In today’s rapidly advancing cloud technology landscape, AWS (Amazon Web Services) certifications have emerged as crucial credentials for IT professionals seeking to validate their cloud expertise. AWS certifications are designed to certify the expertise of professionals in cloud architecture, operations, and security, among other specialties. Each certification exam is crafted to test theoretical knowledge and practical skills in handling AWS environments effectively. According to recent industry reports, AWS holds a significant share of the global cloud market, making their certifications highly sought after by employers and professionals alike.
As we delve deeper into the specifics of AWS certification exams, it’s important to understand their structure, the preparation required, and how they can impact your career trajectory. Whether you’re a seasoned IT professional or just starting, this article will guide you through everything you need to know about AWS certification exams, helping you make informed decisions about your educational and career goals.
What is the AWS Certification Exam?
The AWS Certification Exam is a comprehensive testing system designed to validate individuals’ technical knowledge and skills in using AWS. These exams are strategically structured to assess a candidate’s ability to deploy and operate applications effectively on the AWS platform.
Each AWS certification exam targets specific roles and expertise levels, ranging from foundational knowledge of cloud concepts to more advanced specializations. Those certifications allow professionals to demonstrate their abilities in distinct areas of cloud computing that are relevant to their job roles and career aspirations.
The format of the exams can vary, typically including multiple-choice and multiple-answer questions. These questions are designed to test a wide range of skills, from identifying the correct technical solutions and practices to understanding the best strategies for implementation based on real-world scenarios. The certification process itself encourages continuous learning and skill development, which is crucial in a rapidly evolving tech landscape.
What are the Levels of AWS Certification?
AWS certifications are organized into several distinct levels, each designed to cater to different skills and career pathways in cloud computing. You can get certified with AWS at one of these levels:
Foundational:
Those looking to gain a general familiarity with the AWS Cloud and verify their knowledge should start at the Foundational level. It is ideal for those new to cloud computing and covers basic AWS knowledge and fundamental cloud concepts.
Associate:
This level is aimed at those with some AWS experience and who want to deepen their understanding. Each focuses on specific skills related to designing, developing, and operating infrastructure and applications on AWS.
Professional:
Professional certifications are intended for highly experienced individuals in specific technical areas. These exams require a comprehensive understanding of AWS services and best practices, and they are recommended for those who are already proficient in managing multiple AWS applications and services.
Specialty:
The Specialty certifications focus on skills validation for specialized technical areas. These certifications require advanced expertise in the respective domains and are suited for individuals who have a strong background in a specific technical area within cloud computing.
What are the Types of AWS Certification Exams?
AWS offers a diverse range of certification exams designed to validate expertise in various technical domains of cloud computing. Here are the types of AWS certification exams available are:
- AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
- AWS Certified AI Practitioner
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
- AWS Certified Developer – Associate
- AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate
- AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate
- AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer – Associate
- AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional
- AWS Certified Security – Specialty
- AWS Certified Machine Learning – Specialty
- AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty
AWS offers 12 certifications, including new updates, according to the AWS official site (https://aws.amazon.com/certification/).
To begin your journey with AWS certification, let’s explore the first exam in detail: the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Certification Exam.
1. AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Certification Exam
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification exam (CLF-C02) is intended for individuals who want to demonstrate a fundamental understanding of the AWS Cloud, irrespective of specific technical roles. The passing score for AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification exam is 700.
| Category | Foundational |
| Exam duration | 90 minutes |
| Exam format | 65 questions; either multiple choice or multiple response |
| Cost | 100 USD. (For additional cost information, including exchange rates, visit AWS’ official page) |
| Test in-person or online | Pearson VUE testing center or online proctored exam |
| Languages offered | English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Bahasa (Indonesian), Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Latin America), French (France), German, Italian, and Portuguese (Brazil) |
2. AWS Certified AI Practitioner
The AWS Certified AI Practitioner exam (AIF-C01) validates fundamental knowledge of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and generative AI concepts, including their practical use cases. It is designed for individuals who are familiar with AI/ML technologies but do not necessarily build AI/ML solutions on AWS. The passing score for AWS Certified AI Practitioner certification exam is 700.
