CCAR-P Domain Blueprint
The seven Professional domains, their exam weights, and what each one really tests — at a glance.
Study time should follow the weights. Integration (P3), Solution Design (P1) and Evaluation (P4) are over half the exam; don't neglect the two 14% 'soft' domains (P5, P6) where hands-on architects are thinnest.
P1
17%Solution Design & Architecture
P2
13%Claude Models, Prompting & Context Engineering
P3
19%Integration — RAG, MCP, Auth & Observability
P4
16%Evaluation, Testing & Optimization
P5
14%Governance, Safety & Risk Management
P6
14%Stakeholder Communication & Lifecycle Management
P7
7%Developer Productivity & Operational Enablement
What each domain tests
| Domain | Wt | The core question it asks |
|---|---|---|
| P1 Solution Design | 17% | Which architecture fits — and what's expensive to switch later? |
| P2 Models & Context | 13% | Right model, right prompt, right context budget (not fine-tuning) |
| P3 Integration | 19% | RAG/MCP/auth/observability — does it plug into the enterprise safely? |
| P4 Evaluation | 16% | How do you know it works, and where's the cheapest quality win? |
| P5 Governance | 14% | Which control, placed where, failing closed? |
| P6 Stakeholder & Lifecycle | 14% | Will it ship, adopt, and outlast the handoff? |
| P7 Dev Enablement | 7% | Can the team run it without you? |
The meta-question
Most items resolve to: where does responsibility belong — the model, the application code, or the tool/schema? A must-hold rule belongs in deterministic code, not a prompt.
All CCAR-P references
Independent, unofficial study material from Claude Cert Prep. Not affiliated with Anthropic.