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Study plan
How to Pass the SAFe Agilist (SA) Exam
A study plan for the SAFe Agilist (SA) certification exam, built from the official domain weights instead of a generic template. Focus heavily on the interaction between different levels of SAFe (Team, Program, Large Solution, Portfolio). Prioritize understanding PI Planning and the role of the RTE and Product Management.
- 6 domains
- 45 questions
- 90 min
- 80% to pass
Study in weight order, not topic order
The plan below follows the official blueprint weights, so the order of study is the order that returns the most points.
- 1
Agile Product Delivery
31%- PI Planning
- Release Train Engineer (RTE) Role
- Agile Product Management
- Continuous Delivery Pipeline
14 practice questions tagged to this domain.
- 2
Lean-Agile Leaders
29%- Leading Change
- Servant Leadership
- Creating a Culture of Continuous Learning
- Leading the Transformation
13 practice questions tagged to this domain.
- 3
Lean Portfolio Management
13%- Strategic Alignment
- Portfolio Canvas
- Lean Budgeting
- Agile Portfolio Management
6 practice questions tagged to this domain.
- 4
Digital Age and Business Agility
13%- The Agile Manifesto
- SAFe Core Values
- SAFe Principles
- The Lean-Agile Mindset
6 practice questions tagged to this domain.
- 5
Leading the Change
7%- Implementing SAFe
- Scaling Agile
- Organizational Agility
3 practice questions tagged to this domain.
- 6
Team and Technical Agility
7%- Agile Teams
- Built-in Quality
- DevOps in SAFe
- Technical Excellence
3 practice questions tagged to this domain.
Three phases, in order
Most failures are process failures, not knowledge failures.
Phase 1 — Learn the high-weight domains
Start where the points are. The first domains on this plan carry the most weight, so a gap there costs the most. Cover the objectives, then close each topic with practice questions you actually get wrong.
Phase 2 — Close the mid-weight domains
The middle of the blueprint is where most candidates plateau. These domains are worth less per topic than the first phase, but they add up fast, and they are the usual difference between a near miss and a clear pass.
Phase 3 — Timed full mocks
Stop reading new material at this point. Run full-length exams under the real time limit and the real format, and use the per-domain breakdown to find which domain is still costing you the pass.
Where we put the emphasis
Emphasis is placed on the application of Lean-Agile leadership principles and the coordination of multiple Agile Release Trains to achieve enterprise-level agility.
The order matters less than the loop. Every domain you finish should end with questions you got wrong, because the mistake is the only thing you actually needed to study. On the SAFe Agilist (SA) that loop is worth 7% of the exam in the first block alone.
More about the SAFe Agilist (SA) exam
Explore the rest of this page series: format, cost, difficulty, requirements and how to prepare.
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Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know about the SAFe Agilist (SA) exam.