| Category | Foundational |
| Exam duration | 90 minutes |
| Exam format | 65 questions |
| Cost | 100 USD. (For additional cost information, including exchange rates, visit AWS’ official page) |
| Test in-person or online | Pearson VUE testing center or online proctored exam |
| Languages offered | English, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), and Simplified Chinese |
3. AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
The AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate exam (SAA-C03) validates the ability to design and deploy well-architected solutions on AWS that meet customer requirements. Your exam results are provided as a scaled score of 100 to 1,000. The AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate exam’s minimum passing score is 720. Scaled scoring models assist in equating scores across several exam forms that may have slightly variable difficulty levels.
| Category | Associate |
| Exam duration | 130 minutes |
| Exam format | 65 questions; either multiple choice or multiple response |
| Cost | 150 USD. (For additional cost information, including exchange rates, visit AWS’ official page) |
| Test in-person or online | Pearson VUE testing center or online proctored exam |
| Languages offered | English, French (France), German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Simplified Chinese, Spanish (Latin America), Spanish (Spain), and Traditional Chinese. |
4. AWS Certified Developer – Associate
Focuses on developing and maintaining applications running on AWS. For those aiming to build and optimize applications on Amazon Web Services, achieving the AWS Developer Associate Certification (DVA-C02) is an essential goal.
| Category | Associate |
| Exam duration | 130 minutes |
| Exam format | 65 questions; either multiple choice or multiple response |
| Cost | 150 USD. (For additional cost information, including exchange rates, visit AWS’ official page) |
| Test in-person or online | Pearson VUE testing center or online proctored exam |
| Languages offered | English, French (France), Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Simplified Chinese, and Spanish (Latin America). |
5. AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate
AWS Certified SysOps Administrator certification exam (SOA-C02) evaluates the ability to deploy applications on the AWS platform, manage data transmission across data centers and multiple VPC architectures, choose optimal AWS services, and enhance system security within an AWS setting. Recognized as one of the more challenging certifications, AWS Certified SysOps Administrator certification exam requires substantial preparation and practice.
| Category | Associate |
| Exam duration | 130 minutes |
| Exam format | 65 questions; either multiple choice or multiple response |
| Cost | 150 USD. (For additional cost information, including exchange rates, visit AWS’ official page) |
| Test in-person or online | Pearson VUE testing center or online proctored exam |
| Languages offered | English, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese. |
6. AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate
The AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate (DEA-C01) exam tests candidates’ ability to create data pipelines and monitor, debug, and improve cost and performance issues using best practices. The ideal candidate has 2–3 years of data engineering expertise.
| Category | Associate |
| Exam duration | 130 minutes |
| Exam format | 65 questions; either multiple choice or multiple response |
| Cost | 150 USD. (For additional cost information, including exchange rates, visit AWS’ official page) |
| Test in-person or online | Pearson VUE testing center or online proctored exam |
| Languages offered | English, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese |
7. AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer – Associate
The AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer – Associate exam (MLA-C01) assesses a candidate’s expertise in deploying and managing machine learning (ML) workloads in real-world production environments. It is designed for professionals with at least one year of experience using Amazon SageMaker and other AWS ML engineering services.
| Category | Associate |
| Exam duration | 130 minutes |
| Exam format | 65 questions |
| Cost | 150 USD. (For additional cost information, including exchange rates, visit AWS’ official page) |
| Test in-person or online | Pearson VUE testing center or online proctored exam |
| Languages offered | English, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese |
8. AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional
Those who work as DevOps engineers are the target audience for the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional (DOP-C02) examination. The test certifies a candidate’s technical proficiency with AWS distributed system and service provisioning, operation, and management. AWS environment provisioning, operation, and management experience of two years or more is required of the ideal applicant.
