AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam Objectives

The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) exam is organized around four domains that measure foundational AWS knowledge across business, technical, and operational topics.

Cloud Concepts (24%) focuses on the core value of cloud computing. You should understand the AWS Cloud value proposition, including elasticity, scalability, agility, and the financial benefits of moving from capital expenses to operational expenses. This domain also covers cloud architecture principles such as high availability, fault tolerance, and the basic benefits of designing in the cloud.

Security and Compliance (30%) covers the shared responsibility model, AWS identity and access management, and core security concepts. Candidates need to understand IAM users, roles, and policies, as well as security best practices like MFA and least privilege. This domain also includes compliance concepts, data protection, and AWS security services at a foundational level.

Cloud Technology and Services (34%) is the largest domain and tests your knowledge of AWS global infrastructure and major services. Expect questions on Regions, Availability Zones, and edge locations, plus key services such as EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, VPC, CloudFront, Route 53, CloudWatch, and CloudTrail. The focus is on identifying what each service does and when it should be used.

Billing, Pricing, and Support (12%) covers AWS pricing models, billing tools, and support options. You should know the basics of On-Demand pricing, Reserved Instances, and Savings Plans, along with tools like AWS Budgets, Cost Explorer, and the Pricing Calculator. You should also understand the different AWS Support plans and when each is appropriate.