Three real questions, pulled straight from the CredentialPrep practice bank, in the exam's own format. Read through them, pick your answers, then see how you did inside the app.
Two exams, two formats
The ACC exam is a 60-question knowledge-based test: single best answer, 90 minutes. The ICF Credentialing Exam for PCC and MCC is different, a 78-item situational judgment test. You read a coaching scenario and select both the best and the worst response from four options. Both answers count toward your score.
The three questions below are pulled directly from the same 10 free practice questions everyone gets with a free CredentialPrep account, unedited, in the PCC/MCC best-and-worst format, since that's also the format that maps most directly to ICF's coaching framework.
Question 1
Core competency: Establishes and Maintains Agreements
A regional sales manager was enrolled in a company-sponsored coaching program after a leadership assessment flagged his communication style and strategic thinking. His manager arranged the three-way kick-off and drove the conversation. The client sat quietly, nodding, while his manager set goals around executive communication, stakeholder management, and visibility. The client agreed to each one without pushing back or adding anything of his own. Now in the first one-on-one, he seems distant and disengaged. When the coach asks where he wants to start, he shrugs and says, "I guess whatever my manager thinks I need to work on."
What should the coach do?
A. Keep the manager's stated goals as they are and help the client find a personal connection to them.
B. Acknowledge the kick-off goals, then ask what matters most to the client about his own development.
C. Propose scheduling another three-way meeting so the client has more room to contribute to the goals.
D. Set the kick-off goals aside completely and ask the client what he wants to work on instead.
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Question 2
Core competency: Maintains Presence
A program director at a large nonprofit has been working with her coach for six sessions on questions of leadership identity and long-term direction. She is thoughtful and tends to answer questions quickly and thoroughly. In today's session the coach asked a question about her leadership legacy. A silence followed, now over a minute long. She is looking slightly past the coach, lips pressed together, clearly turning something over. The coach feels a strong urge to fill the silence, rephrase the question, or offer a prompt.
What should the coach do next?
A. Ask softly if they'd like you to rephrase or approach the question differently.
B. Sit with the silence and remain fully present. Let the client break it when they're ready.
C. Share that questions about legacy often surface deeper identity work, and that it can help to think about who they want to be remembered as by the people closest to them.
D. Offer an observation: "Something about that question really stopped you."
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Question 3 (PCC/MCC)
Core competency: Listens Actively
A vice president of product has been in coaching for three months on cross-functional collaboration. In today's session she has been describing a series of difficult team interactions for twenty minutes. Her account is even-keeled and analytical across most of the team. The coach notices something: each time she mentions one particular colleague by name, there is a brief pause before she continues, followed by a subtle quickening of pace. The pattern has appeared at least four times. She has not seemed aware of it.
How should the coach handle this moment?
A. Continue following the discussion and ask what the client wants to do about the team dynamic.
B. Name the pause and pace shift that appears each time she mentions this colleague, and ask what she is aware of.
C. Ask directly whether her relationship with that colleague is more difficult than the others.
D. Suggest she raise her feelings with the colleague directly.
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About the ICF credentialing exams
ICF replaced its old Coach Knowledge Assessment with two separate exams between 2022 and 2024. The ACC credential now has its own exam. PCC and MCC candidates take the ICF Credentialing Exam. Both are administered by Pearson VUE, either in-person or via remote proctoring.
ACC exam: 60 knowledge-based multiple-choice questions, 90-minute time limit, single best answer per question. Tests your understanding of the ICF Core Competencies, the Code of Ethics, and the definition and scope of coaching.
ICF Credentialing Exam (PCC/MCC): 78 situational judgment items, 3-hour time limit. Each question presents a coaching scenario with four options. You select the best response and the worst response, and both answers count toward your score. The passing standard differs by credential level.
What both exams test: all eight ICF Core Competencies across four clusters. Neither exam tests specific coaching models, methodologies, or tools. The exam is grounded in the ICF competency framework, not any particular school of coaching.
Official practice questions: ICF publishes 10 sample questions for the ACC exam and 8 for the ICF Credentialing Exam. That's the entire public bank. CredentialPrep offers 463 scenario-based practice questions, with a detailed answer explanation for every one.
CredentialPrep is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by ICF or Pearson VUE. These practice questions are written independently based on the published ICF Core Competencies and exam structure. The ICF credentialing exam is a registered trademark of the International Coaching Federation.
