SAA-C03 Domains and Exam Guide
Learn the scope of the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate exam to help you better prepare.
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It’s crucial to understand the scope and domains of the AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification to effectively prepare for the exam. It will help us focus our efforts on the topics that are most likely to appear on the exam. By knowing the scope and domains, we’re not just studying blindly but navigating purposefully. Imagine going on an adventure in the woods; having a certification preparation course is like a treasure map that guides us in the right direction by shining light on the path ahead. Additionally, knowing what to expect regarding exam content is a confidence booster on exam day.
Exam domains and weightage
AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification is for individuals who are ready to take on the role of a solutions architect. Let’s look at what the AWS expects from a solution architect:
Understand and design solutions using the AWS Well-Architected Framework.
Design scalable solutions to meet current and future business needs.
Design solutions that are secure, resilient, and cost-optimized.
Provide improvements and suggestions to the existing solutions.
The AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate exam revolves mainly around four domains. Each domain holds a certain percentage of the exam questions. The table below shows the domains and the percentage of questions to be asked from each domain.
Domain | Percentage of Scored Questions |
Design Secure Architectures | 30% |
Design Resilient Architectures | 26% |
Design High-Performing Architectures | 24% |
Design Cost-Optimized Architectures | 20% |
Exam guide
The exam consists of 65 questions, of which 50 are scored and 15 are unscored. The unscored questions only collect information about the performance of these questions for future scored questions, but as a candidate, you cannot identify between scored and unscored questions.
Below are a few points regarding the exam:
The exam asks about two types of Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs):
MCQs with only one correct option and the remaining options are distractors.
MCQs with multiple correct options.
If a question is left unanswered, it’ll be considered incorrect.
Incorrect answers are not negatively marked, so there is no harm in making guesses.
Unscored questions do not affect the exam grades.
The exam score is scaled from 100 to 1000, and the passing marks are 720.
The exam score is calculated for the whole exam irrespective of the performance in individual sections.