- Why There Is No Official F5-CA Pass Rate
- Five Exams, One Credential: Why a Single Rate Would Mislead
- What a 245 Scaled Score Does and Does Not Tell You
- How to Read Pass-Rate Claims From Prep Providers
- Where Candidates Realistically Lose Points
- Retakes, Fees and the Real Cost of Failing
- Legacy 101/201 Holders and Transition Confusion
- Using the Data You Do Have: A Domain-by-Domain Study Order
- Frequently Asked Questions
- F5 does not publish a candidate pass rate for the F5 Certified BIG-IP Administrator (F5-CA) credential, so any precise percentage you see is unverified.
- The credential requires passing five separate exams, F5CAB1 through F5CAB5, each with 30 multiple-choice questions and a 30-minute limit.
- The passing score is 245 on a 100-350 scaled range for each exam, not a published percent-correct figure.
- Retake waits start at 15, 30 and 45 days after the first three failures; the fourth-failure rule is inconsistent across F5 sources.
Why There Is No Official F5-CA Pass Rate
If you searched for the F5-CA pass rate hoping to find a clean percentage, here is the honest answer: F5 has not published a candidate pass rate for the F5 Certified BIG-IP Administrator credential, and no credential-specific cohort dataset was located while researching this article. Anyone quoting a precise success figure for the current program is either repeating a marketing claim, extrapolating from a different credential, or guessing.
That may feel unsatisfying, but it is genuinely useful information. It tells you where to put your attention. Instead of anchoring on a statistic that cannot be verified, you can focus on the things F5 does publish: the exam structure, the scaled-score threshold, the fee schedule, the retake waits and the blueprint objectives. Those are the inputs that actually determine whether you pass.
If you are new to the credential itself, the What Is F5-CA Certification? overview explains the program, and the F5-CA requirements guide covers eligibility and registration.
Five Exams, One Credential: Why a Single Rate Would Mislead
The current F5-CA is not one sitting. It is five separately assessed exams, and you must pass all five to earn the credential. They can be taken in any order, which is an important detail when thinking about pass rates: a single blended percentage would hide enormous variation between exams.
| Exam | Domain | Format |
|---|---|---|
| F5CAB1 | BIG-IP Administration Install, Initial Configuration, and Upgrade | 30 multiple-choice questions, 30 minutes |
| F5CAB2 | BIG-IP Administration Data Plane Concepts | 30 multiple-choice questions, 30 minutes |
| F5CAB3 | BIG-IP Administration Data Plane Configuration | 30 multiple-choice questions, 30 minutes |
| F5CAB4 | BIG-IP Administration Control Plane Administration | 30 multiple-choice questions, 30 minutes |
| F5CAB5 | BIG-IP Administration Support and Troubleshooting | 30 multiple-choice questions, 30 minutes |
Think about what a "pass rate" would even mean here. Is it the share of first attempts on any single exam? The share of candidates who eventually complete all five? The share who finish within a given time window? Each definition produces a very different number, and F5 has not published any of them. When a third-party site advertises one figure for the whole program, ask which of these it is measuring. Usually the answer is none of them.
One more structural point: the five domains are separately assessed exams, not five percentage-weighted sections of one test. F5 does not publish domain weightings, and equal question counts or objective counts do not establish weights. For a full walk-through of what each exam covers, see the F5-CA exam domains guide.
What a 245 Scaled Score Does and Does Not Tell You
Each F5CAB exam has a passing score of 245 on F5's 100-350 scaled-score range. This is where many pass-rate conversations go wrong. A scaled score is not the same as a percent-correct figure, and it is not a published "70% to pass" requirement. F5's own explanation of scaled scoring describes the scale as a way to report results consistently, which means you cannot reverse-engineer an exact number of questions you must answer correctly.
The practical takeaway: because the scoring is scaled, you should not plan around "I can afford to miss X questions." Plan around mastery of the objectives instead. Also note that F5 has confirmed some questions require selecting two choices, so a scattershot strategy of picking the single most plausible answer will cost you on those items. How scored versus unscored questions are handled, and whether partial credit applies on two-choice items, was not verified, so do not assume either way.
