AWS Cloud Practitioner CLF-C02 Study Guide 2026
Everything you need to know to pass the AWS Cloud Practitioner exam. Covers all four domains, study timeline, and preparation strategies.
Exam Overview
The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) is the foundational AWS certification. It validates your overall understanding of AWS Cloud concepts, services, and terminology. The exam has 65 questions, a 90-minute time limit, and requires a 70% passing score. It covers four domains: Cloud Concepts (24%), Security and Compliance (30%), Cloud Technology and Services (34%), and Billing, Pricing, and Support (12%).
Who Should Take This Exam
This certification is ideal for anyone new to AWS or cloud computing. It suits professionals in technical, managerial, sales, purchasing, or financial roles who work with the AWS Cloud. AWS recommends at least 6 months of exposure to AWS Cloud services. No prior IT experience is strictly required, making it a great entry point.
Study Strategy
A 4-6 week study plan works well for most candidates. Week 1-2: Focus on Cloud Concepts and the AWS Well-Architected Framework. Week 3-4: Dive into Security, IAM, and Compliance. Week 5: Study core AWS services (EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, VPC). Week 6: Review Billing, Pricing, and take practice exams. Use spaced repetition to retain key facts and take at least 3 full-length practice exams before your test date.
Key Services to Know
Focus on understanding the purpose of these core services: Compute (EC2, Lambda, ECS), Storage (S3, EBS, EFS, Glacier), Database (RDS, DynamoDB, Aurora), Networking (VPC, CloudFront, Route 53), Security (IAM, KMS, WAF, Shield), and Management (CloudWatch, CloudTrail, Config). You do not need deep technical knowledge, but you must understand what each service does and when to use it.
Tips for Exam Day
Read each question carefully. Many questions test understanding of the shared responsibility model and the differences between services. Eliminate obviously wrong answers first. Flag difficult questions and return to them. Time management is key: you have roughly 80 seconds per question.
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