- The Exam at a Glance: Numbers to Memorize
- The Four Official Topic Groups
- Intro to the Internet: Quick-Hit Facts
- HTML: Elements, Attributes, and Structure
- CSS: Selectors, Box Model, and Styling
- Advanced HTML and CSS: Frameworks, UI, Accessibility, Paths
- Exam-Day Rules and Proctoring Cheat Box
- Vouchers, Retakes, and Certificate Facts
- Scheduling Your Review by Domain
- What This Certification Is Not
- FAQ
- The exam is 45 multiple-choice questions in 90 minutes, with a 60% passing score.
- No reference sheet is provided for Web Design; bring paper, a pencil, and a calculator instead.
- Four official topic groups: Intro to the Internet, HTML, CSS, and Advanced HTML and CSS.
- Each voucher covers one attempt; retakes are unlimited in number but each needs a new voucher.
The Exam at a Glance: Numbers to Memorize
This page condenses the CodeHS Web Design Level 1 Certification (CHS-WDES1) into the facts you can review in a single sitting. If you are still deciding whether to pursue the credential, start with What Is CHS-WDES1 Certification? and then come back here to lock in the details.
| Item | Fact |
|---|---|
| Issuer and platform | CodeHS (Web Design Level 1 Certification) |
| Question count | 45 multiple-choice questions |
| Time limit | 90 minutes, completed in one sitting |
| Passing score | 60% |
| Prerequisites | None required |
| Recommended preparation | Web Design (Picasso) or Web Design and Development |
| Reference sheet | None provided for this exam |
| Result timing | Within 36 hours on school days |
| Certificate validity | 10 years |
A quick pacing calculation helps: 90 minutes across 45 questions averages two minutes per question. Because every item is multiple choice, you can afford to flag a hard question, move on, and return, as long as you finish in the single sitting the exam requires. For the full 60% mechanics, see CHS-WDES1 Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.
The Four Official Topic Groups
CodeHS publishes four top-level topic headings for this exam. They are topic groups, not a percentage-weighted blueprint, so you should not assume equal or unequal point values. Treat all four as testable and prepare accordingly.
- Intro to the Internet
- HTML
- CSS
- Advanced HTML and CSS (expressly including frameworks, user interfaces, accessibility, and multi-file paths)
For a deeper walkthrough of how each group is framed, read CHS-WDES1 Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 4 Content Areas. The rest of this cheat sheet gives you the compact version.
Intro to the Internet: Quick-Hit Facts
This is the foundation group, and it is easy to underestimate because it feels like "common knowledge." Questions here test whether you can describe how a web page actually reaches a browser and how the pieces of a web address fit together.
Domain 1: Intro to the Internet
Be able to explain the vocabulary of the web in plain terms and recognize it in a multiple-choice scenario.
- The difference between the internet and the web, and what a browser does with a page it receives
- The client/server idea: a browser requests a page, and a server responds
- The parts of a URL, including protocol, domain, and path
- What a web page is made of: HTML for structure, CSS for presentation
- Why file names, folders, and links matter when pages are connected
Tip: when a question describes a request/response flow, identify who is the client and who is the server first. That single step eliminates most wrong answers.
HTML: Elements, Attributes, and Structure
HTML is where most candidates feel comfortable, which is exactly why careless errors happen here. Expect questions that show a snippet and ask what it produces, or show a broken snippet and ask what is wrong.
Domain 2: HTML
Know the anatomy of a well-formed page and the purpose of the common elements.
- Document skeleton: the html, head, and body sections and what belongs in each
- Opening and closing tags, nesting order, and elements that do not need a closing tag
- Headings, paragraphs, lists (ordered and unordered), links, and images
- Attributes: href on links, src and alt on images, and how attributes are written inside a tag
- Reading a snippet and predicting the rendered result
Common HTML traps
- Mismatched nesting: tags must close in the reverse order they opened.
- Wrong attribute on the wrong element: a link uses href; an image uses src.
- Treating head content as visible: the title and metadata do not appear in the page body.
- Skipping alt text: it connects directly to the accessibility topics in the fourth group.
CSS: Selectors, Box Model, and Styling
CSS questions often hinge on reading a rule carefully. Practice identifying the selector, the property, and the value as three separate parts, then asking which elements the selector actually targets.
Domain 3: CSS
Understand how rules select elements and how styles change what the browser draws.
- Rule anatomy: selector, property, value, and the punctuation that separates them
- Element, class, and ID selectors, and when each applies
- Text and color styling, including fonts, sizes, and alignment
- The box model: content, padding, border, and margin, and how each affects spacing
- Where styles live: inline, internal, and external stylesheets, and how an HTML page links to a stylesheet
- Basic layout ideas and how competing rules are resolved
Advanced HTML and CSS: Frameworks, UI, Accessibility, Paths
The fourth group is the broadest, and CodeHS explicitly lists four themes inside it: frameworks, user interfaces, accessibility, and multi-file paths. Bootstrap and responsive design appear in the published Web Design (Picasso) preparation curriculum, but they are preparation material rather than a separate exam domain, so use them to build understanding without assuming every question maps to them.
Domain 4: Advanced HTML and CSS
Apply the basics to realistic, multi-part websites.
