ICF Credentialing Exam Prep · 2026

Professional Certified Coach
Preparation

Situational judgment questions aligned to all 8 ICF Core Competencies. Select the best and worst response for each scenario — just like the real exam.

115
Questions
8
Competencies
460
Pass Score
6
Practice Modes
Study Resources
Reference guides and quick practice
0
Seen
0
Weak
0
Retired
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Total Q
📋
Exam Format Guide
What to expect, tips, common mistakes, and how to approach the situational judgment format.
💡
Key Concepts
All 8 competencies and ethics with examples, how they're tested, and your personal study notes.
⚡
Quick Review
10-question sprint with immediate feedback. Great for a focused warm-up on any competency.
10 questions · 15 min
🎯
Review Weak Areas
Revisit questions you've answered incorrectly. Retires questions once answered correctly twice in a row.
📊
My Performance
Strengths, weaknesses, Best vs Worst accuracy, most-missed questions, and corrective actions.
Choose Practice Mode
Click to start immediately — filter by competency below for targeted practice
📖
Practice Mode
Immediate per-option feedback after each question. Best for learning.
20 questions · Untimed
Questions:
🎓
Advanced Practice
Longer, complex scenarios with tighter options — mirroring real exam difficulty.
20 questions · Untimed · Immediate feedback
REAL EXAM STYLE
⏱️
Timed Exam
Random questions from selected competencies. Score revealed at end.
39 questions · 80 min
🔍
Question Lookup
Browse all questions by competency or look up a specific question by ID.
145 questions · No timer
Filter by Competency (applies to Timed Exam & Practice Mode)
All
C1 · Ethical Practice
C2 · Coaching Mindset
C3 · Agreements
C4 · Trust & Safety
C5 · Presence
C6 · Active Listening
C7 · Evokes Awareness
C8 · Client Growth
Pool: 115 questions available
Exam Sets
Fixed question sets that mirror real exam conditions — 80 minutes, score at end only
📝
Exam Set 1
39 unique questions across all 8 competencies. No overlap with Set 2.
39 Q · 80 min · Score at end →
📋
Exam Set 2
39 different questions across all 8 competencies. No overlap with Set 1.
39 Q · 80 min · Score at end →
🎓
Full Length Exam New
Complete ICF-style exam — 78 questions, 2 sections, scheduled break. Mirrors real exam domain distribution.
📋 4 min 📝 39 Q · 83 min ☕ 10 min 📝 39 Q · 83 min
78 Q · ~3 hrs · Full simulation →
← Exit
Q1
of 20
Domain
Question Map
Answered Flagged
Session Complete
Results
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SCALED SCORE
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Passing: 460 · Range: 200–600
Performance by Domain
Your accuracy across ICF exam competencies
Question Review
Click any question to expand
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Question Lookup
Look up by question ID, or browse an entire competency. Toggle whether answers are shown.
Show Answers?
Browse by Competency
All
C1 · Ethical Practice
C2 · Coaching Mindset
C3 · Agreements
C4 · Trust & Safety
C5 · Presence
C6 · Active Listening
C7 · Evokes Awareness
C8 · Client Growth
Or look up by specific Question ID (1–95)
Exam Preparation Guide
What to Expect in the
ICF PCC Exam
Everything you need to know about the exam format, scoring, smart strategies, and the mistakes that trip people up.
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📐Exam Structure at a Glance
Total Items
78
Situational judgment scenarios, each with 4 response options
Scored Items
68
10 are unscored field-test items mixed in — you won't know which
Time Allowed
3 hrs
Two sections of 39 items each, with an optional 10-min break between
Passing Score
460
On a scaled score of 200–600. Preliminary results shown immediately
Format
Drag & Drop
Drag one option to BEST and one to WORST — both must be placed to score
Scoring
2 pts / Q
1 pt for correct Best, 1 pt for correct Worst — partial credit is possible
🗺️What the Exam Actually Tests

The ICF PCC exam does not test knowledge recall or theory. It tests your situational judgement — your ability to recognise what skilled coaching looks like in real, messy, ambiguous scenarios. Every question describes a coaching moment and asks you to identify the response most aligned with ICF's Core Competencies.

