Hi everyone!
This article originally began in another post which was from the Orlando version, but has now grown in to this comprehensive article that has been viewed over 240,000 times AND has over 250 Helpful ratings! This article contains both a "Quick" Delta Exam Guide and a "Full" Delta Exam Guide. I'll start things off with the quick version and then follow that with the full version.
"Quick" Delta Exam Guide
- Delta exams become required for most individuals at the end of every year, for mainline certifications holders who did not achieve their mainline certification on the latest ServiceNow release (i.e., Zurich).
- The delta exam period for the Zurich release is currently scheduled for January 16, 2026 through April 16, 2026.
- Delta exams usually consist of 20 or less questions.
- They are open book, non-proctored, timed (1-1.5 hour) "assessments" to see if you're familiar with the latest ServiceNow information related to that delta exams focus area.
- An annual ServiceNow certification maintenance fee of $200 (or $100 for certain tiered ServiceNow Partner organizations) is due during this delta exam period and applies to all mainline certification holders that have had their certification for a period of 1 year or longer. To reiterate, you will only owe this fee if you have had at least 1 mainline ServiceNow certification for 1 year or longer by the time the maintenance fee period begins.
- You are required to take specific delta exam(s) (regardless if you owe a maintenance fee or not) if you did not take your certification exam on the latest ServiceNow release (i.e., Zurich).
- Login to ServiceNow University, click "My Learning", and scroll down to the Achievements section to see if one or more of your certifications is listed as "At Risk". If so, you must take the delta prior to the end of the delta exam period. Navigate back to the ServiceNow University Homepage and scroll down to see if you owe a maintenance fee (as you must pay that first - before taking your delta exam(s)).
- You can attempt the delta exam up to 5 times.
- After April 16, 2025, if you not paid your annual maintenance fee (if applicable) AND you have not passed that specific delta exam, you will become uncertified and will need to take the original certification exam all over again.
- The content for delta exams are based on the release notes for the latest ServiceNow version.
- Here's my personal recommendation link which should be pre-filtered to the Zurich release notes. This allows you to search the question in an effort to help you easily learn about that topic in an effort to then help you pass the delta exam 🙂
- Additionally, ServiceNow has created Delta Exam Study Guides you can reference.
"Full" Delta Exam Guide
Maintenance Fee
Beginning January 16th, there is an annual maintenance fee of $200 (or $100 for ServiceNow partner organizations) due for individuals who have been certified with at least 1 mainline certification for one full year or longer. At the beginning of next year (2027) we'll repeat this process and the annual maintenance fee will become due again.
ServiceNow will email individuals who are be required to pay the maintenance fee and have previously mentioned verbiage such as this paragraph in the email:
"Our records indicate that you have been in our certification program for one year or longer and will need to pay the $200* annual certification maintenance program fee that will open on January 16, 2026. By staying up to date with ServiceNow’s latest product release, you are more likely to accelerate the new Now Platform functionality to drive automation and increase your return on investment. The yearly maintenance fee:
- Ensures that you remain up to date with continued learning
- Saves you time and money; you are not required to repeat training or pass the Mainline Certification Exam again
- Opens access to the required delta exams to maintain your certification
Paying the fee in Now Learning
Now Learning accepts either credit card or learning credit payments for the CMP fee. Once payment is submitted, fees are non-refundable. Please refer to the following articles to guide you through the CMP payment process in Now Learning.
How to pay the certification maintenance fee with a credit card
How to pay the certification maintenance fee with learning credits
Steps to take your Zurich delta exam after payment
- Log in to the ServiceNow University training platform
- Click the "My Learning" link at the top of the page and view the status of your certifications within the Achievements section of the site. You will need to pass delta exams for those certifications that say, "At Risk."
- Take each delta exam (accessible through the ServiceNow University homepage - scroll to the bottom). Once you pass your exam(s), the certification status fields will change to "Current" within 24 hours.
If you have questions, please review the Certification Program Guide, or find answers in the Help Center.."
Delta Exam -- what is this?
In the Fall of 2018, Delta exams were introduced. Prior to the Fall of 2018, individuals who obtained ServiceNow certifications didn't really have to keep up with the latest release information. Most did on their own, but to ensure the quality of what a ServiceNow certification means and the respect behind it...it was decided to create a Delta (otherwise known as a "change") exam. These delta exams are lightweight, 20 question or less, non-proctored, open-book "exams" that are for mainline certifications. These delta exams are not for micro-certs. The delta exams are updated in November of every year and contain information related to the latest ServiceNow release.