- Frameworks: why developers use a prebuilt CSS framework, and how classes from a framework change the look of plain HTML
- User interfaces: building navigation, buttons, forms, and layouts that are easy to use
- Accessibility: alt text, meaningful headings and structure, readable contrast, and designing for people using assistive technology
- Multi-file paths: relative paths between pages, images, and stylesheets in different folders
Path questions deserve extra practice
Multi-file paths trip up candidates who only ever work in a single file. Draw the folder tree on your scratch paper, mark where the current file sits, and trace the route to the target file one step at a time. A path that "looks right" often fails because of a missing folder name or a wrong number of steps up the tree.
Key Takeaway
Accessibility is not a bolt-on topic. It connects back to HTML (alt text, structure) and CSS (contrast, readable sizing). Reviewing it once across all three areas is more efficient than treating it as an isolated fourth-domain chapter.
Exam-Day Rules and Proctoring Cheat Box
The rules below come from the CodeHS certification policies. Read them before test day so nothing surprises you.
| Topic | What to Know |
|---|---|
| Where you test | At home or at school, monitored by a teacher or authorized proctor through the CodeHS Certifications app and Proctor Dashboard |
| Sitting | Must be completed in one sitting |
| Integrity measures | Honor Code, randomly selected questions, and Focus Mode |
| Focus Mode | Blocks navigation to other CodeHS pages; it is not described as a system-wide browser lockdown |
| Allowed materials | CodeHS suggests paper, a pencil, and a calculator |
| Reference sheet | None provided for Web Design |
| Prohibited | External websites, collaboration, copying or sharing exam questions, and running code in another website or program |
| Accommodations | Extended-time and read-aloud supported; other requests require platform review |
Because running code in another website or program is prohibited, you cannot test a snippet in a separate editor mid-exam. Build the habit of mentally "rendering" code during practice. Our difficulty guide covers why this skill separates comfortable test-takers from nervous ones.
Vouchers, Retakes, and Certificate Facts
Access to the exam works through vouchers purchased by schools or districts. CodeHS provides voucher pricing by direct quote, and no public numeric fee was verified, so any specific dollar amount you see elsewhere should be treated with caution. The certification cost breakdown explains how the quote process works.
- One voucher, one attempt. Each purchased voucher permits a single attempt.
- Retakes are not capped by number. There is no numerical limit, but each additional attempt requires another purchased voucher.
- Expiration. Unused school or district vouchers expire at the end of the contract term and do not roll over between school years, so plan to use them in time.
- Results. You receive an overall score plus a topic-level performance report within 36 hours on school days.
- Certificate. Successful candidates receive a downloadable certificate, which expires after 10 years.
The topic-level report matters if you do need a retake: it shows which of the four groups to rework. For eligibility questions, including the fact that there are no prerequisites, see CHS-WDES1 Requirements 2026. For scheduling and timing, see CHS-WDES1 Exam Dates 2026.
Scheduling Your Review by Domain
If you have about four weeks, sequence your review in the order the concepts build on each other. This is the one place this page offers a study template, and it is tied directly to the four topic groups.
Intro to the Internet and HTML
- Review client/server flow and URL parts
- Rebuild a page skeleton from memory
- Drill element and attribute names, since no reference sheet is allowed
CSS
- Practice reading rules aloud: selector, property, value
- Work box-model spacing problems
- Compare inline, internal, and external stylesheets
Advanced HTML and CSS
- Trace multi-file paths on paper
- Review accessibility across HTML and CSS
- Study how frameworks change plain markup
Timed Practice
- Run full 45-question sets in 90 minutes
- Rework the weakest topic group
- Practice at our practice test site
Foundations come first because later topics assume them: you cannot reason about a framework class or a relative path without understanding the underlying HTML and CSS. For a fuller plan, see the CHS-WDES1 Study Guide 2026, and use the practice questions to find gaps early. If you have completed Web Design (Picasso) or Web Design and Development, treat that as your base and use these weeks as targeted review rather than first-time learning.
What This Certification Is Not
Clear boundaries prevent wasted study time. CHS-WDES1 is an HTML/CSS-focused certification. It is separate from Web Development Level 1, from course finals and projects, and from teacher microcredentials. Preparation courses and the Level 1 Certification Practice listing in the CodeHS catalog help you get ready, but they are not additional exam domains and do not establish exhaustive coverage or official domain weights.
That also means you should not expect programming-language topics from a different CodeHS credential to appear here. Stay anchored to the four official topic groups. For the bigger picture on career relevance, including who hires for web design skills, see CHS-WDES1 Jobs and Is the CHS-WDES1 Certification Worth It?. We do not quote salary figures here because none were verified for this specific certification.
FAQ
The exam has 45 multiple-choice questions and a 90-minute limit, completed in a single sitting. The passing score is 60%.
No. The Web Design exam explicitly provides no reference sheet. CodeHS suggests having paper, a pencil, and a calculator available, and external websites and running code elsewhere are prohibited.
There is no numerical limit on retakes, but each attempt uses one purchased voucher, so another voucher is required. Your topic-level performance report shows which of the four topic groups to review before trying again.
No. There are no certification prerequisites. Web Design (Picasso) or Web Design and Development is recommended preparation, not an eligibility requirement.
Results are released within 36 hours on school days, with an overall score and topic-level report. Successful candidates can download a certificate, which expires after 10 years.