Skip to main content
RUOK

Salesforce, Inc. (Salesforce Certification Program)

Salesforce Certified Platform Foundations

Salesforce Certified Platform Foundations (formerly Salesforce Certified Associate) is the entry-level credential for people who are just beginning with Salesforce. It asks how a CRM connects departments and customer data, how the standard objects — accounts, contacts, leads, opportunities, and cases — relate to one another, where to find the information you need and where customization happens, and how reports and dashboards work at a basic level. The official exam guide describes the audience as someone with up to six months of experience using Salesforce. The exam is 40 questions in 70 minutes, the passing score is 62%, the fee is JPY 10,000 excluding tax, and retakes are free. The largest section is the Salesforce Ecosystem at 32%, covering how companies use Salesforce, what roles and career paths exist, and where the learning resources are; Navigation follows at 28%, Data Model at 25%, and Reports & Dashboards at 15%. There are no prerequisites, the exam can be taken in Japanese, and the official exam guide states there are no maintenance requirements at this time.

Official page

Who takes it

  • People who have just started touching Salesforce and want to organize the whole picture once
  • People aiming for a Salesforce-related role — 32% of the exam is the ecosystem, job roles, and career paths
  • Sales and back-office staff who use Salesforce and keep getting lost in the vocabulary of the configuration side
  • People newly assigned to a Salesforce rollout who need a shared vocabulary first
  • People who want to close gaps in the basics before moving on to a higher-level credential such as Platform Administrator

What it lets you do

  • No prerequisites; you can sit the exam with no work experience
  • At JPY 10,000 excluding tax (USD 75) it is among the lowest-priced Salesforce certifications, and retakes are free
  • The official exam guide states plainly that there are no maintenance requirements at this time, so there is no renewal deadline to track after passing
  • 32% of the exam is the Salesforce ecosystem — how companies use Salesforce, what roles and career paths exist, what the learning resources are — which is directly useful when sorting out which role to aim for
  • Can be taken in Japanese

The exam

As published by Salesforce, Inc. (Salesforce Certification Program). Anything we could not confirm is left out. Check the official page before you apply.

Questions
40 multiple-choice questions (plus up to 5 unscored questions)
Time
70 minutes
Pass mark
62% (as stated in the official exam guide, Winter '25 release edition)
Fee
JPY 10,000 (excluding tax) / USD 75 (excluding tax). Retake fee: free
Format
Proctored at a Pearson VUE test center, or online with a remote proctor (Pearson OnVUE). No hard-copy or online reference materials may be used during the exam. No prerequisites.
Languages
English, Japanese, French, Spanish
When it runs
No fixed exam dates. Sign in to Trailhead Academy, choose the exam, and book a date and time whenever you like.
Validity and renewal
The official exam guide states that there are no maintenance requirements at this time. No maintenance badge is required.

How hard it is

Pass rate: not published by the exam body. Salesforce does not release pass rates for its certifications. The audience described in the official exam guide is someone with up to six months of experience using Salesforce, and the credential sits at the foundational level in Salesforce's structure (Trailhead Academy also labels the level "Foundational"). The passing score is 62%, at the low end among the company's certifications.

How long people study

No study-hour estimate is published by the exam body. The two preparation resources Salesforce names are the trail "Prepare for Your Salesforce Platform Foundations Certification" and the module "Salesforce Platform Foundations Certification Prep."

Syllabus

  • Salesforce Ecosystem32%
  • Navigation28%
  • Data Model25%
  • Reports & Dashboards15%

Our apps and books for this exam

  • SFDC Platform Foundations Taisaku

    Japanese only

    Salesforce Certified Platform Foundations exam preparation

    This app's interface and questions are in Japanese.

    Download on the App Store

  • SFDC Platform Foundations Prep

    Download on the App Store

Questions people ask

I was searching for "Salesforce Certified Associate." Is this the same credential?
Yes, the same one. It has been renamed Salesforce Certified Platform Foundations. The old URL /credentials/associate redirects to the current Platform Foundations page.
Is there a retake fee if I fail?
No. The official exam guide lists the retake fee as free. The exam itself is JPY 10,000 excluding tax (USD 75), which is at the low end among Salesforce certifications.
Do I need work experience to sit the exam?
There are no prerequisites. The official exam guide describes the audience as someone with up to six months of experience using Salesforce, and explicitly includes people who are starting to learn and people exploring a career.
Do I need to renew it after passing?
The official exam guide states there are no maintenance requirements at this time. This is handled differently from credentials such as Platform App Builder, which requires a maintenance badge three times a year.
Is the exam mainly about how to operate the product?
Not only that. The largest section is the Salesforce Ecosystem at 32%, covering how companies use Salesforce, what job roles and career paths exist, and what learning resources are available. The section closest to hands-on operation is Navigation at 28%, followed by Data Model at 25% and Reports & Dashboards at 15%.

Sources

These are the pages the figures came from. Some are published in Japanese only, and are marked as such — we keep the original titles rather than translating them, so you can match what you find on the official site. Exam rules change; check the official page before you apply.

Related certifications

Back to all exam prep apps →

Our security policy, terms of use and privacy policy are published in Japanese.

Information security policyTerms & privacy