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    Domain 1 – Foundation (25%)Ethical practice and coaching mindset — understanding ICF values and how they apply in tricky situations.
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    Domain 2 – Co-Creating the Relationship (38%)Agreements, trust & safety, and presence — how the coach shows up and creates the coaching container.
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    Domain 3 – Communicating Effectively (25%)Active listening and evoking awareness — the quality of the coach's attention and questions.
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    Domain 4 – Cultivating Learning & Growth (12%)Facilitating client growth — how the coach supports insight, action design, and accountability.
🧠How to Think About Each Question
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    Read the scenario carefully — twice.Notice what the client said, how they said it, and what phase of the session it is. Details matter.
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    Find the WORST first.The worst response is usually easier to identify — it often involves advice-giving, redirecting, assuming, moralising, or the coach making themselves the focus. Anchoring on the worst helps you think more clearly about the best.
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    Ask: "Who owns this moment?"The ICF model is client-led. If a response puts the coach's knowledge, opinion, or agenda at the centre, it is likely the worst or second-worst option.
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    Best ≠ most comfortable.The best coaching response often involves sitting with discomfort — noticing an emotion rather than resolving it, asking a hard question rather than reassuring, or staying curious rather than providing a framework.
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    Avoid the "reasonable but not coaching" trap.Many distractor options sound like good management, therapy, or mentoring — but not like ICF coaching. If an option would work well in a different profession, it is probably a distractor.
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    Flag and return.The exam platform allows flagging. If you're genuinely torn, flag it and move on — spending 4 minutes on one question costs you three easier ones.
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    Never leave blank.There is no penalty for guessing. An unanswered question scores zero. Even a guess has a 1-in-4 chance of partial credit.
💎Insider Tips That Actually Help
🎯 The "Consulting Trap"
The single most common distractor on the exam is an option that sounds helpful but is really consulting or advising. Telling a client what to do, sharing frameworks, offering techniques, or giving your opinion — however gently framed — is almost never the best response. When in doubt, the option that explores the client's own thinking wins.
🎯 The "Exploration Before Action" Rule
The exam strongly favours options that deepen exploration over options that move to action planning. A client sharing a feeling, a belief, or a realisation deserves exploration — not an immediate pivot to "so what will you do about it?" Options that ask "what does that mean to you?" or "what's beneath that?" consistently outperform options that jump to strategy.
🎯 The Client's Own Words Are Gold
When a client uses a specific word — especially a metaphor or emotionally charged term — the best response almost always involves reflecting or inquiring into that exact word. "Drowning," "invisible," "stuck," "fraud" — these are invitations. Options that replace these words with clinical labels or categories are usually distractors.
🎯 Non-Attachment Is Non-Negotiable
If a coach has just shared an observation or reframe and the client pushes back or disagrees — the best response is always to accept the client's view and invite their own interpretation. Options where the coach insists, persists, or steers the client back to the coach's original view are consistently the worst responses.
🎯 Time Your Pacing — 2 min 18 sec per question
With 166 minutes for 78 questions, you have about 2 minutes 8 seconds per item. Practise pacing now — if you spend 5 minutes debating one question, you're borrowing time from simpler ones. A fast pass to flag the hard ones, then a review, consistently beats a sequential approach.
⚠️Common Mistakes — and How to Fix Them
Mistake 1 · Picking the "nicest" option
Candidates often pick whichever response sounds most warm and supportive, regardless of whether it moves the client forward. Excessive reassurance ("I'm sure you'll do great!") or validation without inquiry is a trap.
