Exam guide
The Claude Certified Associate – Foundations (CCAO-F) exam.
CCAO-F is the Claude certification for people who work with Claude without writing code: operators, marketers, project managers, analysts, and educators. No developer experience or API knowledge is required, which makes it the one exam in the program aimed at the wider team.
What is CCAO-F?
CCAO-F (Claude Certified Associate – Foundations) is Anthropic's certification for professionals who use Claude in daily work without writing code. The exam is 60 questions in 120 minutes, proctored, delivered by Pearson VUE, with a passing score of 720 on a 100–1,000 scale and a reported $99 fee per attempt.
CCAO-F at a glance
Claude Certified Associate – Foundations
- Questions: 60 items in 120 minutes
- Passing score: 720 on a 100–1,000 scale
- Exam fee: $99 per attempt, as reported by prep guides
- Format: Proctored and closed-book, no AI assistance
- Delivery: Pearson VUE, online proctored or at a test center
- Retakes: Up to 4 attempts per rolling 12 months (14, 30, then 90-day waits)
- Validity: 12 months, with a free on-time renewal assessment
What the exam covers
Seven domains, per the published blueprint.
| Domain | Weight |
|---|---|
| Output evaluation and validation | 21% |
| Workflow integration and solution design | 16% |
| Governance, risk, and responsible use | 15% |
| Prompting and task execution | 14% |
| Product and model selection | 12% |
| Configuration and knowledge management | 12% |
| Troubleshooting and optimization | 10% |
Try three CCAO-F practice questions
One from each of the heaviest domains, with the answer and the reasoning. Every question in our bank is original, written from the published blueprint, never taken from the exam.
Claude gives you a precise-sounding market statistic for a board deck. What do you do before using it?
- Ask Claude to restate the figure with a confidence rating and keep it if the rating is high
- Ask the same question in a fresh conversation and keep the figure if both answers agree
- Ask for the source, then confirm the number against that original before it goes in the deck
- Label the slide as an AI-generated estimate so the board knows to treat the figure with caution
Answer: Ask for the source, then confirm the number against that original before it goes in the deck. Models can be wrong while sounding certain, so the figure has to be checked against a source you can open yourself. A confidence rating or a second run from the same model is still the model grading itself, and a caution label puts an unverified number in front of the board anyway.
Where does Claude fit best in a weekly reporting process?
- Drafting the narrative from the approved numbers, with a person reviewing before it is sent
- Pulling the figures from source systems and deciding which ones are worth reporting this week
- Signing off on the final report, since it can check the numbers faster than a person can
- Writing and sending the report directly to stakeholders once the numbers have been approved
Answer: Drafting the narrative from the approved numbers, with a person reviewing before it is sent. Drafting and formatting from approved inputs is the sweet spot, with a person reviewing before it goes out. Sending directly once numbers are approved skips the review of the narrative itself, and choosing what to report or signing off are judgment calls that stay with people.
A colleague wants to paste a customer's full medical file into a consumer chat account to summarize it. What is the right response?
- Remove the customer's name and date of birth, then paste the rest into the consumer account
- Paste it, get the summary, and delete the conversation from the account history afterwards
- Check the data policy first and use an approved workspace with the right settings, if one exists
- Ask the customer for written consent by email first, then paste the file into the consumer account
Answer: Check the data policy first and use an approved workspace with the right settings, if one exists. Sensitive personal data is governed by policy and by the workspace's data handling, not by speed. Stripping the name still leaves a medical record that is often re-identifiable, consent from the customer does not change what the consumer account does with the data, and deleting afterwards is too late.
More than 50 people have started the free CCAO-F practice exam since September, and more than 30 finished a full timed mock. More than 220 engineers have joined the YAID Network. Counts as of October 15, 2026. Keep going with all 60 free CCAO-F practice questions or the timed CCAO-F mock.
Who it’s for
Day-to-day Claude users in non-engineering roles: operations, marketing, project management, education, communications, and general knowledge work. The heaviest domain is output evaluation, which says a lot about what the program thinks competent non-technical use looks like.
How CCAO-F compares
Against the rest of the program: this is the only exam that requires no engineering background. CCAR-F and CCDV-F are for engineers, and CCAR-P is the senior architect tier. For operators, marketers, PMs, and analysts who want a verifiable Claude credential, CCAO-F is the entire conversation.
How to register
Registration runs through the Anthropic Partner Academy, and access is open to organizations in the Claude Partner Network. There is no individual sign-up. If your employer is not a partner, the practical route is joining a partner firm: YAID members register under our partner standing, prepare with the official Partner Academy materials, and sit the exam through Pearson VUE. The credential is issued to you personally and stays with you. The full path is in the Claude certification guide.
Preparing for CCAO-F
The biggest domain is evaluating and validating Claude's output. Practice catching wrong answers as much as writing prompts.
