About the Salesforce Platform Developer Exam

The Salesforce Platform Developer Exam is for individuals with the skills and experience to build custom applications on the Lightning Platform. It focuses on the core programmatic tools used to create custom business logic and user interfaces with Apex, Visualforce, and Lightning components.

Passing this exam earns the Salesforce Platform Developer I certification and is required before attempting the Salesforce Platform Developer II Multiple Choice exam.

Audience Profile

This exam is intended for candidates who:

• Have experience developing and deploying basic business logic and user interfaces using the Lightning Platform’s programmatic capabilities.

• Possess 1–2 years of general development experience and at least 6 months on the Lightning Platform.

• Have reviewed and studied the subjects listed in the official exam guide.

Skills and Knowledge Expected

Successful candidates should be able to:

• Work with data-driven applications and relational databases.

• Use object-oriented languages such as Apex, JavaScript, Java, C#, or Ruby.

• Understand Salesforce governor limits and their impact.

• Apply MVC and component-based architecture concepts.

• Identify core Salesforce schema objects and their capabilities.

• Determine when to use formula fields, roll-up summary fields, and declarative vs. programmatic approaches.

• Apply Apex best practices to implement custom business logic.

• Extend Salesforce using Apex, Lightning components, and Visualforce.

• Build custom interfaces and business logic on the Lightning Platform.

• Perform testing, debugging, and deployment of code in different environments.

Note: This role does not include tasks such as administering Salesforce apps, creating mobile apps, publishing managed AppExchange products, performance tuning, or designing integrations (e.g., callouts, APIs, email services).

Purpose of This Exam Guide

This guide is designed to help you determine your readiness for the Salesforce Platform Developer Exam by outlining:

• Target audience details.

• Recommended study resources.

• A full list of exam objectives.

Salesforce recommends combining practical experience, training, and self-study for the best results.

Exam Details

• Format: 60 multiple-choice/multiple-select questions, plus up to 5 non-scored questions

• Time Limit: 105 minutes

• Passing Score: 68%

• Version: Aligned to Winter ’25 release

• Cost: US$200 (+ applicable taxes)

• Retake Fee: US$100 (+ applicable taxes)

• Delivery: Proctored onsite at a test center or online

• Materials Allowed: None

• Prerequisites: None (training recommended)

• Additional Note: Candidates may provide feedback on specific questions during the exam.

Exam Outline

The Salesforce Platform Developer Exam measures a candidate’s knowledge and skills related to the following objectives. A candidate should have hands-on experience developing custom applications on the Lightning Platform and be able to demonstrate the application of each of the topics and objectives below.

Developer Fundamentals: 23%

• Understand multi-tenant concepts and design frameworks, such as MVC architecture and Lightning Component Framework.

• Given a scenario, identify common use cases and best practices for declarative versus programmatic customizations, including governor limits, formula fields, and roll-up summaries.

• Given a scenario, determine, create, and access the appropriate data model including objects, fields, relationships, and external IDs.

• Given a scenario, identify the options and considerations when importing and exporting data into development environments.

Process Automation and Logic: 30%

• Identify the capabilities of the declarative process automation features.

• Declare variables, constants, methods, and use modifiers and Apex interfaces.

• Given a scenario, use and apply Apex control flow statements.

• Given a scenario, write SOSL, SOQL, and DML statements in Apex.

• Given a scenario, follow best practices to write Apex classes and triggers.

• Given a scenario, identify the implications of governor limits on Apex transactions.

• Describe the relationship between Apex transactions, the save order of execution, and the potential for recursion and/or cascading.

• Implement exception handling in Apex, including custom exceptions as needed.

• Given a scenario, use declarative functionality and Apex together to automate business logic.

User Interface: 25%

• Given a scenario, display content or modify Salesforce data using a Visualforce page and the appropriate controllers or extensions as needed.

• Describe the Lightning Component Framework, its benefits, and the types of content that can be contained in a Lightning web component.

• Given a scenario, prevent user interface and data access security vulnerabilities.

• Given a scenario, display and use a custom user interface components, including Lightning components, Flow, and Visualforce.

• Describe the use cases and best practices for Lightning Web Component events.

• Given a scenario, implement Apex to work with various types of page components, including Lightning components, Flow, Next Best Actions, etc.

Testing, Debugging, and Deployment: 22%

• Write and execute tests for triggers, controllers, classes, flows, and processes using various sources of test data.

• Given a scenario, know how and when to use the Salesforce Developer tools such as Salesforce DX, Salesforce CLI, and Developer Console.

• Describe how to approach debugging system issues and monitoring flows, processes, and asynchronous and batch jobs, etc.

• Describe the environments, requirements, and process for deploying code and associated configurations.