Salesforce Administrator
Salesforce
Complete guide to passing the Salesforce Administrator exam on your first attempt.
$200
~65%
Annual maintenance
Global
Salesforce
$75k-$120k
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Complete Overview
The Salesforce Certified Platform Administrator exam is a 105-minute proctored test of 60 scored multiple-choice questions plus up to five unscored items, and it costs USD 200 plus applicable taxes to register, with a retake priced at USD 100 plus taxes. It is taken by people who configure and maintain Salesforce for an organization, and Salesforce recommends six or more months of hands-on experience as a Platform Administrator before booking. Salesforce renamed the credential from Salesforce Certified Administrator to Salesforce Certified Platform Administrator, and the current exam guide aligns to the Summer '25 release. There are no formal prerequisites. Anyone can register. The passing score is 68 percent in English and 65 percent in Japanese, and those are the only two languages the exam is offered in. Sixty-eight percent of 60 scored questions works out to 41 correct answers, which leaves room for 19 wrong ones. The exam is delivered through Pearson VUE, either onsite at a testing center or online through OnVUE, and no reference materials of any kind are permitted in either mode. The exam outline has eight sections. Data and Analytics Management carries the largest share at 17 percent. Configuration and Setup, Object Manager and Lightning App Builder, and Automation each carry 15 percent. Sales and Marketing Applications, Service and Support Applications, and Productivity and Collaboration each carry 10 percent. Agentforce, the newest section, carries 8 percent and covers Agentforce capabilities, appropriate use cases, and maintaining prompts and instructions in Agent Builder. Scoring is compensatory. Your pass or fail result comes from a single overall percentage across the whole exam, and the section percentages printed on your score report are diagnostic feedback that does not contribute to the result. There is no penalty for a wrong answer and no penalty for leaving a question blank, so every item should be answered. Questions can be flagged and revisited before you submit. Results appear onscreen at the end of the session and arrive by email, with section-level feedback provided only for exams taken in English. Salesforce does not publish a pass rate for this or any other certification exam; it publishes only the passing score percentage in each exam guide. If you fail, you can retake after 24 hours, and after a second failure you wait 14 days. A third failure in the same release cycle means waiting for the next release, at which point your attempt count resets. Holding the credential requires one Trailhead maintenance badge per year, with deadlines tied to the Spring, Summer and Winter release cycles. Miss the deadline and every certification maintained by that badge expires.
Why Get Salesforce Administrator Certified?
The exam guide sets no prerequisites, so a candidate can register with USD 200 and no prior credential, degree or employer sponsorship
A single 105-minute session covers eight subject areas, which is a shorter commitment than most platform certifications of comparable scope
The passing bar is 68 percent in English, meaning 41 of 60 scored questions, so 19 wrong answers still passes
Wrong answers carry no penalty and unanswered questions carry no penalty, which makes the scoring model forgiving of educated guesses
Salesforce gives 3 attempts per release cycle, with the counter resetting each release, so a failure does not lock you out for long
Maintenance is one free Trailhead badge per year rather than a paid re-examination, so the recurring cost of holding the credential is time only
Agentforce now accounts for 8 percent of the outline, which puts agent configuration inside the entry-level administrator scope rather than an advanced one
Exam Format & Structure
Duration
105 minutes of exam time. Pearson VUE asks online candidates to begin check-in 30 minutes before the appointment, and testing centers ask candidates to arrive early for the same identity and workspace checks, so the appointment block is longer than the exam itself.
Questions
60 scored multiple-choice questions, plus up to 5 unscored questions that Salesforce seeds for research. That means up to 65 items appear on screen and only 60 of them count, with no marking to tell you which is which.
Passing Score
68 percent for the English exam and 65 percent for the Japanese exam. Against 60 scored questions, the English bar is 41 correct answers. Section percentages on the score report are feedback only and do not have to be passed individually.
Question Types
- Multiple choice with a single correct answer
- Multiple select, where the stem states how many options to choose
- Scenario stems describing a business requirement, asking which declarative feature meets it
- Comparative items asking which of several automation or sharing tools fits a stated constraint
- Up to 5 unscored pretest items indistinguishable from the scored ones
Delivery Method
Proctored through Pearson VUE, either onsite at a testing center or online through OnVUE. No reference materials are permitted in either mode. Online testing requires Windows 10 or macOS 14 or higher, a single display, a webcam, microphone and speaker, a wired connection with at least 6 Mbps down and 2 Mbps up, and administrator rights on the machine. Virtual machines, VPNs and secondary monitors are barred.
How scoring works
Score scale
A single overall percentage of correct answers across the 60 scored questions, reported as pass or fail, accompanied by a percentage for each of the eight exam sections that is diagnostic feedback only.
