- How the 2025 Role Delineation Statement Shapes the Exam
- Domain 1: Selection and Appraisal
- Domain 2: Arrangement and Description
- Domain 3: Reference Services and Access
- Domain 4: Preservation and Protection
- Domain 5: Outreach, Advocacy, and Marketing
- Domain 6: Managing Archival Programs
- Domain 7: Professional, Ethical, and Legal Responsibilities
- Domain 8: Cultural Competency
- How the Domains Show Up on Exam Day
- Sequencing the Eight Domains in Your Study Plan
- Domain Comparison at a Glance
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The CA exam covers eight domains defined by the 2025 Role Delineation Statement, including Cultural Competency.
- You'll answer 100 multiple-choice questions in three hours, with no penalty for guessing.
- Selection and Appraisal and Outreach, Advocacy, and Marketing carry their revised 2025 titles - old study materials may use outdated names.
- There are no education or work prerequisites to sit for the exam under current ACA guidance.
How the 2025 Role Delineation Statement Shapes the Exam
Every question on the Certified Archivist exam traces back to a single governing document: the Academy of Certified Archivists' Role Delineation Statement (RDS). The current version, revised for 2025, defines eight content domains that describe what a working archivist is expected to know and do. Candidates preparing in 2026 should study against this revised RDS alongside the 2026 Reading List, since both replaced earlier versions and two domain titles changed in the process - Selection and Appraisal and Outreach, Advocacy, and Marketing are the current names, not the older phrasing you may still see referenced in outdated forum posts or study groups.
Unlike certifications that test isolated technical skills, the CA exam distributes its 100 multiple-choice questions across all eight domains in a single sitting administered virtually through the ACA. There's no separate exam per domain and no modular retake option - you either pass the full exam or you don't. That makes understanding how the domains relate to one another just as important as memorizing facts within each one.
Domain 1: Selection and Appraisal
Selection and Appraisal
This domain covers the professional judgment archivists apply when deciding what records or materials have enduring value and should be acquired, retained, or accessioned into a collection.
- Applying appraisal criteria to determine historical, evidential, and informational value
- Understanding donor relations, deeds of gift, and acquisition policy development
- Recognizing when materials fall outside a repository's collecting scope or mission
- Evaluating born-digital and hybrid collections during the selection process
Exam questions in this domain often present a short scenario - a potential donation, a records series nearing the end of its retention schedule, a collection with mixed formats - and ask what the archivist should do next. The correct answer usually reflects sound professional reasoning rather than a single memorized rule, so understanding the "why" behind appraisal principles matters more than rote definitions.
Domain 2: Arrangement and Description
Arrangement and Description
This domain tests how well candidates understand organizing collections and creating the finding aids, metadata, and descriptive tools that make materials discoverable.
- Principles of original order and provenance
- Creating and applying descriptive standards for finding aids
- Hierarchical description from collection to series to item level
- Metadata application for both physical and digital materials
Candidates frequently underestimate how much descriptive theory shows up here versus pure mechanics. Questions test whether you understand the logic of hierarchical description and why arrangement decisions affect long-term access, not just whether you can name a standard.
Domain 3: Reference Services and Access
Reference Services and Access
This domain covers the archivist's role in connecting researchers with materials while balancing access with restrictions, privacy, and institutional policy.
- Reference interview techniques and reading room policy
- Handling restricted, closed, or donor-limited materials
- Remote and digital access considerations
- Balancing openness with privacy, copyright, and confidentiality concerns
Domain 4: Preservation and Protection
Preservation and Protection
This domain addresses the physical and digital stewardship responsibilities archivists carry, from environmental controls to disaster planning.
- Environmental standards for storage of paper, photographic, and audiovisual materials
- Digital preservation strategies, including format migration and fixity checks
- Disaster preparedness, response, and recovery planning
- Conservation basics and when to involve a trained conservator
This domain rewards candidates who understand preservation as an ongoing risk-management function rather than a one-time treatment task. Expect questions on prioritizing limited preservation resources across competing collection needs.
Domain 5: Outreach, Advocacy, and Marketing
Outreach, Advocacy, and Marketing
Renamed in the 2025 RDS revision, this domain focuses on how archivists build institutional support, engage communities, and promote collections.
- Exhibit planning and public programming
- Social media and digital outreach strategy for archival institutions
- Advocating for archival funding and institutional priority
- Partnering with educators, donors, and community stakeholders
Because this domain's title changed from earlier versions of the RDS, candidates relying on secondhand notes should double-check that "advocacy" and "marketing" concepts are covered - not just traditional outreach programming.
Domain 6: Managing Archival Programs
Managing Archival Programs
This domain tests administrative and leadership competencies: budgeting, staffing, policy development, and strategic planning for an archival program.
- Developing collection policies and institutional mission alignment
- Staff supervision, volunteer management, and workflow design
- Budget justification and resource allocation
- Grant writing and program sustainability planning
Candidates without formal management experience sometimes find this domain the least intuitive. Reviewing case studies of program administration, even outside your own institution, helps build the judgment this domain expects.
