ServiceNow Certified System Administrator (CSA)
The CSA is the entry credential for the ServiceNow platform and the prerequisite for most specialist paths that follow. It covers configuring an instance rather than developing on one: users and groups, tables and fields, lists and forms, UI policies and business rules, flows, import sets, and the access control rules that decide who sees what. The exam is 60 questions in 90 minutes. Questions tend to describe a situation on a live instance and ask what to configure, so time spent in a personal developer instance is worth more than time spent reading.
- 60
- Questions
- 90 min
- Duration
- Not published
- Passing score
- Confirm current pricing on
- Exam cost
ServiceNow states the cut score is not shared publicly and is not always 70 percent, so treat practice percentages as a readiness signal rather than a threshold.
servicenow.com
Exam facts reviewed August 2026 · Independent study resource, not affiliated with ServiceNow
Who should take it
Service desk and IT operations staff who administer a ServiceNow instance, and administrators moving from another ITSM tool. ServiceNow suggests three to six months using or maintaining an instance, familiarity with database concepts and system management, and some knowledge of incident, problem and change workflows. It also recommends completing the Welcome to ServiceNow and ServiceNow Administration Fundamentals courses before sitting the exam.
Skills measured
Domains and weightings as published by ServiceNow. Full objectives →
- 7%Platform Overview and Navigation
- 10%Instance Configuration
- 20%Configuring Applications for Collaboration
- 20%Self Service and Automation
- 30%Database Management and Platform Security
- 13%Data Migration and Integration
Prepare with Kwizza
- Free practice exam: full-length, weighted to the official blueprint, every answer explained
- Study guide: focus areas for each domain, common mistakes, and exam-day tips
- Exam objectives: the official domains, broken down skill by skill
- Sample questions: real questions from our bank, with answers and explanations
- How our exams are made: the quality checks behind every question
Frequently asked questions
- Is there a free ServiceNow CSA practice exam?
- Yes. Kwizza has three full-length CSA practice exams, 300 original questions in total, weighted to the domains and percentages ServiceNow publishes in its own exam blueprint. Every answer carries an explanation. These are original questions written from the published objectives, not copies of real exam items.
- What score do I need to pass the CSA?
- ServiceNow does not publish one. Its own guidance says the cut score is not shared publicly and is not always 70 percent. Any specific figure circulating online does not come from ServiceNow. Use practice scores to find weak domains rather than to predict a pass.
- How many questions is the exam, and how long do I get?
- 60 questions in 90 minutes. That is 90 seconds per question, which is comfortable for recall questions and tight for the ones that describe a configuration and ask what happens next.
- Do I need my own instance to study?
- It is the single most useful thing you can do. ServiceNow provides personal developer instances free, and the exam asks what to configure far more often than it asks for a definition. Build a catalog item, write a business rule, break an access control rule and watch what it does.
- How long does the certification stay valid?
- ServiceNow requires ongoing maintenance activity to keep a certification current, tied to its release cycle. What the current cycle asks for changes, so check your certification record on ServiceNow University rather than relying on a number from a forum post.
Related certifications
- CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1201): The service desk grounding that CSA assumes you already have
- Microsoft Azure Administrator (AZ-104): The same administrator instincts applied to cloud infrastructure