Score needed to pass
68 percent for the English exam, which is 41 of the 60 scored questions. The Japanese exam passes at 65 percent. Individual sections do not have to be passed.
Roughly what that means raw
68 percent of 60 scored questions means 41 correct answers to pass in English, leaving a margin of 19 wrong answers. The exam guide gives a comparable worked example for another credential, where a 67 percent bar equals 40 of 60 questions correct.
When results arrive
There is no waiting period. An onscreen score report appears at the end of the session with the pass or fail outcome and a percentage for each exam section, and the identical report is emailed. Results are also stored under Past Exams in My Dashboard in Trailhead Academy. Section-level feedback is produced only for exams taken in English.
How the scale is built
Scoring is compensatory: one overall percentage decides the result, and strength in a heavy section offsets weakness in a light one. Wrong answers carry no penalty and unanswered questions carry no penalty, so a blank and a wrong answer are identical. Up to five unscored pretest items are seeded among the 60 scored questions and excluded from the calculation. Questions can be flagged and revisited before submission. Salesforce sets each credential's passing percentage and states it can change over time.
Pacing and time budget
60 questions in 105 minutes gives you 1 minute 45 seconds against the 60 scored questions, or 1 minute 36 seconds if all five unscored items also appear and you face 65 on screen. per question.
Minute 26
16 items, a quarter of the way through the 65 that can appear. If you are behind here it is usually because you are re-reading long scenario stems rather than eliminating options.
Minute 53
33 items, the halfway mark. This is the point to check how many you have flagged; more than 12 flags means you are deferring decisions you should be making.
Minute 79
49 items, three quarters. Anything still unanswered from here should get a best guess immediately, since blanks and wrong answers score the same.
Minute 95
All 65 items answered, leaving 10 minutes to work the review screen and revisit flagged questions.
Minute 105
Exam submitted. If time expires the exam submits automatically, and unanswered questions simply score zero rather than triggering any additional penalty.
| At this point | You should have answered |
|---|---|
| Minute 26 | 16 items, a quarter of the way through the 65 that can appear. If you are behind here it is usually because you are re-reading long scenario stems rather than eliminating options. |
| Minute 53 | 33 items, the halfway mark. This is the point to check how many you have flagged; more than 12 flags means you are deferring decisions you should be making. |
| Minute 79 | 49 items, three quarters. Anything still unanswered from here should get a best guess immediately, since blanks and wrong answers score the same. |
| Minute 95 | All 65 items answered, leaving 10 minutes to work the review screen and revisit flagged questions. |
| Minute 105 | Exam submitted. If time expires the exam submits automatically, and unanswered questions simply score zero rather than triggering any additional penalty. |
- Answer every question on the first pass even when you are unsure, then flag it. Flagged items carry a checkmark on the review screen so you can return without losing your place.
- Multiple-select stems tell you how many options to choose. Counting the required selections before reading the options prevents the most common careless loss on this exam.
- Long scenario stems usually contain one constraint that eliminates most options, such as a stated need for cross-object roll-up or a requirement that the automation run before save. Find the constraint first.
- Data and Analytics Management at 17 percent and the three 15 percent sections together account for 62 percent of the exam, so budget the majority of your remaining time in review toward flagged questions from those four areas.
- Up to five of the items you answer will not count. Do not let one baffling question dent your confidence; it may be an unscored pretest item.
Where the marks are
Data and Analytics Management
17%
The heaviest section. Expect import and export tool selection, duplicate and validation rules, custom report types, and how the sharing model changes what a given user sees in a report or dashboard.
Configuration and Setup
15%
Tests the security stack layer by layer: org-wide defaults, role hierarchy, sharing rules, and the choice between a custom profile and a permission set for a stated scenario.
Object Manager and Lightning App Builder
15%
Relationship behaviour dominates: cascade delete, ownership, and which relationship type permits a roll-up summary, plus record types driving picklists and page layouts.
Automation
15%
Asks you to pick the right tool for a requirement rather than build it. Flow types, before-save versus after-save behaviour, and approval process configuration are the recurring targets.
Sales and Marketing Applications
10%
Concentrates on lead conversion mechanics, lead and campaign automation, price books and opportunity products, and what sales productivity features actually do to forecast numbers.
Service and Support Applications
10%
Tests how a case reaches the right agent without human routing: assignment rules, queues, escalation rules with time triggers, and auto-response rules on web and email intake.
Productivity and Collaboration
10%
Covers the user-facing surface: activity management, Chatter group visibility, the mobile app and compact layouts, and when an AppExchange package is the right answer.
