(PD1) Salesforce Certified Platform Developer 1 Practice Test

(PD1) Salesforce Certified Platform Developer 1 Practice Test

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PD1 Practice Test PDF: Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I

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.

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.

Salesforce Data Model and Object-Oriented Programming

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 Programming: Triggers, SOQL, and DML

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, Lightning Web Components, and UI Development

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.

Testing, Debugging, Salesforce Security Model, and Developer Tools

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.

Start Practice Test
Review all six exam domains in the official Salesforce PD1 exam guide and weight each by percentage
Write and deploy at least one Apex trigger using a handler class pattern with full unit test coverage
Practice SOQL queries including parent-to-child subqueries, aggregate functions, and relationship traversal
Build a Lightning Web Component that communicates with a parent component via custom events
Memorize the top 10 Apex governor limits: SOQL queries, DML rows, CPU time, heap size
Study the Salesforce order of execution for a record save from validation rules through workflow
Understand profiles vs permission sets vs sharing rules and when each is the right tool
Write a Visualforce page with a custom controller and a standard controller extension
Practice with Salesforce CLI: create a scratch org, push source, run Apex tests, pull changes
Take at least two timed full-length PD1 practice tests before scheduling your exam attempt
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Take the Full PD1 Practice Test Online

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

  • Validates your knowledge and skills objectively
  • Increases job market competitiveness
  • Provides structured learning goals
  • Networking opportunities with other certified professionals

Cons

  • Study materials can be expensive
  • Exam anxiety can affect performance
  • Requires dedicated preparation time
  • Retake fees apply if you don't pass

How many questions are on the PD1 exam and what is the passing score?

The Salesforce PD1 exam contains 60 multiple-choice and multi-select questions. You have 105 minutes to complete it. The passing score is 68%, which means you need to answer approximately 41 of 60 questions correctly. Some questions are unscored pilot questions that do not count toward your result, but you will not know which ones they are during the exam.

What is the difference between With Sharing and Without Sharing in Apex?

With Sharing enforces the running user's sharing rules and record-level access settings — if the user cannot normally see a record, an Apex class declared With Sharing will not return it in queries. Without Sharing ignores the user's sharing settings and operates in system context, seeing all records regardless of OWD, role hierarchy, or sharing rules. If neither keyword is specified, the class inherits the sharing context of the calling class. Best practice is to always declare sharing explicitly. Inherited Sharing was introduced to make the sharing context explicit when a class is called from another class.

Why is putting SOQL or DML inside a for loop a critical error?

Salesforce governor limits restrict each transaction to 100 synchronous SOQL queries and 150 DML statements. A for loop that processes a list of records and executes one query or DML operation per record can exceed these limits when the list contains more than 100 items — which is common when triggers fire on bulk data loads. The correct pattern is to collect all needed data in a single SOQL query before the loop, process records in memory inside the loop, and execute a single DML call after the loop using a list of records. This bulkification pattern is one of the highest-weight topics on the PD1 exam.

What is the minimum code coverage required to deploy Apex to production?

Salesforce requires a minimum of 75% code coverage across all Apex classes and triggers in the org before a deployment to production will succeed. Individual classes or triggers can have lower coverage, but the org-wide aggregate must meet the 75% threshold. Additionally, every trigger must have at least 1% coverage (meaning at least one line must execute during tests). Best practice is to aim for 90%+ on business-critical logic. Coverage percentage is calculated based on lines executed during test runs, not branches or conditions.
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