The Short Answer
The Salesforce Certified Platform Administrator II exam (Plat-Admn-301, formerly Advanced Administrator) has 60 scored multiple-choice/multiple-select questions plus up to 5 unscored, a 105-minute time limit, a 65% passing score, a US$200 registration fee (US$100 to retake) and one prerequisite: the Platform Administrator certification. Its questions align to the Summer '22 release (checked in October 2026 against the official Platform Administrator II exam guide and Trailhead Academy).
That release alignment is old, and the platform has moved on since: Workflow Rules and Process Builder are out of support, legacy Chat is retired, and several products have new names. The exam spreads its weight across seven sections, led by Security and Access (20%) and Process Automation (20%), then Objects and Applications (19%). Expect scenario questions that ask for the best-practice configuration for a specific business problem.
Exam Details at a Glance
| Detail | Platform Administrator II (Plat-Admn-301) |
|---|---|
| Questions | 60 scored multiple-choice/multiple-select, plus up to 5 unscored |
| Time limit | 105 minutes |
| Passing score | 65% |
| Registration fee | US$200 (JPY 30,000), plus applicable taxes |
| Retake fee | US$100 (JPY 15,000), plus applicable taxes |
| Prerequisite | Salesforce Certified Platform Administrator |
| Release alignment | Summer '22 |
| Delivery | Proctored, online or at a testing center |
| Level | Advanced |
| Languages | English, Japanese, French, Spanish |
| Maintenance | The Administrator maintenance badge on Trailhead, three times a year |
Sources: the exam guide for format, score, fees, prerequisite, release and maintenance, and Trailhead Academy for the exam code, level and languages, both checked in October 2026.
65% of 60 is 39 correct answers, so you can miss 21. That's a lower bar than Platform App Builder (73%), but the questions are harder: they assume you've configured these features yourself. 105 minutes for up to 65 questions is about 1.6 minutes each. On maintenance, the guide says you'll complete the Administrator certification maintenance badge three times a year, so check the badge and due dates on your own Trailhead profile. For fees and retake rules across every Salesforce exam, see Salesforce certification cost and retake fees.
Who the Platform Administrator II Certification Is For
The exam guide describes a seasoned admin who has "significant experience" and has completed the Administer, Extend, and Automate Salesforce course (ADX211) or has equivalent knowledge. You can't register until you hold Platform Administrator: both the guide and the Trailhead credential page list it as the prerequisite. If you haven't passed that yet, start with our Platform Administrator certification guide.
The difference between the two exams is depth. Platform Administrator asks what a feature does. Platform Administrator II asks which combination of features solves a messy requirement, what breaks when two automations touch the same field, and which reporting tool answers a question the standard report types can't. The guide's candidate list includes record and field access, relationship design, Agentforce Sales and Agentforce Service setup, forecasting, Knowledge and entitlements, data quality, sandboxes, advanced reports and dashboards, and complex automation.
The Exam Is Aligned to Summer '22: What Changed Since
The exam guide says the questions "align to the Summer '22 release". That's more than four years and a dozen releases ago, and several things it names have changed. The outline wording has been refreshed (it says Agentforce Service Console, for example), but study the current product and know its old name, because older prep material and some exam wording still use the Summer '22 names.
- Workflow Rules and Process Builder. Salesforce no longer supports Workflow Rules and Process Builder as of December 31, 2025. Active ones keep running, but there are no bug fixes or support, and Salesforce recommends moving them to Flow Builder with the Migrate to Flow tool. The exam guide still lists "workflow rules" among the skills, so know how they behave in the order of execution, but treat Flow as the answer for any new build.
- Chat is now Enhanced Chat. Support for the legacy Chat products (LiveAgent, Salesforce Chat, Embedded Chat and Service Chat) ended on February 14, 2026 in favor of Messaging for In-App and Web, which Salesforce Help now presents as Enhanced Chat. When the outline says "Chat", think Enhanced Chat.
- Omni-Channel. Standard Omni-Channel is retired with the Summer '26 release, and orgs are upgraded to Enhanced Omni-Channel automatically.
- Territory Management. Enterprise Territory Management is now Sales Territories. The mechanics are the same; only the name changed.
The safe rule: learn the concept the objective tests (sharing, order of execution, entitlement processes), learn it in the current product, and recognize the former name if a question uses it.
The Seven Exam Sections and What They Test
All weights and objectives come from the official outline.
Security and Access: 20%
Record and field access across the sharing model, controlled-by-parent, grant access using hierarchies, report, dashboard and email template folders, and territories; custom profiles versus permission sets versus delegated administration; user authentication; and complex account models (person accounts and Contacts to Multiple Accounts).
Watch for: Contacts to Multiple Accounts. The account in a contact's Account Name field is its primary account, a direct relationship; every other related account is indirect. Disabling the feature deletes all indirect relationships, and you can import account-contact relationships with Data Loader but not the Data Import Wizard (Considerations for Relating a Contact to Multiple Accounts).
Process Automation: 20%
Choosing the best tool or combination of tools for a complex scenario, troubleshooting declarative automation, the capabilities and limits of each tool, and the order of execution.
Watch for: what runs when. On save, before-save record-triggered flows run first, then before triggers, then custom validation rules and duplicate rules, then after triggers. Workflow field updates fire before and after update triggers "one more time (and only one more time)", and after-save record-triggered flows run after that, ahead of entitlement rules and roll-up summary recalculation (Triggers and Order of Execution). Questions where two automations update the same field usually turn on this sequence.