Agentforce
8%
The newest section and the one most study material misses. Asks about Agentforce capabilities, appropriate use cases, and maintaining prompts and instructions in Agent Builder at an administrator level.
| Topic | Weight | Why it scores |
|---|---|---|
| Data and Analytics Management | 17% | The heaviest section. Expect import and export tool selection, duplicate and validation rules, custom report types, and how the sharing model changes what a given user sees in a report or dashboard. |
| Configuration and Setup | 15% | Tests the security stack layer by layer: org-wide defaults, role hierarchy, sharing rules, and the choice between a custom profile and a permission set for a stated scenario. |
| Object Manager and Lightning App Builder | 15% | Relationship behaviour dominates: cascade delete, ownership, and which relationship type permits a roll-up summary, plus record types driving picklists and page layouts. |
| Automation | 15% | Asks you to pick the right tool for a requirement rather than build it. Flow types, before-save versus after-save behaviour, and approval process configuration are the recurring targets. |
| Sales and Marketing Applications | 10% | Concentrates on lead conversion mechanics, lead and campaign automation, price books and opportunity products, and what sales productivity features actually do to forecast numbers. |
| Service and Support Applications | 10% | Tests how a case reaches the right agent without human routing: assignment rules, queues, escalation rules with time triggers, and auto-response rules on web and email intake. |
| Productivity and Collaboration | 10% | Covers the user-facing surface: activity management, Chatter group visibility, the mobile app and compact layouts, and when an AppExchange package is the right answer. |
| Agentforce | 8% | The newest section and the one most study material misses. Asks about Agentforce capabilities, appropriate use cases, and maintaining prompts and instructions in Agent Builder at an administrator level. |
The numbers
60, plus up to 5 unscored
Scored questions
Source: Salesforce, Salesforce Certified Platform Administrator Exam Guide
105 minutes
Time allotted
Source: Salesforce, Salesforce Certified Platform Administrator Exam Guide
68 percent in English, 65 percent in Japanese
Passing score
Source: Salesforce, Salesforce Certified Platform Administrator Exam Guide
USD 200 or JPY 30,000 to register, USD 100 or JPY 15,000 to retake, both plus applicable taxes
Registration and retake fees
Source: Salesforce, Salesforce Certified Platform Administrator Exam Guide and Salesforce Certification Exam Pricing
3, with 24 hours after the first failure, 14 days after the second, and a wait for the next release after the third
Attempts allowed per release cycle
Source: Salesforce, Retake Policy for Salesforce Certification Exams
1 Trailhead maintenance badge per certification per year, on deadlines tied to the Spring, Summer and Winter releases
Annual maintenance required
Source: Salesforce, Maintain Your Salesforce Certification
If you fail
Wait before retaking
24 hours after a first failure before you can register again. 14 days after a second failure. After a third failure in the same release cycle you must wait for the next release cycle to begin.
Attempt limit
3 attempts at the same exam per release cycle. The counter resets when the next release cycle starts, so the practical ceiling is three attempts every few months rather than three in total.
Retake fee
USD 100 or JPY 15,000 plus applicable taxes, which is 50 percent of the USD 200 registration fee. Salesforce applies the reduced price automatically through Pearson VUE. Foundations exams carry no retake fee, and Accredited Professional exams are the exception that charges full price on a retake.
Salesforce treats deliberate circumvention of the retake policy as a program violation in its Credentialing and Certification Program Policies, so registering a second account to buy extra attempts risks the credential rather than gaining an attempt. Section-level feedback from a failed attempt is the most useful thing you take away: it shows a percentage for each of the eight outline sections, though Salesforce warns it cannot be added up into an overall score.
Exam Domains & Topics
The largest section of the outline. It covers moving data in and out of Salesforce safely, keeping it clean, and turning it into reports and dashboards that respect the sharing model.
Key Topics to Master:
- Data import and export considerations, including which tool suits which volume
- Data backup options and their limits
- Duplicate rules and matching rules
- Validation rules and where they fire relative to other automation
- Report types, filters, bucketing, formulas and joined reports
- How the org-wide sharing model changes what a given user sees in a report
- Dashboard creation, dynamic dashboards and running-user behaviour
Org-level settings and the security model. This section is where the exam tests the difference between what a profile does and what a permission set does, and how the sharing layers stack.
Key Topics to Master:
- Company settings including fiscal year, business hours and currency management
- User interface configuration and declarative setup options
- User account maintenance, deactivation and license distribution
- Organization security controls such as login hours, IP ranges and session settings
- Applying the right sharing mechanism to a stated business scenario
- Choosing between a custom profile and a permission set for a given requirement
The data model and the record page. Expect questions about which relationship type to use, what happens to data when a field is deleted, and how record types, page layouts and business processes interact.
