Salesforce renamed this credential from “Sharing and Visibility Architect” to “Platform Sharing and Visibility Architect” a while back, and the exam code is Plat-Arch-205. If older material you’re using still says “Sharing-and-Visibility-Architect” without “Platform,” it’s referring to the same exam — just under the previous name. It’s one of the 63 certifications Salesforce confirmed will remain active after its February 2027 retirement of 24 older credentials, so it’s safe to invest study time in.
You’ll get 60 scored multiple-choice/multiple-select questions plus up to 5 unscored questions mixed in unmarked, with 120 minutes to finish. Passing requires 58% — a noticeably lower bar than some other Salesforce architect exams, but don’t let that lull you into under-preparing, because the questions are dense, scenario-driven, and often require you to hold multiple sharing mechanisms in your head at once to pick the right answer.
Expect almost no pure definitional recall. A typical question describes an org with specific role hierarchy, license types, and a business requirement, then asks which combination of org-wide defaults, sharing rules, and programmatic sharing actually satisfies it — while avoiding options that look plausible but would over-expose or under-expose data relative to what was asked.
Domain | Weight | Focus |
|---|---|---|
Permissions to Standard Objects, Custom Objects, and Fields | 27% | Object and field-level permissions, UI-level data hiding, protecting sensitive data (PCI, PII, HIPAA), programmatic enforcement of security settings |
Access to Records | 39% | Org-wide defaults, role hierarchy, object relationships, sharing rules (criteria- and ownership-based), programmatic sharing, record access overrides |
Access to Other Data | 16% | Access controls for non-object data: folders, Chatter, Knowledge, reports/dashboards, external data sources |
Implications of Security Model Choice | 18% | Scalability implications of a sharing design, license-type limitations, testing the sharing model |
Access to Records is nearly 40% of the exam on its own — more than Access to Other Data and Implications of Security Model Choice combined. If you only have time to deeply master one domain, this is it.
Access to Other Data. Candidates who’ve spent years doing object-and-field permission work often haven’t touched folder sharing, report/dashboard visibility, or external data source access nearly as much. exam-takers report this domain’s questions catching them off guard specifically around why a report shows different rows than expected, or how external object sharing diverges from standard/custom object behavior.
The scalability and performance implications of sharing design, not just correctness. The “Implications of Security Model Choice” domain isn’t asking whether a sharing solution works in isolation — it’s asking whether it holds up at volume, what license limitations constrain it, and how you’d actually test it. This is architect-level judgment, not admin-level configuration knowledge, and it’s easy to study the mechanics of sharing rules while skipping the “at what point does this fall over” reasoning.
Record access overrides and programmatic sharing edge cases within Access to Records. This domain covers a lot of ground — org-wide defaults, role hierarchy, criteria-based and ownership-based sharing rules, object relationships, Apex managed sharing, and overrides — and because it’s worth the most points, gaps anywhere inside it cost disproportionately.
Given how scenario-heavy this exam is, resist the urge to memorize “if X requirement, use Y mechanism” as a flat rule. Instead, when you miss a practice question, rebuild the scenario: what would happen if you’d chosen each of the other three answers instead, and specifically how would access change. The exam is built to test whether you can reason about the cumulative effect of org-wide defaults plus role hierarchy plus sharing rules together — not whether you know each mechanism in isolation.
Since Access to Records carries almost 40% of the exam weight, run dedicated practice sets on that domain alone before mixing in full timed simulations, so you can isolate whether your weak points are in org-wide defaults, role hierarchy design, or programmatic sharing specifically.
Treating the 58% pass mark as a signal the exam is easy — the scenario density means even well-prepared candidates can lose points steadily across all four domains if their reasoning has small gaps.
Under-studying Access to Other Data because it’s the smallest domain at 16% — several recent test-takers specifically flag it as where they lost unexpected points.
Confusing standard sharing rule behavior with programmatic (Apex) sharing behavior, especially around what each can and cannot override — sharing rules can only broaden access above org-wide defaults, never restrict below them, and mixing this up costs multiple questions.
Skipping license-type implications — different Salesforce license types affect what sharing and visibility options are even available, and the exam tests this directly under Implications of Security Model Choice.
Beginner (new to architect-level Salesforce work, admin/consultant background): 6–8 weeks. Build orgs and actually configure org-wide defaults, role hierarchies, and criteria-based sharing rules rather than just reading about them — this exam punishes theoretical-only preparation.
Has related experience (working Salesforce architect or senior admin with sharing/security design experience): 2–3 weeks, concentrated on Access to Other Data and the scalability/testing content in Implications of Security Model Choice, since day-to-day work often skews toward Access to Records and Permissions.
Retaking: Salesforce’s retake fee is $200 (half the original exam price), so it’s worth a deliberate review rather than a quick resit — go back through all four domains, but weight your review time toward Access to Records given its 39% share of the exam.
Last updated on Oct, 22 2026