How to Read Pass-Rate Claims From Prep Providers
Several prep sites and marketplaces advertise success figures for F5 administrator content. A careful reader should treat all of them as marketing unless they cite a methodology. Here is how the main patterns break down, based on what was publicly observable:
- High advertised pass rates tied to a question bank. One exam-prep site advertises a 95% pass rate and a heaviest-weighted-domain claim; neither is substantiated by F5. A vendor's customer success rate is not a candidate-cohort pass rate, and it is subject to self-selection, since motivated buyers may pass more often regardless of the product.
- Estimated ranges from legacy pages. At least one resource advertises an estimated 60-70% candidate pass rate alongside roughly 80 questions, 90 minutes and a US$180 fee. Those specifications describe the older 101/201 route, not the current five-exam credential, so the figure cannot be applied to F5CAB1-F5CAB5.
- Course listings with large question inventories. Marketplace courses may advertise hundreds or thousands of practice questions and 65-question practice tests. Those formats do not match the production exams, which are 30 questions each. A large inventory does not validate coverage or predict your result.
- Stale pricing and delivery details. Some pages still pair a US$50 figure with Pearson VUE delivery, whereas F5's current pricing is US$50 online through Certiverse and US$65 at Pearson VUE test centers. If a provider has stale fee details, treat its other claims with the same caution.
Key Takeaway
A trustworthy pass-rate claim names its population, its time window and its source. If a page cannot tell you whether the number refers to first attempts on one exam or completion of all five, it is not data. It is advertising.
Candidates comparing paths often also wonder how this credential stacks up against other networking certifications; the question of difficulty is better addressed directly in How Hard Is the F5-CA Exam? rather than inferred from marketed rates.
Where Candidates Realistically Lose Points
Without a published pass rate, the best way to estimate your own risk is to understand the exam's design. F5 says practical BIG-IP competence is expected, and that the blueprint's examples are illustrative rather than exhaustive. That combination creates several predictable failure patterns for each domain.
F5CAB1: Install, Initial Configuration, and Upgrade
This exam rewards people who have actually deployed a BIG-IP, not just read about it.
- Initial setup decisions, licensing and provisioning concepts, and how a system comes up before it passes traffic
- Upgrade procedures and what to verify before and after a software change
- The risk of treating this as the "easy" exam and skipping hands-on practice
F5CAB2: Data Plane Concepts
Conceptual understanding of how traffic moves through BIG-IP.
- Traffic flow through virtual servers, pools and members, and how a client connection maps to a server-side connection
- Persistence and load-balancing behavior and when each applies
- Candidates who memorize terminology but cannot trace a packet's path often struggle with scenario wording
F5CAB3: Data Plane Configuration
Turning concepts into working configuration.
- Building virtual servers, pools, monitors and profiles, including TLS-related profile configuration
- Reading a described configuration and predicting its behavior
- Two-choice questions are especially punishing if you know one correct element but not the second
F5CAB4: Control Plane Administration
The management side of the platform.
- Administrative access, users and roles, and how the management plane differs from traffic handling
- Backup, configuration management and operational housekeeping
- Easy to underestimate because it feels less glamorous than traffic management
F5CAB5: Support and Troubleshooting
Diagnosing problems, not just building things.
- Using statistics and logs to localize a fault
- Reasoning from symptoms to likely cause across the data plane and control plane
- With only 30 minutes, slow, methodical reading hurts here; practice diagnosing from brief scenarios
Because each exam is only 30 questions in 30 minutes, you have roughly a minute per question. That is generous for recall items and tight for scenario items that require you to hold a topology in your head. The format favors people who have seen these situations on a real or lab BIG-IP.
Retakes, Fees and the Real Cost of Failing
Because there is no pass-rate figure to plan around, it is smarter to plan for the downside financially and procedurally. Current fees are US$50 per exam online through Certiverse or US$65 per exam at Pearson VUE test centers. A single attempt at all five therefore totals US$250 online or US$325 at test centers, before any retakes or preparation costs. No member versus non-member price split is published. For the full breakdown, see the F5-CA certification cost guide.
| Item | Online (Certiverse) | Test Center (Pearson VUE) |
|---|---|---|
| Per exam | US$50 | US$65 |
| All five, one attempt each | US$250 | US$325 |
Retake waiting periods
F5's current catalog pages list waits of 15, 30 and 45 days after the first three failures of an exam, one year after the fourth failure, and 90 days after the fifth and subsequent failures. The July 2025 candidate agreement agrees on the first three waits but describes the fourth-failure wait differently: up to 90 days or release of a new version, whichever is shorter. It also requires prerequisite exams to be retaken and passed. That fourth-failure discrepancy is unresolved in the sources reviewed, so confirm the current rule directly with F5 before relying on either version.
