Pega Certification Course (PCSA): The Complete Study Roadmap
Welcome to the TechUpdateAI Pega Certification Course — a free, structured path to passing the Pega Certified System Architect (PCSA / CSA) exam. This page is your home base: the roadmap, the exam breakdown, and links to every lesson. Bookmark it and work through the modules in order.
New to Pega? The PCSA is the entry-level certification. It proves you can build a working Pega application using low-code — cases, data, UI, and process automation. No Java required.
The 6-week visual roadmap
Here’s the whole journey at a glance (exam weightings, weekly effort, and the study plan):
📊 Open the interactive roadmap
What the PCSA exam covers (and the weightings)
Study time should follow the exam weight — don’t over-invest in low-weight areas:
| Domain | Weight | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Case Management | ~40% | Case types, stages, steps, processes, the “happy path” and exceptions |
| Data Modeling | ~30% | Data types, fields, data pages, the clipboard, integrations |
| User Interface | ~20% | Views, forms, controls, dynamic UI, validation |
| Reporting & Tools | ~10% | Report definitions, App Studio/Dev Studio, debugging, guardrails |
Passing score is around 70%.
Course modules
Work through these in order. We’re publishing them one by one — this list links each lesson as it goes live.
Week 1 — Foundations
- Pega Basics: the Platform, App Studio vs Dev Studio & your first Case Type
- Case design: Stages, Processes and Steps (coming soon)
- The primary path (the “happy path”) (coming soon)
Week 2 — Workflow logic 4. Routing: worklists, work queues and assignments 5. Service Level Agreements (SLAs): goals & deadlines 6. Decisions: when rules, decision tables & decision trees
Week 3 — Data modeling 7. The Pega data model: data types, fields & relationships 8. The Clipboard — Pega’s “RAM” (and how to debug with it) 9. Data pages & data scope (Thread vs Requestor vs Node)
Weeks 4–6 — UI, refinement & review 10. Building the UI: views, forms & controls 11. Validation & declarative rules (declare expressions, data transforms) 12. Reporting with report definitions 13. Security basics: access groups, roles & RBAC 14. Guardrails, testing & packaging your app 15. Capstone project + practice exams
How to use this course
- Read in order — each module builds on the last.
- Practice hands-on — sign up for a free personal Pega environment and build along. Reading alone won’t pass the exam; building will.
- Use the official source too — this course explains concepts clearly, but the authoritative material (and hands-on missions) is Pega Academy. Always confirm exam specifics there, as Pega updates its platform regularly.
Ready? Start with Module 1: Pega Basics →