What is the SnowPro Core exam?
The SnowPro Core exam is the entry technical certification for the Snowflake AI Data Cloud - a 100-question, 115-minute proctored sitting, exam version COF-C03, built from Multiple Select and Multiple Choice items in English, Japanese, Korean, French, or Spanish. There are no prerequisites, though the vendor recommends six or more months of hands-on Snowflake experience.
It is scored on Snowflake's program-wide 0-to-1000 scale with a passing scaled score of 750, and it can be sat online with OnVUE proctoring from home or at a Pearson VUE test center - the vendor's own exam-details tab lists both delivery options. The published fee is 175 USD per attempt, with exams delivered in India at 140 USD.
What is the format of the SnowPro Core exam?
One sitting, one published format: 100 questions in 115 minutes, which works out to roughly 69 seconds per question. The item types are Multiple Select and Multiple Choice only - there is no hands-on lab and no simulator on COF-C03. The vendor warns that exams may include unscored items used to gather statistical information for future forms; those items are not identified on the form and do not affect your score, and additional time is factored in for them.
Multiple Select is the format's quiet trap: every correct option has to be marked for the item to score, so partial knowledge earns nothing. At 100 items across five domains, the sitting rewards broad fluency over deep specialization - the candidate who knows one domain cold and ignores the others loses the numbers game.
Which domains does the SnowPro Core exam weight most?
The vendor publishes the domain breakdown on the exam-details tab, and the weights are the study plan. Snowflake AI Data Cloud Features and Architecture leads at 31 percent. Performance Optimization, Querying, and Transformation carries 21 percent. Account Management and Data Governance holds 20 percent. Data Loading, Unloading, and Connectivity takes 18 percent, and Data Collaboration closes the form at 10 percent.
Read the weights as question counts: on a 100-question form, the architecture domain alone fields about 31 questions, and the top two domains together account for roughly half the sitting. Candidates coming from a single-discipline background - analysts who live in queries, or engineers who live in pipelines - should measure their preparation against the whole five-domain map, not their day job.
| Domain | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1.0 Snowflake AI Data Cloud Features & Architecture | 31% |
| 2.0 Account Management and Data Governance | 20% |
| 3.0 Data Loading, Unloading, and Connectivity | 18% |
| 4.0 Performance Optimization, Querying, and Transformation | 21% |
| 5.0 Data Collaboration | 10% |
Scroll horizontally to view all columns.
How is the SnowPro Core exam scored, and what is the passing score?
Snowflake uses scaled scoring across the SnowPro program: every exam reports on a 0-to-1000 scale, and the passing scaled score is 750. The vendor's policies page is explicit that scaled scoring exists to keep results consistent across multiple exam forms, item difficulty levels, and versions - which means there is no published raw number of questions you must answer correctly. Anyone quoting a raw count is guessing.
Results arrive fast. You see a score report at the completion of the exam; a pass records on your transcript, a score email follows from the exam delivery vendor, and the Accredible digital-badge email lands within five business days. A fail comes with objective-level feedback - the domain-level readout that tells you where the next attempt's effort goes.
Retakes follow the program-wide policy: wait seven days after any failed attempt, no more than four attempts at the same exam in a 12-month period, and the full fee for every attempt - the vendor states plainly that there are no free retakes and no retake discounts. Retake-policy violations invalidate results and can end in suspension or a permanent program ban.
Where can you sit the SnowPro Core exam - center or home?
Both routes are official, and both were verified on 2026-10-21. The vendor's COF-C03 exam-details tab lists the delivery options as Online Proctoring and Onsite Testing Centers. Pearson's Snowflake program page offers the same choice - a Pearson test center, or online in the comfort and privacy of your home - and the dedicated Snowflake OnVUE page publishes the at-home rulebook. Snowflake also appears on Pearson's official OnVUE view-all catalog of programs that allow testing from home.
The at-home rules, from the dedicated OnVUE page: Windows 10 or macOS 14 or higher, one display only, a working webcam with microphone and speaker (no headphones), at least 6 Mbps download and 2 Mbps upload, every other application closed, no VPNs or corporate networks, and a digital whiteboard instead of physical writing materials. Check-in starts 30 minutes before the appointment with technology checks, ID photos, and a 360-degree room scan, and your government-issued photo ID must match the booking name exactly. Fail a requirement and you cannot test - and the fee is forfeited.
One booking detail worth knowing: Pearson's live SNOWFLAKE registration flow shows the full public exam list - eighteen certification codes - without sign-in, but it runs on the older tree interface, and the delivery-model choice happens inside the signed-in Pearson account rather than on an anonymous step. The vendor's own FAQ frames the trade-off: online proctoring runs a locked-down browser with webcam monitoring and no bathroom breaks, while a testing center provides the computer and staff assistance, with breaks allowed while the clock runs.
Is COF-C03 the current SnowPro Core exam, and what about COF-C02?
COF-C03 is the current version: it is the exam the vendor's certifications catalog carries for the SnowPro Core Certification, with localized variants in Japanese (COF-C03-JPN), Korean (COF-C03-KOR), French (COF-C03-FRA), and Spanish (COF-C03-ESP). The COF-C03 page's exam-details tab is the specification this guide quotes.
The wrinkle is in Pearson's live SNOWFLAKE registration flow, which still lists COF-C02 alongside COF-C03, both titled SnowPro Core Certification Exam, as of 2026-10-21. The vendor publishes no retirement notice for COF-C02 on the pages retrieved today, so the honest instruction is simple: book the version your preparation and any employer requirement reference, and read the exam code on the booking before you pay. The SnowPro Core money page covers the handled-sitting option for COF-C03.
How much does the SnowPro Core exam cost?
The vendor's published fee is 175 USD per exam attempt. Exams delivered in India are 140 USD under the vendor's 20 percent regional discount. Every registration requires the full amount - there is no retake discount and no free second shot, so a candidate who needs all four permitted attempts inside a 12-month window pays the fee four times.
Around the fee sit the scheduling economics: testing-center bookings must be rescheduled or canceled at least 24 hours before the appointment or the fee is forfeited, while online OnVUE bookings can be changed anytime before the appointment starts without extra fees. An exam can be rescheduled up to four times. Voucher purchases are final and non-refundable, and their expiration dates cannot be extended. The full Snowflake fee ladder - Core, Specialty, and Advanced - is mapped in the certification cost explainer.
The short version
The SnowPro Core exam is a 100-question, 115-minute proctored sitting (COF-C03) across five weighted domains, scored on a 0-to-1000 scale with 750 to pass, at 175 USD per attempt - sat online with OnVUE from home or at a Pearson VUE test center, with both delivery options named on the vendor's own exam-details tab, verified 2026-10-21.
If the sitting is the part you want off your plate, Exam Assist handles the SnowPro Core exam end to end - the certification portal account, the 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 read the delivery map for the full Snowflake exam inventory.