The ICF Team Coaching Certification Exam is a 62-item, 2.5-hour computer-based test with knowledge and scenario sections, scored on a 200–600 scale with a passing score of 460. It assesses seven weighted competency areas across four domains. Prepare by studying the December 2020 competency model, practicing scenario judgment with complete written cases, and using ICF's sample questions and the Pearson VUE tutorial.
What the exam is and who sits it
The ICF Team Coaching Certification Exam is a computer-based written exam and the final step toward the ACTC. It measures team coaching competence as defined by the ICF Team Coaching Competency Model published in December 2020.
The exam is open only to candidates whose ACTC application has been reviewed and approved, and you must already hold an ICF credential — ACC, PCC, or MCC — in good standing. Once ICF approves your application, you receive an email invitation and then have 60 days to schedule and complete the exam.
Sources: ICF Team Coaching Certification — ACTC Candidate Guide (current, © 2026 ICF) — Exam overview, format and delivery, scoring sections; ICF ACTC Credential Exam page — International Coaching Federation — Exam structure, preparation, registration, after the exam; Advanced Certification in Team Coaching (ACTC) — ICF overview page — Eligibility, application paths, experience and supervision requirements
Format, timing, and scoring
The exam has 62 items in four sections over 2.5 hours, mixing knowledge questions with scenario-based judgment items. Scores are scaled from 200 to 600, and 460 is the passing score.
Testing happens at a Pearson VUE center or through Pearson's OnVUE remote proctoring. Nine of the 62 items are unscored field-test items mixed randomly among the scored questions, so you cannot identify them and every item deserves a full answer. There is no penalty for wrong answers.
Sections 1 and 3 are multiple-choice knowledge items; sections 2 and 4 are scenario-based situational judgment items presented in a drag-and-drop format, testing decisions in realistic team coaching situations. The optional 10-minute break sits between sections 2 and 3. Before starting, you must accept a candidate non-disclosure agreement agreeing not to share exam content.
The four sections contain 27 knowledge items and 35 scenario items. The published overall allowance is 150 minutes. Instructions appear before the relevant sections; follow the on-screen timers.
- Section 1: 14 knowledge items in 23 minutes
- Section 2: 18 scenario items in 40 minutes
- Optional break: 10 minutes
- Section 3: 13 knowledge items in 23 minutes
- Section 4: 17 scenario items in 40 minutes
Sources: ICF Team Coaching Certification — ACTC Candidate Guide (current, © 2026 ICF) — Exam overview, format and delivery, scoring sections; ICF ACTC Credential Exam page — International Coaching Federation — Exam structure, preparation, registration, after the exam
The four domains and seven competencies
Exam content spans four domains — Foundation, Co-Creating the Relationship, Communicating Effectively, and Cultivating Learning and Growth — built on seven competencies weighted approximately equally at 14.3% each.
Each competency contributes roughly one seventh of the exam; the published weights sum to slightly over 100% due to rounding. The coaching mindset sits inside the underlying model rather than as a separate weighted testing area, so treat it as context that informs the seven tested competencies.
Use the December 2020 competency model document as your primary study text. It pairs each competency with team-specific behaviors, such as coaching the team as a single entity and maintaining the distinction between coaching and adjacent team development modalities.
| Domain | Competency | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation | Demonstrates Ethical Practice | 14.3% |
| Co-Creating the Relationship | Establishes and Maintains Agreements | 14.3% |
| Co-Creating the Relationship | Cultivates Trust and Safety | 14.3% |
| Co-Creating the Relationship | Maintains Presence | 14.3% |
| Communicating Effectively | Listens Actively | 14.3% |
| Communicating Effectively | Evokes Awareness | 14.3% |
| Cultivating Learning and Growth | Facilitates Client Growth | 14.3% |
Sources: ICF Team Coaching Certification — ACTC Candidate Guide (current, © 2026 ICF) — Exam overview, format and delivery, scoring sections; ICF ACTC Credential Exam page — International Coaching Federation — Exam structure, preparation, registration, after the exam; ICF Team Coaching Competencies, December 2020 — Competencies 1–8 with team coaching supplements
How scenario questions test judgment
Use the team competency model to examine who the client is, what the agreement permits, and which professional role an action requires.
First, the client is the team as a single entity. Individual members must be heard, but the coach stays objective toward all members, subgroups, sponsors, and stakeholders, and does not take sides. For private conversations, check the member's consent, the coaching agreement and any applicable disclosure obligation.
Second, know the modality boundaries. The competency model distinguishes team coaching from team building, training, consulting, mentoring, and facilitation, and expects coaches to be skilled in whatever blend they offer — or to partner with other experts. When a task calls for a different modality, name the role shift rather than drifting into it.
Third, do not overlearn a 'coach never directs' rule. The model states that team coaching generally calls for more direction than one-to-one coaching, but directive moments should stay limited, broaden the team's perspective, and be delivered with the skill the role requires. Answer options that either refuse all direction or jump to prescribing solutions both miss this balance.
Fourth, sustainability means transferring ownership. Agreements should address how ownership of the process moves from coach to team leader and team, and coaches should turn dialogue back to the team rather than becoming the hub of communication.