Domain 7: Professional, Ethical, and Legal Responsibilities
Professional, Ethical, and Legal Responsibilities
This domain covers the legal frameworks and ethical codes governing archival practice.
- Copyright and intellectual property considerations for collections
- Privacy law and its intersection with access decisions
- Professional codes of ethics and conflict-of-interest situations
- Records retention law and regulatory compliance
Key Takeaway
Legal and ethical questions rarely ask you to cite a specific statute - they test whether you can apply general legal and ethical principles to an archival scenario correctly.
Domain 8: Cultural Competency
Cultural Competency
Added as part of the 2025 Role Delineation Statement revision, this domain reflects the profession's growing emphasis on equitable, inclusive archival practice.
- Culturally sensitive description and language choices in finding aids
- Working with underrepresented and marginalized communities' records
- Recognizing bias in historical collecting and appraisal decisions
- Building respectful, reciprocal relationships with source communities
Because Cultural Competency is the newest domain, it's also the one most likely to be underrepresented in older study materials. If your prep resources predate the 2025 revision, this is the domain to supplement most deliberately - our CA Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts is built around the current eight-domain structure specifically to avoid this gap.
How the Domains Show Up on Exam Day
All eight domains are tested together within a single three-hour, 100-question multiple-choice exam administered virtually by the ACA. Each question has exactly one correct answer, and there is no penalty for guessing - meaning every question should be answered even if you're uncertain. There are currently no education or work prerequisites required to register and sit for the exam, which makes domain mastery, not eligibility paperwork, the real gatekeeper to passing.
Registration costs $125. If you pass, you'll then pay $75 in first-year ACA membership dues within 30 days of receiving your results to officially activate the credential. Because the exam blends all domains into one sitting rather than testing them separately, a weak spot in even one domain - say, Managing Archival Programs or Cultural Competency - can meaningfully affect your overall result. For a deeper breakdown of exactly how many questions you need right to pass, see CA Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass, and for a realistic sense of overall difficulty across all eight domains, read How Hard Is the CA Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026.
Sequencing the Eight Domains in Your Study Plan
With eight domains and a single three-hour exam, sequencing matters. Rather than studying domains in the order they appear on the RDS, many candidates get better results by front-loading the domains that require the most conceptual work - Selection and Appraisal, Arrangement and Description, and Cultural Competency - before moving into the more procedural domains later.
Foundational Domains
- Selection and Appraisal
- Arrangement and Description
Operational Domains
- Reference Services and Access
- Preservation and Protection
Program and Ethics Domains
- Managing Archival Programs
- Professional, Ethical, and Legal Responsibilities
Newer and Underrepresented Domains
- Outreach, Advocacy, and Marketing
- Cultural Competency, plus full-length review
Save your final week for mixed practice questions pulled from all eight domains at once, since that's exactly how the real exam is structured. Running full-length practice sets on our practice test platform is one of the most reliable ways to simulate that mixed-domain pressure before test day.
Domain Comparison at a Glance
| Domain | Core Focus | Question Style |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Selection and Appraisal | Judgment on acquiring/retaining materials | Scenario-based |
| 2. Arrangement and Description | Organizing and describing collections | Conceptual + applied |
| 3. Reference Services and Access | Balancing access with restrictions | Scenario-based |
| 4. Preservation and Protection | Physical/digital stewardship | Applied technical |
| 5. Outreach, Advocacy, and Marketing | Community engagement, institutional support | Applied/strategic |
| 6. Managing Archival Programs | Administration, budgeting, staffing | Applied/strategic |
| 7. Professional, Ethical, and Legal Responsibilities | Ethics, copyright, privacy law | Scenario-based |
| 8. Cultural Competency | Equitable, inclusive practice | Conceptual + scenario |
If you're still confirming whether this credential fits your career path before diving into domain-level prep, it's worth reviewing CA Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify and browsing current CA Jobs postings to see how employers describe the skills tied to these eight domains in real job listings. Many descriptions map almost directly onto RDS language, which is a useful cross-check for your own study priorities.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are eight domains under the 2025 Role Delineation Statement: Selection and Appraisal, Arrangement and Description, Reference Services and Access, Preservation and Protection, Outreach, Advocacy, and Marketing, Managing Archival Programs, Professional, Ethical, and Legal Responsibilities, and Cultural Competency.
The ACA does not publish a fixed percentage breakdown per domain in the current guidance, so candidates should prepare all eight thoroughly rather than assuming any single domain dominates the 100-question exam.
Yes. It was added as part of the revised 2025 Role Delineation Statement, so older study materials predating that revision may not cover it adequately.
No. Current ACA application guidance has no education or work prerequisites to sit for the exam, though understanding all eight domains conceptually is still necessary to pass.
Full-length, mixed-domain practice exams are available on our practice test platform, which mirrors the 100-question, three-hour format used on the actual exam.