Study Plans

All plans use the same rules: hours follow blueprint weight; you build something real; you only book after a timed practice exam scores ≥ 80% with no domain below 65%.

CCAO-F (4 weeks, ~25 h)CCDV-F (6 weeks, ~35 h)CCAR-F (4 weeks, ~40 h)CCAR-P (6 weeks, ~50 h)

Week	Hours	Focus	Deliverable
1	7	D2 Output Evaluation (5.5 h) · D7 Troubleshooting (1.5 h) · Anthropic Academy: Claude 101, AI Capabilities and Limitations	Personal evaluation checklist; three deliberately-elicited hallucinations documented
2	7	D4 Workflow Integration (4 h) · D1 Prompting (3 h)	One real workflow mapped: where Claude adds value, where humans gate
3	7	D6 Governance (4 h) · D5 Configuration (3 h)	A configured Project with instructions + knowledge; a one-page acceptable-use summary
4	4	D3 Product/Model Selection (3 h) · Practice exam + review (1 h+)	Timed 60-item practice exam; book if ≥ 80%

Daily micro-routine (15 minutes)

1. Read five Lexique entries you cannot define from memory.
2. Re-answer two practice questions you got wrong yesterday, aloud, explaining each distractor.
3. Skim one decision table in the Decision Frameworks appendix.

Booking gate checklist

• Timed practice exam ≥ 80% overall.
• No domain below 65%.
• Can explain all ten anti-patterns and their correct alternative (technical exams).
• Can recite the model lineup, prices and Fable 5.1 breaking changes (technical exams).
• Can list the mandatory human-review triggers (all exams).
• Downloaded the current official Exam Guide and confirmed weights have not changed.
• Partner-domain email confirmed; Pearson VUE account created; OnVUE system test passed.
• Reminder set for renewal at month 10.

Final week – day-by-day

The last seven days are for consolidation, not new material. Do not cram; sleep matters more than one more topic.

Day	Focus	Output
−7	Full timed practice exam (exam 1), cold	Baseline score + per-domain breakdown
−6	Attack the two weakest domains from the breakdown	Re-do every missed item aloud, explaining each distractor
−5	Second weakest domains + all anti-patterns / model facts drill	Recite the 10 anti-patterns and their fix; the model table
−4	Practice exam 2 (harder), timed	Compare per-domain to day −7; note any domain <65%
−3	Decision frameworks + Lexique gaps	Every decision table explainable from the signal word
−2	Light review: skim your own notes; re-answer 10 previously-missed items	Confidence pass, no new topics
−1	Rest. Logistics only (OnVUE system test, ID, environment)	Night-before checklist done
Day 0	Exam	Arrive/settle 30 min early

40 must-know facts (flashcards)

Cover the answer; recall it cold. These are the highest-yield facts across all four exams.

