What is the ServiceNow CSA exam?
The CSA is ServiceNow's Certified System Administrator mainline exam - the entry credential for the platform's certification program and the base most other ServiceNow credentials assume. Per the official blueprint, it is a 60-question proctored exam completed in 90 minutes, mixing multiple-choice with multiple-select questions, and it confirms you can configure, implement, and maintain a ServiceNow system: navigating the platform, configuring applications, managing data, and implementing self-service and automation.
Registration runs 300 USD through your ServiceNow University account - registration equals payment - and the exam is delivered by Pearson VUE, at a test center or online with OnVUE proctoring. Passing earns the Certified System Administrator credential and a verifiable Credly digital badge, maintained afterward with annual delta exams and a yearly maintenance fee.
What is the CSA exam format?
Sixty questions, 90 minutes, two item types. The multiple-choice questions offer at least three responses and ask for one; the multiple-select questions offer at least four responses, state how many to pick, and award no partial credit - a single wrong selection scores the item zero. ServiceNow prints sample items inside the blueprint itself, which is the most honest preview of the real wording.
The scoring model is the part most third-party pages get wrong. Each question is worth one point, your total is compared to a predetermined cut score, and ServiceNow states the cut score is not publicly shared and is not always 70 percent. The result shows immediately at submit as a conditional pass or fail - conditional because ServiceNow reserves the right to audit and revoke under its test security policies. The per-domain percentages on the result report describe performance; they do not decide it.
There is no penalty structure to manage and no per-section clock - the 90 minutes cover the whole exam. ServiceNow estimates readiness at three to six months of hands-on instance experience, recommends its Welcome to ServiceNow and ServiceNow Administration Fundamentals courses, and sells official practice exams through MeasureUp.
What does the CSA exam cover?
Six domains, and the official weights are the study plan. Database Management and Platform Security is the heavyweight at 30 percent - data schema, application and access control, importing data, CMDB and CSDM, the Security Center, and the shared responsibility model. Configuring Applications for Collaboration and Self Service and Automation carry 20 percent each: lists, forms, task management, dashboards, notifications, knowledge, the service catalog, Workflow Studio, and Virtual Agent.
The remaining three domains fill the base: Data Migration and Integration at 13 percent (UI policies, business rules, update sets, scripting), Instance Configuration at 10 (applications, plugins, personalization), and Platform Overview and Navigation at 7. The published sub-topics are not an exhaustive list - ServiceNow says so explicitly - but the weights are the vendor's own allocation of where the 60 questions land.
| Domain | Percent of exam |
|---|---|
| Platform Overview and Navigation | 7% |
| Instance Configuration | 10% |
| Configuring Applications for Collaboration | 20% |
| Self Service & Automation | 20% |
| Database Management and Platform Security | 30% |
| Data Migration and Integration | 13% |
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Can you take the CSA exam online from home?
Yes - the CSA blueprint's registration step 3 states the choice directly: from the My Exams page you are directed to Pearson and choose a Pearson test center or online with OnVUE, where proctors observe via a webcam. Pearson's dedicated ServiceNow OnVUE page publishes the at-home minimums, and the official OnVUE view-all catalog lists ServiceNow among the programs that allow testing from home - all verified 2026-10-24.
The one structural detail to understand: ServiceNow registration lives in your ServiceNow University account and reaches Pearson through single sign-on - there is no separate Pearson account to create. Pearson's public SERVICENOW exam flow renders the exam list and the CSA language step (English or Japanese) without sign-in, but the exam-details step has no anonymous way forward, so the delivery-model choice happens inside your signed-in account.
The at-home rules from the OnVUE page: Windows 10 or macOS 14 or higher, one display only, webcam, microphone, and speaker with no headphones, at least 6 Mbps down and 2 Mbps up, every other application closed, and no VPN, corporate, or public network. The system test runs on the same device and network you will use on exam day - miss the minimums at check-in and the sitting is canceled with the fee forfeited.
What does the CSA exam cost, and how do retakes work?
The registration fee is 300 USD per ServiceNow's mainline fee article, with partner and customer discounts possible at payment. The rules around that fee matter as much as the number: registration equals payment, the fee is non-refundable, and you have a fixed 90-day window to schedule and complete the exam - a window that does not extend even when you reschedule inside it. Cancellations are not offered at all; rescheduling is free up to 48 hours before a center sitting and up to the scheduled start time for an OnVUE sitting.
Retakes are unlimited but metered, per ServiceNow's Pearson VUE FAQ: 150 USD per CSA retake, with a 3-day wait before the second attempt, a 30-day wait before the third, and 6-month waits for every attempt after that. Miss or no-show a sitting and the attempt is consumed - the retake fee applies either way. ServiceNow publishes no pass rate, so any site quoting one is inventing it.
Maintenance is the cost everyone forgets. The credential stays active through annual delta exams plus the 200 USD yearly Certification Maintenance Program fee, collected in a window that typically runs mid-January to mid-April and assessed once no matter how many mainline certifications you hold. Miss the window and each certification expires - re-entry costs 200 USD per certification.
| Item | Amount or rule |
|---|---|
| Registration (one attempt) | 300 USD, non-refundable |
| Scheduling window | 90 days from payment, fixed |
| Retake fee | 150 USD per attempt |
| Retake waits | 3 days, then 30 days, then 6 months |
| Reschedule (center) | Free up to 48 hours before |
| Reschedule (OnVUE) | Free up to the scheduled start time |
| Annual maintenance | Delta exams + 200 USD CMP fee |
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The short version
The CSA is ServiceNow's 60-question, 90-minute administrator exam: six weighted domains topped by Database Management and Platform Security at 30 percent, multiple-select items with no partial credit, an unpublished cut score, a 300 USD registration inside a fixed 90-day window, a 150 USD metered retake ladder, and a 200 USD annual maintenance fee - with the online-with-OnVUE choice stated in ServiceNow's own blueprint and verified on 2026-10-24.
If the sitting is the part you want handled, Exam Assist manages the CSA exam end to end - the ServiceNow University registration path, the Pearson delivery choice, the system checks, and the proctored sitting - and the service fee is due only after the agreed result posts. Start at the booking page or open the CSA service page for the sitting itself.