CCA-F Exam Blueprint

Claude Certified Architect — Foundations certification breakdown and preparation guide.

60

Questions

120

Minutes

720

Passing Score / 1000

4 / 6

Scenarios

Structured Study Path
Follow this guided path through the CCA-F domains. Each phase builds on the previous one. Your progress is tracked automatically from lesson completions.

Agentic Architecture & Orchestration

Design and implement agentic systems using Claude's Agent SDK. Covers agentic loops, multi-agent orchestration, hooks, workflows, session management, and task decomposition.

27%
Agentic ArchitectureClaude Agents SDK
0 / 0lessons
~5h 30m
AdvancedExpertIntermediate0 lessons
Prerequisites: Agentic Architecture & Orchestration

Tool Design & MCP Integration

Design effective tools and integrate MCP servers. Covers tool descriptions, structured errors, tool distribution, and MCP configuration.

18%
Tool Use & Function CallingModel Context Protocol
0 / 0lessons
~5h 50m
IntermediateAdvancedExpert0 lessons
Requires: Agentic Architecture & Orchestration
Prerequisites: Tool Design & MCP Integration

Claude Code Configuration & Workflows

Configure Claude Code for development workflows. Covers CLAUDE.md, custom commands, plan mode, CI/CD integration, and batch processing.

20%
Claude Code
0 / 0lessons
~1h 50m
BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced0 lessons
Requires: Tool Design & MCP Integration
Prerequisites: Tool Design & MCP Integration

Prompt Engineering & Structured Output

Master prompt engineering techniques. Covers explicit criteria, few-shot, tool_use for structured output, JSON schemas, and validation-retry loops.

20%
Prompt EngineeringStructured Outputs
0 / 0lessons
~4h
BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced0 lessons
Requires: Tool Design & MCP Integration
Prerequisites: Prompt Engineering & Structured Output, Claude Code Configuration & Workflows

Context Management & Reliability

Manage context effectively. Covers summarization risks, context positioning, escalation patterns, error propagation, and information provenance.

15%
Context EngineeringReliability Engineering
0 / 0lessons
~4h 20m
IntermediateAdvanced0 lessons
Requires: Prompt Engineering & Structured Output, Claude Code Configuration & Workflows
Question Type Distribution
How questions are structured on the exam
Multiple Choice30%

Single correct answer from 4 options

Multiple Select20%

Select all that apply from 4-6 options

Scenario-Based25%

Real-world architecture scenario with context

Architecture Review15%

Analyze architecture decisions and tradeoffs

Tradeoff Analysis10%

Compare approaches across multiple dimensions

Difficulty Distribution
Question complexity breakdown
Easy25%
Medium50%
Hard25%
Exam Scenarios
6 scenario pools — 4 randomly selected per exam. Each tests cross-domain knowledge application.

Customer Support Resolution Agent

~17%

Design an agentic system for automated customer support triage and resolution.

Code Generation with Claude Code

~17%

Configure Claude Code for automated code generation in a CI/CD pipeline.

Multi-Agent Research System

~17%

Architect a multi-agent system for comprehensive research tasks.

Developer Productivity with Claude

~17%

Integrate Claude into developer workflows for maximum productivity gains.

Claude Code for CI/CD

~17%

Automate code review, testing, and deployment using Claude Code.

Structured Data Extraction

~17%

Build a reliable data extraction pipeline using structured outputs.

Preparation Strategy
Recommended study approach based on the exam blueprint

1. Master the High-Weight Domains First

Focus on Agentic Architecture & Orchestration (27%), Claude Code (20%), and Prompt Engineering & Structured Output (20%) — these three domains cover 67% of the exam.

2. Understand Anti-Patterns

The exam heavily tests your ability to identify incorrect approaches. Pay special attention to the 18 documented anti-patterns across all domains.

3. Practice Scenario Questions

With 25% scenario-based questions, practice applying concepts to real-world situations rather than memorizing definitions. Use the domain exams to build this skill.

4. Time Management

With 120 minutes for 60 questions, you have 2 minutes per question. Spend more time on scenario and tradeoff analysis questions, less on direct knowledge checks.