Key Topics to Master:
- Standard object architecture and the relationships between standard objects
- Lookup, master-detail and hierarchical relationships and their behaviour on delete
- Creating, modifying and deleting custom fields, and what deletion does to existing data
- Field types, formula fields and roll-up summary constraints
- Page layout creation, assignment and field-level visibility
- Record types and business processes, and how they drive picklist values and layouts
- Lightning App Builder pages, components and assignment rules for pages
Choosing and configuring the right declarative automation. Salesforce has consolidated its automation tooling around Flow, so this section tests flow types and approval processes rather than legacy tools.
Key Topics to Master:
- Selecting an automation solution that fits a stated business requirement
- Flow types including record-triggered, screen, scheduled and autolaunched flows
- Before-save and after-save record-triggered flow behaviour
- Flow elements, resources, decisions and loops at a configuration level
- Approval process setup, entry criteria, approval steps and final approval actions
- Recall actions, dynamic approvers and delegated approvers
Sales Cloud functionality from an administrator's seat: the objects that carry a deal from lead to closed opportunity, plus the productivity and campaign features layered on top.
Key Topics to Master:
- Sales process capabilities and the implications of changing stages
- Lead conversion, lead assignment rules and lead scoring
- Opportunity products, price books and quotes
- Campaign management, campaign members and campaign influence
- Sales productivity tools including forecasting and sales dashboards
- Lead automation such as auto-response rules and queues
Service Cloud case handling. The exam concentrates on how a case reaches the right agent automatically and what escalates it if nobody acts.
Key Topics to Master:
- Case management capabilities and the case lifecycle
- Case assignment rules and case queues
- Escalation rules and their time triggers
- Auto-response rules for web and email-to-case
- Web-to-case and email-to-case setup considerations
- Knowledge and entitlements at an awareness level
The features users touch every day rather than the ones administrators configure once. Activities, Chatter, the mobile app and AppExchange all sit here.
Key Topics to Master:
- Activity management: tasks, events, activity timeline and email integration
- Chatter capabilities, groups and who can see what
- Salesforce mobile app features and the compact layout
- AppExchange use cases and the difference between managed and unmanaged packages
- Global actions and quick actions
- Notes, files and their sharing behaviour
The newest section of the outline, added when Salesforce refreshed the exam. It sits at an administrator level: recognising what Agentforce can do and keeping an agent's instructions maintained, rather than building one from scratch.
Key Topics to Master:
- Agentforce capabilities and where they fit in a Salesforce org
- Appropriate and inappropriate use cases for an agent
- Agent Builder topics, actions and instructions
- Maintaining prompts and instructions as business requirements change
- How agent actions relate to existing declarative automation
- Grounding an agent in Salesforce data
Recommended Study Plan
- 1Read the Salesforce Certified Platform Administrator Exam Guide in Salesforce Help and copy the eight section weightings into a tracker
- 2Sign up for a free Trailhead account and spin up a Trailhead Playground you will use for every hands-on task
- 3Start the official Prepare for your Salesforce Platform Administrator Credential trailmix rather than assembling your own module list
- 4Note that the exam guide aligns to the Summer '25 release and skim that release's notes for anything that changed in Setup
- 5Run the Pearson VUE OnVUE system test now if you intend to test online, since a VPN or a work laptop can disqualify you late
- 1Configure fiscal year, business hours and multiple currencies in your playground and observe what each setting changes
- 2Create two users on different licenses and compare what each can reach
- 3Build one custom profile and one permission set that grant the same access, then write down when each is the better answer
- 4Set login IP ranges and login hours on a profile, then log in as that user to see the enforcement
- 5Work through org-wide defaults, role hierarchy, sharing rules and manual sharing in order, since exam stems usually describe a symptom and expect you to name the layer
- 1Build a master-detail relationship and a lookup between the same two custom objects, then delete a parent record in each and compare the result
- 2Create a roll-up summary field and confirm which relationship type allows it
- 3Delete a custom field, check the recycle bin behaviour, then restore it
- 4Create two record types with different picklist values and different page layouts, and assign them to different profiles
- 5Build a Lightning record page with a dynamic component that appears only when a field has a specific value, then activate it as an app default
- 1Build a before-save record-triggered flow that stamps a field, then rebuild it as after-save and compare the behaviour
- 2Build a screen flow and surface it from a quick action
- 3Build a scheduled flow and inspect the scheduled jobs it creates
- 4Configure an approval process with entry criteria, two steps, a final approval action and a recall action
- 5Write a one-page decision table mapping business requirements to the right automation tool, because the exam asks you to choose rather than to build