ServiceNow isn't here to beat you down with yet another exam to cause you stress...it's meant to keep all of us up to date on the latest changes. That way, we're all on the same page and we've at least seen/read/heard about new or modified features in the latest release.
For Zurich, the English and Non-English Delta Exam window will be from January 16th, 2026 to April 16th, 2026.
- How do I know if I need to take the delta exam? You are required to take the delta exam if you obtained a respective mainline certification (system administrator, application developer, implementation specialist, etc.) prior to this release. Remember, this delta exam is about the changes introduced with Zurich. So if you took your certification exam AFTER the Zurich certification window has opened, your recent exam already contained Zurich related information so, you're all caught up. However, if you had your mainline certification prior to Zurich being released OR the Zurich examination window hadn't begun, you must take the delta exam for Zurich. Another way to verify if you need to take the delta exam is to login to your ServiceNow University account click "My Learning" at the top of the screen. Then, scroll down to the Achievements section of the site. Here, you'll see a list of your certifications which will have a status of either: Current, At Risk, Expired, or Never Attained. If your certification says "At Risk", then you need to take the delta exam.
- Ok, so I need to take the delta...now what? You'll need to login through your ServiceNow University account, which is a separate portal from this ServiceNow Community. Once logged in to your ServiceNow University Account scroll down to the My Achievements section to see if you need to pay your annual maintenance fee first. Here's an example of notice shown on the homepage after scrolling down to verify that you need to either pay your maintenance fee and/or take a delta exam, how to access that delta exam, and then enrolling and subsequently taking the exam:
- How difficult are these delta exams? Honestly...they're not meant to be extremely difficult. The goal of all this is to keep you up to date with latest information regarding recent changes and modifications. These assessments are open book, not proctored, 1 to 1.5-hour time limit, and consist of 20 or less questions. Most of the time the delta exams won't take you the full allotted time given.
Do you have any tips or advice for me?
I do! I'm so glad you asked! All you need to do is review the Zurich Release Notes. Once you've done that, simply launch a delta exam and as an additional resource I'd recommend you have open, here's a personal link I use. You can have any resource open that you'd like while taking this exam. For the personal link I included above, it should be pre-filtered to the Zurich release notes already. From there, if you need help during your exam, use this link and simply search for the information.
Additionally, ServiceNow has created Delta Exam Study Guides, which are new knowledge articles focused on each mainline certification that contains recommended topics and information you should be familiar with for that respective focus area. I'd highly suggest bookmarking/saving the link as it appears that these knowledge articles will be updated each delta exam cycle instead of brand new articles being created each time.
I'll also link to the ServiceNow Credentialing Program Guide . A lot of this content came from that, but also from my own personal experience and knowledge I have about these delta exams. Please refer to the attachment below if you have any other questions or want to see it officially from ServiceNow.
Can you fail? If so...what happens?
I know none of us want to fail the delta exam, but here's some information in case you do. If you fail your delta exam, you can retake the delta 4 additional times (so a total of 5 times overall). If you fail the delta exam a 5th time, you become uncertified for that specific mainline certification and you will be required to pay for and take that proctored mainline certification exam all over again. Remember, you must pass your delta exam on or before April 16th, 2026 or your certification will become expired.
Please don't be the one who waits until the last minute. A lot of people push the delta exam off until the very end (see some of the comments posted below). Get it over with as soon as you can!
Something's wrong with my Now Learning Account...HELP!
If you need assistance with your ServiceNow University Account (i.e., your certification isn't showing At Risk and for some reason you think it should, your ServiceNow University account is reporting that your certifications are At Risk and you are unable to search ServiceNow University, find your respective Delta exam for your mainline(s) certification and successfully enroll to then take the exam...), please check out some of the comments below as this similar scenario may have been covered and resolved below or login to your ServiceNow University Account and then locate the "Help Center" menu at the top of the screen and choose "Create a Case" from the menu on the right:
Additionally, here's a YouTube video I created that covers ServiceNow Certification Maintenance:
So there you go, I think I've covered this pretty well. If you have any additional questions, feel free to drop a comment below. If this guide helped you, whether it was the quick version or the detailed version, please BOOKMARK this article, mark "Helpful", and pass it along to someone else! I'll keep this article updated for future releases. If I've missed something, definitely let me know so I can update this to help everyone.
