This article summarises the Claude Certified Associate Foundations (CCAO-F) exam guide published by Anthropic: what the certification validates, the exam format, what the domain weights mean, and the objectives under each domain.
What CCAO-F validates
Anthropic's exam guide states that the certification "validates that an individual can apply Claude to complete business and productivity tasks with minimal guidance."
The exam is intended for professionals who use Claude as a productivity tool and build Claude Projects in their day-to-day work, across operations, marketing, project management, education, communications and general knowledge work. The guide recommends:
- Regular, hands-on experience using Claude in a professional setting
- A foundational understanding of structured problem-solving, workflow design and digital tool usage
- A practical understanding of AI limitations, including hallucinations, context constraints and data sensitivity
The guide states: "There are no mandatory prerequisites or required courses, and no software development or API experience is needed."
Exam format
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Exam code | CCAO-F |
| Questions | 60 |
| Question types | Multiple choice and multiple response. Each question states how many answers to select. |
| Time | 120 minutes |
| Delivery | Proctored, online or at a test centre |
| Passing score | Scaled score of 720 on a scale of 100 to 1,000 |
| Result | Pass or fail, scaled score, and percent correct by domain |
| Exam fee | US$99 |
| Validity | 12 months from the award date |
A scaled score of 720 does not mean 72% of questions answered correctly.
What domain weights mean
The exam guide divides the exam content into seven domains and gives each domain a weight. The guide explains the weights as follows:
"The exam blueprint defines the content domains measured and the approximate weight of each domain on the exam. Weights reflect the relative importance of each domain to competent performance as determined through the job task analysis."
The exam guides for the other three Claude certifications add that the percentages indicate the approximate proportion of scored items drawn from each domain. In practice, a domain weight tells you roughly what share of the questions come from that domain. Multiplying the weight by 60 gives an estimate of the number of questions. The actual number on your exam can differ.
| Domain | Domain weight | Estimated questions |
|---|---|---|
| Output Evaluation and Validation | 21% | 13 |
| Workflow Integration and Solution Design | 16% | 10 |
| Governance, Risk, and Responsible Use | 15% | 9 |
| Prompting and Task Execution | 14% | 8 |
| Product and Model Selection | 12% | 7 |
| Configuration and Knowledge Management | 12% | 7 |
| Troubleshooting and Optimization | 10% | 6 |
The largest domain is Output Evaluation and Validation: checking what Claude produces, not writing prompts.
Your result shows percent correct for each domain, so you can see which domains to study again if you need to retake the exam.
Objectives in each domain
The guide lists objectives under each domain. The objectives do not have separate weights. The lists below follow the guide's wording.
Prompting and Task Execution (14%)
- Create effective prompts for business and technical tasks
- Apply task decomposition techniques to structure complex requests
- Iterate prompts to improve output quality
- Adapt prompting strategies to the task type (analysis, research, drafting, brainstorming)
Output Evaluation and Validation (21%)
- Evaluate Claude-generated outputs for accuracy and completeness
- Identify hallucinations, inconsistencies and biases in responses
- Apply fact-checking and validation techniques
- Determine when human review or additional verification is required
- Edit, adapt, refine and compare outputs for the intended audience
- Organize and curate information, and select output formats (artifacts, inline, structured data)
Product and Model Selection (12%)
- Select Claude product features (Projects, research mode, chat, artifacts)
- Differentiate between Claude model types (Haiku, Sonnet, Opus)
- Align model selection with task requirements (cost, speed, quality)
- Understand and manage context limitations and memory considerations (when to restart, summarize or persist)
Workflow Integration and Solution Design (16%)
- Apply Claude to analyze requirements and use cases
- Use Claude for research, planning and process optimization
- Use Claude to support solution design, development and iteration
- Integrate Claude into existing workflows to augment or redesign them
- Communicate Claude's value and limitations to stakeholders
Configuration and Knowledge Management (12%)
- Configure Claude Projects with instructions and knowledge sources
- Manage uploaded knowledge and connectors (for example Google Drive, Gmail)
- Create effective system-level instructions
- Maintain and update Claude configurations, knowledge sources and instructions
Governance, Risk, and Responsible Use (15%)
- Identify appropriate and inappropriate use cases
- Apply data sensitivity, regulatory and privacy considerations
- Follow organizational AI policies and governance standards
- Understand the ethical implications of AI use
Troubleshooting and Optimization (10%)
- Identify, diagnose and resolve issues with underperforming prompts or poor outputs
- Adjust the approach based on feedback and results
- Optimize workflows for efficiency and effectiveness
Example question
This is an original Timo practice question on the Output Evaluation and Validation domain. It is not an official exam question.
A marketing manager asks Claude to draft a product comparison for a client presentation. The draft includes current prices for three competitor products. Company policy requires every figure shown to a client to be checked against a source.
What should the manager do before using the draft?
A. Ask Claude whether the three prices are correct, and keep them if Claude confirms them.
B. Check each price against the competitor's published pricing or another primary source.
C. Ask Claude to add a note that prices may be out of date, and keep the figures.
D. Regenerate the draft with a more capable Claude model, and use the new figures.
Answer: B. The policy requires each figure to be checked against a source. Only B does that.
- A asks Claude to confirm its own output. That is not a check against a source.
- C adds a warning but leaves the figures unchecked.
- D produces new figures that are still unchecked.
More questions in this format are in the free 20-question CCAO-F practice test, which explains every answer option and does not require sign-up. For the exam format and registration steps, see the CCAO-F exam guide on Timo Labs.
Top comments (0)