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CAD exam blueprint, explained

Certified Application Developer

ServiceNow's blueprint lists what the exam tests and how much each area counts. This page restates it in plain language, with the domains ordered as published and every objective as a checklist.

Official source: KB0011498, updated January 2026. Open the official CAD blueprint

The original is a ServiceNow University knowledge article and may ask you to sign in to Now Learning. If anything here disagrees with it, the official blueprint wins.

At a glance

Domains
6
Heaviest domains
Designing and Creating an Application, Application User Interface, Security and Restricting Access and Application Automation (20% each)
Top two domains
40% of the exam
Objectives listed
22

Where the marks are

Each domain's share of the exam, and what that means for every 10 hours you study.

DomainWeightOf every 10 study hours
1. Designing and Creating an Application
20%
2 h
2. Application User Interface
20%
2 h
3. Security and Restricting Access
20%
2 h
4. Application Automation
20%
2 h
5. Working with External Data
10%
1 h
6. Managing Applications
10%
1 h

Weights as published in KB0011498. The study-time column only applies the weight; spend more on domains you're weaker in.

What each domain covers

The blueprint's objectives for each domain. Tick them off as you can explain and do each one in a Personal Developer Instance.

Domain 1 · Designing and Creating an Application

20% of the exam
  • Determine if an application is a good fit with ServiceNow
  • Design and implement a data model
  • Create modules
  • Use Application scope

Domain 2 · Application User Interface

20% of the exam
  • Create, design, and customize forms
  • Add/Remove fields from forms and tables
  • Write, test, and debug client-side scripts for desktop
  • Write, test, and debug server-side scripts
  • Use a Record Producer as an application's UI

Domain 3 · Security and Restricting Access

20% of the exam
  • Restrict access to applications and application modules
  • Manually and automatically create, test, and debug Access Controls
  • Use GlideSystem methods to script security
  • Use Application Scope to protect application artifacts

Domain 4 · Application Automation

20% of the exam
  • Write, test, and debug Workflow and Flow Designer
  • Create and use Application Properties
  • Create Events, Scheduled Script Executions (Scheduled Jobs), and Utils (application) Script Includes
  • Send and receive email

Domain 5 · Working with External Data

10% of the exam
  • Import data in CSV or Excel format
  • Integrate to, including testing and debugging, an external data source using REST

Domain 6 · Managing Applications

10% of the exam
  • Download and install applications
  • Use Delegated Development to manage source code and code review
  • Use the ServiceNow Git integration to manage source code

Some of our CAD practice questions are still organised by an older topic list, so not every domain above links to matching practice yet. All 193 questions are on the CAD page.

Before you book

  • Prerequisites: Our transcription of the blueprint lists no mandatory prerequisite certification. Check the exam registration page to confirm.
  • Exam fee: $300.
  • Passing score: ServiceNow does not publish the cut score, and the official exam blueprint says it is not always 70%.
  • Booking, retake waits and exam format are covered on the CAD page.

Courses the blueprint points to

Recommended on the blueprint

The blueprint lists these as recommended preparation.

Courses without a link are named in the blueprint but we haven't recorded a course URL for them; search for them in Now Learning.

How to use this blueprint

  1. Go through the objectives above and mark each one: done for real, only read about, or new.
  2. Start where heavy weight meets the most “new” marks. Designing and Creating an Application, Application User Interface, Security and Restricting Access and Application Automation are 20% each.
  3. Build each objective in a Personal Developer Instance rather than only reading about it.
  4. Use practice questions to find weak domains, then go back to those objectives and their documentation.

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