Fix: Ask yourself — "Does this response open the client's thinking or close it?" Warmth that forecloses exploration is not coaching.
Mistake 2 · Over-valuing action planning
Many experienced coaches — especially those with results-focused backgrounds — instinctively prefer options that get the client to commit to actions. The exam tests whether you explore before acting.
Fix: Unless the scenario explicitly shows the client is ready to design actions, exploration options beat action-planning options.
Mistake 3 · Applying therapy logic
Options that involve deep emotional processing, exploring childhood patterns, or extensive reflection on the past often sound sophisticated — but they can cross into the therapeutic mode that ICF distinguishes from coaching.
Fix: Coaching is primarily present and future-focused. Options that go deep into the past for its own sake are usually distractors.
Mistake 4 · Confusing empathy with direction
A response like "I hear how hard this is — so let's focus on what you can control" sounds empathetic but immediately redirects. The client's experience hasn't been fully acknowledged before the coach pivots.
Fix: Real acknowledgement means sitting with what the client shared — not using it as a bridge to the coach's preferred direction.
Mistake 5 · Ignoring the worst response
Candidates sometimes spend all their energy picking the best response and then rush the worst — choosing something that's "not great" rather than identifying the genuinely most harmful option.
Fix: The worst response is often the one that most clearly violates a specific ICF standard — advice-giving, disrespecting confidentiality, imposing the coach's view, or abandoning the client.
📅In the Final 72 Hours
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    Stop cramming, start reviewing.New content in the last 48 hours rarely helps and often creates noise. Focus on reviewing the PCC Markers and Minimum Skills Requirements — these are the direct criteria assessors use.
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    Know the four domains and their weightings.Foundation 25%, Co-Creating 38%, Communicating 25%, Cultivating 12%. The highest-weighted domain (Co-Creating) is where most points are won or lost.
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    Test your setup early if sitting remotely.Log in to Pearson VUE the day before, run the system check, and have your ID ready. Technical issues on exam day are catastrophic for focus.
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    The break is real — use it.The optional 10-minute break between sections exists because the exam is cognitively demanding. Step away from the screen, breathe, and reset before Section 2.
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    Remember what coaching actually feels like.Before every scenario, ask: "What would a truly client-centred coach do here?" — not "What is the textbook answer?" The exam rewards coaches who have internalised the principles, not memorised the frameworks.
Study Reference
Key Concepts & Core Competencies
Each competency explained with exampleexamples, how it's tested, and what the exam looks for. Plus your personal study notes.
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1
Demonstrates Ethical Practice
Domain: Foundation
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What it means
Understanding and consistently applying coaching ethics and ICF standards. The coach acts with integrity, maintains confidentiality, recognises conflicts of interest, and stays squarely within the coaching role rather than slipping into consulting, therapy, or mentoring.
💬 exampleExample
"Your client confesses they've been padding their expense reports and wants your help covering it up. You're not their accomplice, their lawyer, or their mother. You acknowledge it, decline to assist with the cover-up, and explore what they actually want their professional integrity to look like. That's ethical coaching — not a crime drama."
🎯 How it's tested on the exam
Ethical scenarios often involve: (1) a client disclosing something illegal or harmful, (2) a sponsor trying to access confidential information, (3) a dual relationship (friend, colleague), or (4) the coach operating outside their competency. The worst response almost always involves the coach acting in bad faith or ignoring their ethical obligation. The best response typically involves transparency, the coaching agreement, and exploring the client's own values.
Example exam direction: "A client's sponsor asks for informal updates not covered in the original agreement. The coach should..."

