A free SnowPro Core (COF-C03) cheat sheet: the six topic areas, architecture, virtual warehouses, loading, Time Travel and RBAC for fast revision.
By The Exam Atlas Editorial Team · Verified 2026-06-06
A final-revision summary for SnowPro Core (COF-C03). Study aid only - no notes in the proctored exam.
The six topic areas
Snowflake does not publish a fixed percentage weight for each area, so prepare broadly across all six.
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Topic area
1
Snowflake AI Data Cloud features and architecture
2
Account access and security
3
Performance concepts
4
Data loading and unloading
5
Data transformations
6
Data protection and data sharing
The three-layer architecture
Layer
What it does
Storage
Holds data as compressed, columnar micro-partitions in cloud storage
Compute
Virtual warehouses that run queries and loads (billed in credits)
Cloud services
Authentication, metadata, optimisation and security - the “brain”
Performance and cost
Term
Idea
Scale up vs out
Bigger warehouse (single query) vs more clusters (concurrency)
Micro-partition pruning
Skipping partitions that cannot match - the basis of speed
Clustering key
Co-locates related rows so pruning works on large tables
Results cache
Identical query results returned for 24 hours, no warehouse used
Warehouse cache
Local cache on a running warehouse for repeated queries
Credits
Compute billing by warehouse size and run time
Data loading and unloading
Term
Idea
Stage
File location: internal (Snowflake) or external (e.g. S3)
COPY INTO
Bulk load files from a stage into a table - or unload out
Snowpipe
Continuous, automated loading as files arrive
File format
Named parsing options (CSV, JSON, and more)
Data transformations
Term
Idea
VARIANT
Column type that stores JSON / semi-structured data
FLATTEN
Expands nested arrays or objects into rows
Views
Virtual tables; secure views hide detail for sharing
UDFs and procedures
Custom functions and server-side procedural logic
Security - RBAC
Term
Idea
RBAC
Privileges go to roles; roles go to users and other roles
System roles
ACCOUNTADMIN, SYSADMIN, SECURITYADMIN, PUBLIC
Network policy
Allow or block access by IP range
Dynamic data masking
Column-level masking based on the querying role
Data protection and sharing
Term
Idea
Time Travel
Query or restore data within a retention window (you control it)
Fail-safe
Separate Snowflake-managed 7-day recovery after Time Travel ends
Zero-copy clone
Instant copy sharing storage until data changes
Secure data sharing
Live, read-only access to objects - no data copied
Reader account
Lets a non-customer read shared data
Exam facts at a glance
Item
Value
Exam code
COF-C03 (replaced COF-C02 in early 2026)
Questions
~100 (confirm on the official page)
Duration
~115 minutes (confirm on the official page)
Passing score
750 / 1000 (scaled)
Format
Multiple-choice and multiple-select; proctored; Pearson VUE
Validity
2 years (recertify to keep current)
Cost
~US$175 per attempt (confirm on the official page)
Time Travel vs Fail-safe - do not confuse them
Time Travel is user-controlled and lets you query or restore data within a configurable retention window. Fail-safe is a separate, Snowflake-managed seven-day period that begins after Time Travel ends, and only Snowflake can use it to recover data. They are two distinct mechanisms, not one feature.
FAQ
Can I use notes in the SnowPro Core exam?
No. It is proctored and delivered through Pearson VUE, online or at a test centre. Use this sheet for final revision before exam day only.
