CPSA Study Guide 2026
Everything you need to pass the CPSA exam in one place: the exam format, every topic to study, real practice questions with explanations, flashcards, and full-length practice tests. Free, no sign-up needed.
📋 CPSA Exam Format at a Glance
📚 CPSA Topics to Study (69)
✍️ Sample CPSA Questions & Answers
1. When designing the building block view of a software system, which of the following is the primary goal of striving for high cohesion within individual building blocks?
High cohesion is a software design principle that states that all elements within a module or building block should be strongly related and focused on a single, well-defined task. This enhances readability, maintainability, and reusability.
2. Which cross-cutting mechanism prevents a slow database query from degrading the responsiveness of unrelated read operations in the same service?
The bulkhead pattern isolates resources (threads or connections) for different operation types so that saturation in one pool does not starve another.
3. What is the most effective way to communicate architectural goals and constraints to a development team?
ADRs capture the rationale behind constraints while living documentation keeps them current, ensuring developers understand both what the constraints are and why they exist.
4. Which of the following best describes 'technical debt' from an architectural perspective?
Technical debt is the implied future cost of rework resulting from choosing a faster or easier solution now instead of a better long-term approach.
5. Which design heuristic does the statement 'You should not design for needs that do not yet exist' represent?
YAGNI advises against implementing functionality until it is actually needed, avoiding unnecessary complexity and speculative design.
6. Which of the following BEST describes 'psychological safety' in a patient safety context?
Psychological safety is a team climate where members believe they can speak up, report errors, and raise concerns without fear of retribution or ridicule.