AWS Certification Guides
Exam-focused AWS study guides with section roots, cheat sheets, FAQs, and official resource pages for foundational, associate, and professional certifications.
This section covers current AWS certification guide roots across foundational, associate, and professional tracks. The pages stay exam-focused, but they are written around the decisions AWS exams actually test: service fit, resiliency patterns, IAM boundaries, data-path choices, incident signals, and cost-performance trade-offs.
Published exam roots currently include Cloud Practitioner, AI Practitioner, Developer Associate, Solutions Architect Associate, CloudOps Engineer Associate, Data Engineer Associate, Machine Learning Engineer Associate, and Solutions Architect Professional. Start with the exam that matches your target role, then use the cheat sheet for fast recall, the FAQ for scope and pacing, and the resources page for the current official AWS exam guide and service documentation.
In this section
- AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02)
Foundational AWS exam section for CLF-C02, covering cloud concepts, core services, shared responsibility, pricing, support, and exam-focused review.
- CLF-C02 Cheatsheet — High-Yield Notes, Service Pickers & Pricing/Support Tables
High-signal CLF-C02 reference: cloud concepts and migration basics, shared responsibility + IAM/security fundamentals, AWS services by use case, and billing/pricing/support plan comparisons.
- CLF-C02 FAQ — Format, Prereqs, and Study Strategy
Quick answers for AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02): format, question types, scoring, prerequisites, and how to study efficiently with a blueprint-aligned syllabus.
- AWS Certified AI Practitioner (AIF-C01)
Foundational AWS AI exam section for AIF-C01, with study pages focused on generative AI concepts, service selection, responsible AI, and exam-aware review.
- AWS AIF-C01 Study Plan (30 / 60 / 90 Days)
A practical AIF-C01 study plan you can follow: 30-day intensive, 60-day balanced, and 90-day part-time schedules with weekly focus by domain, suggested hours/week, and tips for using the IT Mastery practice app.
- AIF-C01 Cheatsheet — AI & Generative AI Fundamentals, AWS Service Map, RAG & Prompt Patterns
High-signal AIF-C01 reference: AI/ML terminology, generative AI concepts (tokens, embeddings, RAG), AWS services (Bedrock, SageMaker and core AI services), prompt engineering patterns, evaluation rubrics, responsible AI, and security/governance essentials.
- AIF-C01 FAQ — Common Questions (AWS Certified AI Practitioner)
Answers to common AWS Certified AI Practitioner (AIF-C01) questions: difficulty, prerequisites, passing score, study time, what services to know, and how to prep efficiently.
- AWS Certified Developer - Associate (DVA-C02)
AWS developer exam section for DVA-C02, focused on serverless, event-driven patterns, security, deployment, observability, and application troubleshooting.
- AWS DVA-C02 Study Plan (30 / 60 / 90 Days)
A practical DVA-C02 study plan you can follow: 30-day intensive, 60-day balanced, and 90-day part-time schedules with weekly focus by domain, suggested hours/week, and tips for using the IT Mastery practice app.
- DVA-C02 Cheatsheet — High-Yield Patterns, Defaults, Decision Tables & Snippets
High-signal DVA-C02 reference: Lambda invocation and retry behavior, API Gateway choices, DynamoDB modeling, S3/CloudFront patterns, SQS/SNS/EventBridge/Kinesis/Step Functions, IAM/Cognito/KMS security, CI/CD + IaC, and troubleshooting with CloudWatch/X-Ray.
- DVA-C02 FAQ — Format, Depth, and Study Strategy
Quick answers for AWS Certified Developer — Associate (DVA-C02): exam format, difficulty, what to study, what to memorize, and how to prepare efficiently with a blueprint-aligned syllabus.
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate (SAA-C03)
AWS architecture exam section for SAA-C03, focused on service selection, high availability, security, networking, storage, and cost-performance trade-offs.
- SAA-C03 Cheatsheet — High-Yield Patterns, Decision Tables & Snippets
High-signal SAA-C03 reference: VPC/networking patterns, IAM/KMS/S3 security, storage and database selection, HA/DR strategies, observability essentials, and cost optimization levers.
