Platform App Builder Exam Questions: Where the 60 Questions Actually Land
Sixty questions, 105 minutes, 63% to pass. Business logic and process automation is 28% of the paper - about 15 questions - and it is where declarative-only candidates come unstuck.
- 60 (up to 5 unscored)Questions
- 105 minTime
- $200 ($100 retake)Cost
- Maintained by release examsValid
Table of Contents
The Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder paper is 60 (up to 5 unscored) questions in 105 minutes and costs $200 ($100 retake). 63% of roughly 55 scored questions is about 35 correct. Automation and data modelling together are half the paper, so a weak grasp of either is very hard to recover from elsewhere.
What follows is the question split by domain, then five practice questions written to Salesforce’s published objectives, each with the reasoning for the right answer and for every wrong one. These are original practice items, not real exam content – the point is to show you how the questions are shaped and where the traps sit.
How the 60 (up to 5 unscored) questions split
Salesforce publishes percentage weights for this exam, which means you can convert them into the number of questions you will actually face. On a 60-question paper the split looks like this.
| Domain | Weight | Questions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business Logic and Process Automation | 28% | ~15 | |
| Salesforce Fundamentals | 23% | ~13 | |
| Data Modeling and Management | 22% | ~12 | |
| User Interface | 17% | ~9 | |
| App Deployment | 10% | ~6 |
Read this as a revision budget. The domains at the top of the table are where marks are won and lost. Time spent on the bottom rows has a much lower ceiling.
Five practice questions
Answer each one before reading the key underneath it.
A junior object's records must be deleted when the parent is deleted, and the parent needs a roll-up summary of child amounts. Which relationship is required?
- A Lookup relationship
- B Master-detail relationship
- C Hierarchical relationship
- D External lookup relationship
Answer: B
Master-detail gives cascade delete and is the only standard relationship that supports roll-up summary fields on the parent.
Why the others fail
A Lookup is loosely coupled: the child survives parent deletion and roll-up summaries are not available.
C Hierarchical relationships exist only on the User object.
D External lookups point at external objects from an external data source.
A record must be updated when a related record changes, with no code. Which tool should be chosen today?
- A Workflow Rule
- B Record-triggered Flow
- C Apex trigger
- D Validation rule
Answer: B
Record-triggered Flow is Salesforce's current declarative automation tool and the intended answer wherever an older Workflow Rule or Process Builder would once have been used.
Why the others fail
A Workflow Rules are retired in favour of Flow, and the exam follows the current guidance.
C Apex is code, which the requirement explicitly excludes.
D Validation rules block bad saves. They cannot update another record.
Different profiles must see different components on the same record page. What is the correct approach?
- A Build one Lightning record page and use component visibility filters
- B Create a separate object for each profile
- C Use a validation rule to hide the components
- D Ask users to collapse the sections they do not need
Answer: A
Lightning App Builder supports component visibility rules, and record pages can also be assigned by app, record type and profile, which covers this requirement declaratively.
Why the others fail
B Duplicating the object to vary a layout fragments the data model for a presentation problem.
C Validation rules govern saves, not what renders on a page.
D Relying on users to hide things is not a configuration.
Which statement about record types is correct?
- A Record types control field-level security
- B Record types let you offer different picklist values and page layouts to different users on the same object
- C Record types replace profiles
- D Each object supports exactly one record type
Answer: B
Record types tailor business processes, picklist values and page layout assignment for different groups of users on one object.
Why the others fail
A Field-level security is set on profiles and permission sets, not record types.
C Profiles govern permissions; record types govern process variation. They work together.
D Objects can have many record types.
A team must move configuration from a sandbox to production with a repeatable, reviewable process. Which option best fits?
- A Rebuild the configuration manually in production
- B Use change sets or a metadata-based deployment pipeline
- C Export and import records with the Data Loader
- D Grant admins access to production and let them edit directly
Answer: B
Configuration moves as metadata. Change sets are the declarative route and metadata-based pipelines the scalable one; both are repeatable and reviewable.
Why the others fail
A Manual rebuilding is neither repeatable nor reviewable and drifts immediately.
C Data Loader moves records, not configuration metadata.
D Editing production directly is the practice deployment processes exist to prevent.
What catches people out
- Workflow Rules and Process Builder are retired. If an option offers them alongside Flow for new automation, Flow is the answer.
- Master-detail versus lookup appears in some form on nearly every sitting. Cascade delete, roll-up summaries and required parent are the discriminators.
- This is the declarative exam. If an option says Apex and the stem says no code, that option is wrong regardless of how well it would work.
- Up to five questions are unscored, so 63% is measured against roughly 55 questions rather than all 60.
What it really costs to pass
The sticker price is $200 ($100 retake), but that is the cost of passing first time. The number worth budgeting is different.
- First attempt: $200.
- Resit: $100, so a fail and a pass costs you both fees.
- Maintenance: Salesforce keeps this credential current through release exams rather than a fixed expiry, so the ongoing cost is your time each release rather than another registration fee.
- Your time: 105 minutes in the chair, and realistically several weeks of preparation before it. That is the largest cost on this list and the only one you cannot pay to avoid.
The margin you are playing with. A 63% pass mark on 55 scored questions means about 35 correct answers, so you can afford in the region of 20 mistakes. Going in at exactly that level is how people fail on a bad day.
Who should sit it: there are no formal prerequisites. Going in well under that bar is usually how people end up paying the fee twice.
How to prepare
A workable sequence for this exam, assuming you already work near the material:
- Read the official guide first. Everything on this page is secondary to what Salesforce publishes at the link in the sidebar, and guides get revised.
- Work the heaviest domain until you can teach it. Use the table above to decide which one that is.
- Practise under the clock. 105 minutes for 60 (up to 5 unscored) questions is roughly 105 seconds each. Knowing the material and being able to apply it at that pace are different skills.
- Review every wrong answer to the level of the distractor. Being able to say why the other three options fail is what turns a 60% into a pass.
Frequently asked questions
What is the passing score for Platform App Builder?
63%, measured across roughly 55 scored questions since up to five of the 60 are unscored.
How long is the Platform App Builder exam?
105 minutes for 60 multiple-choice questions.
What does the Platform App Builder exam cost?
$200 to register, with retakes at $100.
Is Platform App Builder a coding exam?
No. It tests declarative app building - objects, relationships, automation, Lightning pages and deployment - rather than Apex development.
Sources
Every figure on this page comes from the certifying body rather than a third-party summary:
- https://trailhead.salesforce.com/credentials/platformappbuilder
- https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?language=en_US&id=005298964&type=1
Checked September 2, 2026. Formats and fees change – confirm against Salesforce before you pay for anything.