Exam overview
The CSA exam has approximately 60 questions, 90 minutes, and a passing score around 70%. It is multiple choice and covers administration concepts across the entire platform — not deep scripting knowledge (that's the CAD exam).
High-weight topics (study these first)
Tables and Fields: Table structures, field types (String, Integer, Reference, Glide List, Journal), dot-walking, dictionary entries. At least 10-15% of questions.
Forms and Lists: Form views, list views, filters, related lists, UI Policies, Form design. These are tested heavily because they are daily admin tasks.
Users, Groups, and Roles: How roles work, group membership, role inheritance, impersonation. Know the difference between user roles and group roles cold.
Import Sets and Transform Maps: The import process, staging tables, coalesce fields, transform scripts. Usually 3-5 questions.
Update Sets: Creating, exporting, importing, previewing, and committing Update Sets. How to move changes between instances.
Medium-weight topics
CMDB, Service Catalog, Knowledge Management, Reporting, Notifications, Scheduled Jobs, Service Portal basics, SLAs, Workflow basics.
What you can skim
Very deep scripting questions do not appear on the CSA. Business Rules and Script Includes are covered at a conceptual level — know what they are and when to use which type, but not GlideRecord API details.
Practice environment
Get a free personal developer instance at developer.servicenow.com. The exam tests things you have done — not things you have read. Navigate everything yourself before the exam.
Recommended study approach
- Work through ServiceNow's official CSA study guide (free on learning.servicenow.com)
- Complete the "ServiceNow Fundamentals" learning path on the ServiceNow Learning portal
- Practice on your PDI — create records, set up a form, configure a notification, build a simple report
- Take practice exams — search for CSA practice questions, there are many community-shared sets