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AWS · Associate

SAA-C03 exam prep

AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate

Design secure, resilient, high-performing and cost-optimized architectures on AWS: IAM and VPCs, scaling and disaster recovery, storage, databases and cost, with hands-on labs.

Start studying SAA-C03 free Sample questions
practice questions
352
chapters
28
slide decks
24
practice exams
2

The exam at a glance

Duration
130 minutes
Questions
65: 50 scored, 15 unscored (not marked)
Formats
Multiple choice and multiple response
Passing score
720 / 1000, scaled; compensatory
Retake
14 days after a failed attempt
Validity
3 years

Source: AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) exam guide, version 1.1 (October 29, 2026)

What the exam covers

Every objective in the official study guide has a chapter, a slide deck and practice questions.

  1. Design Secure Architectures

    30% of the exam

    1. 1.1 Identity and access with IAM
    2. 1.2 Multi-account security and resource policies
    3. 1.3 Securing the network: VPC design and hybrid links
    4. 1.4 Protecting applications and detecting threats
    5. 1.5 Data protection: encryption, keys, backups and compliance

  2. Design Resilient Architectures

    26% of the exam

    1. 2.1 Decoupling with queues, events, workflows and APIs
    2. 2.2 Scaling, load balancing and caching
    3. 2.3 Containers, serverless and microservices
    4. 2.4 High availability and fault tolerance
    5. 2.5 Disaster recovery and data durability

  3. Design High-Performing Architectures

    24% of the exam

    1. 3.1 High-performing and scalable storage
    2. 3.2 High-performing and elastic compute
    3. 3.3 High-performing databases
    4. 3.4 High-performing and scalable networks
    5. 3.5 Data ingestion, transformation and analytics

  4. Design Cost-Optimized Architectures

    20% of the exam

    1. 4.1 Cost tools and cost-optimized storage
    2. 4.2 Cost-optimized compute
    3. 4.3 Cost-optimized databases
    4. 4.4 Cost-optimized networking

  5. Foundations

    Background, not scored

    1. 0.1 AWS global infrastructure, accounts and the Well-Architected Framework
    2. 0.2 Networking fundamentals for AWS
    3. 0.3 Core building blocks: compute, storage and databases
    4. 0.4 Architecture vocabulary and how AWS bills you

Sample questions

Three original questions from the bank, with their explanations.

Design Secure Architectures · From chapter 1.1 Identity and access with IAM

A founder runs scripts as the root user.

A three-person startup has one standalone AWS account. The founder signs in as the root user every day, and a nightly backup script uses root access keys stored on a build server. An investor's security review asks the company to reduce the risk from the root user with the least disruption to daily work. What should the company do?

Choose an answer

Design Resilient Architectures · From chapter 2.1 Decoupling with queues, events, workflows and APIs

Checkout fails whenever the warehouse is offline.

A furniture retailer's web tier calls a third-party warehouse API synchronously at checkout. The warehouse API goes offline for maintenance windows of up to an hour several times a month, and during those windows checkouts fail. The retailer wants checkouts to succeed during outages, with every order delivered to the warehouse once it returns, and with the least operational overhead. What should a solutions architect do?

Choose an answer

Design High-Performing Architectures · From chapter 3.1 High-performing and scalable storage

A small database that needs more IOPS.

A payroll company runs a 200 GiB PostgreSQL database on an EC2 instance with a gp2 volume. The database needs 9,000 IOPS during the monthly payroll run, and the volume delivers 600. The data will stay under 300 GiB for years. The team wants the required IOPS at the lowest cost, without changing the instance. What should a solutions architect recommend?

Choose an answer

How you will study

Learn each objective with a chapter and a slide deck, practice with a drill that brings back what you miss, then rehearse with timed exams weighted like the real one.

See how it works →

  1. 1

    Learn

    Understand it, then remember it

    Chapters with decision tables and exam traps · Slide decks with step-by-step animated diagrams · A study map of the whole exam on one page

  2. 2

    Practice

    Practice what you are about to forget

    Reviews spaced at 1, 3, 7, 14 and 30 days · Only the chapters you have finished, unless you choose more · An explanation for every option, right or wrong

  3. 3

    Pass

    Rehearse the real thing

    From a 5-question warm-up to a full-length exam · Longer Azure exams end with a complete case study · Mastery per domain against the weights the exam uses

FAQ

SAA-C03 FAQ

What does the SAA-C03 exam cover?

SAA-C03 (AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate) covers Design Secure Architectures (30%), Design Resilient Architectures (26%), Design High-Performing Architectures (24%) and Design Cost-Optimized Architectures (20%). 3jumps teaches each objective in 28 chapters.

How many SAA-C03 practice questions are there?

352 original practice questions, including 2 full practice exams. Every option has its own explanation.

How long is the SAA-C03 exam and what is the passing score?

Time: 130 minutes. Passing score: 720 / 1000, scaled; compensatory. Confirm on the official exam page before you book.

Are these real SAA-C03 exam questions?

No. Every question is original, written from the official objectives and checked against AWS's documentation. 3jumps never uses exam dumps and is not affiliated with AWS.

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Open the first chapter and let the drill take it from there.

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