Days 1–5: one domain a day
Read the domain, then practice it in your own work — better prompts, real verification passes, product choices you can defend. The exam tests behavior, not trivia.
The non-technical exam · no code required
The CCAO-F exam: Claude Certified Associate — Foundations.
CCAO-F is the one Claude certification written for non-technical professionals. Its scenarios put you in the shoes of a persona — a marketing associate, an operations analyst, a project manager, a teacher — and ask what that person should do. Workplace judgement, not code.
60 QUESTIONS · 7 DOMAINS
120 MIN · CLOSED BOOK
PASS 720/1000
$99 LIST
01 — Exam snapshot
The exam at a glance
60 Q
Multiple choice, persona-based
7 domains
28 published objectives
120 min
~2 minutes per question
720
Pass, on a 100–1000 scale
$99
List price — the cheapest of the four
0 code
Non-technical, judgement-based
Online proctored via Pearson OnVUE, registered through the Anthropic Partner Academy. Credly badge valid 12 months. No guessing penalty — answer everything. Retakes: 14 days after attempt 1, 30 after attempt 2, 90 after attempt 3; max 4 per rolling 12 months. Logistics reflect the official program pages as of August 2026 — verify before booking.
02 — What's on it
Seven domains of workplace judgement
| Domain | Objectives | What it asks |
|---|---|---|
| Prompting & Task Execution | 4 | Getting good work out of Claude on the first pass — the Role → Context → Task → Format → Examples briefing skeleton. |
| Evaluating & Validating Outputs | 5 | Trust but verify: checking facts, numbers, citations, and claims before anything leaves your hands. |
| Choosing Product & Model | 5 | Which Claude product and model fits which job — and when the answer is "not an AI tool at all." |
| Workflow Integration & Design | 4 | Building reliable AI-assisted workflows into real business processes. |
| Configuration & Knowledge Mgmt | 3 | Projects, knowledge bases, and configuring Claude for a team's context. |
| Governance & Responsible Use | 4 | Sensitive data gets handled, not pasted — policy, redaction, and approved environments. |
| Troubleshooting | 3 | Diagnosing why an output went wrong and what to change — prompt, context, or expectations. |
Three judgement threads run through the whole exam: Trust but verify — any answer that ships unverified AI content externally is wrong. Sensitive data gets handled, not pasted — customer PII, health data, or regulated content means checking policy, redacting, or using an approved environment. Know your lane — the moment a scenario needs an API, custom integration, or production deployment, the answer is "escalate to a developer or architect," not build it yourself, and not give up.
03 — How to prepare
A week of deliberate practice — no setup required
Day 6: full mock
Take the 36-question quiz bank in exam mode, timed at ~2 minutes per question. Every question has a full explanation, so wrong answers teach.
Day 7: drill + book
Re-run your misses and book once you're scoring 85%+ — comfortably above the ~72% bar.
04 — The study kit
The Unofficial CCAO-F Study Guide
A 56-page guide written for non-technical readers and mapped to the 28 objectives of the official exam blueprint — persona-based scenarios, plain language, and zero code. Includes the full 7-day plan and a 36-question original quiz bank with complete answer explanations.
05 — FAQ
CCAO-F, frequently asked
Is there a Claude certification for non-technical people?
Yes — CCAO-F (Claude Certified Associate — Foundations) is the one exam in the Anthropic certification program written for non-technical professionals. Scenarios put you in the shoes of a persona — a marketing associate, an operations analyst, a project manager, a teacher — and ask what that person should do. No coding is involved.
What is on the CCAO-F exam?
60 questions across seven domains and 28 objectives: Prompting & Task Execution, Evaluating & Validating Outputs, Choosing Product & Model, Workflow Integration & Design, Configuration & Knowledge Management, Governance & Responsible Use, and Troubleshooting. Anthropic hasn't published official domain weights — study all seven; none is skippable.
How much does the CCAO-F exam cost?
The list price is $99 as of August 2026 — the least expensive of the four Claude certifications. It's 120 minutes, 60 multiple-choice questions, closed book, online proctored via Pearson OnVUE, with a passing score of 720 on a 100–1000 scale.
How hard is CCAO-F?
It's a judgement-based exam, not a memorization contest: the right answer is rarely "which button do I press" but "which behavior fits the business context, the policy, and the workflow." In the suggested order it comes last as the victory lap, but for non-technical professionals it stands entirely on its own — about a week of preparation at 2 hours a day is realistic.
06 — The full picture
See all four Claude certifications
CCAO-F is week 4 of our four-week roadmap — or a standalone goal if you're non-technical. Compare all four exams, costs, and study kits in one place.
View the certification roadmap
Technical colleague? Point them at the CCAR-F guide.
Independence. This is an independent, unofficial study resource — not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or approved by Anthropic, PBC or Pearson Education, Inc. “Claude,” the certification names, and the exam codes are trademarks of Anthropic, PBC, used here solely to identify the exam this page covers. Exam logistics reflect the official program pages as of August 2026 and can change — verify before booking. Every practice question in our guides is original and written to the publicly published exam objectives.