SAA-C03
AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate
SAA-C03 - design solutions on AWS based on the Well-Architected Framework
Issued by Amazon Web Services
Visit official certification page
4
Domains
10+
Skills
4
Prep Links
3
Practice Quizzes
Cost
$150 USD
Duration
130 minutes
Questions
65 total (50 scored + 15 unscored)
Pass
720 / 1000 (scaled)
Delivery
Pearson VUE test center OR OnVUE online proctored
Validity
3 years
Quick Facts
Cost
$150 USD
Duration
130 minutes
Questions
65 total (50 scored + 15 unscored)
Passing score
720 / 1000 (scaled)
Languages
English, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (BR), Spanish (LATAM/ES), Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese
Delivery
Pearson VUE test center OR OnVUE online proctored
Validity
3 years
Retake wait
14 calendar days after a fail
Skills You'll Learn
Design AWS solutions aligned to the AWS Well-Architected Framework's five pillars.
Build secure architectures using IAM, IAM Identity Center, KMS, ACM, Security Hub, WAF, Shield, and GuardDuty.
Design highly available and fault-tolerant systems across multiple AZs and Regions.
Architect scalable, loosely coupled applications using API Gateway, SQS, SNS, Step Functions, Lambda, and ECS/EKS.
Pick the right storage tier (S3, EBS, EFS, FSx) and apply lifecycle policies for cost control.
Choose between RDS, Aurora, DynamoDB, and ElastiCache for the right data needs.
Design global, low-latency networks with CloudFront, Global Accelerator, Route 53, peering, and Direct Connect.
Optimize cost with Reserved Instances, Savings Plans, Spot, Auto Scaling, and right-sized compute.
Plan disaster recovery using backup-and-restore, pilot light, warm standby, and multi-site patterns.
Earn an industry-recognized AWS Associate-level credential that opens doors to cloud architect roles.
Exam Logistics
- Question types: multiple choice (1 of 4) and multiple response (2+ of 5+).
- Register via the AWS Certification account at aws.training/certification.
- Recertify by passing the latest SAA-C03 OR by earning Solutions Architect Professional.
- Active AWS Certification holders get 50% off their next AWS exam.
Prerequisites & Recommended Experience
- At least 1 year of hands-on experience designing cloud solutions on AWS.
- No required prior certifications.
- Candidates without IT work experience should first earn AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner.
Exam Domains with Weights
Domain 1: Design Secure Architectures
30%
- Secure access (IAM, Identity Center, MFA, federated identity, multi-account governance).
- Secure workloads (Cognito, GuardDuty, Macie, Shield, WAF; VPC security).
- Data security controls (KMS, ACM/TLS, encryption, key rotation, backups).
Domain 2: Design Resilient Architectures
26%
- Scalable, loosely coupled (API Gateway, SQS/SNS, Step Functions, microservices, ALB, CDN, ECS/EKS).
- Highly available / fault-tolerant (Multi-AZ/Region, Route 53, RPO/RTO, DR patterns, RDS Proxy).
Domain 3: Design High-Performing Architectures
24%
- High-performing storage (S3, EFS, EBS, hybrid).
- Elastic compute (Batch, EMR, Fargate, Auto Scaling, Lambda sizing).
- High-performing databases (ElastiCache, read replicas, Aurora vs DynamoDB).
- Scalable networks (CloudFront, Global Accelerator, ALB, PrivateLink).
- Data ingestion/transformation (Athena, Lake Formation, Glue, Kinesis).
Domain 4: Design Cost-Optimized Architectures
20%
- Cost-optimized storage (S3 tiering/lifecycles, FSx, EFS, Cost Explorer/Budgets).
- Cost-optimized compute (Spot/RI/Savings Plans, instance selection, load balancer choice).
- Cost-optimized databases (DynamoDB vs RDS, snapshot policy).
- Cost-optimized networks (NAT strategy, Direct Connect vs VPN, Transit Gateway, endpoints).
Official Prep Resources
Test what you've learned
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Additional Helpful Details
- Passing 720/1000 is compensatory (no per-domain minimum).
- Once passed, you cannot retake the same exam for 2 years unless a new exam-series code is released.