Governance and responsible use carry 15% of the marks. If your organization has AI-use policies, the reasoning behind them is exam material.
No coding is required anywhere on the blueprint. Do not lose time on API material that belongs to the developer exam.
Test yourself with the free timed CCAO-F practice exam or the CCAO-F practice questions by domain, both written from the blueprint and weighted the way the exam is.
What each domain covers
What to know before you sit, organized by the published blueprint. Nothing here describes an exam question.
Output evaluation and validation
- Checking facts, numbers, and citations before you use them. Models can be wrong while sounding certain, and the biggest domain on the exam is about catching that.
- Asking for sources and quotes, then verifying them against the original material.
- Recognizing when a task needs a human review step and when the output can go straight to use.
Workflow integration and solution design
- Where Claude fits in an existing process: drafting, summarizing, classifying, extracting, and where it should not be the last step.
- Connecting Claude to the tools you already use through integrations and connectors, and what data those connections expose.
Governance, risk, and responsible use
- Confidential and personal data: what you can paste, what you cannot, and how organization settings and policies apply.
- Bias, fairness, and the limits of the model's knowledge; acceptable use policies; keeping a human accountable for decisions.
Prompting and task execution
- Clear task statements, context, constraints, and examples. Iterating on a prompt instead of accepting the first answer.
- Breaking large tasks into steps and giving the model the material it needs.
Product and model selection
- Claude.ai plans and features, the model tiers and what each is good for, and when a task calls for Claude Code or an integration instead of chat.
Configuration and knowledge management
- Projects, project instructions, knowledge files, memory, and skills: how to set up a workspace so the model has the right standing context.
Troubleshooting and optimization
- Why an answer went wrong: missing context, an ambiguous ask, a context limit, a refusal, or a wrong tool for the job. What to change first.
Common mistakes
Spending time on API material when nothing on this blueprint requires code.
Treating prompting as the whole exam, when evaluating output carries more marks (21%) than writing prompts (14%).
Skipping governance because it reads like policy. It is 15% of the exam.
A study path
- 01
Week 1: read the exam guide. For a week, verify every factual claim Claude gives you at work and note what kinds of errors you find.
- 02
Week 2: set up a Project with instructions and knowledge files for a real task. Compare results with and without the setup.
- 03
Week 3: read your organization's AI-use policy and Anthropic's usage policy. Work through the Partner Academy prep course.
- 04
Week 4: practice exam and closed-book review.
Official reading
CCAO-F FAQ
What is the CCAO-F exam?+
CCAO-F is Claude Certified Associate – Foundations, Anthropic's certification for professionals who use Claude as a day-to-day work tool without writing code. It is 60 questions in 120 minutes, proctored, with a passing score of 720 on a 100–1,000 scale.
Do I need to be a developer for CCAO-F?+
No. The exam targets operations, marketing, project management, education, and similar roles. No developer experience or API knowledge is required.
How much does the CCAO-F exam cost?+
$99 per attempt as reported by independent prep guides; the program has not published the fee on an official public page yet, so confirm at registration.
How do I register for the CCAO-F exam?+
Through the Anthropic Partner Academy, which requires affiliation with a Claude Partner Network organization. Delivery is through Pearson VUE, online proctored or at a test center.
What does the CCAO-F exam cover?+
Seven domains: output evaluation and validation, workflow integration, governance and responsible use, prompting and task execution, product and model selection, configuration and knowledge management, and troubleshooting. Evaluating output is the heaviest at 21%.
How hard is the CCAO-F exam?+
Anthropic does not publish a pass rate. You need 720 on a 100 to 1,000 scale across 60 questions in 120 minutes, proctored and closed-book. It is written for people who use Claude in their work rather than build on the API, and the largest domain is output evaluation and validation (21%), so judgment about Claude's answers matters more than technical depth. The free timed practice exam is scored on the same scale.
The other Claude certifications
Claude Certified Architect – Foundations
Claude Certified Developer – Foundations
Claude Certified Architect – Professional
Not sure the credential is worth the prep time? The honest case for and against Claude certification.
Sources
- Pearson VUE: Claude Certification Program by Anthropic (exams, eligibility, retake policy)
- Anthropic: Services track and Partner Hub announcement
Facts on this page were last checked against the program pages on October 15, 2026. Exam details are Anthropic’s and change over time; fees marked as reported are not yet on an official public page. Verify against the official pages before you rely on any number here.
Who wrote this
Matei Olaru
Former public-company CEO, corporate attorney, and World Bank consultant. Runs the YAID Network and the partner relationship with Anthropic.
Michael Greenberg
AI at Google, Meta, and Samsung. Six patents. Leads member support and the certification prep guidance.
Your AI Department is a registered Claude Partner Network company. Our members sit these exams under our partner standing. Facts on this page were last checked on October 15, 2026.