Best: Discuss with the client, reinforce the agreement, and decline to share anything outside it. Worst: Share informally because the sponsor is paying.
2
Embodies a Coaching Mindset
Domain: Foundation
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What it means
A mindset that is open, curious, flexible, and client-centred. The coach develops ongoing awareness of their own biases, stays non-attached to outcomes, and genuinely trusts the client as the expert on their own life. It's about who the coach is being, not just what they're doing.
💬 exampleExample
"You're a 20-year HR veteran and your client just described a textbook bad hire. You can see the answer so clearly it's practically glowing in neon. A coaching mindset means noticing that neon sign, nodding at it politely, and then setting it on fire — so you can stay genuinely curious about what the client is discovering. Your expertise is not the point. Their insight is."
🎯 How it's tested on the exam
Mindset questions often involve the coach having relevant expertise that is tempting to share, or the coach's own feelings (excitement, judgment, discomfort) starting to drive the session. The best response involves the coach noticing their own state and returning to curiosity. The worst response involves the coach inserting their perspective as central.
Example exam direction: "A coach with deep business expertise notices they're already composing advice while the client is still speaking. The best response is..."

Best: Notice the impulse, set it aside, and return to genuine curiosity about what the client is discovering. Worst: Share the advice because it's clearly relevant and time-saving.
3
Establishes and Maintains Agreements
Domain: Co-Creating the Relationship
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What it means
Co-creating clarity about what is to be accomplished in each session and across the coaching engagement. This includes the overall coaching relationship agreement AND the live session agreement — what the client wants to achieve today, how success would feel, and what needs exploring to get there.
💬 exampleExample
"A client saying 'I want to feel more confident' is like someone walking into a restaurant and saying 'I want something good.' Technically useful, but you're going to need to dig a bit deeper before the kitchen gets involved. The coach's job isn't to translate the vague goal into SMART objectives — it's to explore what 'confident' actually means to this specific person, in this specific context, at this specific moment."
🎯 How it's tested on the exam
Agreement scenarios test whether the coach partners to co-create the agenda or unilaterally determines it. Common scenarios: a client gives a vague goal, the session shifts mid-way, or the coach ignores the client's actual request. Best responses always involve explicit partnering. Worst responses involve the coach choosing the direction without the client's input.
Example exam direction: "15 minutes in, the client pivots from their career topic to talk about a difficult family relationship. The coach should..."

Best: Name the shift and partner with the client on whether to continue, shift, or explore the connection. Worst: Continue with the original career topic regardless.
4
Cultivates Trust and Safety
Domain: Co-Creating the Relationship
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What it means
Creating an environment where the client feels safe to share, take risks, and be authentic. This includes respecting the client's unique contributions, showing genuine support and empathy, and never communicating — overtly or subtly — a lack of confidence in the client's capabilities.
💬 exampleExample
"A client shares their brilliant new startup idea with the energy of a golden retriever who just discovered tennis balls. Responding with 'Interesting — did you know 90% of startups fail in year one?' is technically accurate but functionally the equivalent of letting the air out of their tyres before they've left the driveway. Trust and safety means the client can bring their full self — including their dreams — without getting a risk audit in return."
🎯 How it's tested on the exam
Trust and safety scenarios often involve a client expressing vulnerability, showing cultural communication differences, disagreeing with the coach, or sharing something emotional. The best response acknowledges and creates space. The worst response dismisses, redirects, or subtly undermines the client's confidence or autonomy.
Example exam direction: "A client from a different cultural background uses silence frequently. The coach feels uncomfortable and keeps filling the silence. The coach should..."

Best: Recognise their discomfort as their own, practise tolerance for silence, and inquire into meaning without projecting cultural assumptions. Worst: Ask the client to be more direct.
5
Maintains Presence
Domain: Co-Creating the Relationship
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What it means
Being fully conscious and creating spontaneous relationships with clients — responding to the whole person and the whole moment, not just the content. Presence means following the client, not one's own agenda; tolerating silence; and noticing what isn't being said as much as what is.
💬 exampleExample
"You've prepared the perfect three-part question that would lead the client to a profound realisation — you can already see their face lighting up. But they just said something completely unexpected, and now your beautiful question is as useful as a snow globe in a hurricane. Maintaining presence means letting the snow globe go. The client's actual moment always beats your planned moment."
🎯 How it's tested on the exam
Presence scenarios involve the coach following their own agenda instead of the client's, failing to notice non-verbal cues, filling silence from discomfort, or getting caught up in their personal enthusiasm for a topic. Best responses show the coach responding to what's actually happening. Worst responses show the coach following their predetermined plan regardless.
Example exam direction: "After a powerful question, the client is silent for 45 seconds. The coach becomes uncomfortable and rephrases the question. The best alternative would have been..."

Best: Allow the silence to continue — trust the client's processing. Worst: Give the client a time limit for their response.
6
Listens Actively
Domain: Communicating Effectively
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What it means
Focusing on what the client is and is not saying — integrating their specific words, tone, and non-verbal cues. It means asking into the language the client uses rather than substituting your own interpretation, and allowing the client to do most of the talking.
💬 exampleExample
"A client says 'I feel like I'm drowning at work.' A coach who is not actively listening hears 'time management problem' and reaches for a productivity framework. An actively listening coach hears 'drowning' — a visceral metaphor — and wades right in: 'Tell me more about that drowning feeling. What does it look and feel like for you?' The metaphor is the data. The metaphor is the coaching."
🎯 How it's tested on the exam
Active listening scenarios test whether the coach tracks the client's actual language and emotional cues or substitutes their own interpretation. Common tests: a client uses a powerful recurring word the coach ignores; the coach talks 40% of the session; the coach makes assumptions about meaning. The best response inquires into the client's exact words. The worst response relabels their experience with a clinical category.
Example exam direction: "A client uses the word 'invisible' five times in the session. The coach has not acknowledged it. The coach should..."

