1.3 Exam Blueprint & Study Strategy
Key Takeaways
- The CSA Mainline blueprint has six weighted domains; the weights total 100% and are not equal.
- Database Management and Platform Security is the heaviest domain at 30% of the exam.
- Configuring Applications for Collaboration and Self Service and Automation are tied at 20% each, making the top three domains 70% of scoring.
- Weight your hands-on PDI practice toward the heaviest domains rather than studying every domain equally.
- At ~90 seconds per question, flag uncertain items, answer everything, and reserve time for a final review pass.
The Six CSA Domains And Their Weights
The CSA Mainline blueprint divides the exam into six domains with unequal weights. Studying every domain for the same amount of time is inefficient. Allocate effort proportionally, with extra emphasis on the heaviest areas.
| # | Domain | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Platform Overview & Navigation | 7% |
| 2 | Instance Configuration | 10% |
| 3 | Configuring Applications for Collaboration | 20% |
| 4 | Self Service and Automation | 20% |
| 5 | Database Management and Platform Security | 30% |
| 6 | Data Migration and Integration | 13% |
Database Management and Platform Security is the single heaviest domain at 30%. Together with the two 20% domains, the top three areas account for 70% of the exam. Platform Overview & Navigation, at 7%, is the lightest, but still worth a quick, confident pass.
What This Means For Your Plan
- Spend the most hands-on PDI time on the data model, Access Control Lists (ACLs), import behavior, and platform security, since that domain alone is 30%.
- Treat Collaboration (lists, forms, tasks, notifications) and Self Service and Automation (knowledge, catalog, Flow Designer) as co-priorities at 20% each.
- Give Data Migration and Integration (13%) solid coverage of update sets, import sets, and transform maps.
- Do not over-invest in Platform Overview & Navigation (7%) or Instance Configuration (10%) beyond confident familiarity.
A Hands-On, PDI-First Study Approach
The CSA rewards applied skill. Use this loop for each domain:
- Read the corresponding study-guide chapter for the concept and the why.
- Do the task on your Personal Developer Instance (PDI) end to end.
- Break and verify — log in as a different role to confirm an ACL or UI policy behaves as expected.
- Retrieve — answer practice questions for that domain without notes.
- Review misses and repeat the task you got wrong.
Weight the cycles by domain percentage: roughly twice the hands-on reps on the 30% domain compared with a 10% domain.
Pacing During The Exam
With about 60 questions in 90 minutes, you have roughly 90 seconds per question on average. Use this discipline:
- Answer every question — there is no penalty for an attempt, and the cut score is internal, so leave nothing blank.
- Flag and move on when stuck; do not let one item burn five minutes.
- Read multiple-select questions carefully — they specify how many options to choose; partial guessing is risky.
- Reserve the final ~10 minutes to revisit flagged questions and confirm multi-select counts.
A calm, even pace plus disciplined flagging usually beats perfectionism on early questions.
Which CSA domain carries the largest exam weight?
Configuring Applications for Collaboration and Self Service and Automation each account for what share of the CSA exam?
About how much average time do you have per question on the CSA exam?
What is the recommended approach to studying the six unequally weighted CSA domains?