Introduction
The AWS CLF-C02 exam and what to expect
What Is the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner?
The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) is an entry-level certification that validates your understanding of the AWS Cloud at a broad, conceptual level. It is not a technical deep-dive. You will not be asked to write IAM policies from scratch, configure VPC routing tables, or optimize Lambda concurrency. You will be asked to recognize which service solves a given problem, understand pricing and support models, and identify security best practices.
The exam consists of 65 multiple-choice and multiple-response questions answered in 90 minutes. The passing score is 700 out of 1000, but because of scaled scoring, your raw percentage needed to pass is roughly 70-75%. We target 85-90% on practice exams to create a safety margin.
Exam Format
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Number of questions | 65 |
| Time limit | 90 minutes |
| Passing score | 700 / 1000 (scaled) |
| Question types | Multiple choice, multiple response |
| Delivery method | Pearson VUE testing center or online proctored |
| Cost | USD 100 |
| Validity | 3 years |
The Four Domains
The exam is organized into four domains, each with a different weight. We cover them in descending order of importance so you build the largest scoring domains first.
Domain 3: Cloud Technology & Services (34%)
The largest domain. You must recognize AWS compute, storage, database, networking, analytics, and application integration services. You do not need to know how to configure them in detail, but you must know what each service does and when to choose it over alternatives.
Domain 2: Security & Compliance (30%)
The Shared Responsibility Model is the foundation here. You must know what AWS manages versus what the customer manages. IAM fundamentals, encryption at rest and in transit, and AWS security services (WAF, Shield, KMS, CloudTrail, Config) are heavily tested.
Domain 1: Cloud Concepts (24%)
Cloud economics, deployment models, and the advantages of cloud computing. This domain also includes the AWS Well-Architected Framework and migration strategies. It is lighter than Domains 2 and 3 but still requires memorization of specific definitions.
Domain 4: Billing, Pricing & Support (12%)
The smallest domain. Pricing models (On-Demand, Reserved, Spot, Savings Plans), billing tools (Cost Explorer, Budgets), and support plans (Basic, Developer, Business, Enterprise). Easy points if you memorize the details.
How This Book Prepares You
Each lesson in this guide teaches one tightly-scoped topic and ends with an embedded quiz. The quizzes use the same scenario-based format as the real exam. If you read every lesson, take every quiz, and score 85% or higher on the day-end reviews, you will enter the exam with sufficient knowledge and confidence.