Sources: ICF Team Coaching Competencies, December 2020 — Competencies 1–8 with team coaching supplements
Worked exercise: a sponsor asks for named comments
Decline the named disclosure, hold the agreed aggregate boundary, and address the sponsor's underlying need by partnering with the parties to adjust the agreement prospectively if all agree.
The exercise below rehearses the confidentiality reasoning the ethics and agreements competencies require. All premises you need are stated in the prompt; no outside facts are required.
Practice exercise
You coach a nine-person product team under a written agreement stating that you may share only aggregate learning themes with the sponsoring executive and that individual conversations with team members are confidential. Mid-engagement, the sponsor asks you to relay what two named engineers said about her leadership in your private conversations. The engineers have not consented to named disclosure. No safety risk or legal reporting exception applies. What should you do?
Show answer
Do not share the named comments. Restate and keep the agreed boundary: you can offer aggregate themes without attribution. Then explore with the sponsor what information need sits behind the request, and offer to revisit the agreement with all parties — sponsor and team members — so any change to disclosure is made transparently and prospectively, not by unilateral release.
The competency model states that discussions with individual team members remain confidential to the coach and member unless the member allows disclosure and the team coaching agreement permits it. The ICF Code of Ethics requires maintaining confidentiality with all parties as agreed, and names limited conditions — such as legal requirement or risk of danger — under which information may not stay confidential; none applies here. Unilaterally releasing named comments would breach both the agreement and the code. Unilaterally changing the goal mid-stream also fails, because agreements are created in partnership with all relevant parties. The boundary is contractual and ethical, not an absolute legal seal: if a genuine exception arose, different reasoning would apply, and if all parties consent, the agreement itself can be renegotiated going forward.
Sources: ICF Team Coaching Competencies, December 2020 — Competencies 1–8 with team coaching supplements; ICF Code of Ethics 2020 (rev. 25 June 2021) — Key definitions and Section I ethical standards
Worked exercise: coaching goal or consulting deliverable?
Behavior A is team coaching; behavior B is a consulting or team development deliverable, which the coach may only offer by naming the role change and holding the required skill — or by partnering with another expert.
This original classification exercise separates client-owned goal setting from a consultant-designed solution.
Practice exercise
Two moments from different engagements: (A) The coach asks the team, 'Each of you has described what success looks like — what goal can you all own together, and how will you hold yourselves to it?' (B) A coach hired after a reorganization presents a 90-day restructuring plan she designed and instructs the team to implement it. Using the ICF Team Coaching Competencies, classify each behavior and justify your classification. In B, the agreed service is team coaching; no consulting role or change of scope has been discussed.
Show answer
A is team coaching: the coach partners with the team to define measures of success and shared goals, keeps the dialogue owned by the team, and supports the members in generating their own commitments. B is consulting or another team development modality: the coach has prescribed a solution rather than partnering with the team and stakeholders to create agreements, plans, and goals.
The competency model defines agreements as created in partnership with the client and all relevant parties, and defines facilitating client growth as partnering with the client to turn insight into action — both describe A. The model also requires coaches to maintain the distinction between team coaching, consulting, training, and other modalities, and to practice competently whatever blend they offer. B is not automatically unethical: the model allows adopting more directive modalities when needed, provided the coach has the skill, stays transparent about the role, and the engagement warrants it. In B as stated, the coach has simply presented a prescribed deliverable without that clarity, so it is consulting work mislabeled as coaching.
Sources: ICF Team Coaching Competencies, December 2020 — Competencies 1–8 with team coaching supplements
Preparing for the exam
ICF recommends reviewing the Team Coaching Competencies, practicing team coaching, using sample questions, and exploring the Pearson VUE tutorial; these are preparation suggestions, not requirements.
Start with the December 2020 competency model document itself, since every domain maps to it. Read each competency together with its team-specific behaviors — the team-as-client framing, the modality distinctions, and the confidentiality expectations — because scenario items test those applications, not just definitions.
ICF provides sample questions and a testing tutorial. Use the exam-specific materials to become familiar with how responses are entered and how the sections are timed.
As an optional practice method, write a short team situation, identify the relevant competency, and explain what action the stated agreement permits. Compare your explanation with the competency text or discuss it with a peer.
Eligibility, application paths, and scheduling
The standard ACTC route requires an active ACC, PCC or MCC in good standing, at least 60 hours of team coaching education, five engagements within the last five years, five supervision hours, and a passing exam result.
The general education route and the accredited AATC route lead to the same certification. An AATC program can include the required education and supervision. A separate credit-for-prior-learning path has its own conditions; check those conditions before counting experience toward education.
An engagement must include team coaching under a team coaching agreement; it is not simply one training or consulting session. Keep the required experience documentation and confirm the application instructions before submitting.
After approval, the eligibility email starts the 60-day window to schedule and complete the exam. Follow the exam-specific instructions for delivery and language support.
Sources: Advanced Certification in Team Coaching (ACTC) — ICF overview page — Eligibility, application paths, experience and supervision requirements; ICF ACTC Credential Exam page — International Coaching Federation — Exam structure, preparation, registration, after the exam
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