C++ Certification

C++ certification syllabus & coverage

This certification tests genuine comprehension of C++ language fundamentals, idiomatic patterns, data structures, and production practices. Questions are sampled across all course modules:

• Getting Started: Install a C++ compiler (g++, clang or MSVC), compile and run your first program, and understand what compiling and linking actually do.
• Fundamentals: Input and output with iostream, variables and the fundamental types, brace initialization, const and constexpr, operators, casts and std::string basics.
• Flow Control: if/else, the ternary operator, switch with fall-through, while, do-while, for and range-based for loops, break and continue, and if with an initializer.
• Functions: Declarations and definitions, pass by value, reference and const reference, overloading, default arguments, recursion, function templates and lambdas.
• Arrays & Strings: C arrays and pointer decay, std::array, std::vector, 2-D grids, std::string operations, string_view, and the difference between C strings and std::string.
• Pointers & References: Addresses, pointers and nullptr, pointer arithmetic, const pointers, references versus pointers, and how dangling pointers happen and how to catch them.
• Memory & Smart Pointers: Stack versus heap, new and delete, memory leaks, RAII, and the smart pointers that make manual delete unnecessary: unique_ptr, shared_ptr and weak_ptr.
• Classes & Objects: Classes and structs, access control, constructors and destructors, const and static members, copying, the rule of three and five, move semantics and operator overloading.
• Inheritance & Polymorphism: Public inheritance, protected members, virtual functions and override, abstract classes, virtual destructors, object slicing, final, dynamic_cast, and when to prefer composition.
• Templates & the STL: Class templates, deduction and CTAD, the STL containers, iterators and algorithms, lambdas as comparators, C++20 ranges and views, and concepts.
• Modern C++: The C++17 and C++20 features modern codebases rely on: auto and structured bindings, enum class, optional, variant, span, constexpr, std::format and lambdas.
• Errors & Debugging: Read compiler, linker and runtime errors the way experienced C++ developers do, fix the 15 you will hit most, and catch memory bugs with sanitizers and a debugger.
• C++ + Tools: C++ as it is built at work: CMake, Conan packages, GoogleTest, clang-tidy and clang-format, sanitizers in CI, PostgreSQL, Qt, Docker and GitHub Actions.
• Data Structures & Algorithms: Build arrays, linked lists, stacks, hash maps, trees, heaps and graphs by hand in C++, then use the STL version, plus search, sort and DP.
• Problem Solving: A repeatable way to crack coding problems in C++: read it, break it down, test small cases, then apply one of eight patterns that cover most interviews.
• Interview Questions: 60 C++ interview questions with model answers, from pointers and RAII to move semantics, templates, concurrency and low-latency design, plus a coding round.
• Job Ready: What a C++ resume must show for systems, games, finance and embedded roles, three portfolio projects that get callbacks, where the jobs are, and the exam.

Exam rules & grading

The exam features 25 multiple-choice questions with a time limit of 35 minutes. A passing score of 70% or higher issues a permanent certificate with a verifiable credential ID that can be attached directly to your resume and LinkedIn Profile.

Frequently asked questions