CCDV-F: the developer exam, and the two domains not to overstudy

Claude Certified Developer, Foundations (exam code CCDV-F) is the build-focused exam, for engineers writing the code that calls Claude.

It has one property none of the other three share: it publishes a weight for every individual skill, not only for each domain. That makes it the easiest of the four to plan for, provided you actually read the numbers. Its domain sizes are also the most lopsided in the program, and studying it evenly is a straightforward way to waste a month.

Eligibility is the program-wide rule: Partner Academy, work email at a Claude Partner Network company. See the program overview.

Exam at a glance

Exam code	CCDV-F
Questions	53, across eight domains
Time limit	120 minutes, the most generous per question of the four
Passing score	720 on a scale of 100 to 1,000
Valid for	12 months
Retakes	14 days, then 30, then 90. Four attempts per rolling 12 months.
Delivery	Proctored. Online with a webcam, or at a Pearson VUE test center.
Prerequisites	None. The guide suggests one to five years of software engineering plus six months with Claude.
Language	English only. No browser translation.

The guide expects solid Python or TypeScript, comfort with REST APIs and command line tools, and a working understanding of how models, agents, context and MCP fit together. It rules out non-technical users and roles that only write prompts without building the application around them. For the non-coding track, see CCAO-F.

What it covers, and what each part is worth

Domain	Weight	Roughly
Applications and Integration	33.1%	18 questions
Model Selection and Optimization	16.8%	9 questions
Agents and Workflows	14.7%	8 questions
Prompt and Context Engineering	11.0%	6 questions
Tools and MCPs	10.6%	6 questions
Security and Safety	8.1%	4 questions
Claude Code	3.1%	2 questions
Eval, Testing, and Debugging	2.6%	1 question

Read the bottom two rows again. Claude Code and Eval, Testing and Debugging are worth about three questions between them, out of 53. They look like major subjects because they get their own named domains. They are not. Applications and Integration on its own is worth roughly eighteen.

That is the single most useful fact on this page. Claude Code is an enormous topic with enormous amounts written about it, and on this exam it is two questions.

The per-skill weights

Only this exam breaks the domains down further. The largest individual skills:

Skill	Weight
Claude Application Design	8.6%
Software Engineering Foundations	7.4%
Claude API Mechanics	6.8%
Technical Fundamentals	6.1%
Agent Construction with Claude	5.3%
LLM Fundamentals	5.2%
Agent Patterns and Frameworks	4.9%
Prompt Engineering	4.6%
Agent Architecture	4.5%
Tool Implementation	4.4%

Two of those have nothing to do with Claude. Software Engineering Foundations is REST, JSON, asynchronous code, version control, code review and refactoring. Technical Fundamentals covers SDKs as wrappers over REST APIs, and websockets. Close to 14% of this exam is ordinary software engineering competence.

A few details in the objectives are easy to miss: agent frameworks are named directly (Strands, LangGraph, PydanticAI), configuration management includes pinning model versions and versioning prompts, and hooks appear under Security as their own small skill described as a way to block destructive actions.

Does it count for your employer?

Yes. Developer Foundations is one of the three that count toward Claude Partner Network eligibility, with Architect Foundations and Architect Professional. The recognized work domain rule applies.

Preparation checklist

Before you study anything

• Partner Academy account on a recognized work domain
• Read the exam guide end to end
• Read the per-skill weights section specifically. Only this exam has one, and it is the whole study plan.
• Open the official prep course, five lessons

Study, in weight order

Applications and Integration first, and for a long time. Do not overstudy Claude Code or evaluation and debugging, however interesting they are. Budget real time for plain software engineering fundamentals, which is roughly 14% and which most candidates assume they can coast on.

Hands-on

• Ship one small application that uses the API, calls one tool, and handles errors properly
• Run the same job through real-time calls and through the Message Batches API, and compare
• Turn on prompt caching and measure what it actually saves
• Write an MCP server that exposes one internal capability as a tool
• Force valid output with a JSON schema rather than parsing free text
• Block a destructive action with a hook instead of asking nicely in the prompt
• Feed untrusted web text into your application and try to make it misbehave

Practice questions

The official practice exam was retired in the move to Pearson VUE. The guide’s sample questions are the only official example of style, and one of the three turns on choosing between real-time calls and the Message Batches API, which is worth reading closely.

When it breaks

“I spent two weeks on Claude Code.” Two questions. This is the most common way to misallocate study time on this exam, and the blueprint warns you in advance.

“I know Claude well but failed anyway.” Check the software engineering share. REST, JSON, async, version control and code review are roughly 14% and are not Claude knowledge at all.

“I ran out of time.” Unusual here. At 53 questions in 120 minutes this is the most generous pacing of the four.

Registration, ID, managed-device and badge problems work the same across the program and are written out in full on the CCAO-F page.