If you’ve been studying from material built around PEGACPSA23V1, be aware the exam has moved on. The current live version is PEGACPSA25V1, aligned to Pega Platform ‘25, and it added an entire new scored domain — Pega GenAI — that didn’t exist on the ‘23 version at all. The practice questions on this page track the current ‘25 blueprint. If a study guide you’re using doesn’t mention Pega Blueprint, GenAI Autopilot, or GenAI Coach, it’s working from an outdated version of this exam.
CPSA is 60 multiple-choice questions in 90 minutes, proctored by Pearson VUE — either at a physical test center or online via webcam from a quiet room. You need 65% to pass, which is a more forgiving bar than some Pega’s higher-tier exams (Senior System Architect requires 70%), but 65% of 60 questions still means you can’t coast through any single domain and expect to make it up elsewhere, since several domains are weighted too small to absorb a bad showing in a bigger one.
Questions mix straightforward recall (“what does the Explore Data landing page let you do”) with applied scenarios (“a case needs to pause mid-process and resume later — which configuration handles this”). Pega’s own language for this certification calls it a baseline measurement, and it reads that way: broad coverage across the whole platform rather than deep expertise in any one area, which is exactly why candidates who’ve only touched one corner of Pega (say, just case design) tend to underperform.
Domain | Weight |
|---|---|
Case Management | 25% |
Data and Integration | 20% |
Application Development | 15% |
Security | 10% |
User Experience | 10% |
Pega GenAI | 10% |
DevOps | 5% |
Insights | 5% |
Case Management and Data and Integration together make up 45% of the exam — if you’re going to over-invest study time anywhere, it should be there. But don’t write off Pega GenAI because it’s “only” 10%: it’s a full domain of entirely new material for anyone who certified on an earlier version, covering Pega Blueprint, GenAI Autopilot, GenAI Connect Rules, GenAI Coach, and GenAI Agents — five distinct capabilities compressed into one-tenth of the exam, which makes it dense rather than light.
Pega GenAI, specifically. This is the newest domain and the one candidates skip or skim, partly because older third-party study material doesn’t cover it at all. You need to distinguish what Blueprint does (application design) from what Autopilot does (accelerated build) from what Coach does (guiding end users through processes) — the exam tests these as distinct tools with distinct purposes, not as one generic “AI feature.”
Security’s authorization model. Candidates often know operators and access groups exist but haven’t internalized how operators, access groups, access roles, and personas relate to each other, or how role-based access control actually gets configured. This domain is only 10%, but it’s conceptually precise in a way that punishes vague understanding.
The difference between data pages and data transforms. Both move data around, but they solve different problems — sourcing data into a case versus manipulating values already in it. Scenario questions in the Data and Integration domain lean on this distinction directly.
Because CPSA spans eight domains at different weights, track your practice accuracy by domain, not just overall score. A candidate scoring 80% overall but 40% on Security is in worse shape than the raw number suggests, since that one weak domain is costing points. Use practice sessions to find which domains you’re guessing in, then go build or trace through actual Pega case configurations for those specific areas rather than re-reading definitions.
Given the GenAI domain’s newness, pay extra attention to any practice question explanation that cites Blueprint, Autopilot, Connect Rules, Coach, or Agents — if you can’t explain the difference between these five without looking it up, that’s a gap worth closing before exam day.
Studying from material written for PEGACPSA23V1 and arriving with zero preparation for the Pega GenAI domain.
Treating Case Management as “the whole exam” because it’s the largest single domain, then getting caught out by Data and Integration questions worth nearly as much combined weight.
Under-preparing Security and DevOps because they’re each only 5–10%, then missing enough of those questions to drop below the 65% line.
Going in with theoretical knowledge only — Pega’s own guidance is explicit that the certification validates applied, hands-on configuration ability, not textbook familiarity.
Beginner (new to Pega Platform): CPSA is positioned as the entry-level credential in the System Architect path, but “entry-level” doesn’t mean casual. Plan on 4–6 weeks working through the prerequisite System Architect mission on Pega Academy plus hands-on time in App Studio and Dev Studio before you’re exam-ready.
Has related experience (prior Pega platform work, maybe certified on an older version): 2–3 weeks, concentrated almost entirely on the Pega GenAI domain and whatever else has changed since your last certification — don’t re-study Case Management basics you already know cold.
Retaking: Pull your score breakdown and target the specific domain that sank you. Given how many domains sit at 5–10% weight, a retake often comes down to shoring up one or two underperforming areas rather than relearning the whole platform.
This is one of the more actively revised certifications in Pega’s lineup — it’s been updated across multiple platform versions (8.1, 8.5, ‘23, now ‘25), with domain weightings shifting each time and entire new domains appearing as Pega’s platform evolves. The jump from ‘23 to ‘25 is the biggest recent change: Pega GenAI didn’t exist as a tested domain before, and Security went from a minor 5% slice to a full 10% domain. Expect this pattern to continue — check the exam code on whatever study material you’re using before trusting its domain percentages.
Last updated on Oct, 17 2026
