CCA-F Certification Prep · lesson 1 of 10
Claude Certified Architect — Foundations (CCA-F) Exam Overview
Format
- Length: 120 minutes.
- Questions: 60 multiple choice (1 correct, 3 distractors).
- Scenarios: 4 of 6 scenario types randomly selected per attempt.
- Proctored: Yes, hosted on Skilljar.
- Cost: Free for Anthropic Partner Network members.
- Passing score: Not officially published; community reports ~70–75%.
- Recommended experience: 6+ months hands-on with Claude API, Claude Code, Agent SDK, MCP.
The five domains
| # | Domain | Weight | Brief |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Agentic Architecture & Orchestration | 27% | Multi-agent coordination, task decomposition, session state |
| 2 | Tool Design & MCP Integration | 18% | Tool descriptions, error responses, MCP servers |
| 3 | Claude Code Configuration & Workflows | 20% | CLAUDE.md hierarchy, custom skills, CI/CD integration |
| 4 | Prompt Engineering & Structured Output | 20% | Few-shot, JSON schemas, batch, validation loops |
| 5 | Context Management & Reliability | 15% | Long conversations, escalation, error handling |
The six scenarios (pool of 4 sampled)
| # | Scenario | Anchor pattern |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Customer Support Resolution Agent | Routing + tool use + escalation |
| 2 | Code Generation with Claude Code | Plan mode + CLAUDE.md + slash commands |
| 3 | Multi-Agent Research System | Orchestrator-workers + subagents |
| 4 | Developer Productivity Tools | MCP + tool design + context awareness |
| 5 | Claude Code in CI/CD | Permissions + hooks + non-interactive mode |
| 6 | Structured Data Extraction | Tool-forced output + batch + validation |
See cca-scenarios for playbook notes per scenario.
How questions are written
Most questions are scenario-based:
"You are building [system]. Given [constraint], which approach best [objective]?" A. ... B. ... C. ... D. ...
The "obvious" answer is usually wrong by a single trade-off. Memorize when to use each pattern, not just what each is.
Recommended courses
All free on Anthropic Academy (anthropic.skilljar.com):
- Claude 101 (foundation; skip if you've used Claude meaningfully)
- Building with the Claude API ← biggest cert-prep value
- Introduction to Model Context Protocol
- MCP Advanced Topics
- Claude Code in Action
- Introduction to Agent Skills
- Introduction to Subagents
- Claude in Amazon Bedrock (optional unless AWS-focused)
Study order
See study-plan for a phased plan.