- 1Import records with Data Import Wizard and again with Data Loader, and list where each tool wins
- 2Trigger a duplicate rule and a matching rule and read the resulting alert and report
- 3Write three validation rules including one that only fires on record creation
- 4Export data and confirm what an export includes and excludes
- 5Study which data is covered by Salesforce backup options and which is not
- 1Build a summary report, a matrix report and a joined report on the same data set
- 2Create a custom report type for a lookup relationship that no standard report type covers
- 3Add a bucket column and a row-level formula to an existing report
- 4Build a dynamic dashboard and a dashboard with a fixed running user, then log in as another user to see the difference
- 5Restrict a role's visibility and observe how the same report changes for that user
- 1Convert a lead and trace exactly which records are created and which fields map across
- 2Configure a lead assignment rule with multiple entries and a default assignee
- 3Set up a price book, add products to an opportunity and observe the amount recalculation
- 4Configure case assignment rules, escalation rules and auto-response rules in one org and trace a case through all three
- 5Set up web-to-case and confirm what happens when the daily limit is reached
- 1Configure the activity timeline, log a call and create a follow-up task from it
- 2Create a Chatter group of each visibility type and test who can see the posts
- 3Edit a compact layout and confirm the change in the Salesforce mobile app
- 4Install a free managed package from AppExchange into a playground and inspect what you can and cannot edit
- 5Work through the Agentforce modules on Trailhead, focusing on Agent Builder topics, actions and instruction maintenance rather than on building an agent end to end
- 1Sit a timed 60-question practice exam in 105 minutes with no notes and no org open
- 2Score it against the 68 percent bar, which is 41 correct out of 60
- 3Map every wrong answer back to one of the eight exam guide sections and count the misses per section
- 4Rebuild in your playground any feature you got wrong, since recognition without configuration rarely survives a scenario stem
- 5Practise flagging and revisiting questions so the review screen is familiar rather than a surprise
- 1Book the exam, checking that the name on the booking matches your government photo ID exactly
- 2If testing online, photograph your intended workspace and check it against the rules: private room, solid wall, clear desk, single display
- 3Sit a second timed practice exam and confirm you clear 68 percent with margin rather than by one question
- 4Reread the exam guide objectives one final time and mark any bullet you cannot explain out loud
- 5Confirm the 48-hour reschedule window in case anything changes, and plan to start online check-in 30 minutes before the appointment
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Best Study Resources
Salesforce Certified Platform Administrator Exam Guide
Official exam guideThe authoritative document in Salesforce Help. It lists the eight sections with exact weightings, the 68 percent English passing score, the 105-minute limit, the 60 scored questions plus up to 5 unscored, the USD 200 fee and the USD 100 retake fee.
Free
Prepare for your Salesforce Platform Administrator Credential trailmix
Official learning pathSalesforce's own curated trailmix on Trailhead, organised by exam section with the section weight shown against each block.
Free
Trailhead Playground
Official practice orgA disposable Salesforce org attached to your Trailhead profile. Every objective in the exam guide can be configured in one, which matters because the exam asks what a configuration does rather than what a term means.
Free with a Trailhead account
Salesforce Developer Edition org
Official free orgA permanent free org with more storage headroom than a playground, useful for building a data model you want to keep across the whole study period.
Free
Trailhead Academy instructor-led courses
Official paid trainingSalesforce's own instructor-led administrator training, delivered by Salesforce instructors and mapped to the credential.
Paid, priced per course by Salesforce
Salesforce Help documentation
Official documentationThe reference for every Setup screen. Use it for the exact behaviour of things the exam likes to test at the edges, such as what deleting a field does to reports that use it.
Free
Salesforce release notes
Official documentationThe current exam guide aligns to the Summer '25 release, so the release notes tell you which behaviours the exam expects and which are newer than the blueprint.
Free
Pearson VUE OnVUE system test
Official readiness checkRun this before booking if you plan to test at home. It checks operating system, webcam, microphone, bandwidth and whether your machine will let the secure browser run.
Free
Focus on Force practice exams
Third-party practiceQuestion banks organised against the published exam sections, with explanations. Useful for calibrating against the 68 percent bar rather than for learning the platform.
Paid
Trailblazer Community groups
Official communitySalesforce-hosted groups where administrators post configuration questions. Useful for the scenario reasoning the exam rewards, since answers usually explain why one tool beats another.
Free
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Studying the old seven-section blueprint
Salesforce refreshed the exam. The current outline has eight sections and includes Agentforce at 8 percent, with Data and Analytics Management now the heaviest at 17 percent. Older study guides that show Configuration and Setup at 20 percent are describing a retired version.
