Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder Study Guide

Domain 1: Salesforce Fundamentals

Key concepts you must know · 166 practice questions

The boundary between declarative and programmatic customization, and when to escalate from point-and-click to code.
Extending an org through the AppExchange, and managed versus unmanaged packages as an extension mechanism.
The four security layers: org (login hours and IP), object (profiles and permission sets), field (field-level security), and record.
Record access: Org-Wide Defaults as the baseline, the role hierarchy for implicit upward access, and sharing rules that only open access.
Profiles versus permission sets versus permission set groups, and choosing the right sharing solution for a scenario.
Reports and dashboards (formats, report types, dynamic dashboards), mobile optimization, and Chatter collaboration.

Domain 2: Data Modeling and Management

Key concepts you must know · 164 practice questions

Creating custom objects and choosing the right field type for a requirement.
Relationship types: lookup (loose, optional) versus master-detail (tight, cascade delete, enables roll-up summary) versus many-to-many via a junction object.
Considerations when changing a field's type and the data-loss risks involved.
Schema Builder for visually modeling objects, fields, and relationships, and its limitations.
External objects and Salesforce Connect for real-time external data without storage.
Importing and exporting data with the Data Import Wizard, Data Loader, and the Data Export Service, including upsert via external IDs.

Domain 3: Business Logic and Process Automation

Key concepts you must know · 204 practice questions

Formula fields (read-only, cross-object child-to-parent references) and roll-up summary fields (only on a master-detail parent).
Validation rules that block a save when the error-condition formula evaluates to true.
Record types for different picklist values, page layouts, and business processes, assigned by profile.
Approval processes: entry criteria, steps, approver types, and submission and final actions.
Flow types and when to use each: screen, record-triggered (before-save versus after-save), scheduled, and autolaunched.
Choosing the right automation tool, understanding order of execution, and knowing that Workflow Rules and Process Builder are retired in favor of Flow.

Domain 4: User Interface

Key concepts you must know · 120 practice questions

Page layouts (sections, related lists, field properties) assigned by profile and record type.
Lightning App Builder for composing record, app, and home pages from standard and custom components.
Dynamic Forms for field-level placement and conditional visibility, and Dynamic Actions for conditional action visibility.
Compact layouts for the highlights panel and mobile, plus custom buttons, links, and quick actions (object-specific versus global).
Lightning apps: the App Manager, navigation items, utility bar, and branding.
The declarative-versus-programmatic boundary for placing Lightning components on a page.

Domain 5: App Deployment

Key concepts you must know · 79 practice questions

Sandbox types (Developer, Developer Pro, Partial Copy, Full) and matching one to a use case by storage, data, and refresh interval.
Change sets: outbound and inbound, deployment connections between related orgs, dependencies, and validation-only deploys.
Unmanaged packages (one-time copy, no upgrades) versus managed packages (versioned, upgradeable, namespaced).
AppExchange install considerations and managed-versus-unmanaged implications.
Application lifecycle management and an environment strategy from development sandbox to staging to production.
Choosing the right deployment approach for a scenario, from a small metadata change to a repeatable cross-org distribution.

Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder exam tips

Business Logic and Process Automation is the largest area at 28 percent, closely followed by Fundamentals (23%) and Data Modeling (22%). Master Flow (especially before-save versus after-save record-triggered flows), formula versus roll-up summary fields, validation rules, and record types.
This is a declarative-only exam. You are not asked to write Apex, Visualforce, or JavaScript - you are asked which point-and-click feature solves a requirement and when a requirement crosses the line into needing a developer.
Know the relationship rules cold: roll-up summary fields work only across a master-detail relationship, master-detail children inherit sharing and ownership and are cascade-deleted, and a many-to-many model uses a junction object with two master-detail relationships.
Understand the four security levels and how they layer: Org-Wide Defaults set the baseline, the role hierarchy and sharing rules open access upward, and profiles and permission sets grant object and field access. Sharing rules never restrict access.
For deployment, match the tool to the job: change sets between related orgs for metadata, unmanaged versus managed packages for distribution, and the right sandbox type (Developer, Developer Pro, Partial Copy, Full) for the task.

Study guide FAQ

How many questions are on the exam and what is the passing score?

Salesforce publishes 60 multiple-choice questions in 105 minutes and a passing score of 73 percent. Up to five additional unscored questions may be mixed in. The exam is proctored online or at a test center, and the registration fee is 200 USD.

Do I need to know how to code?

No. Platform App Builder is a declarative exam. You are expected to build apps with point-and-click tools - objects, fields, Flow, page layouts, and Lightning App Builder - and to recognize when a requirement needs Apex or a Lightning component, but you do not write code.

Is there a prerequisite?

No formal prerequisite. Salesforce describes the candidate as generally having 6 months to 1 year of experience building applications on the Customer 360 platform and/or on a similar technology platform. Many candidates take it after the Administrator credential as the natural admin-to-builder step.

How is this different from Platform Developer I?

Platform App Builder is declarative app building (no code). Platform Developer I is a programmatic exam covering Apex, SOQL and SOSL, triggers, and testing. The two together cover the declarative and programmatic sides of the platform.

Is CertGrid practice official Salesforce material?

No. CertGrid is an independent practice platform and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Salesforce. These questions are original and written to mirror the current exam objectives so you can rehearse them. Always confirm the current exam guide on Trailhead before your exam.

Official exam sources

The domain names and weightings on this page follow the published exam blueprint. Each source below records what it confirmed and when it was read, so the split can be checked rather than taken on trust.

Salesforce - Certified Platform App Builder exam guidelink and content verified 8 September 2026"Content: 60 multiple-choice questions and up to five unscored questions"; "Time allotted to complete the exam: 105 minutes"; "Passing score: 73%"; "Prerequisite: None"; questions align to the SU '26 release. Outline: Salesforce Fundamentals 18%, Data Modeling and Management 20%, Business Logic and Process Automation 32%, User Interface 17%, App Deployment 13%. Candidate "generally has 6 months to 1 year of experience building applications on the Customer 360 platform and/or on a similar technology platform". Read through a rendered browser; Trailhead's credential page ships no server-rendered detail, but Salesforce publishes the exam guide on help.salesforce.com.

This page and the current vendor source differ. Salesforce publishes the exam outline as 18/20/32/17/13, and those are the figures used on this page. CertGrid’s own practice draw currently apportions questions differently (23/22/28/17/10). That is a CertGrid mock setting rather than a claim about the exam, and it has deliberately not been changed here: the weights decide how a mock is composed and may exceed the questions available in a domain, so aligning them is a separate task that needs verifying against the bank first.

Related Salesforce resources

Test yourself: 733 Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder practice questions