Cheatsheet 1 — Blueprint & Exam Mechanics
One page. Read it the morning of the exam.
The exam
| Credential | Claude Certified Architect – Foundations |
| Code | CCAR-F · Version 1.0 · effective July 2026 |
| Items | 60 |
| Format | Multiple-choice and multiple-response — each item states how many to select |
| Structure | 4 scenarios per sitting, drawn at random from a bank of 6 |
| Time | 120 minutes = 2.0 min/item |
| Delivery | Proctored: online proctored and/or Pearson VUE test centre |
| Pass | 720 scaled, on a 100–1,000 scale |
| Scoring | Criterion-referenced — fixed standard from a standard-setting study. Not a curve. |
| Fee | $125 USD per attempt |
| Validity | 12 months |
| Report | Pass/fail + scaled score + percent correct by domain (domain figures are informational only) |
| Retakes | 14 days after 1st fail · 30 after 2nd · 90 after 3rd · max 4 attempts per rolling 12 months |
| Renewal | Free non-proctored assessment on Anthropic Partner Academy if renewed on time; full re-exam if lapsed |
| Assumed background | Solution architect with 6+ months hands-on |
Technologies tested: Claude Code · Claude Agent SDK · Claude API · Model Context Protocol (MCP).
The blueprint
| # | Domain | Weight | ≈ items |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Agentic Architecture & Orchestration | 27% | ~16 |
| 2 | Tool Design & MCP Integration | 18% | ~11 |
| 3 | Claude Code Configuration & Workflows | 20% | ~12 |
| 4 | Prompt Engineering & Structured Output | 20% | ~12 |
| 5 | Context Management & Reliability | 15% | ~9 |
Domains 1 + 3 + 4 = 67% of the exam.
The six scenarios
| # | Scenario | Domains | Signature content |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Customer Support Resolution Agent | 1, 2, 5 | Agent SDK; get_customer, lookup_order, process_refund, escalate_to_human; 80%+ first-contact resolution |
| 2 | Code Generation with Claude Code | 3, 5 | Custom slash commands, CLAUDE.md, plan mode vs direct execution |
| 3 | Multi-Agent Research System | 1, 2, 5 | Coordinator + web-search / document-analysis / synthesis / report-generation subagents; cited reports |
| 4 | Developer Productivity with Claude | 2, 3, 1 | Agent SDK; built-ins (Read, Write, Bash, Grep, Glob) + MCP servers |
| 5 | Claude Code for Continuous Integration | 3, 4 | Automated review, test generation, PR feedback; minimize false positives |
| 6 | Structured Data Extraction | 4, 5 | JSON-schema validation, high accuracy, graceful edge cases, downstream integration |
You will see 4 of these 6. All six are worth preparing — see Chapter 13.
Out of scope — do not study, do not pick
- Fine-tuning or training custom models
- Claude API authentication, billing, account management
- Language/framework implementation detail beyond tool & schema configuration
- Deploying or hosting MCP servers
- Claude's internal architecture, training, or weights
- Constitutional AI, RLHF, safety training
- Embedding models, vector databases — there is no RAG domain
- Computer use · vision / image analysis
- Streaming API / SSE
- Rate limiting, quotas, pricing calculations
- OAuth, API key rotation, auth protocols
- Cloud-provider-specific configuration (AWS, GCP, Azure)
- Performance benchmarking, model comparison / model selection by price
- Prompt-caching implementation details
- Token counting / tokenization
🎯 An option that lives in this list is almost always a distractor.
Time budget
| Checkpoint | Elapsed | Items done |
|---|---|---|
| Scenario 1 finished | 30 min | 15 |
| Scenario 2 finished | 60 min | 30 |
| Scenario 3 finished | 90 min | 45 |
| Scenario 4 finished | 110 min | 60 |
| Review flagged items | 110–120 min | — |
Rule: 90 seconds on the first read. If you haven't converged, flag it and move. Answer every item — there is no penalty for a wrong answer.
Read the scenario setup once, carefully, then work its items. Re-reading the setup for every item burns your buffer.
Target score
Anthropic does not publish the raw→scaled mapping. Working targets on a 60-item test:
| Raw | % | Read |
|---|---|---|
| 44/60 | 73% | Approximate floor for 720 |
| 48/60 | 80% | Comfortable margin |
| 52/60 | 87% | Safe |
Per-domain minimums to aim for: D1 12/16 · D2 8/11 · D3 9/12 · D4 9/12 · D5 7/9.