Objects and Applications: 19%
Extending objects (master-detail, lookup, junction objects, related lists, record types, Schema Builder and Lightning Object Creator) and the user experience (App Manager, Lightning App Builder, Dynamic Forms, standard Lightning components, console apps and the Lightning page Analyze button).
Watch for: the relationship trade-offs. Master-detail gives you roll-up summaries and cascade delete, and the detail inherits the master's sharing; a lookup keeps the child independent. A many-to-many requirement means a junction object with two master-detail fields (Object Relationships Overview).
Data and Analytics Management: 13%
Data quality (validation, duplicate management, enrichment, archiving), advanced reporting (custom report types, reporting snapshots, custom summary formulas, bucketing, joined reports, cross filters, dynamic dashboards and dashboard filters), data outside Salesforce (big objects, external objects, Salesforce Connect, backups) and importing data.
Watch for: reporting snapshots. A snapshot loads data from a source report into fields on a custom target object on a schedule, which is how you report on trends over time. For a summary source report, only summary fields can be mapped, at the grouping level you choose, and the running user needs Create on the target object (Map Reporting Snapshot Fields). For big loads, Data Loader supports files with up to 5 million records.
Cloud Applications: 11%
The sales process (products, price books, schedules, orders and quotes), forecasting and territories, Salesforce Knowledge (article record types and data categories), entitlements and entitlement processes, agent-to-customer channels (Enhanced Chat, Case Feed, the Agentforce Service Console, Experience Cloud sites and Omni-Channel) and products that extend the core platform.
Watch for: entitlement processes. An entitlement process is a timeline of milestones (first response, resolution) applied to cases through an entitlement (Create an Entitlement Process). The newer Simplified SLA Setup renames entitlement management to SLA Management and entitlement processes to SLA Policies, so you may see either term.
Auditing and Monitoring: 10%
Debug logs and Setup Audit Trail, protecting sensitive data in production and sandboxes, and reviewing security settings, including release updates that can change system access.
Watch for: how far back each tool goes. Setup Audit Trail shows the 20 most recent setup changes on screen and lets you download 180 days of history; it tracks configuration, not field values on records. For "who changed this field on this record", the answer is field history tracking (or Field Audit Trail when you need longer retention).
Environment Management and Deployment: 7%
Moving metadata between environments with change sets, sandboxes and managed or unmanaged packages, and change set best practices.
Watch for: what a change set can't do. Change sets move metadata, not records, only between orgs connected to the same production org, and they need a deployment connection set up first (Deployment Connections for Change Sets). At 7% this is the smallest section, about four questions.
A Five-to-Eight-Week Study Plan
- Read the exam guide and mark the gaps. Most candidates are strong on two or three sections from their day job and weak on the rest. Cloud Applications (forecasting, Knowledge, entitlements) is the usual blind spot for admins who only work in Sales.
- Take a baseline. Try the 18 free Platform Administrator II practice questions to see the style and find your weak sections.
- Work the official trailmix. The credential page links Prepare for Your Salesforce Platform Administrator II Certification. The guide also recommends six superbadge units: Object Relationships, Flow Optimization, Record-Triggered Flow, Formulas, Approval Process Management and Approval Process Troubleshooting.
- Build in a free Developer Edition org. Turn on Contacts to Multiple Accounts, set up Lightning Knowledge with two data categories, build an entitlement process with two milestones, create a reporting snapshot, and migrate one workflow rule with the Migrate to Flow tool.
- Spend the most time on the two 20% sections. Security and Access and Process Automation are worth about 24 of the 60 scored questions together. Draw the order of execution from memory until you can.
- Practice under time. Book the exam once you're comfortably above 65% and can explain why each wrong option is wrong. Our guide to answering Salesforce scenario questions helps with the "choose 2" format.
Platform Administrator II Practice Exam on Certifyforce
Certifyforce has a practice bank for this exam, written to the official outline and checked against Salesforce Help and Trailhead. Where the Summer '22 alignment and a current org differ, the questions test the stable concept and name the current product. It isn't affiliated with Salesforce, and it contains no recalled exam questions or brain dumps.
- The Platform Administrator II practice exam: 300 reviewed questions across all seven sections, with timed 60-question exams weighted like the real one, section practice, and an explanation and source for every answer. The full pack is launching soon.
- 18 free practice questions with answers, explanations and the official documentation each was checked against, no account needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many questions are on the Platform Administrator II exam?
60 scored multiple-choice/multiple-select questions plus up to 5 unscored ones, in 105 minutes, with a 65% passing score, per the exam guide.
How much does the Platform Administrator II exam cost?
US$200 (JPY 30,000) plus applicable taxes, and a retake costs US$100 (JPY 15,000), per the exam guide.
Is Platform Administrator II the same as Advanced Administrator?
Yes. Advanced Administrator is the former name; the exam code is Plat-Admn-301. Our guide to which Salesforce certification to get first covers the other renames.
Do I need Platform Administrator before Platform Administrator II?
Yes. Salesforce Certified Platform Administrator is a prerequisite, and you can't register for Platform Administrator II without it.
Does the exam still ask about Workflow Rules and Process Builder?
The guide aligns to Summer '22 and still lists workflow rules, so expect them in order-of-execution and troubleshooting scenarios. For any new automation, Flow is the answer: Salesforce ended support for both older tools on December 31, 2025.
Does the Platform Administrator II certification expire?
Only if you skip maintenance. The exam guide says you'll complete the Administrator maintenance badge on Trailhead three times a year, and missing a due date expires the certification.