Six weeks · self-paced

The Course

Unofficial preparation materials based on public exam-topic study. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic.

This is the full written course, built from the official Claude+Certified+Architect+–+Foundations+Certification+Exam+Guide.pdf. It is written as a teachable program, not just a syllabus. Each week contains lecture content, guided exercises, quiz material, and a weekly test with answer keys.

How To Use This Course

Read the lectures in order.
Complete the guided exercises before checking the sample answers.
Take the weekly quiz closed-book.
Take the weekly test timed.
Keep a running error log of concepts you miss repeatedly.

Exam Domain Weighting

Domain	Weight
Agentic Architecture & Orchestration	27%
Tool Design & MCP Integration	18%
Claude Code Configuration & Workflows	20%
Prompt Engineering & Structured Output	20%
Context Management & Reliability	15%

Course Outcomes

By the end of this course you should be able to:

implement an agentic loop correctly using stop_reason
design coordinator-subagent systems with explicit context passing
write MCP tools with strong descriptions and structured error contracts
configure Claude Code for team workflows and CI
design prompts and schemas for reliable structured output
manage long context, escalation, error propagation, confidence, and provenance in production systems

How To Study This Course Deeply

This course is strongest when studied from first principles rather than as a list of product facts. For every topic, ask four questions:

What problem is this mechanism solving?
What goes wrong if the mechanism is omitted or misused?
Which part of the system owns the fix: prompt, tool design, orchestration, schema, or evaluation?
What is the smallest change that improves reliability without over-engineering?

This matters because the exam is not primarily a documentation recall test. It is a systems judgment test. Strong answers usually come from understanding why a pattern exists, not just remembering that it exists.

As you read each week, use this sequence:

first principles: understand what the system is trying to accomplish
mechanism: learn the design pattern or feature
failure mode: understand how that mechanism breaks
intervention: choose the most proportionate fix
transfer: apply the same reasoning to a new scenario

If you teach this course, do not rush past the failure-mode step. Students often recognize a correct pattern when shown directly, but they struggle to diagnose when that pattern is the missing piece in a realistic production scenario.