Preparing for a 65 percent passing score
The English exam passes at 68 percent, which is 41 of 60 scored questions. Practice results in the mid-60s are failing results, not borderline ones.
Leaving questions blank to avoid guessing wrong
Salesforce applies no penalty for an incorrect answer and no penalty for an unanswered one. A blank scores exactly the same as a wrong answer, so answering every item is free upside.
Trying to compute an overall score from section-level feedback
Salesforce states that section percentages are feedback and do not determine the result, and warns that adding them up will not reproduce your overall score. Sections are weighted differently and are rounded to whole numbers.
Learning feature names without configuring anything
The stems describe a business requirement and ask which declarative option meets it. Build each objective once in a Trailhead Playground; recognising the word validation rule does not tell you whether it fires before or after a record-triggered flow.
Confusing profile scope with permission set scope
Configuration and Setup explicitly tests choosing between a custom profile and a permission set for a scenario. Practise the distinction by granting the same access twice, once with each, and noting which one scales to a handful of exceptions.
Ignoring which relationship type permits a roll-up summary
Object Manager questions frequently hinge on master-detail versus lookup behaviour: cascade delete, ownership inheritance and roll-up summary availability. Build both between the same objects and delete a parent record to see it rather than memorise it.
Booking an online exam from a work laptop or a shared room
OnVUE bars VPNs, virtual machines, secondary displays and shared spaces, and requires administrator rights on the machine. A locked-down corporate laptop or a glass-walled meeting room will fail check-in after the fee is already paid.
Treating maintenance as optional after passing
One Trailhead maintenance badge per year is required, on a deadline tied to a Spring, Summer or Winter release. Missing it expires every certification that badge maintains, which turns a free 30-minute task into a full retake.
Assuming a fourth attempt is available if you keep paying
You get three attempts per release cycle. After the third failure you must wait for the next release before you can register again, whatever your budget.
Exam Day Tips
- 1
Begin OnVUE check-in 30 minutes before the appointment. The pre-check runs a system verification, a selfie, workspace photos and an ID review before a live proctor releases the exam.
- 2
Bring a valid, government-issued photo ID whose name matches your booking exactly. Pearson VUE refuses expired, digital, photocopied and paper-based IDs, with a small set of published country exceptions.
- 3
For online testing, sit alone in a private room with a solid wall behind you. Glass-walled conference rooms, dorms, libraries, coffee shops and shared offices are all refused.
- 4
Clear the desk to the computer, keyboard and mouse. A beverage in an unmarked container is the only extra Pearson VUE names as acceptable; no paper, pens, notes, books or food.
- 5
Take down anything on the walls that carries writing, including sticky notes, framed certificates and artwork, before the room scan.
- 6
Disconnect secondary monitors and touchscreens, turn off background applications, and use a wired connection rather than a phone hotspot. VPN and Zscaler connections will block the secure browser.
- 7
Confirm the machine runs Windows 10 or macOS 14 or higher with administrator rights, and that you have at least 6 Mbps down and 2 Mbps up.
- 8
Put phones, tablets, headphones, earbuds and watches out of reach. Wearing a smartwatch through check-in is a common and avoidable failure.
- 9
No reference material is permitted in either delivery mode. There is no open Salesforce org, no printed notes and no scratch material provided online.
- 10
Flag anything you are unsure of and move on. Flagged items appear with a checkmark on the review screen, and you can change answers until you submit.
- 11
Do not plan a break. Pearson VUE states that breaks are not guaranteed and that leaving the webcam view is only allowed if the exam itself offers an approved break.
- 12
Answer every question before submitting, including the ones you flagged, because unanswered items score the same as wrong ones.
Career Paths & Salary Ranges
Salesforce Platform Administrator
The core role the exam is built for. Salesforce describes certified Platform Administrators as people who look for ways to get more out of the Salesforce Platform through additional features and capabilities, and recommends six or more months in the seat before testing.
Salesforce publishes no salary data for its credentials. What it does publish for this role is the entry cost: USD 200 plus taxes to register, USD 100 plus taxes per retake, and one free Trailhead maintenance badge a year to keep the credential live.
Salesforce Platform Administrator II
The next credential in the administrator track, with its own exam guide, outline and passing score. It assumes the Platform Administrator content as a base rather than repeating it.
No salary figures are published by Salesforce. The differentiator it publishes is scope: Administrator II is aimed at seasoned administrators using advanced features and functionality to solve a variety of business problems.
Salesforce Platform App Builder
A sideways move from administration into application design. It overlaps heavily with the Object Manager and Automation sections of the administrator exam, which makes it the cheapest second credential to attempt for most administrators.
No salary figures are published by Salesforce. The published distinction is the skill set: designing, building and deploying custom applications using the declarative customization capabilities of the Salesforce Platform.
