CompTIA Data+ Certification Guide

CompTIA Data+ is a vendor-neutral, entry-level data analytics certification aimed at people who work with data day to day — pulling it from databases, cleaning it, analysing it and presenting it — and want a credential that proves those skills without committing to one tool vendor's ecosystem. The current exam is DA0-002, launched on 14 October 2025, and it replaced the original DA0-001. If you are searching for "DA0-001 objectives" in 2026, stop: you should be studying for DA0-002, because DA0-001 is in sunset and new candidates should not build a study plan around it.

This guide explains what the Data+ exam actually tests, who gains the most from sitting it, what it costs, how renewal works, and how to prepare — including how to use practice questions properly. It stays focused on the certification itself; if your real question is which CompTIA exam to take first across the whole portfolio, that decision logic lives in our guide to choosing your first CompTIA certification.

What is CompTIA Data+?

CompTIA Data+ is a certification from CompTIA, the same body behind A+, Network+ and Security+, but it sits in a different lane from those infrastructure and security exams. Instead of hardware, networks or threats, Data+ validates the working skills of an early-career data analyst: handling data responsibly, applying basic statistics, and turning raw records into analysis and visualisations that a business can act on.

The relationship between the pieces is worth spelling out, because CompTIA's naming trips people up. Data+ is the credential you earn and put on your CV. DA0-002 is the code of the exam you currently sit to earn it. When you pass, your certificate simply says "CompTIA Data+" — the exam code never appears in the credential name. Exam codes only matter when you buy study materials, because a book or course written for DA0-001 will not map cleanly onto the DA0-002 exam.

Who is the exam designed for?

CompTIA sets no enforced prerequisites for Data+ — anyone can register. Its recommendation, though, is telling: around 18 to 24 months in a data analyst or similar role, with exposure to databases, analytical tools, basic statistics and data visualisation. In practice, the candidates who get the most from Data+ fall into three groups:

• Report builders who want to formalise their skills. People already producing dashboards or management reports in a business role, who have never had their underlying analysis skills tested or certified.
• IT support and operations staff pivoting towards data. If you hold A+ or work a service desk and keep gravitating towards the reporting side of the job, Data+ signals that shift to employers in a language they already trust.
• Career changers building an evidence trail. Graduates and self-taught analysts who can point to coursework or personal projects but need an independent, recognised checkpoint.

If none of those describes you — for example, you have several years of hands-on SQL and statistics work already — an entry-level certification may add less, and your time might be better spent on portfolio work. Data+ is deliberately pitched at the start of the analytics ladder.

What does the DA0-002 exam look like?

The format follows the standard CompTIA pattern. As of 2026, the DA0-002 exam presents a maximum of 90 questions in 90 minutes, mixing multiple-choice questions with performance-based questions (PBQs) that ask you to complete a task rather than pick an answer. The passing score is 675 on CompTIA's 100–900 scale.

Three details in that sentence deserve unpacking:

1. "Maximum of 90" is not "exactly 90". CompTIA seeds unscored trial questions into its exams, so your live exam may contain fewer items. Do not panic if your question count looks short.
2. 675 is a scaled score, not a percentage. You are not being asked for 75% correct; CompTIA converts your raw performance to the 100–900 scale. Aim to be comfortably strong across all topic areas rather than calculating a pass threshold per question.
3. PBQs consume disproportionate time. With one minute per question on average, a PBQ that takes five minutes must be paid for elsewhere. Timed practice matters for exactly this reason.

Delivery is through Pearson VUE, either at a test centre or via OnVUE online proctoring from home, so geography should not be a barrier to sitting it.

What topics should you expect?

The precise domain list and weightings for DA0-002 are published in the official exam objectives, which CompTIA makes available as a free download on its Data+ page — and downloading that document should be your genuine first study step, not an afterthought. Rather than paraphrase every bullet, here is what the recommended-experience profile tells you the exam cares about:

• Databases and data handling. Getting data out of source systems, understanding structures, and knowing enough SQL-style querying logic to be dangerous.
• Analytical tooling. Working fluently with the kinds of tools analysts use daily, from spreadsheets upward.
• Basic statistics. Descriptive measures, distributions and the judgement to know which method suits which question — the layer that separates an analyst from a report formatter.
• Visualisation and communication. Choosing chart types honestly, building outputs for a business audience, and presenting findings without distorting them.
• Data governance and quality. Handling data responsibly: quality checks, consistency, and the basics of managing data as an asset rather than a by-product.

A useful habit while studying: read each objective and ask "what task would an employer expect me to do with this?" If you cannot answer, that objective is a weak spot regardless of how familiar the vocabulary feels.

How much does the Data+ exam cost?

Here is where you should verify rather than trust any article, including this one. CompTIA raised its US retail prices in mid-2026, and the post-increase retail price for Data+ was not confirmed at the time of fact-checking. Before that rise, authorised voucher resellers listed Data+ at roughly $253–255. Treat those figures as historical context only, and confirm the current fee for your country directly on CompTIA's Data+ page or store before budgeting — prices vary by region, and authorised resellers legitimately sell vouchers below retail.

Two cost rules apply across CompTIA's portfolio and matter for planning:

• Retakes are full price. CompTIA's retake policy allows an immediate second attempt if you fail, but a 14-day wait applies from the third attempt onward — and every attempt needs a new voucher unless you bought a retake bundle up front.
• Renewal has its own cost. Data+ is valid for three years from your pass date under CompTIA's Continuing Education (CE) programme. If you renew by uploading CEUs, CompTIA's fee table places Data+ in the $75-per-three-year-cycle tier — one of its cheaper renewal tiers. You can alternatively renew by passing the latest exam version or by earning a higher CompTIA certification, which renews lower ones automatically.

Budget for the exam, a possible retake, and study materials together, and the true cost picture looks quite different from the sticker price alone.