The Vibe Coding Foundation project exam is written and takes place entirely online. You start it yourself, answer six questions about your own project and have 14 days to do so. An AI prepares the assessment, and an examiner makes the decision. This post takes you from the start to the release of your result and explains where you have things in your own hands.
When can you start the exam?
There are no exam dates and no interviews. You begin when you are ready. Three conditions have to be met:
- Mission 6 has been passed on the server. It is not enough for the criteria to be met on your own computer. What counts is the check on the academy's server.
- Your full name is in your profile.
- You have an exam attempt available. One attempt is included in the course price.
The page exam procedure and rules (in German) describes how these conditions apply in detail.
What does the frozen project state mean?
During the missions, a command on your computer checks whether your app meets the criteria. The binding check, however, runs on the academy's server, in an isolated environment with no network access. As soon as Mission 6 is passed there, your project state is frozen.
For the exam, this means the examiner looks at exactly that state. Your answers refer to the frozen code, not to a version you might have improved afterwards. If you explain in an answer how your contact list filters by status, that explanation has to match this code.
This leads to a practical piece of advice: only submit Mission 6 once you understand your app well enough to explain it to someone else. Mission 6 is about documenting the project and preparing it for handover anyway. If you work carefully here, you have a solid basis for the exam.
Six questions in 14 days: how the exam is structured
Once you start, you have 14 days. The exam consists of six questions: five relate to your own project, and one is a transfer question. Each answer is between 300 and 3000 characters long. 300 characters is only a few sentences, so a reasoned explanation usually needs more.
You don't have to write everything in one sitting. Answers can be saved as you go. You could answer two questions one evening and revise the rest at the weekend. The planned time for the exam is around two hours, and the 14-day window gives you room to spread that time out. As long as you haven't submitted, you can also withdraw from the exam.
Questions about your own project
Because everyone builds their own contact and follow-up app, there is no model answer to learn by heart. What matters is that you explain your solution and name its limits. It helps if you can justify points like these about your project:
- why your app rejects an input, such as an empty required field
- how a status change works and what is visible in the list afterwards
- how your app reacts when the simulated interface returns an empty response, reports an error or takes a long time to respond
- which access cases you have checked and what your app deliberately does not do
Your AI log helps here. During the missions you recorded what the AI contributed and what you changed yourself. With these notes it is easier to explain the decisions in your code rather than just describing what it does.
The transfer question
The sixth question asks you to apply your solution to a new requirement. This corresponds to competence K4 of the programme. In the course you practise this way of thinking in Mission 7: you extend your app with an export of overdue follow-ups as a CSV file and test the new feature. The questions you ask yourself there also help in the exam: what needs to change, what stays the same, and how do you check that it works?
Who assesses your answers?
After you submit, two parties work in sequence: first an AI, then a person. The order is clearly defined, and the decision rests with the person.
The AI pre-assessment
An AI, Claude from Anthropic, prepares the assessment. It receives your answers and excerpts from your project and produces a proposal. The AI decides nothing. It gives the examiner a basis to work from.
On data protection: for this pre-assessment, your answers and project excerpts are sent to Anthropic in the USA. The academy's servers are in the EU. Submissions are checked in isolation and deleted on request.
The examiner's decision
An examiner reviews your answers, your code and the AI's proposal. They award the points and release the result. The aim is to release results within five working days.
Assessment follows a rubric worth 100 points, and passing is based on published criteria. You can read the exam rubric with all points (in German) before you start. That way you see what the examiner looks for and can better judge how detailed an answer should be.
What happens if you don't pass?
If you fall short, you receive a reasoned assessment, so you can see where points were missing. If you disagree with the assessment, you can lodge an appeal within 14 days.
For another try, an additional personal exam attempt is available for CHF 149 as a one-off payment including VAT. It requires an active course access. Access runs for three months, so keep that in mind when you plan when to start the exam.
What the release of your result certifies
Once you pass the project exam, you receive a private academy certificate from BUILT IN CLASS for the Vibe Coding Foundation. It states the programme level, the skills assessed and the date. A verification link lets others check the programme, version, date and status.
To put it in context: the certificate is not a state qualification. There is no identity check, and the certificate relates to the work submitted under your account. You can find more in the section certificate and exam.
How the Vibe Coding Foundation prepares you for the exam
The exam comes at the end of a course with around 30 hours of planned time: about 28 hours for the missions and the transfer task, and around two hours for the exam. One possible pace is six weeks at about five hours a week. You learn online and at your own pace, with no fixed dates and no videos to watch. The course overview with all missions (in German) shows how the steps build on each other.
Each mission has a goal, criteria in the form of tests and hints at three levels. Along the way you continually practise the four competences that count in the exam:
- K1 you practise in Mission 1, when you turn an idea into a clear brief with testable acceptance cases.
- K2 develops in Missions 2 to 4. There you use Claude Code or Codex to build the contact list, the detail view, status changes and filters, and connect the app to the simulated interface.
- K3 is the focus of Mission 5: you narrow down prepared bugs, fix them and check basic access cases.
- K4 is required in Mission 6, with the documentation for handover, and in Mission 7, with the CSV export.
The course and project exam cost CHF 199 as a one-off payment including VAT. This includes three months of access, all missions and checks, and one exam attempt with a competence report. You arrange access to Claude Code or Codex yourself, and its costs come on top of the course price. You can find the details under price and what's included.