AWS Cloud Practitioner Exam (CLF-C02)

Exam format and domains, a study plan, question strategies, and a task-statement map, and a 25-question practice set.

What is it?

The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam (code CLF-C02) validates foundational cloud knowledge. It is meant for people from technical and non-technical roles alike, and no prior AWS experience is required.

Format: 65 questions in 90 minutes: 50 are scored and 15 are unscored items AWS uses to evaluate future questions, and you cannot tell which is which, so answer every question. Question types are multiple choice (one correct answer out of four options) and multiple response (two or more correct answers out of five or more options). There is no penalty for guessing: an unanswered question counts as incorrect, so never leave one blank.

Scoring: the exam is pass/fail. Results are reported as a scaled score from 100 to 1,000 and the minimum passing score is 700. Scoring is compensatory: you pass by your overall score, not by passing each domain, so a weak area can be offset by strength elsewhere.

Version and audience: CLF-C02 replaced CLF-C01 on 19 September 2023 and added a new task statement on the AWS Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF). The target candidate has up to 6 months of exposure to AWS Cloud in any role, and people from non-IT backgrounds (sales, finance, management, project roles) are welcome. Out of scope: coding, designing cloud architecture, troubleshooting, implementation, and load or performance testing.

Domains and weights

  • Cloud Concepts: 24%
  • Security and Compliance: 30%
  • Cloud Technology and Services: 34%
  • Billing, Pricing, and Support: 12%

Task-statement map (official exam guide numbering to the lessons that cover it):

  • 1.1 Benefits of the AWS Cloud: what-is-cloud-computing
  • 1.2 Design principles: well-architected-framework
  • 1.3 Migration benefits and strategies (including CAF): migration-and-innovation
  • 1.4 Cloud economics: what-is-cloud-computing, ec2-pricing, pricing-and-billing
  • 2.1 Shared responsibility model: shared-responsibility-model
  • 2.2 Security, governance and compliance concepts: security-services, monitoring-and-auditing, governance-and-management
  • 2.3 Access management: iam-basics
  • 2.4 Security components and resources: security-services, network-security
  • 3.1 Deploying and operating methods: interacting-with-aws, developer-and-end-user-tools, governance-and-management
  • 3.2 Global infrastructure: aws-global-infrastructure
  • 3.3 Compute: ec2-basics, auto-scaling-and-load-balancing, serverless-and-containers
  • 3.4 Databases: aws-databases
  • 3.5 Networking: vpc-networking, network-security, dns-and-cdn
  • 3.6 Storage: block-file-object-storage
  • 3.7 AI/ML and analytics: migration-and-innovation, analytics-services
  • 3.8 Other in-scope services (integration, end-user, developer, IoT): application-integration, messaging-sqs-sns, developer-and-end-user-tools
  • 4.1 Pricing models: ec2-pricing, pricing-and-billing
  • 4.2 Billing, budget and cost management: pricing-and-billing
  • 4.3 Technical resources and support options: support-and-partner-resources, monitoring-and-auditing

Check the official exam guide before booking: details, languages and fees can change, and the AWS site is the authority.

Study plan (adapt to your time):

  • Week 1: Cloud concepts, global infrastructure, shared responsibility, IAM.
  • Week 2: Compute, storage, databases, networking.
  • Week 3: Security services, monitoring, pricing, support, Well-Architected, migration.
  • Week 4: Hands-on in a free account, then timed practice sets, then review your weak areas.

Explain like I'm 10

Preparing for the exam is like learning a new city before a visit. You do not need the name of every alley; you need the map (domains), the main landmarks (core services), the transport rules (pricing and support), and a feel for the neighbourhood from actually walking around (hands-on labs).

Examples

Service-to-need cheat grid

Need                              Think
--------------------------------  ----------------------------------
Virtual server                    EC2
Run code on events                Lambda
Object storage                    S3
Managed relational DB             RDS / Aurora
NoSQL at scale                    DynamoDB
DNS                               Route 53
CDN                               CloudFront
Audit API calls                   CloudTrail
Metrics and alarms                CloudWatch
Compliance reports                Artifact
Estimate cost                     Pricing Calculator
Alert on cost                     Budgets
Move big data physically          Snow Family

Tick off each service hands-on (free-tier friendly)

aws s3 mb s3://my-practice-bucket-12345
aws iam list-users --max-items 3
aws cloudwatch list-metrics --namespace AWS/EC2 --max-items 3
aws ec2 describe-regions --output table
aws cloudtrail lookup-events --max-results 3
# Delete everything you created when finished.

Small hands-on repetitions make names and concepts stick far better than reading alone.

