A lot of people have been wondering, and asking me, what's on the new Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect exam. Google released this exam today (October 30th 2025), to a lot of anticipation.

After all, last year, in late 2024, Google had actually been running a beta version of the new Professional Cloud Architect exam. So we pretty much all knew that an update was coming. But usually when Google runs a beta version of an exam, the new, real exam gets released only a few months later. When that didn't happen by Spring of 2025, I was a bit confused. But here we are. The new exam is here.

So what's on the new exam? Well, a lot of it is actually the same as the old exam. Same emphasis on designing solutions, managing and provisioning infrastructure, keeping security in mind, etc.

However, there are two main themes that are different:

1. Google’s Well Architected Framework

2. AI (unsurprisingly)

Google's Well-Architected Framework

This will now be explicitly tested. This framework has 5 pillars: operational excellence, security, reliability, performance optimization, and cost optimization. It will be a formal part of the exam rather than just implied knowledge like it was in the old version.

AI and Machine Learning

This has expanded considerably in the new version of the exam. Expect questions covering:

• Vertex AI Pipelines for end-to-end ML development

• Proper use of GPUs and TPUs for ML training workloads

• Google's prebuilt APIs, including Cloud Vision, Image API, Conversation, Speech-to-Text, and Cloud Natural Language

• Guidance on selecting appropriate Gemini and Gemma models for different use cases

• Gemini Enterprise features, particularly around building AI agents and using NotebookLM

There's also new coverage of Chrome Enterprise Premium, reflecting Google's enterprise security and management solutions.

New Case Studies

The exam introduces some new case studies as well.

• Altostrat Media - media company modernizing its GKE-based content platform with Gen AI for automated content analysis, personalized recommendations, and natural language interactions

• Cymbal Retail - online retailer modernizing operations with Gen AI for automated catalog management, conversational commerce, and technical stack upgrades

• EHR Healthcare - this is actually the same case study as was on the previous exam. Healthcare SaaS provider migrating from colocation to Google Cloud for scalable infrastructure, disaster recovery, and faster deployment of containerized EHR software.

• Knightmotives (note: the link appears to be unavailable at the time of this writing)

These case studies represent realistic business scenarios where you'll need to apply architectural principles as if you were a consultant advising them as clients. There will probably be about 10-15 questions per exam on these case studies.

Preparation materials

Good luck to you if you are preparing! If you want fresh materials to give yourself the best chance of passing, you can check out my Professional Cloud Architect course.