Legacy 101/201 Holders and Transition Confusion
Part of the confusion around pass rates comes from the program's transition. The older route used Exam 101 followed by Exam 201. Exam 101 retired on April 30, 2025, and the formal route change took effect May 1, 2025, although the five new exams were already described as live and schedulable in late April. Qualifying holders of a 101 pass retain their 24-month eligibility window to complete 201. The 101/201 route is not a fresh route for new candidates, and 201 should not be described as universally unavailable.
Why does this matter for pass rates? Because any statistic or testimonial referencing 101/201 describes a different assessment with different length, scoring presentation and fees. Blending legacy anecdotes with the five-exam program produces numbers that do not describe anything real. Similarly, using legacy study resources is possible, but you should not assume they align objective-by-objective with the current blueprint (F5-CAB.0425). Always check any resource against the five current exam headings.
Using the Data You Do Have: A Domain-by-Domain Study Order
F5 permits the five exams in any order, but that is an official allowance, not a recommendation. If you want a sequence, here is an editorial suggestion. It is not an F5 requirement.
Build the foundation: F5CAB1 and F5CAB2
- Stand up a lab BIG-IP, walk through initial setup, and practice reading the upgrade steps
- Trace client-to-server flow through a virtual server and pool until you can explain it without notes
Hands-on configuration: F5CAB3
- Build virtual servers, pools, monitors, persistence and TLS profiles repeatedly
- Drill two-choice scenarios, since you must identify both correct elements
Operations and diagnosis: F5CAB4 and F5CAB5
- Cover administrative access, configuration management and housekeeping
- Practice diagnosing faults from statistics and logs under a 30-minute clock
The reasoning: concepts and installation underpin everything, configuration is where hands-on time pays most, and troubleshooting benefits from having built the things you later diagnose. For a fuller plan, the F5-CA study guide lays out preparation in detail, and the F5-CA cheat sheet is useful for last-minute review. Remember that F5 does not create or maintain official study guides; it points candidates to the blueprint, preparation resources and practical experience. The exams are English-only and closed book, with no books, notes or personal electronic devices allowed; test-center candidates may take notes only on supplied writing materials.
To gauge your readiness against exam-style wording, work through scenario questions on the F5-CA practice test site, and use the results to decide which domain deserves another lab session before you book.
Key Takeaway
Replace the question "What is the pass rate?" with "Can I explain and configure every objective on this exam without help?" The second question is answerable, actionable and far more predictive than any unverified percentage.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. No official candidate pass rate for the F5 Certified BIG-IP Administrator credential was found, and F5's sources describe scoring and thresholds rather than cohort outcomes. Treat any specific percentage as unverified unless it names a methodology and source.
The passing score is 245 on F5's 100-350 scaled-score range for each exam. This is a scaled score, not a published percent-correct requirement, so you cannot convert it into an exact number of questions. See the passing score guide for details.
Each of the five current exams has 30 multiple-choice questions and a 30-minute time limit, and some questions require two choices. An older overview page still says 25-30 questions, but the newer exam-specific pages state 30.
Yes. All five must be passed, and F5 allows them in any order. Any suggested sequence, including the one in this article, is an editorial study recommendation rather than an F5 requirement.
Current catalog pages list waits of 15, 30 and 45 days after the first three failures. The fourth-failure rule differs between F5 sources, so verify it with F5 before planning around it. Each retake incurs the exam fee again: US$50 online or US$65 at a test center.
The missing pass rate is not a reason to avoid it, but the decision should rest on your role and costs. See the ROI analysis and salary guide, which note that no credential-specific pay premium has been verified. For the original overview of this topic, you can also revisit F5-CA Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows.