04. How I Studied for the ICF Credentialing Exam and What Helped Me Pass

This is Part 4 of a 4-part series on the ICF Credentialing Exam.

• Part 1: Choosing Where to Take the ICF Credentialing Exam: At Home or at a Center
• Part 2: ICF Credentialing Exam Day: An In-Depth Look at My In-Person Experience in NYC
• Part 3: Understanding the ICF Credentialing Exam: What It Is, How It Works, and When You Take It
• Part 4: How I Studied for the ICF Credentialing Exam and What Helped Me Pass

A Quick Disclaimer: This post is based on my experience taking the ICF Credentialing Exam as part of my MCC application in April 2024. I’ve done my best to update the information as of June 2025. However, since the ICF regularly makes changes, please do your own homework and verify current requirements by checking their Credential Updates page.

This final post in the series is about how I prepared for the ICF Credentialing Exam and what actually helped me pass. I’ll share how I approached the test, how I studied, and the resources I found most useful. If you're feeling overwhelmed or unsure where to start, I hope this gives you a solid foundation for your prep process.

ICF Credentialing Exam Tips: How to Choose Best vs. Worst Answers

Here are some practical tips from my prep and test-taking experience.

BEST Answers

The best answers are typically client-centered, curious, transparent, and grounded in self-awareness. Here’s a more detailed overview:

• Client-centered: lets the client lead and choose the direction of coaching
• Acknowledges and appreciates the client’s learning and growth
• Shows empathy, concern, and support
• Encourages client exploration
• Asks/invites rather than tells
• Transparent, open, and responsive
• Curious and unassuming
• Responds to what the client offers and needs
• Checks in on the client’s comfort level
• Aware of personal judgment and unconscious bias
• Explores emotions before moving forward
• Trusts in the client’s autonomy while staying compassionate

Third-Party Situations

• Co-creates shared understanding of goals, expectations, and roles with client and sponsor
• Co-creates and revisits coaching agreements with all relevant parties
• Maintains transparency around what will and won’t be shared, while upholding client confidentiality
• Remains neutral and fosters a partnership dynamic, not serving one party’s agenda over another
• When in doubt, choose transparency, even if it risks losing the business

Therapy or Other Referrals

• Involves the client in addressing concerns through collaborative problem-solving
• Explores potential solutions together
• Respects the client’s autonomy instead of immediately suggesting a referral
• Builds trust through transparency and open dialogue

WORST Answers

The worst answers are typically coach-directed, leading, telling or advising, and   holding unconscious bias. Here’s a more detailed overview:

• Coach-centered and directive
• Leads the session instead of responding to the client
• Asks primarily directive or leading questions
• Tries to fix the problem for the client or offer solutions
• Advises, tells, or chooses for the client
• Directly or indirectly judges, shames, diminishes, or invalidates the client
• Disregards, undermines, or dismisses the client’s thinking, feelings, perceptions, and insights
• Ignores or disregards the client’s cultural context, identity, self-expression, and worldview
• Holds and pushes a personal agenda
• Talks about their own experience or gives their own opinion
• Tries to cheer the client up or consoles instead of letting the client experience their feelings
• Acts as a rescuer or caretaker, undermining client autonomy
• Teaches, educates, or explains
• Is not transparent
• Makes assumptions or operates from unconscious bias
• Appears cold or aloof
• Changes topic or direction without the client’s permission
• Displays unethical or boundary-crossing behavior

Third-Party Situations

• Prioritizes one party’s agenda without considering all stakeholders
• Updates coaching agreements without co-creating with everyone involved
• Lacks transparency about confidentiality or what will be shared

Therapy or Other Referrals

• Decides unilaterally without client involvement
• Dismisses client by suggesting referral too quickly
• Offers a diagnosis or makes clinical assumptions
• Avoids discussing concerns transparently

Things to Keep in Mind When Choosing BEST and WORST Answers

• The “best” may not be ideal, and the "worst" might still sound reasonable. Choose what aligns with ICF competencies, not what you would personally do.
• Think about which competency is being assessed. That can make picking the best and worst answer clearer.
• Ask: Whose need is this meeting? The coach’s or the client’s?
• Whose agenda is it? Is the coach following what the client is saying?
• Client-driven. Client-centered. Client-led. This includes planning, goal setting, action creation, and accountability.
• Did I say client-centered? Avoid leading, telling, advising, suggesting, judging, assuming, directing, recommending, reminding, normalizing, caretaking, minimizing, dismissing, or cheerleading
• Avoid close-ended questions, “why” questions, leading questions, or directing questions
• Explore emotions before jumping to solutions
• Some prep courses advise you to focus on the verb, but that’s not always enough. Read the full sentence, understand the context, and consider the essence of what the question is really asking.
• Read every answer fully. Even "asking" or "sharing" can be done in a leading or non-client-centered way.
• There’s usually one answer that is clearly not the best or the worst. Eliminate it to help narrow down the remaining options. Once you’ve picked your best and worst answers, compare what’s left in a focused way to make sure you didn’t miss anything.
• Discern where in the relationship the scenario takes place. This could be before contracting, at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end.
• Silence and reflection are valuable
• Prioritize transparency over control