- SAA-C03 FAQ — Common Questions & Quick Answers
Answers to the most frequent questions about the AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SAA‑C03): format, timing, scoring, retakes, prerequisites, hands‑on expectations, what to study, and how to use our practice effectively.
- AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer - Associate (SOA-C03)
AWS operations exam section for SOA-C03, focused on monitoring, remediation, CloudFormation and Systems Manager automation, reliability, and troubleshooting.
- AWS SOA-C03 Study Plan (30 / 60 / 90 Days)
A practical SOA-C03 study plan: 30-day intensive, 60-day balanced, and 90-day part-time schedules with domain focus, weekly goals, and practice integration.
- SOA-C03 Cheatsheet - CloudOps Signals, Runbooks, Reliability, Security & Networking
High-signal SOA-C03 reference: monitoring/logging/remediation patterns, reliability and DR decisions, CloudFormation/SSM automation, security/compliance operations, and network troubleshooting defaults.
- SOA-C03 FAQ - Common Questions (AWS CloudOps Engineer - Associate)
Answers to common SOA-C03 questions: format, labs, passing score, prerequisites, scope boundaries, and the fastest way to prepare.
- AWS Certified Data Engineer - Associate (DEA-C01)
AWS data engineering exam section for DEA-C01, with study pages on ingestion, transformation, analytics, governance, and production pipeline trade-offs.
- AWS DEA-C01 Study Plan (30 / 60 / 90 Days)
A practical DEA-C01 study plan you can follow: 30-day intensive, 60-day balanced, and 90-day part-time schedules with weekly focus by domain, suggested hours/week, and tips for using the IT Mastery practice app.
- DEA-C01 Cheatsheet — Pipelines, Lakes, Warehouses, Service Pickers, SQL Patterns & Governance (High Yield)
High-signal DEA-C01 reference: ingestion patterns (batch/stream/CDC), ETL and orchestration choices, S3 data lakes + Lake Formation governance, Glue Catalog + partitions, Redshift/Athena analytics trade-offs, monitoring/data quality, and security/privacy controls.
- DEA-C01 FAQ — Common Questions (AWS Data Engineer Associate)
Answers to common AWS Data Engineer Associate (DEA-C01) questions: difficulty, prerequisites, passing score, study time, what services to know, and how to prep efficiently.
- AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer - Associate (MLA-C01)
AWS machine learning engineering exam section for MLA-C01, focused on SageMaker workflows, deployment choices, MLOps, monitoring, cost control, and security.
- AWS MLA-C01 Study Plan (30 / 60 / 90 Days)
A practical MLA-C01 study plan you can follow: 30-day intensive, 60-day balanced, and 90-day part-time schedules with weekly focus by domain, suggested hours/week, and tips for using the IT Mastery practice app.
- MLA-C01 Cheatsheet — SageMaker, MLOps, Endpoint Types, Monitoring & Security (High Yield)
High-signal MLA-C01 reference: data ingestion/ETL + feature engineering, model selection/training/tuning/evaluation, SageMaker deployment endpoint choices, CI/CD and orchestration patterns, monitoring/drift/cost optimization, and security/governance essentials.
- MLA-C01 FAQ — Common Questions (AWS Machine Learning Engineer Associate)
Answers to common AWS Machine Learning Engineer Associate (MLA-C01) questions: difficulty, prerequisites, passing score, study time, what services to know, and how to prep efficiently.
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional (SAP-C02)
Professional-level AWS architecture exam section for SAP-C02, focused on organizational complexity, governance, hybrid networking, migration, resilience, and advanced design trade-offs.
- SAP-C02 Cheatsheet — Deep Architecture Patterns, Decision Tables & Diagrams
High-signal, professional-level SAP-C02 reference: multi-account governance (Organizations/Control Tower/SCPs), hybrid + multi-VPC networking (TGW/Cloud WAN/DX/PrivateLink), security controls (IAM/KMS/logging), DR strategy selection, migration/modernization, performance trade-offs, and cost visibility.
- SAP-C02 FAQ — Common Questions & Detailed Answers
Detailed answers to common questions about AWS Certified Solutions Architect — Professional (SAP-C02): exam format, timing, scoring, cost, languages, recommended experience, domains and weights, difficulty vs SAA, study plans, and high-impact focus areas.