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Study Roadmaps

Level: Beginner · Time: ~20 min to choose · Exam relevance: CCAO-F and CCAR-P preparation plans

A roadmap turns "I should study for this" into "today I do these three things". Each plan below lists, for every day: objectives, reading (links to module pages), practical exercises (links to labs or in-app exercises), estimated time, a knowledge checkpoint, and revision milestones along the way.

Pick the plan that matches your experience and the track you are taking, then adjust it to your calendar. It is fine to take two days over a heavy day; it is not fine to skip the checkpoints.

Exam facts referred to in these plans (item counts, timing, domain weights) come from registry.yaml; see Exam facts. The official exam guides are scheduled to be updated (the registry records the dates). If you are studying after an update, re-check the domain list before you start.

Which plan is for you?

Plan Track Suits complete beginners? Assumes Daily time Total
7-day accelerated CCAO-F No Months of regular hands-on Claude use at work, including Projects; comfortable with prompting 3 to 4 h ~25 h
15-day preparation CCAO-F No, but close Some hands-on use of Claude or a similar AI assistant; no coding needed 2 h ~30 h
30-day structured CCAO-F Yes Nothing beyond basic computer use 1 to 1.5 h ~38 h
60-day comprehensive CCAR-P No Several years of software, systems or platform experience; Python reading ability; ideally some LLM project work 1.5 to 2 h ~110 h
90-day enterprise engineering CCAR-P (with an optional CCAO-F milestone on the way) Yes for AI, no for technology: no AI knowledge needed, but you should be a working developer, engineer or architect Programming and systems fundamentals 1.5 to 2 h on weekdays, plus some weekend lab time ~170 h

Mapping plans to the supported tracks

flowchart LR
    subgraph FTRACK["CCAO-F: business and knowledge workers"]
        D7[7-day accelerated]
        D15[15-day preparation]
        D30[30-day structured]
    end
    subgraph PTRACK["CCAR-P: architects and senior engineers"]
        D60[60-day comprehensive]
        D90[90-day enterprise engineering]
    end
    B[Complete beginner, non-technical] --> D30
    U[Regular Claude user] --> D15
    E[Experienced Claude power user] --> D7
    A[Experienced architect or engineer] --> D60
    T[Technical professional new to AI] --> D90
    D90 -. optional milestone around day 40 .-> FTRACK
  • CCAO-F (Claude Certified Associate – Foundations) is aimed at business and knowledge workers who use Claude as a productivity tool and build Claude Projects. It is not aimed at API developers. The 7-, 15- and 30-day plans target it.
  • CCAR-P (Claude Certified Architect – Professional) is for experienced architects, AI engineers, tech leads and senior developers who take Claude systems into production. The 60- and 90-day plans target it.
  • CCAR-F (Claude Certified Architect – Foundations) is for builders who work with the Agent SDK, Claude Code and MCP. There is no dedicated plan yet: follow Weeks 1 to 4 of the 60-day plan (API, prompting, tools and MCP, agents), add Module 09 (Claude Code), then switch to the CCAR-F track study guides and its scenario-based mock exams.

If you are unsure, read Choose your path first.

How the plans are structured

Every plan uses the same elements:

Element What it means
Objectives What you should be able to do by the end of the day
Reading Module pages, in order
Practical exercises A lab from 19-hands-on-labs (mock mode is free) or an exercise in the Claude app
Time A realistic estimate for an average learner, including exercises
Knowledge checkpoint A self-test: page quizzes, practice questions, or a task you must be able to do from memory. If you fail it, repeat the day's weakest page before moving on
Revision milestone Scheduled review days and mock exams. Do not skip them; spaced revision is where retention comes from

All plans use the same practice resources:

  • Practice questions, organised by track and domain
  • Mock exams, timed or in learning mode
  • Flashcards, including the fundamentals deck and one deck per track
  • Track materials: CCAO-F and CCAR-P study guides, revision notes, common misconceptions and readiness assessments

Tips for any plan

  1. Book protected time. Put study sessions in your calendar like meetings.
  2. Keep a study log. Note every missed checkpoint question and the page that answers it. Revision days start from this log.
  3. Practise in the real product. For CCAO-F, hands-on use of Claude matters as much as reading.
  4. Mock exam scores are a signal, not a prediction. Questions here are unofficial; aim for comfortable margins (above 80%) in every domain rather than a borderline average.
  5. Use fictional data. Never paste real customer or company data into practice exercises.

After your plan