Best: Inquire into the word 'invisible' — what it means and what it's like to experience it. Worst: Tell the client that 'feeling invisible' is not a professional issue.
7
Evokes Awareness
Domain: Communicating Effectively
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What it means
Using questions, observations, silence, and other techniques to invite insight. It means moving from the 'what' (the situation) to the 'who' (the person) — exploring the client's beliefs, values, and identity. Observations are shared with non-attachment; questions are open-ended, one at a time, at a reflective pace.
💬 exampleExample
"You ask a client a question, they think for a moment, and then — just as the insight is forming — you fire off two more questions because the silence felt unproductive. You have just walked into a room, switched on all the lights, and then immediately switched them off again. Evoking awareness requires planting the question and then stepping back to let it grow. One question. Pause. Let them arrive."
🎯 How it's tested on the exam
Awareness-evoking scenarios test whether the coach explores the client's inner world or stays on the surface of the situation. Exam tells: asking multiple questions at once (bad), using jargon-heavy language (bad), sharing an observation and insisting on it when the client disagrees (bad). Good: clear, single, open questions; moving from what to who; sharing intuitions lightly and accepting the client's response.
Example exam direction: "A coach shares an observation and the client disagrees. The coach says 'I still feel there's something more here.' The problem is..."

Best: The coach should accept the client's response and invite their own interpretation. Worst: Stating intuitions as fact backed by experience is over-confident and removes the client's authority over their experience.
8
Facilitates Client Growth
Domain: Cultivating Learning & Growth
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What it means
Partnering with the client to integrate learning and design their own next steps. The coach invites the client to reflect on progress, celebrates their growth, supports them in designing post-session actions, explores what might get in the way, and partners on how the client wants to close the session.
💬 exampleExample
"At the end of the session you say 'Great — so your homework for the week is to have that difficult conversation, update your LinkedIn, and meditate for 10 minutes every morning.' Congratulations — you've just become a life admin manager. PCC-level facilitation means asking: 'What feels right as a next step for you?' and then celebrating what they design, however modest. Their plan, designed by them, beats your plan, however excellent, every single time."
🎯 How it's tested on the exam
Growth facilitation scenarios test whether the coach partners on action design or prescribes it. Common traps: assigning homework, closing the session without reflection, moving to action before acknowledging insight, or naming the client's learning for them. Best responses invite the client to define their own growth, next steps, and accountability. Worst responses prescribe, direct, or skip the reflection entirely.
Example exam direction: "A client has just had a breakthrough insight. The coach immediately says: 'Great — so what are you going to do about it?' The issue is..."