How it works

Question strategies

  • Read the last sentence first to see what is being asked, then the scenario.
  • Look for keywords: 'lowest cost', 'least operational overhead', 'highly available', 'compliance report', 'decouple'.
  • Eliminate options that are clearly wrong - often two of four are easy to rule out.
  • For multiple-response questions, the prompt states how many answers to choose.
  • Do not leave anything blank; flag hard questions and return.
  • Remember the shared-responsibility split when a question asks 'who is responsible'.

Use the 25-question practice set below (in the interview questions) as a timed quiz: answer each before opening it.

  Domains by weight
  Cloud Technology & Services  34% ################
  Security & Compliance        30% ##############
  Cloud Concepts               24% ###########
  Billing, Pricing, Support    12% #####
  Format: 65 questions (50 scored) | 90 minutes | pass 700 of 1000

Why does it exist?

A certification gives a structured path through a huge catalogue of services and a credential that tells employers you share the common vocabulary. The exam only samples the basics, so it also doubles as a map for deeper study.

When to use it

Take it as a first AWS credential, to move into cloud-adjacent roles (sales, project management, support) or as a foundation before associate-level certifications.

When not to use it

If you already work hands-on with AWS daily, an associate-level exam may match your level better. Do not memorise question dumps - they are against exam rules and teach the wrong things.

Common mistakes

  • Memorising service names without knowing what problem each solves.

  • Skipping the pricing and support domain because it is the smallest - it is easy points.

  • Over-reading: choosing exotic answers when the simple service fits.

  • Not practising under time limits.

  • Studying from outdated material that predates the Sustainability pillar or current support plans.

Practice exercises

  1. Easy:

    Write the four domains and their weights from memory.

  2. Medium:

    Make flashcards: service name on one side, the problem it solves on the other, for the top 30 services.

  3. Medium:

    Build a personal study plan with dates, hands-on labs, and two timed practice sets.

  4. Hard:

    Write five original exam-style questions (with distractors and explanations) for the Security domain.

Interview questions

How many questions, how long, and what is the pass mark for CLF-C02?

65 questions in 90 minutes (50 scored, 15 unscored); scaled score 100-1,000 with 700 required to pass; no guessing penalty.

Which domain has the highest weight?

Cloud Technology and Services at 34%.

Practice 1: Which Region factor is considered first when data must stay in a country by law?

Compliance.

Practice 2: Which AWS service distributes traffic across multiple EC2 instances?

Elastic Load Balancing.

Practice 3: Who patches the guest operating system on an EC2 instance?

The customer.

Practice 4: Which pricing option suits fault-tolerant batch jobs at the lowest cost?

Spot Instances.

Practice 5: Which storage class is the lowest-cost for long-term archive with rare access?

S3 Glacier Deep Archive.

Practice 6: Which service records API calls for governance and auditing?

AWS CloudTrail.

Practice 7: Which service provides DDoS protection automatically at no extra charge?

AWS Shield Standard.

Practice 8: Which tool estimates the cost of an architecture before deployment?

AWS Pricing Calculator.

Practice 9: Which database service is a fully managed NoSQL key-value store with millisecond latency?

Amazon DynamoDB.

Practice 10: Which VPC component gives private subnets outbound internet access without inbound exposure?

A NAT gateway.

Practice 11: What are the six Well-Architected pillars?

Operational Excellence, Security, Reliability, Performance Efficiency, Cost Optimization, Sustainability.

Practice 12: Which service lets you download AWS's compliance reports?

AWS Artifact.

Practice 13: Which migration strategy moves an application as is to EC2 with no changes?

Rehost (lift and shift).

Practice 14: Which service sends one message to many subscribers?

Amazon SNS.

Practice 15: Which support plan first includes a designated Technical Account Manager?

Enterprise (Enterprise On-Ramp has a pool of TAMs).

Practice 16: Which service provides a dedicated private network connection from a data center to AWS?

AWS Direct Connect.

Practice 17: Which service runs SQL queries on data in S3 without servers?

Amazon Athena.

Practice 18: A company wants to cut idle cost by choosing smaller instance types after reviewing usage. What is this called?

Rightsizing (AWS Compute Optimizer can recommend it).

Practice 19: Which service enables single sign-on across multiple AWS accounts for workforce users?

AWS IAM Identity Center.

Practice 20: Which service records configuration changes and evaluates compliance against rules?

AWS Config.

Practice 21: Which AWS Support resource is a community Q&A site?

AWS re:Post.

Practice 22: Which design principle is described by 'treat servers as disposable and automate everything'?

Automation and loosely coupled design (a Well-Architected design principle).

Practice 23: Which feature lets you set a spending threshold and be alerted?

AWS Budgets.

Practice 24: Which service provides managed SFTP endpoints into Amazon S3?

AWS Transfer Family.

Practice 25: Which CAF perspective covers identity, compliance and data protection?

The Security perspective.