Platform Developer Study Guide
The CertifyForce Platform Developer study guide covers the official Salesforce Platform Developer exam outline in 21 units across all 4 exam sections, one unit per exam-guide topic. The exam itself has 60 scored questions plus 5 unscored, a 105-minute limit and a 68% passing score, and its largest section is Process Automation and Logic at 28%. Every unit is verified against official Salesforce documentation, cites its sources, and links to the practice questions that test it. Last updated October 15, 2026.
Focused on developing custom applications on the Salesforce platform using Apex and Visualforce.
21 lessons · 4 exam sections · about 3 h of reading ·
Exam sections
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Every lesson's summary, exam expectations, key facts and self-check questions are free to read. The Platform Developer pack unlocks the self-check answers, core concepts, exam traps and worked scenarios, reading progress, personalized “read next”, and unlimited practice exams.
Developer Fundamentals
27% of the exam- Multi-tenancy, MVC and the Lightning Component Framework~8 minHow one shared, metadata-driven platform serves every org and why that forces governor limits, how Salesforce features map onto Model-View-Controller, and how Lightning web components and Aura components fit the Lightning Component Framework.
- Declarative or programmatic: choosing the right tool~7 minWhen a formula field, roll-up summary, validation rule or Flow meets a requirement and when only Apex will do, with the formula and roll-up limits and the shared governor limits that decide the choice.
- Data modeling: objects, relationships and external IDs~7 minChoosing lookup, master-detail, junction, hierarchical, external lookup or indirect lookup relationships from a requirement, using external IDs for upserts, and reading schema, picklists and record types from Apex with describe calls.
- Agentforce for Developers: use cases and limits~8 minWhat the Agentforce for Developers IDE assistant can and cannot do (Dev Assistant slash commands, inline autocomplete, metadata grounding, trust and review), plus the developer's side of Agentforce: invocable Apex and flow agent actions, Apex in Prompt Builder and the limits of Testing Center.
Process Automation and Logic
28% of the exam- Declarative automation with Flow and approvals~8 minWhat each flow type can and cannot do (screen, record-triggered before and after save, schedule-triggered, platform event-triggered, autolaunched), how flows run by default, and when an approval process is the declarative answer.
- Apex variables, modifiers, methods and interfaces~8 minHow to declare Apex variables and static final constants, which access modifier exposes a member to whom, static versus instance members, method rules, and when to use an interface, a virtual class or an abstract class, plus what the sharing keywords declare.
- Apex control flow, loops and collections~7 minHow if-else, switch and the five Apex loops execute, what break and continue do, how SOQL for loops chunk records, how lists, sets and maps behave while you iterate them, and how the safe navigation and null coalescing operators handle nulls.
- SOQL, SOSL and DML in Apex~8 minHow to write inline SOQL (bind variables, relationship queries, aggregates, FOR UPDATE) and SOSL in Apex, predict exactly what each returns, and choose between DML statements and Database methods with partial success.
- Apex class and trigger best practices~7 minWrite triggers the way the exam expects: context variables, one trigger per object with a handler class, bulkified SOQL and DML, before-trigger field updates, addError, change detection with Trigger.oldMap, recursion guards and no hardcoded configuration.
- Governor limits and asynchronous Apex~7 minThe per-transaction governor limits the exam quotes, how to read them with the Limits class, which limits rise in asynchronous Apex, and when to reach for future methods, Queueable, Batch or Scheduled Apex.
- Transactions, the save order and recursion~8 minHow an Apex transaction commits or rolls back as one unit, where before-save flows, triggers and validation rules sit in the save order of execution, how DML and roll-up summaries cascade into more saves, and how savepoints and transaction-scoped static variables control rollback and recursion.
- Exception handling and custom exceptions~7 minHow try, catch and finally run in Apex, which built-in exceptions to expect and which can't be caught, how to declare and throw a custom exception, and how DML errors, addError and partial-success DML decide what is rolled back.
- Combining Flow and Apex for business logic~7 minHow to expose Apex to Flow with @InvocableMethod and @InvocableVariable, why invocable actions take and return lists that line up with the flow's interviews, how flows start from Apex, and where to draw the line between the flow and the code.
User Interface
25% of the exam- Preventing UI and data access vulnerabilities~8 minHow to make Apex behind Lightning components and Visualforce respect object, field and record access (user mode, stripInaccessible, sharing keywords), and how to stop SOQL injection, cross-site scripting and CSRF in the UI.
- Placing Lightning components, flows and Visualforce~8 minChoosing between Lightning web components, screen flows, quick actions and Visualforce for a UI requirement, and configuring where each surfaces: js-meta.xml targets, record context, flow screens, Experience Builder, navigation and the Visualforce controller patterns still tested.
- Lightning Web Components: decorators, lifecycle, events and data~7 minHow a Lightning web component is built and wired: the @api, @track and @wire decorators, the lifecycle hooks, custom events and their propagation, Lightning Message Service, Lightning Data Service forms and adapters, styling and Aura interoperability.
- Apex for page components: controllers and wire adapters~7 minWhich Apex contract each page component needs: @AuraEnabled methods called by wire or imperatively from Lightning web components, cacheable=true and refreshApex, AuraHandledException errors, @InvocableMethod actions shared by Flow and Agentforce, and Visualforce standard, list, custom and extension controllers.
Testing, Debugging, and Deployment
20% of the exam- Writing and running Apex and Flow tests~8 minHow to structure @IsTest classes, pick a source of test data (@TestSetup, a data factory, Test.loadData, SeeAllData), isolate limits and async work with Test.startTest/stopTest, mock callouts, test triggers and controllers, meet the 75% coverage rule, and test flows with Test Mode or the debugger.
- Salesforce DX, the CLI and Developer Console~8 minWhen to reach for Salesforce DX and the Salesforce CLI (Dev Hub, scratch orgs, aliases, scripted tests, log tailing, JWT login for CI), the VS Code extensions and the browser-based Agentforce Vibes IDE, or the Developer Console for quick in-org work.
- Debugging with logs and monitoring async jobs and flows~8 minHow trace flags, debug levels and debug logs capture a transaction, how to read a log for limits and performance, when to use checkpoints and the Apex Replay Debugger, and how to monitor batch, Queueable and future jobs (Apex Jobs, Flex Queue, AsyncApexJob) and failing flows.
- Sandboxes, change sets and deploying code~8 minPick the right sandbox by data and refresh interval, choose between change sets, the Metadata API through the CLI and packages, and meet production test levels, coverage, validation, Quick Deploy and deletion rules.
Common questions about the Platform Developer study guide
Is the Platform Developer study guide free?
Partly. Every unit's summary and its "What the exam expects", "Key facts" and "Check yourself" sections are free to read without an account. The "Core concepts", "Exam traps" and "Worked scenario" sections, reading progress and unlimited timed mock exams come with the Platform Developer pack (USD $19).
How current is the Platform Developer study guide?
It is written to the current official Salesforce Platform Developer exam outline, and each unit is checked against Salesforce documentation before it is published. The most recent update was October 15, 2026, and every unit shows its own last-updated date.
How does the study guide map to the official Platform Developer exam guide?
There is one unit per topic in the official exam guide, grouped under its 4 weighted sections: Developer Fundamentals (27%), Process Automation and Logic (28%), User Interface (25%), Testing, Debugging, and Deployment (20%). Each unit quotes the exam objective it covers word for word.
How do the practice questions link to the study guide?
Each unit lists the reviewed practice questions that test it (312 questions are linked across the guide), so you can read a topic and practice it in one click. After a practice exam, every missed question links back to the unit that teaches it.