| Category | Professional |
| Exam duration | 180 minutes |
| Exam format | 75 questions; either multiple choice or multiple response |
| Cost | 300 USD. (For additional cost information, including exchange rates, visit AWS’ official page) |
| Test in-person or online | Pearson VUE testing center or online proctored exam |
| Languages offered | English, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese. |
9. AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional
The AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional (SAP-C02) exam targets professionals who work as solutions architects. This certification exam evaluates the participant’s high-level technical abilities and their proficiency in developing optimized solutions using the AWS Well-Architected Framework.
| Category | Professional |
| Exam duration | 180 minutes |
| Exam format | 75 questions; either multiple choice or multiple response |
| Cost | 300 USD. (For additional cost information, including exchange rates, visit AWS’ official page) |
| Test in-person or online | Pearson VUE testing center or online proctored exam |
| Languages offered | English, French (France), Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Simplified Chinese, and Spanish (Latin America). |
10. AWS Certified Security – Specialty
AWS Certified Security – Specialty exam (SCS-C02) is intended for those who perform a security role and understand security controls and compliance aspects of the AWS environment.
| Category | Specialty |
| Exam duration | 170 minutes |
| Exam format | 65 questions; either multiple choice or multiple response |
| Cost | 300 USD. (For additional cost information, including exchange rates, visit AWS’ official page) |
| Test in-person or online | Pearson VUE testing center or online proctored exam |
| Languages offered | English, French (France), Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Simplified Chinese, and Spanish (Latin America) |
11. AWS Certified Machine Learning – Specialty
The AWS Certified Machine Learning – Specialty exam (MLS-C01) ensures competence in solving specific business challenges using Machine Learning (ML) solutions through planning, development, deployment, and sustained support.
| Category | Specialty |
| Exam duration | 180 minutes |
| Exam format | 65 questions; either multiple choice or multiple response |
| Cost | 300 USD. (For additional cost information, including exchange rates, visit AWS’ official page) |
| Test in-person or online | Pearson VUE testing center or online proctored exam |
| Languages offered | English, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese. |
12. AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty
The AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty exam (ANS-C01) demonstrates a high level of technical expertise and experience in the process of building and deploying hybrid IT network architectures at scale using Amazon Web Services (AWS).
| Category | Specialty |
| Exam duration | 170 minutes |
| Exam format | 65 questions; either multiple choice or multiple response |
| Cost | 300 USD. (For additional cost information, including exchange rates, visit AWS’ official page) |
| Test in-person or online | Pearson VUE testing center or online proctored exam |
| Languages offered | English, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese. |
How to Prepare for an AWS Certification Exam?
Effective preparation for an AWS Certification Exam requires a structured approach, combining theoretical learning with hands-on experience. Start by reviewing the exam blueprint to understand key topics and question formats. Utilize AWS training resources, including digital courses and documentation, to build foundational knowledge. Practical experience is essential, so take advantage of the AWS Free Tier or create a sandbox environment to experiment with AWS services. Joining study groups or online communities can provide valuable insights and support. Finally, practice with mock exams to familiarize yourself with the format and assess your readiness.
For more information you can read our article titled “How to Prepare for an AWS Certification Exam?“.
How to Select the Right AWS Course for Your Career?
Choosing an AWS course involves understanding your career goals and the skills you need to develop. It’s important to select a course that aligns with the specific AWS certification you aim to achieve, and that matches your current skill level. Whether you’re starting out or looking to specialize further, there’s an AWS course tailored to your career path. Carefully evaluating these factors will guide you in choosing an AWS course that best suits your professional development.
Conclusion
As cloud computing continues to dominate the tech landscape, AWS certifications stand out as valuable assets for any IT professional aiming to validate their skills and advance their career. It boosts your credibility and marketability and enhances your ability to contribute effectively to your organization’s goals in the cloud domain. With the right preparation, resources, and training, like the AWS Solution Architect Course, you can successfully pass the AWS Certification Exams and join the ranks of globally recognized cloud professionals.
As we have outlined in this article, the key to success lies in understanding the structure and requirements of the exam, engaging with the community, and continually practicing and updating your knowledge. Whether you choose to start with the Foundational level or aim for a Specialty certification, each step forward is a significant stride toward your future in cloud computing.
Embrace the challenge, and let your AWS certification journey begin today!
