The Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I (PD1) credential validates your ability to build and deploy custom applications on the Salesforce platform using Apex, Visualforce, and Lightning Web Components. It is one of the most sought-after developer certifications in the Salesforce ecosystem, demonstrating mastery of the platform's programming model, data layer, security architecture, and developer toolchain. Practice with the free Salesforce Certified Platform Developer 1 practice test on PracticeTestGeeks (9 questions with answer explanations).
This PD1 practice test PDF gives you a structured way to study the six core exam domains offline. The questions mirror the format and difficulty of the actual Salesforce PD1 exam — 60 multiple-choice and multi-select questions, 105-minute time limit, 68% passing score. Whether you are preparing for your first attempt or reinforcing knowledge gaps before a retake, drilling through these questions before sitting the exam is one of the most efficient study methods available.
Interactive Salesforce Certified Platform Developer 1 resources on PracticeTestGeeks, free to start:
The PD1 exam tests your understanding of Salesforce's data model — standard objects, custom objects, relationships (lookup, master-detail, many-to-many junction objects), and schema design. You must know how field types behave, how relationship traversal works in SOQL, and how schema changes affect deployed code.
On the OOP side, questions target class structure, access modifiers (public, private, protected, global), inheritance, interfaces, and the use of virtual and abstract classes in Apex. Understanding when to use an interface versus an abstract class, and how Apex enforces strict typing, is tested directly. You also need to know how collections — List, Set, Map — are used in practice and why bulkification matters for large data operations.
Apex is the centerpiece of PD1. The exam covers trigger context variables (Trigger.new, Trigger.old, Trigger.isInsert, Trigger.isBefore, and others), the one-trigger-per-object best practice, and how to write handler classes that separate trigger logic from business logic. You must understand the order of execution on a Salesforce record save — validation rules, before triggers, system validation, after triggers, workflow rules, and so on.
SOQL (Salesforce Object Query Language) questions cover query syntax, filtering with WHERE clauses, aggregate functions (COUNT, SUM, AVG, GROUP BY), parent-to-child and child-to-parent relationship queries, and governor limits (50,000 rows per transaction, 100 SOQL queries per synchronous context). DML operations — insert, update, upsert, delete, undelete, merge — must be used in a bulkified pattern. Putting DML or SOQL inside a loop is one of the most commonly tested governor-limit violations.
Visualforce questions cover the MVC architecture, standard and custom controllers, controller extensions, getter/setter methods, and the apex:pageBlockTable and apex:repeat components. You need to understand how Visualforce pages are bound to Apex controller properties and how the view state works in terms of performance and size limits.
Lightning Web Components (LWC) has become the dominant UI framework on the platform. PD1 tests the component lifecycle (connectedCallback, renderedCallback, disconnectedCallback), reactive properties (@track and @api), event communication between parent and child components, wire adapters for declarative Apex calls (@wire), and the use of imperative Apex when reactive wire is insufficient. You should understand when to use LWC versus Aura components and the differences in their programming models.
Every Apex deployment requires a minimum 75% code coverage across all classes and triggers. PD1 tests how to write effective unit tests: using Test.startTest() and Test.stopTest() to reset governor limits, creating test data with @TestSetup methods, using System.assertEquals() and System.assertNotEquals(), and mocking external callouts with HttpCalloutMock. Tests must be data-independent — they cannot rely on existing org data.
The security model section covers profiles (which define baseline permissions), permission sets (which grant additive access), sharing rules (owner-based and criteria-based), organization-wide defaults (OWD), role hierarchy, manual sharing, and Apex-managed sharing. You need to understand the difference between record-level access and field-level security, and how With Sharing, Without Sharing, and Inherited Sharing keywords affect data visibility in Apex code.
Developer tools tested include the Developer Console (anonymous Apex execution, log levels, query editor), Salesforce CLI and VS Code with the Salesforce Extension Pack, scratch orgs and sandboxes (types: Developer, Developer Pro, Partial, Full), change sets versus Salesforce DX source-tracking deployments, and how metadata is structured in the sfdx project format.
For a fuller set of questions on this topic, see our free mocktest for salesforce pd1 resource.
The PDF is ideal for offline study, but the PD1 practice test on PracticeTestGeeks gives you a timed, interactive exam environment that closely mirrors the real testing experience. Work through both formats — offline drilling for concept retention, online testing for time management and exam pacing. Combining both methods gives you the strongest preparation before you schedule your official Salesforce PD1 exam.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Validates your knowledge and skills objectively | Study materials can be expensive |
| Increases job market competitiveness | Exam anxiety can affect performance |
| Provides structured learning goals | Requires dedicated preparation time |
| Networking opportunities with other certified professionals | Retake fees apply if you don't pass |
Try these questions from our free Salesforce Certified Platform Developer 1 practice tests. The correct answer and an explanation follow each question.
What is the maximum number of records a single Apex Batch `execute()` method can process per batch chunk by default?
Answer: B. 200
The default batch size for Apex Batch is 200 records per execute() call, though a custom size can be set in Database.executeBatch().
What happens if an Apex @future method that makes a callout throws an unhandled exception?
Answer: B. The transaction rolls back but the callout is not retried
Unhandled exceptions in @future methods roll back the transaction; there is no automatic retry or dead-letter queue.
What is the purpose of the Test.startTest() and Test.stopTest() methods in Apex testing?
Answer: B. They reset governor limits and allow asynchronous jobs to complete
Test.startTest() resets governor limits and Test.stopTest() forces any asynchronous operations queued during the test to execute synchronously.
Which Salesforce feature allows a developer to enforce that a record cannot be saved unless a related record exists?
Answer: A. Validation Rule
A Validation Rule can check for the presence of a related record and block saves when the condition is not met.
Take the full Salesforce Certified Platform Developer 1 practice test