Agentforce Specialist
The specialist path opened up by the 8 percent Agentforce section on the administrator exam. The administrator exam tests recognition of use cases and instruction maintenance; the specialist credential goes considerably further.
No salary figures are published by Salesforce. The published scope is managing and optimizing Agentforce with a deep understanding of both Salesforce platform configuration and Agentforce capabilities.
Agentforce Sales Consultant
A consulting route that builds on the 10 percent Sales and Marketing Applications section, moving from configuring Sales Cloud to designing it for a client.
No salary figures are published by Salesforce. The published focus is designing and implementing Sales Cloud solutions that are sustainable, scalable and contribute to long-term customer success.
Agentforce Service Consultant
The service-side equivalent, building on the 10 percent Service and Support Applications section. Case automation knowledge from the administrator exam transfers directly.
No salary figures are published by Salesforce. The published focus is designing and implementing Service Cloud solutions that meet customer business requirements and remain scalable.
Prerequisites & Requirements
- None. The Salesforce Certified Platform Administrator exam guide states that no prerequisite credential, degree or course is required to register.
- Salesforce recommends, without requiring, six or more months of experience as a Salesforce Platform Administrator, plus general knowledge of the features available to end users.
- A Trailblazer account is needed to register through Trailhead Academy and to view results afterwards.
- A valid government-issued photo ID whose name matches the booking exactly is required on exam day, in both test-center and online modes.
- For online delivery, a private room, a computer running Windows 10 or macOS 14 or higher with administrator rights, a single display, a webcam, microphone and speaker, and a wired connection of at least 6 Mbps down and 2 Mbps up.
- USD 200 plus applicable taxes for the first attempt. Certification exams are taxable according to local law, so the charged amount can exceed the list price.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does the Salesforce Platform Administrator exam cost?
Registration is USD 200 or JPY 30,000, plus applicable taxes, and a retake is USD 100 or JPY 15,000, plus taxes. Salesforce notes that certification exams are taxable per local law, so the amount charged can be higher than the list price depending on where you sit the exam. Salesforce prices most retakes at 50 percent of the original exam price, and the administrator retake follows that pattern.
What is the passing score?
68 percent for the English exam and 65 percent for the Japanese exam. Against 60 scored questions, 68 percent means 41 correct answers, so 19 wrong answers still passes. The passing percentage is set by Salesforce, published in the exam guide, and can change over time, which is why the guide rather than a third-party article is the figure to trust.
How many questions are there, and how long do I get?
60 scored multiple-choice questions plus up to five unscored questions, in 105 minutes. The unscored questions are seeded for research and are indistinguishable from the scored ones, so up to 65 items can appear and you should treat all of them as if they count. That works out to roughly 1 minute 36 seconds per item if all 65 appear.
Are there prerequisites?
No. The exam guide lists no prerequisite credential, course or degree, and anyone can register and pay. Salesforce recommends six or more months of experience as a Platform Administrator along with general knowledge of end-user features, but nothing verifies that experience at registration. Candidates without an employer org can build every objective in a free Trailhead Playground instead.
Can I use notes, documentation or a Salesforce org during the exam?
No. The exam guide states plainly that no materials are permitted during the exam, and that applies to both test-center and online delivery. In online mode Pearson VUE requires the desk to be clear of books, notes, paper, pens and electronics, and requires you to remove anything with writing on it from the walls before the room scan.
What happens if I fail?
You keep your section-level feedback, which shows a percentage for each of the eight outline sections, and you can register again after a waiting period. There is no lasting mark on your Trailblazer record beyond the attempt itself. Use the section percentages to decide where to study, but do not try to reverse-engineer your overall score from them, because Salesforce weights the sections differently and rounds each percentage to a whole number.
How long must I wait to retake, and how many attempts do I get?
You get three attempts at the same exam within one release cycle. After a first failure you wait 24 hours before registering again. After a second failure you wait 14 days. After a third failure in the same cycle you must wait until the next release cycle begins, at which point your attempt count resets. There is no way to buy a fourth attempt inside the same cycle.
When do I get my result?
Immediately. An onscreen score report appears when you finish the session, showing pass or fail plus a percentage for each exam section, and the same report arrives by email. Past exam results are stored under My Dashboard in Trailhead Academy. Section-level feedback is currently generated only for exams delivered in English.
Do I need to pass each section individually?
No. Scoring is compensatory. Your result comes from a single overall percentage across the whole exam, and Salesforce states explicitly that section percentages do not contribute to determining your official pass or fail result. A weak Agentforce section can be offset by a strong Data and Analytics Management section, which is worth remembering when you decide where to spend your last week of study.
