Claude Certified Associate – Foundations credential artwork

Claude Certified Associate – Foundations (CCAO-F) Exam Guide

Validates ability to apply Claude to everyday business tasks, including prompting, checking output, choosing features and models, setting up Projects and using AI responsibly.

The exam tests practical judgment in everyday Claude work: how to prompt, how to check the output, which feature or model fits a task, and when to escalate. Use the exam guide as your syllabus, take Anthropic's free prep course, build a Project yourself and finish with exam-style practice questions.

Understand the exam

Syllabus

1Prompting & task execution14%
  1. Create effective prompts for business and technical tasks
  2. Apply task decomposition techniques to structure complex requests
  3. Iterate prompts to improve output quality
  4. Adapt prompting strategies based on task type (analysis, research, drafting, brainstorming)

Example scenario: A single long request to Claude returns a muddled report. How would you break it into steps?

2Output evaluation & validation21%
  1. Evaluate Claude-generated outputs for accuracy and completeness
  2. Identify hallucinations, inconsistencies, and biases in responses
  3. Apply fact-checking and validation techniques
  4. Determine when human review or additional verification is required
  5. Edit, adapt, refine, and compare outputs for the intended audience
  6. Organize and curate information and select appropriate output formats (artifacts, inline, structured data)

Example scenario: Claude's market summary includes a statistic with no source. What do you check before it goes to a client?

3Product & model selection12%
  1. Select appropriate Claude product features (Projects, research mode, chat, artifacts)
  2. Differentiate between Claude model types (Haiku, Sonnet, Opus)
  3. Align model selection with task requirements (cost, speed, quality)
  4. Understand and manage context limitations and memory considerations (when to restart, summarize, or persist)

Example scenario: A long chat has started to lose earlier instructions. Do you restart, summarize or move the material into a Project?

4Workflow integration & solution design16%
  1. Apply Claude to analyze requirements and use cases
  2. Leverage Claude for research, planning, and process optimization
  3. Use Claude to support solution design, development, and iteration
  4. Integrate Claude into existing workflows to augment or redesign them
  5. Communicate Claude's value and limitations to stakeholders
5Configuration & knowledge management12%
  1. Configure Claude Projects with instructions and knowledge sources
  2. Manage uploaded knowledge and connectors (e.g., Google Drive, Gmail)
  3. Create effective system-level instructions
  4. Inform, maintain, and update Claude configurations, knowledge sources, and instructions
6Governance, risk & responsible use15%
  1. Identify appropriate and inappropriate use cases
  2. Apply data sensitivity, regulatory, and privacy considerations
  3. Follow organizational AI policies and governance standards
  4. Understand the ethical implications of AI usage

Example scenario: A teammate wants to paste client records into Claude for analysis. What do you check first?

7Troubleshooting & optimization10%
  1. Identify, diagnose, and resolve issues with underperforming prompts or poor outputs
  2. Adjust approach based on feedback and results
  3. Optimize workflows for efficiency and effectiveness

Official exam guide · Version 1.0, July 2026

Format

Questions
60
Duration
2h
Passing score
720 / 1000
Delivery
Test centre or online
Languages
English

Question types

Choose the single best answer.

CertUp example

You need dozens of short, routine reply drafts quickly and cheaply. Which approach fits best?

  1. Run every draft on the most capable model
  2. Use a faster, lower-cost model suited to simple, high-volume work
  3. Turn off Projects and connectors
  4. Write each reply by hand
Show answer

B. Match the model to the task. Reserve the most capable model for complex reasoning.

Eligibility and booking

Eligibility to register

Work at a Claude Partner Network organization

Required

Register with your organization's recognized company email domain. You must be 18 or older.

Regular hands-on Claude use at work

Recommended

Anthropic's exam guide describes the typical candidate as using Claude as a core productivity tool in a professional setting, with a practical grasp of AI limits such as hallucinations, context constraints and data sensitivity. No coding or API experience is needed.

Sign in to the Anthropic Partner Academy with your partner company email, register and pay, then schedule with Pearson VUE. Your registration stays valid for 5 years.

Associate – Foundations certification page

Make a study plan

Read the exam guide first and mark the domains where you have least hands-on practice.

Plan for 7–20 hours. Plan for the low end if you already build Projects and compare models in daily work; plan for the high end if you have mostly used Claude for chat. The prep course alone is about 6.5 hours.

2 weeksto be ready
  1. 1Understand the examRead the syllabus and format, check you’re eligible and pick a target date.1 h
  2. 3Learn the core conceptsWork through one main course or book, topic by topic.6 h
  3. 4Practice with mock examsTake timed practice tests and review every mistake.4 h
  4. 5Prepare for exam dayBook the exam and check the ID and delivery rules.1 h

Learn the core concepts

Anthropic lists free prep on the Partner Academy. Start with the Associate prep course, which follows the exam domains.

Official prepClaude Certified Associate - Foundations Prep CourseAnthropic · Free · self-paced

Build a Project Set up a Claude Project with instructions and a knowledge source, and run one task on Haiku, Sonnet and Opus. Passers say using the features made the domains click.

Practice with mock exams

Start with the three official sample questions, then use exam-style question sets and review why each wrong option loses.

CCAO-F Exam Guide sample questionsAnthropic · Free · included in the exam guide PDFCCAO-F Practice QuestionsCertSafari · FreeClaude Certified Associate Foundations practice examSzymon Paluch · Free · no account
See all 4 CCAO-F practice tests →

Are you ready?

  • You can explain why each wrong option in a practice question is worse, not just which one is right
  • You know when an output needs fact-checking or human review before it is shared
  • You can choose between chat, Projects, Artifacts and research mode, and between Haiku, Sonnet and Opus, for a given task

Prepare for exam day

Use the checklist for your delivery route.

Before testing from home

  • Run the OnVUE system test on the computer and network you will use
  • Clear your desk and keep phones, extra monitors, notes and AI tools out of reach
  • Stay in webcam view for the whole session
  • Bring a valid government photo ID whose name exactly matches your registration
  • Plan for about 135 minutes in total, including check-in
  • Reschedule or cancel in your Pearson VUE account at least 48 hours before your appointment. Later changes or a missed appointment forfeit the exam fee
  • If you fail, wait 14 days before the second attempt, 30 before the third and 90 before the fourth, with up to 4 attempts in 12 months

Anthropic certification FAQ

Advice from exam takers