Best: The coach should first acknowledge and celebrate the breakthrough, then invite the client to sit with it before exploring action. Worst: Moving directly to action without acknowledgment devalues the learning and skips integration.
ICF Code of Ethics — Exam Essentials
The exam tests the application of ethics in real coaching situations, not memorisation of the Code. Here are the principles that appear most frequently in exam scenarios.
🔒 Confidentiality
Coaches maintain the strictest confidentiality with all parties — including sponsors. Only information agreed upon in the original coaching agreement may be shared. This applies even when the sponsor is paying.
Exam tell: A sponsor asks for updates → Best: Refer to what was agreed with the client. Worst: Share because the sponsor is the client's employer.
⚖️ Conflict of Interest
Coaches identify and openly manage situations where they have multiple relationships with parties involved in the coaching. Coaching friends, colleagues, or business partners requires transparency and may require referral.
Exam tell: A friend asks to become a coaching client → Best: Discuss the potential conflict transparently and consider referral. Worst: Accept immediately — personal knowledge makes coaching more effective.
🎯 Scope of Practice
Coaches work within their boundaries of competency and the coaching role. They do not diagnose, advise medically, provide therapy, or make legal or financial recommendations — and they recognise when a referral is needed.
Exam tell: A client shows signs of clinical depression → Best: Gently name the observation, express care, and explore professional support. Worst: Diagnose the condition and suggest treatment.
✅ Accuracy and Honesty
Coaches make only true and accurate statements about their qualifications, experience, and what coaching can achieve. They do not provide false testimonials or overstate their credentials.
Exam tell: A coach is asked to endorse a program they haven't experienced → Best: Decline — they have no direct knowledge. Worst: Provide a reference based on the founders' reputation.
🛡️ Duty of Care
When a client's safety or wellbeing is at risk, this overrides the session agenda. Coaches respond to safety concerns — including mental health signals — before continuing with coaching goals.
Exam tell: A client mentions not wanting to be here anymore → Best: Acknowledge, ask directly about safety, provide resources. Worst: Continue the session as the client redirected to the original topic.
🤝 Client Autonomy
Coaches respect the client's right to determine their own path, make their own choices, and define what success means for them — even when the coach disagrees. Imposing the coach's values or direction violates this principle.
Exam tell: A client chooses a path the coach thinks is unwise → Best: Explore the client's own thinking and values. Worst: Challenge the decision because the coach knows better.
🎯 How Ethics is Tested on the Exam
Ethics appears as a standalone domain (13% of the exam) but also runs through every other competency. The exam tests application — scenarios that create real ethical tension where the tempting answer (help the client, share useful information, continue the session) conflicts with the ethical obligation. The best response almost always involves transparency, honesty, referral when needed, and staying within the coaching role.
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Full Length Exam · ICF PCC Format

Exam Instructions

Read carefully before you begin. You may skip when ready.

📋
Instructions
4 min
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📝
Section 1
39 Q · 83 min
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☕
Break
10 min
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📝
Section 2
39 Q · 83 min
About This Exam
  • →78 questions total across two sections of 39 items each, matching the ICF PCC exam structure.
  • →Situational judgment format — for each scenario, select the Best and Worst response from four options. Both must be placed to score each question.
  • →Scoring — 1 point for correct Best + 1 point for correct Worst = maximum 2 points per question. Scaled to 200–600; passing score is 460.
  • →Domain distribution mirrors ICF guidelines: Foundation (25%), Co-Creating the Relationship (38%), Communicating Effectively (25%), Cultivating Learning & Growth (12%).
During the Exam
  • →Flag questions you want to revisit — use the 🚩 button and the question map to track them.
  • →Never leave a question blank — there is no penalty for guessing. An unanswered question scores zero.
  • →Find the Worst first — it is often easier to identify, and anchoring on it helps clarify the Best.
  • →Section 1 covers Foundations & Co-Creating (C1–C4). Section 2 covers Communicating & Cultivating (C5–C8).
  • →Your score is not shown until both sections are submitted. Feedback and domain breakdown appear on the final results page.
The Scheduled Break
  • →After submitting Section 1 you will reach a 10-minute break screen with a countdown timer.
  • →Step away from the screen, breathe, and reset — the real ICF exam includes this break for good reason.
  • →You may start Section 2 early by clicking "Start Section 2", or wait for the timer to prompt you.
4:00 suggested reading time
☕
Section 1 Complete
Well done. Take a proper break — step away, breathe, and reset before Section 2.
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Section 1 Score
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Points Earned
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Accuracy
10:00
Break Remaining
✓ Instructions
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✓ Section 1
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☕ Break
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Section 2
Full Exam Complete
ICF PCC Full Length Exam · 78 Questions
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SCALED SCORE
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Passing: 460 · Range: 200–600
Section Scores
Breakdown by exam section
Section 1 · C1–C4
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— / 78 pts
Section 2 · C5–C8
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— / 78 pts
ICF Domain Breakdown
Performance across the four ICF exam domains
Competency Breakdown
Your accuracy per competency
Question Review
Click any question to expand · Section 1 then Section 2
📝 Section 1 — Questions 1–39
📝 Section 2 — Questions 40–78
Progress Analytics

My Performance

Based on your answer history across all sessions.

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