Is there a penalty for guessing?
No. Salesforce applies no penalty for incorrect answers and no penalty for questions left unanswered when time expires. A blank and a wrong answer score identically, so there is no scoring reason to leave anything empty. Flag uncertain items, work through the rest, and come back to the flagged ones on the review screen before you submit.
How does recertification work, and are there continuing education credits?
There are no continuing education credits and no re-examination. Salesforce requires one Trailhead maintenance badge per year for each certification, released alongside a product release and taking well under an hour. Deadlines are tied to the Spring, Summer and Winter release cycles, and each certification is assigned to a specific cycle. Accredited Professional and Foundations credentials are the exceptions that require no annual maintenance.
What happens if I miss the maintenance deadline?
Every certification maintained by that badge expires, and in some cases is suspended instead. Salesforce puts the responsibility on the certified professional to track published deadlines rather than relying on email reminders, and publishes a separate article covering the options once a certification has expired. Because the badge is free and short, letting it lapse converts a 30-minute task into a paid retake of the full exam.
What identification do I need?
A valid, government-issued photo ID with a recognisable photo whose name matches your exam booking exactly. Pearson VUE accepts an international passport, a plastic driver's licence, a national, state or province ID card, a green card or permanent resident visa, and certain Aadhaar cards and Brazilian paper-based driver's licences. Expired, digital, photocopied and most paper-based IDs are refused, as are IDs from countries where local law restricts their use.
What does my room need to look like for an online-proctored exam?
A private room where you are alone, with a solid wall behind you rather than glass, a light source facing you, and a screen that does not face a window. Shared offices, dorm rooms, coffee shops, libraries, bathrooms and other public spaces are all refused. Within arm's reach the desk must hold only the computer, keyboard and mouse, plus a beverage in an unmarked container. Walls must be cleared of anything with writing on it, including sticky notes and framed certificates.
What technology does online delivery require?
Windows 10 or macOS 14 or higher, a working webcam, microphone and speaker, a single display with any secondary monitor or touchscreen disconnected, at least 6 Mbps download and 2 Mbps upload on a wired connection, and administrator rights on the machine. Virtual machines, beta operating systems, hotspots, VPNs and Zscaler connections are all barred. Run the OnVUE system test before booking rather than on the morning of the exam.
Can I take a break during the exam?
Plan on no. Pearson VUE states that breaks are not guaranteed and that you may only leave the webcam view if your exam confirms you are on an approved break, since not all exams offer them. At 105 minutes the session is short enough to sit through, so manage fluid intake beforehand rather than assuming you can step away.
Can I reschedule or cancel?
Yes, subject to notice. Salesforce requires testing centre registrations to be rescheduled or cancelled at least 48 hours before the scheduled exam start time, and its policy article stresses that 48 hours is not the same as two business days. Leaving it later than that risks forfeiting the registration fee.
Are accommodations available?
Salesforce and Pearson VUE handle testing accommodations through a request process rather than by default, and requests must be approved before you schedule the exam. Because approval is a precondition of booking rather than something applied afterwards, start the request well ahead of your target date and check the current Salesforce Help article for the evidence required.
Does Salesforce publish a pass rate?
No. Salesforce publishes the passing score percentage for each credential in its exam guide, but it does not publish how many candidates clear that bar. Any pass rate figure you see quoted for the Platform Administrator exam comes from a training provider or a survey, not from Salesforce, and should be treated accordingly.
Why is Agentforce on an administrator exam?
Salesforce added an Agentforce section worth 8 percent when it refreshed the exam outline, placing agent work inside the administrator's remit rather than treating it as advanced-only. The objectives stay at an administrator level: recognising Agentforce capabilities and appropriate use cases, and maintaining prompts and instructions in Agent Builder. Building and optimising agents in depth belongs to the separate Agentforce Specialist credential.
How does this compare to Platform App Builder and Platform Administrator II?
The Platform Administrator exam is the foundation of the three. Platform App Builder shifts the emphasis from managing an org to designing and deploying custom applications with declarative tools, so it reuses the Object Manager and Automation material and adds application design. Platform Administrator II targets seasoned administrators applying advanced features to a wider range of business problems. Each has its own exam guide, outline and passing score, so check the individual guide rather than assuming the administrator format carries over.
Did the certification change its name?
Yes. Salesforce now lists the credential as Salesforce Certified Platform Administrator, having previously called it Salesforce Certified Administrator. The exam is still widely referred to by its old registration code in third-party material. The content refresh that accompanied the change is more consequential than the name: eight sections instead of seven, a new Agentforce section, and Data and Analytics Management promoted to the heaviest weighting at 17 percent.
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