Practical Tips for the Exam

• You have about two minutes per question. It's easy to get sucked into one and lose track of time, so stay mindful of the clock.
• Do not leave any questions unanswered, even if you’re unsure. Personally, I didn’t have time to revisit most of the questions I flagged. The few I did revisit only led to more analysis paralysis, and my brain was fried by then.
• Make sure to review the PCC markers and Code of Ethics in addition to the Core Competencies.
• Understanding the difference between mentoring and supervision can be helpful.
• Understand third party contracting guidelines
• This test involves a lot of reading under pressure, so rest your eyes the day before.

Materials to review for the ICF Credentialing Exam

ICF Credentialing Exam and Updates

• ICF Credentialing Exam Overview
  Official page outlining the format, purpose, and requirements of the exam.
• Credential Updates Page
  Stay current on recent changes to the exam structure, policies, or requirements.

Core Coaching Competencies and PCC Markers

• ICF Core Competencies
  Official pages describing the ICF Core Competencies, which are central to what’s being tested.
• ICF PCC Markers
  Official ICF document describing observable behaviors tied to each Core Competency. Useful for understanding how competencies are demonstrated in coaching sessions.

Ethics and Professional Standards

• ICF Code of Ethics
  The official ethical guidelines for coaches. Many exam questions focus on confidentiality, professionalism, and boundaries.

  • ICF Ethical Standards in Coaching
  • Insights and Considerations for Ethics
  • ICF Code of Ethics Video Series
  • 2025 Ethics Updates

• Referring a Client to Therapy
  A detailed resource from ICF on when and how to refer a client to a mental health professional.

• ICF Core Values
  While not directly tested, these reflect the mindset ICF expects coaches to embody. Helpful for grounding yourself in the spirit behind the competencies and ethics.

How I Studied for the ICF Credentialing Exam

In this section, I’ll share the materials I used to study for the ICF Credentialing Exam.

ICF Credentialing Exam Sample Questions

This is your sneak peek. Even though there aren’t many questions, reviewing them helped me get a feel for the style and structure. I used them to test myself, analyze the ones I got wrong, and learn from the patterns in how I was approaching the questions and which competency areas I wasn’t answering well.

Institute for Integrative Intelligence

This video is by the Institute for Integrative Intelligence, one of the schools where I teach and mentor. I joined the students who were prepping to take the exam, and there’s a lot we can learn from hearing how others think through scenarios. After I passed the exam, I shared my experience toward the end of this video.

Lyssa DeHart

When it comes to the topic of the credentialing exam, my colleague Lyssa needs no introduction. She offers an abundance of resources including community, and her insights were incredibly helpful. I appreciate her down-to-earth style.

• ICF Exam Support Course
• Lyssa deHart Coaching YouTube Channel

Lyssa offers an ICF Exam Support Course through her online academy, and she shares tons of helpful content on her YouTube channel if you want to hear her talk through key coaching concepts and exam prep tips.

At the time I took the exam in April 2024, resources were still relatively limited. I studied all the materials listed above and found them more than enough to help me pass. I tried a few others but didn’t include the ones I didn’t find helpful. I know too many resources can also be overwhelming. Since then, I imagine many more resources have become available, so it’s worth exploring what resonates with your learning style and needs.

Thanks for being with me throughout the series. The ICF credentialing process can feel confusing, especially with so many moving parts and changing information. My goal was to bring together clear, practical guidance in one place to help you navigate it with more confidence and less stress.

For additional support with the ICF Credentialing Exam, you can also contact support@coachingfederation.org.

If you’d like to revisit any part of the series:

• Part 1: Choosing Where to Take the ICF Credentialing Exam: At Home or at a Center
• Part 2: ICF Credentialing Exam Day: An In-Depth Look at My In-Person Experience in NYC
• Part 3: Understanding the ICF Credentialing Exam
• Part 4: How I Studied for the ICF Credentialing Exam and What Helped Me Pass

If you have questions or need mentoring, feel free to reach out. I’m here to support you. Good luck with your test. You've got this.

About the Author: Rei Perovic is the Founder & CEO of Cofactors Strategies, an Executive and Leadership Coach, ICF Mentor, and Coach Educator. A Master Certified Coach (MCC) through the International Coaching Federation — a distinction held by fewer than 5% of coaches globally — she has coached more than 1,500 clients worldwide. She partners with purpose-driven leaders to navigate power, identity, and impact across cultures. Tokyo-born and NYC-based, she is fluent in English and Japanese and also translated Sushi Chef: Sukibayashi Jiro, based on Jiro Dreams of Sushi.