson's Deep Dive carries a link to the source it came from, so you can check any statement rather than take it on trust. A build-time check fails if a Deep Dive section is missing its source line.
Is this site affiliated with Anthropic?
No. It is an independent study resource, not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Anthropic, PBC. Claude and Claude Certified Architect are trademarks of Anthropic, PBC. Register for the actual exam through the Anthropic Partner Academy.