Salesforce Platform Developer I Certification Certification Exam Guide
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⚡ Quick Answer
What is the Salesforce Platform Developer I Certification Certification Exam Guide?
The Salesforce Platform Developer I Certification Certification Exam Guide validates expertise in the relevant Salesforce domain. Exam format: 65% passing score. Offered by Salesforce, registered through Webassessor/Kryterion. Updated for Winter '26.
Winter '26 Edition
Last Updated: March 2026 | Exam Version: Winter '26
The Salesforce Platform Developer I certification validates your ability to build custom applications using Apex, Lightning Web Components, and Salesforce APIs. This credential is designed for developers with programming experience looking to advance from administrator-level work into full custom development. Prerequisites include Java, C#, or similar programming experience, with Administrator or App Builder certification recommended.
⚡ What's New in Winter '26
🤖 Apex & LWC Emphasis
Winter '26 strengthens focus on modern Apex patterns and LWC component lifecycle management.
🛡️ Enhanced Testing Frameworks
Updated testing requirements now emphasize comprehensive negative test scenarios and mock callouts.
✨ API Integration Updates
Expanded coverage of REST and SOAP integration patterns with increased real-world integration scenarios.
📊 Exam At a Glance
| Certification Name | Salesforce Platform Developer I Certification |
| Level | Developer |
| Prerequisites | Programming experience (Java, C#, or similar); Administrator or App Builder certification recommended |
| Number of Questions | 60 multiple-choice |
| Duration | 110 minutes |
| Passing Score | 68% |
| Exam Fee | $200 USD |
| Retake Fee | $100 USD |
| Delivery | Proctored online or at authorized testing centers |
🎯 Exam Domains & Weightings
1. Data Modeling and Management
15%This domain assesses your understanding of Salesforce data structures, custom objects, fields, and relationships. You'll demonstrate proficiency in designing efficient data models and executing complex queries to retrieve and manipulate records.
🆕 Winter '26: Enhanced focus on polymorphic SOQL queries and relationship traversal optimization.
2. Logic and Process Automation
25%Representing 25% of the exam, this critical domain covers Apex triggers, classes, and declarative automation. You'll need to understand when to implement business logic programmatically versus using Flow or Process Builder, and master trigger events and execution order.
🆕 Winter '26: Increased emphasis on asynchronous Apex (futures, batch, scheduled jobs) and trigger best practices.
3. User Interface
25%This substantial domain evaluates your ability to build user experiences using Lightning Web Components and Aura components. You'll cover component lifecycle, event handling, data binding, and creating responsive interfaces that integrate seamlessly with Salesforce.
🆕 Winter '26: New focus on LWC composition patterns and wire service integration enhancements.
4. Testing, Debugging, and Deployment
20%You'll demonstrate mastery of unit testing with minimum code coverage requirements, debugging tools, and deployment strategies. This domain ensures you understand how to validate code quality and safely move applications through environments.
🆕 Winter '26: Expanded coverage of test mocking frameworks and continuous deployment patterns.
5. Integration and APIs
15%This domain covers REST and SOAP APIs, HTTP callouts, authentication mechanisms, and external system integration. You'll need to determine appropriate integration patterns and handle API responses, errors, and security considerations.
🆕 Winter '26: Added scenarios for JWT bearer token authentication and enhanced error handling patterns.
❓ Sample Exam Questions
An organization needs to implement a trigger that performs calculations on related child records after a parent record is committed to the database. Which trigger events are most appropriate for this requirement?
- A. after insert, after update
- B. before insert, before update
- C. before insert, after delete
- D. isAfter, isUpdate
A developer is building a synchronous Apex controller method that processes account records. During testing, they encounter a QueryException after executing multiple SOQL queries within a single transaction. What is the likely cause if they have already executed the maximum permitted synchronous queries?
- A. They exceeded the 50 SOQL query limit for synchronous execution
- B. They exceeded the 100 SOQL query limit for synchronous execution
- C. They exceeded the 150 SOQL query limit for synchronous execution
- D. They exceeded the 200 SOQL query limit for synchronous execution
A developer needs to create an Apex class that will accept incoming HTTP requests from external systems at a specific URL endpoint. Which class-level annotation should be applied to enable this functionality?
- A. @RestResource(urlMapping='/api/v1/accounts/*')
- B. @HttpGet(endpoint='/api/v1/accounts/*')
- C. @RemoteAction(exposed=true)
- D. @AuraEnabled(cacheable=true)
A developer writes a SOQL query to find all Contact records: SELECT Id, Email FROM Contact WHERE Email LIKE '%@example.com'. Which records will be returned?
- A. Contacts with email addresses that start with '@example.com'
- B. Contacts with email addresses that end with '@example.com'
- C. Contacts with email addresses containing '@example.com' at any position
- D. Contacts with email addresses exactly matching '@example.com'
A developer needs to update 500 Account records based on data from an external API. Which approach best follows Salesforce governor limits and best practices?
- A. Loop through each Account and call update immediately after modifying the field values
- B. Use Database.update() inside the loop to handle exceptions for individual records
- C. Gather all modified Account records in a collection, then execute a single update operation outside the loop
- D. Process records in smaller batches of 10, executing update after each batch
📚 Study Resources
🏃 Trailhead
Complete the official Certification Prep trail — free, covers all exam domains, and is updated each release.
Go to Trailhead →📄 Official Exam Guide
Download the official exam guide from Trailhead for the exact domain weightings and topic list for Winter '26.
Official Guide →💬 Trailblazer Community
Join the study group on the Trailblazer Community to share tips, ask questions, and connect with other candidates.
Join Community →💡 Top Exam Tips
- Logic and User Interface combined represent 50% of the exam—dedicate substantial study time to Apex trigger patterns, Lightning Web Component lifecycle, and deciding between Apex versus declarative solutions for each scenario.
- Memorize critical governor limits including 100 SOQL queries, 150 DML statements, 6 MB heap size, and 10 second CPU timeout for synchronous operations to recognize bottlenecks during exam scenarios.
- Master testing fundamentals: achieve minimum 75% code coverage for production deployment, write both positive and negative test cases, and use Test.runAs() to validate record-level security and field-level permissions.
- Understand @AuraEnabled for Lightning component communication, @InvocableMethod for Flow integration, and when REST APIs suit external integrations better than SOAP for modern use cases.
- Code actively in a Developer Edition org by building a complete feature combining LWC components with Apex backend logic, comprehensive test classes, and integration callouts to solidify practical understanding before exam day.
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