CCAR-P·In development
Claude Certified Architect - Professional
The Claude Certified Architect - Professional (CCAR-P) is Anthropic's advanced architect exam. It goes beyond foundations into end-to-end solution design, evaluation and optimisation, governance and risk, and stakeholder communication, across 7 weighted domains and 63 questions, priced at $175. We are building prep for it now.
- $175
- exam fee
- 63
- questions
- 120 min
- time limit
- 720
- to pass (of 1000)
- 12 mo
- valid for
What the professional exam tests
The CCAR-P guide weights 7 domains across the full delivery lifecycle, from solution design through governance to operational enablement. It assumes the foundations material and tests judgement at scale.
Domain 1
17%Solution Design & Architecture
- 1.1Translate business problems into Claude-based AI solutions
- 1.2Design end-to-end architectures (input to processing to output to feedback loops)
- 1.3Select appropriate architectural patterns (workflow, agentic, augmented LLM)
- 1.4Design multi-agent systems and orchestration strategies
- 1.5Apply decomposition techniques for complex problem solving
- 1.6Align solutions to business value pillars (efficiency, transformation, productivity, cost, performance SLAs)
Domain 2
13%Claude Models, Prompting & Context Engineering
- 2.1Select appropriate Claude models based on trade-offs
- 2.2Design system prompts, templates, and guardrails
- 2.3Apply prompt engineering techniques (zero-shot, few-shot, chain-of-thought)
- 2.4Optimize context windows and manage token usage
- 2.5Implement prompt reuse strategies (caching, modular prompts, Skills)
Domain 3
19%Integration
- 3.1Evaluate tool/agent configuration for capability bloat
- 3.2Analyze authentication and authorization requirements to identify security gaps
- 3.3Evaluate accuracy-latency trade-offs and justify configuration decisions
- 3.4Analyze observability challenges and select monitoring strategies at scale
- 3.5Design a RAG pipeline with appropriate chunking and indexing strategies
- 3.6Apply retrieval strategies matched to data shape and query pattern
- 3.7Evaluate connection protocols and select the appropriate integration mechanism (MCP, API/CLI, agent-to-agent)
- 3.8Evaluate progressive discovery vs. monolithic context strategy
Domain 4
16%Evaluation, Testing & Optimization
- 4.1Define evaluation metrics (accuracy, latency, cost, safety, security)
- 4.2Design evaluation datasets and test frameworks using mixed methodologies
- 4.3Conduct A/B testing and iterative improvements
- 4.4Diagnose system issues (prompt failure, hallucinations, model mismatch)
- 4.5Optimize token usage, latency, and cost-performance trade-offs
- 4.6Monitor system performance using logging and observability tools
Domain 5
14%Governance, Safety & Risk Management
- 5.1Implement guardrails and safety controls
- 5.2Identify risks, limitations, and failure modes of LLM systems
- 5.3Apply human-in-the-loop validation strategies
- 5.4Ensure compliance with regulations (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, FedRAMP)
- 5.5Address ethical AI considerations (bias, fairness, transparency)
Domain 6
14%Stakeholder Communication & Lifecycle Management
- 6.1Conduct structured discovery and requirement gathering
- 6.2Communicate architectural decisions and trade-offs
- 6.3Manage stakeholder feedback loops and expectation alignment (including SLAs)
- 6.4Document architectures and provide implementation guidance
- 6.5Support lifecycle phases (discovery, design, handoff, monitoring, iteration)
Domain 7
7%Developer Productivity & Operational Enablement
- 7.1Configure Claude tools and environments for teams (e.g., Claude Code)
- 7.2Improve developer workflows using AI-assisted tooling
- 7.3Support debugging and operational issue resolution
Claude Certified Architect - Professional prep is in development
We are building adaptive prep for this exam. Because we track mastery per concept rather than per course, the work you put in on the live Architect Foundations track already counts towards the concepts these exams share, so starting now puts you ahead.
Start with the Architect Foundations trackFrequently asked
- How much does the CCAR-P exam cost?
- The professional exam costs $175, more than the foundations exams because it targets senior architects. It is booked through Pearson VUE.
- How is CCAR-P different from the foundations exam?
- The professional tier assumes you already have the foundations material and tests architectural judgement at scale: solution design, evaluation and optimisation, governance and risk, and stakeholder communication across 7 domains and 63 questions.
- Should I take the foundations exam first?
- Yes. The professional exam builds directly on the architect foundations material, so passing the foundations exam is the natural first step and the fastest way to start preparing today.
- When can I prepare for it on AI Skill Certs?
- Professional prep is in active development. Because we track mastery per concept rather than per course, the progress you build on shared concepts carries across every certification we prep. Time spent now is not wasted when you move between tracks.