1. Pass = 720/1000 scaled; 120 minutes; no guessing penalty.
2. Retakes: 14 / 30 / 90 days; max 4 per rolling year.
3. Validity 12 months; free on-time renewal; Credly badge.
4. Model IDs: claude-fable-5-1, claude-opus-5, claude-sonnet-5, claude-haiku-4-5.
5. Prices per MTok in/out: Fable $10/$50 · Opus $5/$25 · Sonnet $2/$10 · Haiku $1/$5.
6. Context: 1M for Fable/Opus/Sonnet; 200k for Haiku. Max output 128k / 64k (Haiku).
7. Fable 5.1: forced tool_choice → 400. Use auto+instruction, strict, or output_config.format.
8. Fable 5.1: append-only history; thinking blocks bound to producing model; 30-day retention (no ZDR); not Priority Tier.
9. Only Haiku 4.5 still uses budget_tokens; others use {"type":"adaptive"}.
10. effort: low | medium | high | xhigh; not on Haiku 4.5.
11. Cache: read 0.1×, write 1.25× (5-min) / 2× (1-hour); min 1024 tokens (2048 Haiku); break-even ≈ 2 reads.
12. Batch API: 50% off, results ≤24 h; for overnight/bulk.
13. stop_reason: end_turn | tool_use | max_tokens | stop_sequence | pause_turn | refusal.
14. Loop terminates on stop_reason, never on parsing prose or an iteration cap.
15. tool_result goes in a user message, matched by tool_use_id.
16. Tool errors: structured is_error (category, retryable) — never empty success.
17. Retry only 429/5xx/529 with backoff + jitter + retry-after; fix 4xx.
18. Rate-limit dimensions: RPM, ITPM, OTPM — whichever binds first.
19. Structured output: output_config.format + strict: true, then validate + retry.
20. Critical business rule → deterministic hook (PreToolUse, exit 2 blocks), not a prompt sentence.
21. Escalate on explicit request or beyond-capability — never sentiment or self-reported confidence.
22. Report per-segment metrics; aggregate accuracy hides failing segments.
23. Self-review in a fresh session / different model, never same-session.
24. 4–8 tools ideal; beyond ~10 use tool search + defer_loading.
25. Remove an unneeded destructive tool (least privilege) — not log/confirm it.
26. MCP primitives: Tools (model), Resources (app), Prompts (user); + sampling, roots.
27. MCP transports: stdio (local) vs Streamable HTTP (remote, OAuth 2.1 + PKCE).
28. MCP is model↔tool, not agent↔agent.
29. MCP connector = server-side, no local harness; pass user-scoped token.
30. Workflow = predefined code paths; Agent = model directs its own steps. Prefer the simplest.
31. Six workflow patterns: chaining, routing, parallelization, orchestrator-workers, evaluator-optimizer, augmented LLM.
32. CLAUDE.md precedence: managed → user → project → subdirectory; CLAUDE.local.md personal; @ imports.
33. settings.json scopes: managed > flags > local > project > user.
34. Skill (procedure) vs CLAUDE.md (conventions) vs command (one-liner) vs subagent (isolated task) vs MCP (external system).
35. Plan mode for multi-file/architectural/irreversible; direct for single obvious edits.
36. Headless: claude -p --output-format json|stream-json, --allowedTools, --permission-mode.
37. RAG for large/changing corpus + citations; long context for small stable; fine-tuning for style not facts.
38. Confident-but-wrong after a doc refresh → suspect retrieval/indexing first.
39. Hybrid retrieval (dense + BM25) + reranker; query rewriting/HyDE for vague queries.
40. Compliance: GDPR (EU personal data, DPIA), HIPAA (PHI + BAA), FedRAMP High (Bedrock/Vertex), SOC 2, ZDR.

Night-before checklist

• OnVUE system test passed on the same machine and network you will use.
• Government photo ID ready; name matches the Pearson VUE registration exactly.
• Quiet, private room; desk clear of notes, phones, second monitors.
• Webcam, microphone and stable internet confirmed; power adapter plugged in.
• Browser extensions/VPN that could block the proctor disabled.
• Exam start time and time zone double-checked; plan to launch 30 minutes early.
• Downloaded the current Exam Guide once more to confirm no weight changes.
• Sleep. No new studying after the −1 review.

Retake strategy by domain score

If you fail (or want to convert a marginal pass into a strong renewal baseline), use the score report’s per-domain breakdown to target the retake. Respect the 14-day minimum before the first retake.

Weakest-domain score	Interpretation	Retake plan
0–40%	Conceptual gap, not test nerves	Re-study that domain page fully + its practice questions; rebuild the hands-on deliverable; wait the full interval
41–60%	Knows the topic, misses the trade-off	Drill the decision tables and signal-word index for that domain; re-do missed items explaining every distractor
61–79%	Careless / time pressure	Timed drills on that domain only; practise eliminating distractor patterns fast
≥80% but overall failed	Broad thin coverage, no single weak domain	Full mixed-domain practice under time; focus on multi-constraint “FIRST/MOST/TWO” items