Claude Certification Study Guide
A free study companion for Anthropic's Claude Certified Architect – Foundations exam (CCAR-F). Work through a curriculum organized into its five domains, hammer weak spots in drill mode, then sit a timed mock exam — 200 original practice questions, all written from Anthropic's public documentation and updated for the 2026 API changes.
Like everything on this site, it runs entirely in your browser: no account, no tracking of your answers, no data leaving your device. The official exam itself is administered by Anthropic — this guide just gets you ready for it.
Exam status checked Oct 28, 2026
| Exam | Code |
|---|---|
| Claude Certified Associate – Foundations | CCAO-F |
| Claude Certified Developer – Foundations | CCDV-F |
| Claude Certified Architect – Foundations this guide | CCAR-F |
| Claude Certified Architect – Professional | CCAR-P |
- All four are delivered by Pearson VUE, online (OnVUE) or at a test center.
- Certification is open to organizations in the Claude Partner Network; registration starts in the Anthropic Partner Academy.
- The Associate, Developer and Architect – Professional exams change on December 7, 2026, with new exam guides out November 17. Architect – Foundations is not on that list.
-
The API moved a lot in 2026 — adaptive thinking, effort levels, forced
tool_choicerejected on the newest models, sampling parameters removed. The Changed in 2026 sheet lists them.
Source: Pearson VUE — Anthropic (updated Oct 16, 2026). Check it before you book; question count, length and fees are not published there.
The five domains
Agentic Architecture & Orchestration
27%Single calls vs workflows vs agents, the agentic loop, subagents and orchestration, cost/latency trade-offs, evaluation and recovery.
study →Tool Design & MCP Integration
18%Tool schemas and descriptions, tool_choice, handling results and errors, Model Context Protocol primitives and transports.
study →Claude Code Configuration & Workflows
20%CLAUDE.md memory, settings hierarchy, permissions, hooks, slash commands, subagents, MCP servers, headless usage.
study →Prompt Engineering & Structured Output
20%System prompts, XML structure, few-shot examples, long-context placement, JSON schema outputs, strict tool use.
study →Context Management & Reliability
15%Prompt caching mechanics, token counting, batching, rate limits and error handling, compaction, output limits.
study →How to use this guide
- Curriculum — read the study notes for each domain, weighted exactly like the exam.
- Practice — drill individual domains with instant explanations, then take the 50-question timed mock exam (pass ≥ 720/1000).
- Reference — cheat sheets for the facts worth memorizing: parameters, error codes, caching rules, config files.
Independent community study resource — not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic. Claude is a trademark of Anthropic, PBC. All study material and practice questions here are original, written from Anthropic's public documentation. Everything runs in your browser; nothing you answer is stored or transmitted.